Notice I said IF he is still on the roster. He could very well be cut. He has no long-term role here.
You had 2 conditional statements in your post. Your first was that if he makes it past training camp, he becomes trade bait after Dec. 15th. Your 2nd conditional was if he was here after the trade deadline, it would be because of the failure of Caanan, injuries, etc....this is irrelevant to your first conditional statement, which is the one I find erroneous. Regardless of whether he makes it past the trade deadline without being cut or not, your assertion that he is tradebait after the Dec.15th deadline if he makes it out of training camp is wrong due to the veto nature of the contract. And I did not say anything about a long term role, so don't bring up that strawman. His future or lack thereof doesn't change that fact that the tradebait assertion is erroneous due to the veto nature of his contract in this CBA.
He's trade bait after Dec 15, veto or not. If he doesn't allow a trade they'll cut him for sure. His veto simply means he has a little bit of choice. I don't expect him to accept a trade anywhere unless it's a contender. Any trade will obviously involve outright releasing him. All it means is we need another team to want him enough to give him a minimum contract. It's all about money. He is not a long-term solution here. He will be trade point on Dec. 15th if the other PGs are playing well and healthy.
Same here, Brooks is the most pointless player on the entire team. I can't see any reason to sacrifice a roster spot for him.
What player off of the bench can truly create shots for themselves or others? Garcia? Casspi? Covington? Asik? Smith? Is there really that much of a question as to why the Rockets would have interest in a former 19+ ppg scoring guard who might be able to provide offense off of the bench in spurts? Im not saying the Rockets necessarily have a "need" for him right now, but I am saying that it might be necessary if the bench struggles to score at points in the season. As I pointed out earlier, back in 2009 the Rockets had one of the best benches in the entire league when Adelman played the lineup of Brooks/Lowry/Budinger/Landry/ whoever together. That lineup was a huge reason why that team managed to stay competitive that year. If nobody could see value in potential explosive offensive lineups off the bench with Bev/Brooks/Garcia/Smith/ whoever (D-Mo/Jones?) I dont know what to tell you. Take Brooks out of a lineup like that, and insert Covington, Williams, or Casspi and you lose the best playmaker/scorer on the floor, and replace him with a spot up shooter who has nobody to create shots for him. Brooks is still a weapon they have at their disposal. I can't tell you how many minutes he will see, what kind of impact he will have, or even if he will get beat out in training camp if a non-guaranteed rookie like BJ Young or R. Covington beat him out, but I can tell you that he's a potential weapon off the bench to give this team a scoring punch off the bench in certain lineups.
Training camp means a lot but with so many players at the same position, some will not get a chance to show all of what they are capable of. Because of Brooks, players like Young and Canaan may be sent to the D-league instead of getting the PT that they need to get better. The Rockets have a bad habit of shelving their rookies pretty much for an entire season. Not everyone is going to have a breakout training camp. That doesn't mean they will not have a breakout rookie season. Brooks is redundant.
So I am pretty excited about our drft/UDFA class. Both Cov and Cannan (better shooting Kyle Lowry with worse court vision and passing?) appear to be very high upside prospects...and they're both coming in with a very developed shooting skill. While I actually see Covington being closer to a potential D-league call-up (because of his 3/4 position versatility), I fully expect Cannon to be a DLeague Allstar, and at least get a look from the rockets before the end of the season. I have a feeling that both of these guys will be challenging for minutes by next season.
The Rockets have a good habit of developing players. Young is most likely going to the D-League if another team doesn't take him. Brooks has very little to do with that. Canaan is most likely headed straight to D-League after training camp. Brooks has very little to with this. Canaan will be recalled by Rockets when McHale sees fit. If Canaan isn't good enough for McHale to want him on the team over Brooks, he deserves to be in D League. Do you remember last year's trading deadline? Patterson and Morris were moved to get PT to rookies. Jones and Motiejunas have only themselves to blame for not getting more PT. Morey will find a way to get Canaan PT if he feels Canaan deserves it.
I, too, am pretty excited about both Canaan and Covington, although I will reserve judgment until I see what they do in the preseason (and if Covington even makes the team). If you recall, the Rockets tend to keep their rookies around for a little while into the regular season in order to get them acclimated to the coaching, schedule, etc. Plus, the D-League season starts after the NBA's regular season. It's not until the Rockets' season hits a point where there is little to no practice time when the rookies get sent down. My guess is that Canaan and (if he makes the team) Covington will stick around for a little while then (barring a Parsons-like early season emergence) head down to RGV for a while. When the D-League schedule lightens up, they may get some face time back with the Rockets, then head back down again. Just an educated guess at this point, though. P.S. I don't think McHale was too pleased with the Morris and Patterson trades when they went down. He strongly preferred those two (in a playoff race) over playing rookies (D-Mo, Jones, a just-acquired T-Rob). Hence, moving Greg Smith to PF for more minutes. Here's hoping that D-Mo and Jones are advanced enough this season to earn McHale's trust.
Thanks, forgot about D League starting later than NBA. Still in MLB thought processes for development. Yeah, McHale wasn't happy about losing Patterson, Morris. Morey isn't going to tell McHale how to coach,but the trade off is that Morey isn't going to let McHale tell him how to GM. I think DMo has earned more trust than Jones from McHale. I expect Canaan and Covington(if he makes team) get involved in the DLeague Yoyo Games this year. I do think Morey feels more highly of the readiness of Canaan than he did in Jones, Lamb last year.
That may or may not be true. Either way it has nothing to do with Brooks. Brooks has no long-term role here.
Have any of the other bench players scored 40+ points in an NBA game, been the MIP, and been the #1 or #2 scoring option for a team with a winning record? Look, I get why people aren't huge fans of Aaron Brooks. He's undersized, cannot guard a parking spot, and his best days are probably behind him as an starting # scoring option PG. However that doesn't mean that he couldn't potentially serve a purpose for this Rockets team next season. The consensus on here seems to be that he was completely written off the moment he was signed, and I think that's a mistake to assume. I dont want to sound like Im vouching for Brooks to be beloved by all of Houston & beyond cause Im not... However, I know how it works here on clutchfans when an "old, washed-up" veteran(like Patrick Patterson) gets a single minute over the shiny bright new rookie(Terrence Jones/D-Mo/etc). Everyone claims that this old mule needs to be taken out back and shot because this bright new toy pony looks so good wrapped up in a bow under the tree. -Future prediction: The Rockets DO NOT go 82-0, Brooks could very well win regular minutes this season, and its going to become a Canaan love-fest/Brooks & McHale hate fest around here.... Hell Morey might even get a new hate thread around loss 2 or 3 of the season.
Bad habit??... geez.... You couldn't be any further from reality here. Everyone seems to cry and create whiny threads about this every first half of the season about their shiny new toy not getting the PT they "deserve" and every year, Morey creates PT around the trade deadline for those young guys year and year.... Where have you been the past few years? Have you not learned how this works? Lets talk about the GOOD habit they have of utilizing the D-league for first year Rookies- Marcus Morris is the perfect example of why the Rockets actually make a GOOD habit of utilizing a HALF SEASON at least in the D-league. You know what would have happened if Marcus Morris would have been if he got 30+ minutes a night as a rookie????..... -He would have thought he was the next Carmelo Anthony(hint: he's not) -He would have taken too many ill-advised shots & benched for good -He would have gotten a terrible reputation around the league (low trade value) -He would have NOT developed a very nice NBA niche (PF who can stretch the floor) -He could be out of the league by now because of his reputation -the team would have lost more games that season -the players whose minutes he would have taken, their trade value would be zilch. Despite having a disappointed clutchfans base, Morris actually developed into a very nice niche role player. He turned out not to be a superstar.... but that's why he was DRAFTED AT 14 to begin with. He never was supposed to be.... He and the fans on here just fooled themselves into thinking he could be. The D-League and the way the Rockets brought him along made Marcus Morris into an NBA player with potentially a long career. If they threw him in the fire and let him burn out like a team like the Wizards or Kings might do, he could be in and out of the league in 2 years. ........ The list could go on and on with players who actually made very good use of the D-League. Just like with- -Alston being traded to make space for Brooks -Battier being traded to make pt for Budinger & T-Will -Brooks traded to make PT for Lowry/Dragic -Scola being amnestied to make pt for Patterson/Morris -Patterson traded to make pt for D-Mo, Jones, Robinson Canaan will get his shot if he's showing promise in the D-league. I don't foresee Lin or Beverley getting traded this year being that the game has changed and the team is now looking to make a deep playoff run, but Canaan has several years with the Rockets to earn PT, and history shows that Yes... Morey will make moves. There is no reason on earth to rush Canaan into the lineup right out of the gate. Where you see a Bad Habit... I see a Good Habit.
