http://www.nba.com/teamsites/clippers/node/70779 Morey should have signed him. Edit: Oops, typo in title. Still should have signed Hedo and waived Brewer or Covington.
We know morey can't do any wrong, but we are at cap and have casspi as our PF in a big rotation going int playoffs. Asik on a poison pill contract hurt now with less value by the day, no solid back up 3 or back up center. 2nd year players that's were in the Dleague last year counted on going into the playoffs as of now dmo & casspi.
Well, we have to wait and see about Asik. We all know what he can do - and as soon as he realizes that he could lose a lot of money if he doesn`t prove what he can do for the remainder of his contract he should at least be a very good backup C again. We are at the cap because of the Dwight signing. You have to gamble some with minimum players. Casspi and Garcia are both decent for what they cost. This is not the year we go for the championship. This is the year that our foundation is set. With Harden, Howard and Parsons we have our major pieces in place. With Lin, Beverly, Asik and Jones we have very tradeable assets that could net us another borderline all-star. Next season we will have the MLE to get that impact 3 of the bench. Just be patient. Our turnaround was about as quick as anyone could have wished for - but we need some more time to really build a championship calibre roster.
btw: I got a trick for you. Hit edit on your opening post and then hit "Go Advanced." You can edit your Title for like 5 minutes, from the Go Advanced options. If you didn't know that, you can rep me now. I haven't had a rep in like 3 weeks.
I agree time is of the essence. You only get so many chances to be a contender, and if you have a chance to make your roster better you pull the trigger. We can't wait on a 3rd star that might or might not come.
Sure, everybody wants to win it all every year. But only one team makes it. I am not saying let`s not try it this year. I am not saying we shouldn`t do everything to make it this year. All I am saying is: we already have done a lot this year when looking at our roster. And with the salary cap there is only so much you can do. Actually we probably had one of the most amazing turnaround in the last 2 seasons in the history of the league. We are not a finished product yet - and it would be amazing if we were. We are still missing one or two pieces. But there basically was no way in hell that we got them this season. If we are very lucky we get one more piece at the trade deadline, but other GMs are probably a bit careful when dealing with Morey now. You don`t go from being a mediocre middle aged team without high draft picks to a complete team that is the favorite to win it all in 2 seasons. That`s just not possible. So, keep improving the roster, via trades and the MLE to get us as close as possible. I am not saying: let`s wait and see, we still have a lot of time left. I am saying: do everything you can, but I don`t think Morey could have done much more than he already did. And he will be able to do more in time.
And so does Mark Cuban. Many years futilely pulling the trigger on every opportunity, thinking he was a contender. But ironically, when he learned patience (and focused on defense), he won.
for the millionth time poison pill contract does not apply to us.. asik AND lin are about 16 mill combined per year against salary cap
I agree. We could've signed Hedo, as he's better than anything we have as a stretch 4 coming off the bench. Did we even take a look at the guy? Another misstep by Rockets management
Can he still play? Is he fully recovered? Have we seen that, yet? Using Hedo as a Stretch 4 would be misusing him. Do you know his game? That's like calling Kukoc a Stretch 4. I think him backing up Parsons and Jones would be fun to watch. But it would be a crying shame to use him as a Stretch 4. Did you read the article? It was mainly about using an unorthodox 4-5 PNR.
The thing is, Morey has NOT come CLOSE to doing everything that he can to maximize the ability of the roster to compete in playoffs 2014. Lets look at a couple other teams that are "going for it." 1) The Clippers traded Bledsoe for shooters Reddick and Dudley. They used the mid-level exception to sign Matt Barnes and Darren Collison. They even traded a 1st round pick for Doc Rivers. 2) The Indiana Pacers spent its salary exceptions on Chris Copeland and CJ Watson, and traded Plumlee, a 1st round pick and Green for Luis Scola. The Rockets, on the other hand, still has not even spent its room mid-level exception (worth about $2.6M), has held on to all of its "assets" like draft picks (including a bunch of extra 2nd round picks that it landed from NY and Portland), Omer Asik, Jones, and Motiejunas. Morey has deliberately done nothing but signing minimum wage guys after Dwight signed on this summer. He's got to be working on an angle for the upcoming trade deadline.
Well, Morey has this attitude too. He's stated it in the offseason how this year the team lack the financial flexibility to surround Harden/Howard with the best possible players. Limitations of a team due to CBA constraints can't simply be overcome simply be "having a better attitude." Morey went after Dunleavy in the offseason and got rejected because Dunleavy wanted more than the minimum. This isn't due to bad attitude by the Rockets. Morey would offer more if he could, but he couldn't. There's nothing wrong with understanding a team's limitations and adjust one's outlook for the team. I'm sure none of us were thinking championships the past 4 years. Doesn't mean us Rockets fans have bad attitude.
The teams you mentioned had MLEs at their disposal. The Rockets do not. The Rockets also have no salary fillers or assets to make trades. Lin and Asik must be included in any major deal, but both have backloaded contracts which diminishes their trade value. And while Terrence Jones today is definitely worth a lot on the market, at the beginning of the year he was worth nothing. Morey supposedly shopped him in the offseason for 1st rounders and came up with nothing. What are the Rockets suppose to do? Trade Lin and/or Asik at diminished value(due to their contracts)? How does that help the team win now? If we don't include them, which players can the Rockets trade for that makes so little we can simply use our rookie/minimum contracts to match salary with? As for the room exception, who is worth that money that the Rockets skipped on? They went after Dunleavy, which is about as bargain shopping as it gets, and Dunleavy got more than the room exception. Anyone who got the room exception with another team that the Rockets should've gotten?
