without Parsons, we don't have the assets to get Kevin Love. Hell, Minny's asking price is Andrew Freaking Wiggins and we don't have anything remotely that valuable to offer. No idea what Rondo's asking price is, but it sounded like it was Parsons at last year's deadline, so don't quite know where that leaves us.
As of now, the Rockets are worse than last year. Anyone who says otherwise is out of their mind. Last season, our bench(when healthy) was Asik, Lin, Casspi, Garcia, D-Mo, and Daniels. I'll exclude Hamilton and Canaan since they weren't really playing any minutes under McHale. We gave away the first three and have yet to resign the latter. Our starting lineup is the same except for small forward where we swapped out Parsons for Ariza who may be a better defender but overall is an inferior player. Sorry, but unless you expect our rookies to be huge difference makers in their first season, that is a worse team. Could we add a few more pieces that would at least bring this current Rockets squad up to par with last year's? I suppose. But there aren't many players left out there who could help us do that. At least not in terms of free agents.
Keeping Parsons on the 4th year or opting out to make him a RFA was a 50/50 decision all year and has been heavily discussed on this board. There were pros and cons to both angles. Opt the 4th year and yes, you get him on the cheap but let's say you still miss Bosh. Now when FA comes around, teams can come and offer him a fair value contract and he can walk to greener pastures and you get no say in it. He can choose to bolt to a stronger team, or to a big market like LA or NY. Not to mention that he just might hold a grudge because you're paying him NBA peanuts for another year and end up walking on principle. The benefit is that if you overpay to retain the player, you can trade them in the first year, however it's likelier that you'll end up overpaying if you're matching a UFA than a RFA. Make him an RFA and you are forced into a match/don't match scenario, but you still have control over the process. You know that a team will have to "overpay" to make a bid so if you're keeping him you're most likely getting fair value or at worst a small overpay. And you get the benefit of good will with the player as they get their money sooner. There's also the issue that historically many teams will pass on even attempting to get a RFA as they know the team can match. Clearing the decks and tying up cap space for 3 days while other FA's are being signed is a very high risk move... if the team matches, you're left holding the bag. In terms of the matching team, the down side of a RFA is that you can't trade them until the mid-season trade deadline at all, and can only trade them after that in the first season with their consent. Morey bet on controlling the process through RFA. While he lost that gamble and we lost Parsons, at least he can look at the situation and say that it was made based on the Parsons contract being a bad one, instead of him leaving while all you could do is watch.
I meant if we'd kept Parsons for that 4th year of his previous contract. If Morey views him more as a tradeable asset than a player(which from the 790 interview sure seems to be the case), why not exercise that option and then trade him for someone else?
I get the doubts on Morey and maybe it ultimately never works out, but the guy is as shrewd as your going to find. He was an hour away from having the best team in the NBA. That's the kind of planning he's been working towards and it almost worked. Hard to hate on that. On paper we're worse then last season, but the future is up for grabs. Parsons would have locked us into above average but not quite elite, and I'm ok with letting him go.
In hindsight, great decision not to match Parsons. It is one untradeable contract like morey said and pretty much locks you up. Is a Howard Harden Parsons trio going to get it done? NO WAY. Morey repeatedly emphasized the flexibilty having Ariza, MLE, BAE and MOST IMPORTANTLY THE LOTTO PICK He kept saying how it is structured similar to the pick that got us Harden. I believe Morey is not done yet. He will use that lotto pick as the main starting point in acquiring another all star or near all star player.
Because it has been done before, you don't have to have the best player on the planet to win Championships. Ask the Spurs, Pistons with RIP, Billups and The Wallace boys and our very own Houston Rockets who won with two Elite players. Looking at Morey responses your questions were answered.
http://www.sports790.com/media/podc.../rockets-gm-daryl-morey-on-pgs71414-25021030/ Here's the link to listen.
Thoughts: 1) Forget trading for Love/Rondo - even with the lottery pick, I don't think we have enough tradeable assets, unless the Celtics are enamored by Nick Johnson (possibility). I'd rather keep that Pelicans pick and see where it ends up, gives us a little leverage next offseason. 2) Morey's concern about "least tradeable contract" is exactly what his problem is. Why are you already looking to trade him? 3) Glad to hear he expects to keep Troy, he should be big for us off the bench as instant offense. 4) Still a top 4 team in the West? We've gotten considerably weaker, and all the other playoff teams have either remained steady or gotten stronger. No 6th man that can create, lack of offense at the 3, no solid forward backups, and no backup center!
Our bench was not good last season especially in the playoff's. Time will tell if we improved or not.
I'm still going out on limb and say that I still trust Morey. The moves just didn't go his way this time around. Hey, it happens in business. I rather have GM who's willing to construct the best roster possible, rather than one who gives out bad contracts and sitting PAT all the time. Roster turnover may be high, but we are trying to create the best roster possible.
Props. You are one of the posters I share the most of the views. I was really pissed at Morey for not acquiring Millsap. We could've pried him away for Asik+picks. He is the souped up version of Bev. We had no chance with Jones at PF in the post season. Morey stressed the importance of team chemistry. How it takes a couple of years for the core to gel together and he just wasted one year away of Dwight 3-year contract. Saying it was one thing but doing it was a totally different matter to Morey. Recycling other teams castaways (Casspi and Hamilton) like a bag lady is just one of his shortcomings. Good things in life cost money and good reliable players cost assets. He wants everything for FREE. I just can't stand his cheapskate approach. Accumulating assets and remain cap flexibility is so overrated if you have two of the best players at their respective positions. It was win now that moment Dwight signed that contract. There was absolutely no urgency whatsoever last year. With Harden and Dwight, he is now judged by results, not by his ability to acquire assets or remain flexibility. Old habits die hard.
DM: Reality is if you want to win the title you need to be the team that finds the CP25 not the team that gives the Parsons' type a max contract. Morey basically said to Cuban: Trevor Ariza gives us TWO elite-to-very good perimeter defenders to flank Harden with. Now you have defensive strengths in the starting 5 spread out between the 1-3-5. Ariza gives us a true 3pt shooting threat at 40+% 3p%, someone who can knock down corner 3s, a catch and shoot specialist, someone who can nail 3s unphased with oncoming defenders, a pass interceptor, and a guy with active hands. There is also no issue with him being able to run and bang just as effective as Parsons did. All this for half the price so we have more allowance to help us make more moves to help us this season. Opposite of punting.
Its still all about flexibility to become a CHAMPIONSHIP team. With Parsons, that would have basically been it for this roster. You only go with that if you honestly believe that team could win it all. Its clear that they didn't believe that (even with moderate improvement from last year). They're certainly not championship caliber right NOW... but there's flexibility to get there. They may get there... they may not... but with Parsons, it was pretty fixed as far as who they were going to be.
Before people go pimping this quote about Parsons, just remember that he had Parsons on a 1 year deal for around $1 million and chose to let him out of it.
