I love that Nick Johnson said that he is gunna latch on to Beverley he could be another great 2nd round pick
Ok. However if he's still going up against Garcia for the final roster spot I would still have to think Hopson gets the boot before Garcia or Dorsey/Adrien. As it stands - -Smith, Covington, Garcia, Adrien, Dorsey, Black and Hopson or Powell will have to battle it out for 3 roster spots. I have a hard time seeing a future with the Houston Rockets for Scotty Hopson. The guy did look pretty good in SL though so who know. None of these guys are safe in training camp if they don't bring it. Should be a pretty good battle.
I doubt Powell, Hopson, Black, Covington, Smith make the team. (At least one of Powell/Hopson will be included in the Terry trade btw)
Here is my take: 1) Donatas Motiejunas is not a good player and is on the verge of getting somewhat expensive next (2015-16) season. Yet there are probably still some suckers out there who think he has "unlimited upside" or whatever, and will trade a draft pick for him. Meanwhile, Daryl Morey went out and signed advanced stats world favorite Jeff Adrien, plus Kostas Papanikolaou (who looks like the nice Carlos Delfino replacement that Houston lacked in 2013-14), PLUS Robert Covington has graduated from the developmental league. All signs point to a Motiejunas trade in September or October. The deal would be Motiejunas for a projected high second round pick plus a nonguaranteed contract. 2) I believe there was a wink-wink, under the table agreement between Daryl Morey and Francisco Garcia this offseason, wherein Garcia opts out, more cap space is created, and later, when the dust settled, Garcia would be made whole via a contract with the same salary. Garcia is older, injury prone, and unnecessary. He will almost certainly be waived. 3) Until the team upgrades at PG via trade, which may or may not even happen, Ish Smith is a needed third string PG. Patrick Beverley is injury prone and Isaiah Canaan is unproven. Advanced stats actually view Smith as a decent backup PG rather than an end of the bench, borderline NBA player type. I think Smith sticks, at least for now. Also, look for Nick Johnson and Clint Capela to spend the majority of the season in the developmental league. 4) Joey Dorsey is a necessary insurance C, especially when Motiejunas gets shipped out. Terrence Jones becomes Dwight Howard's backup when this happens, and Dorsey is needed if/when Howard or Jones are injured or in serious foul trouble. Dorsey is going to play. 5) As previously stated, advanced stats LOVE Jeff Adrien. After Motiejunas gets traded, Adrien is probably going to be in this team's rotation. My final roster, heading into the regular season: Starting lineup PG Patrick Beverley SG James Harden SF Trevor Ariza PF Terrence Jones C Dwight Howard Key reserves Kostas Papanikolaou Jeff Adrien Isaiah Canaan Troy Daniels End of the bench Joey Dorsey Robert Covington Ishmael Smith Injured reserve Jason Terry (will eventually be part of a trade for a very good veteran player) Stashed in the developmental league Clint Capela Nick Johnson Traded Donatas Motiejunas Waived Francisco Garcia Tarik Black Caveat: Morey is presumably actively looking to quickly package Terry and these two second round picks with Motiejunas for somebody good, e.g., Paul Millsap. That probably does not happen, so look for Motiejunas to be traded separately. Also, DO NOT be surprised if Terry is soon traded to Memphis for Tayshaun Prince and a second round pick. Memphis is near the luxury tax threshold and reportedly wants to add one more free agent, e.g., Joe Ingles. Prince is even more valuable as a trade chip than Terry as his expiring contract is somewhat larger. I do not see Prince playing for Memphis either, though.
If we can only get a 2nd for him, DMo is more valuable as a developing player for the Rockets. We are FLUSH with second rounders.....like 4 or 5 next year and several after that. After you suggested it, I looked into a Terry for Prince swap. I don't think Memphis would include a 2nd round pick to save less than $2 million in salary. They might do a straight up swap, but I'm not sure that's something the Rockets would be interested in. Still....something to watch.
1. Not sure where you saw it, but I've seen nothing to indicate the Rockets are trying to trade either D-Mo or Jones (despite how some posters have dreamed about it enough to believe it). D-Mo played a big role on the team until the later part of the season when his play dropped off. His defensive stats as the 5 coming off the bench were not bad at all, and some stats actually showed he was just as effective as Asik (which obviously the stats were not telling the whole truth). Look... Is D-Mo a good NBA player now??.. probably not, but given the needs of this team, what his contract situation is (cheap labor, zero downside), and what he has shown in spurts, its really a no-brainer to keep him on the team this year. If you don't like D-Mo or his upside than fine, but thinking that he has no use for this team this year is short-sided & rather bias. 2. Garcia is in the group of folks on the back of the bench that will have to EARN a spot on the final roster. Signing him was of course a "gentleman's signing", but that doesn't mean they don't think he will have some use IF he makes the final roster. 3. Nick Johnson's training camp performance will have a big impact on the decision to keep or cut Smith most likely. 4. D-Mo, Dorsey, and even Black are going to have to battle for backup 5 minutes again... IN TRAINING CAMP. Anyone who makes a statement about who is going to make it, get cut, or get traded out of Smith, Garcia, Black, Covington, Dorsey, Adrien, Powell, and, Hopson is just guessing. Those last 3 roster spots will be guaranteed only by performance in training camp & the preseason.
I like how you guys always predict how it's gonna go and are always wrong. Most of you are too emotional about this.
I still think PHX is going to have to part ways with either Dragic or Bledsoe. With Isaiah Thomas on the roster, that's too much $$ in the PG position. My hunch is that Morey is waiting them out.
lol Canaan better than Lin? Yea okay...whatever. Canaan was terrible for the games that I seen him play. Plzzzzzzzz
Gee would not have played 1 second in the regular season. 2 2nds + Terry is an unbelievable haul for Gee the scrub. Plus this also got rid of Hopson or Powell -two others who would never see any playing time. Terry at $5.8m can be traded at any time and in 60 days aggregated with others. Also I'm not sold that he has nothing in the tank. It will be interesting to see what he does in camp. BK was a disaster early last year, most of the players looked washed up so I'm not sure that was really a good barometer.
Milwakee Bucks are going into a new Direction, http://www.hngn.com/articles/37125/...oj-mayo-ersan-ilyasova-trade-eric-bledsoe.htm and Season Vets OJ Mayo & Ersan Ilyasova are not in the plans. I dont see why houston doesnt try to either trade to get these guys for there bench it makes perfect since because they are still productive vets and can be great 2nd bench. Mayo basicly wont get any playing time now that bayless has taken his spot, he could be great coming of the bench for houston as well as Ilyasova for Jones. 1)You would need to Probably need to give up Jet and assest 2 second round picks for Oj Mayo. 2)Then in a seperate trade send TPE to the Bucks Ilyasova a, because they need the salary to Sign Bledsoe to a contract. 3)Then we can use papanikolaou,Cannan in a trade to aquire a vet pg. JJ.Barea comes to mind as a good vet pg, and im sure Papa/Cannan would fit in the T-wolves rebuild process. PatBev/Barea/Johnson Harden/O.j. Mayo/Daniels Ariza/Garcia/ConvINGton Jones/Ilyasova/Adrian Howard/Montijunas/Dorsey Thats My 15, That roster is ready to compete with Clippers and Warriors... I feel a whole lot better about this bench for sure...
Beverley/Johnson/Canaan or Ish Harden/Terry/Daniels Ariza/Papa/Garcia Jones/Adrien/Dorsey Howard/Dmo/Dorsey That's how I see it..I know the focus has been on upgrading the pg slot, but I think PF is the key. We need to focus on getting a different kind of player there, at least to begin with. Adrien is solid as the back up 4.
