I was all over Calderon until I looked at his contract. He makes 7 mil next year and 8 mil in 2016-17 Jared Jack seems to have a reasonable contract though, 6 mil next year with a buy out of $500 k in 16-17 (if i read it correctly). Jack shot 40% with GS 2 years ago. Pretty sure Nets would trade him for Shved.
If Morey passes on moves that could win a title this year so that he can be in FA in the offseason he is making a huge mistake and I say that as a big fan of Morey.
I think the landscape will shift tremendously by the time the deadline comes around. Teams that might be buyers now could become sellers if they fall out of the playoff race, while other teams start getting a feel for what kind of value they can get for some of their pieces. I do think that Morey's first priority is to upgrade the PG position, but I also think if that proves to be impossible, he'll look at bolstering the backup C position, as well as get some scoring from the SF position. Basically, it's a moving target.
I'm ok with Calderon. Coming off the bench would be nice as he could relieve some of the ball handling duties from harden. Not to mention he is a good fit next to harden as he can easily nail the open 3. The contract sucks but he could be moved again if needed im sure. Also he could be had relatively cheap. I'd imagine nyk is looking for expiring contracts and maybe a 2nd. I would easily do shved/dorsey/2nd for calderon
I haven't seen too much of Ty Lawson, but he'd def get some open looks at 3s here. His %s might improve like corey brewer's. I don't know why the Nuggets are holding on to him. They are not making the playoffs, and Lawson is close to his ceiling in that he might improve, but not enough to be a top 10 pg.
I think that almost everything Morey does involves contingency plans. I agree with you that no one saw Terry being effective. The deal for him was made because it was a win-win situation. We got picks, we potentially got a strong veteran leader and we got an expiring contract. As far as Ariza goes, he was a back up plan all along. Morey knew that he could move Ariza's contract if he needed to. I don't think it was ever certain he would be a Rocket long term.
He historically shoots a better % from 3 and most of his 3's this year have not been good open looks causes by ball movement. He also goes to the line a lot, shoots well within 5 feet and has a great assist to turnover ratio. He does not defend and is a terrible mid range shooter. To me it all comes down to cost, if you can protect DMO and still get Lawson or Dragic, you do it.
I understand what you're saying, but there's a lot of things at play here. Does Shved develop into a decent player? What do you do with Canaan, Johnson, and Llull? I don't see Lawson as a transformative player. Perhaps Morey does.....don't know. Dragic has a big impact on the game and I know he can fit here. Love and Melo are good enough to where you "just make it work". Just realize that if you're trading for Lawson....that's it. You might be able to get another role player or two, but this team isn't changing dramatically. Is Lawson/Harden/Ariza/DMo/Howard a good enough starting unit? Is Bev/Brewer/Smith a good enough bench? I don't know.
Yeah, but you do have to keep two things in mind by Morey saying this: 1. Timing coming before and after the Rockets let Parsons go to have a chance at Bosh, or Melo. 2. The thought that at least 2 of the players currently on the roster obtain qualities that a third star would or could bring. Reg #1: Lets be honest. As open and honest as Morey is most of the time, there is still going to be a bit of a PR game to play. He wants the fans and media to understand their process, but most importantly, he wants them to feel good about the direction the team is taking (whether they understand the end game as much as the FO does). Asking the fans to accept a complete gut job of the supporting cast again was a hard sell after having one of the best regular seasons in franchise history. Whether he's getting better role players, or a 3rd star really shouldn't matter to the fans as long as the team is getting better, but I'm assuming getting a 3rd star is more palatable IN JULY. Winning July is very important to these guys despite how much emphasis there is on winning the title June. See Cuban and Dallas' parading of Chandler Parsons as a "Star Acquisition". Cuban felt like they needed that buzz in July to get the fan base excited for the season, and to get the media off his back. Its part of the off the court game in July. Lukily Morey now seems to place just as much of an emphasis on Dec - Feb for realistic moves because I think he understands the cost vs value is WAAAYYY greater if you just freaking wait until December and the players you want to acquire will be available for next to nothing. which brings me to #2. Reg #2: What would a star be doing for the Rockets in a 3rd banana role anyways? Lets take for instance Chris Bosh who is having a sensational season as the #1 option in Miami. What would his production, and his roll look like in Houston as a 4/5 playing 3rd wheel. Let me take a crack at it (based on his last year with the big 3 in Miami). 16 PPG/6RPG -shooting 35% from 3 -avg. 35mpg -playing the 5 when Dwight was out -good positional & team defender at the 4/5 If you take another unnamed player that also plays the 4/5, and adjust his minutes over the last month per 36, you know what his production looks like.... Minus the 3pt %, and maybe 2PPG, D-Mo's production is very, very similar on paper. I'm not saying D-Mo is the player that Bosh is, and I don't think D-Mo would have the talent to put up the number Bosh is as the #1 option, but from a production standpoint, on this team, I would argue you are getting 90% of what you'd get from Bosh with D-Mo this year. And then there is Josh Smith... Yes, he's a flawed star, but in Morey's eyes does he have the "potential" to do 3rd star things? I don't know, but it was out there that the Rockets were willing to trade for him just a few months ago, but couldn't make the salaries match to make the deal. If the Rockets had the expiring contract to get the deal done, and would have traded for him a few months ago, his salary range would DEFINITELY say that Morey was willing to take the gamble that he could be the 3rd highest player on the team. That means something about Morey potentially viewing Smith as that "3rd star" type of player. Anyways... food for thought. Under last years circumstances, it was obvious they "needed another guy". I think the major question is, do they really need "another GUY" or are we already getting "3rd star" like production anyways that you'd get with THIS particular squads version of "Good Depth"?
This doesn't work cap wise. You can look at the numbers yourself. The Rockets are too close to the Tax Apron for any viable trade to work. It would involve half the rotation going to the Knicks and replacing them with minimum guys. A trade for Bosh can just barely work salary wise. And he's a better fit anyway. I think Morey will call Riley before the deadline just in case. Otherwise, agree except I would give up the Pelicans pick for Lawson.
Lawson would be really good with Houston. He's not a bad 3 pt shooter at all, a lot of his shots are tougher shots because you don't really have to respect anyone else on that team offensively if they aren't at the 3 point line except for afflalo.
I think someone pointed that out to me a week ago but I forgot about it. It's technically possible, but very difficult. The Bosh thing is a little tricky. He's not expiring, and he doesn't have a no-trade clause. IF he gets traded, he's probably going to the highest bidder (Phoenix).
Ty Lawson's contract isn't that bad really. If the Rockets traded for Dragic as an upcoming UFA, they would want to re-sign him and it would probably be the same terms as Lawson's annual salary. So, don't get caught up in those numbers.
Agreed. Lawson is making something like only 13 million in 2016/17. If Morey wanted to keep his best 3 player the year after next and still play the free agent game when the cap goes up he could. 52 million in 2016/17 with Harden/Howard/Lawson against the salary cap that could be somewhere around 80 million. Lawson really isn't bad value at all for this team now, and his contract will benefit from being long term going into the future cba when Morey might need to add more talent with a declining Howard & supporting cast.
Some Ty Lawson highlights. <iframe width="600" height="400" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/fkO9iMahAvc" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
The same Ty Lawson who said harden doesn't play defense .. Ha ha. Lawson is an undersized guard. I thought they were loving away from that
I saw Docs tweet but is Lawson really on the trading block and what would it realistically take to get him? Both 1st round picks and filler?
We don't have a need for Wilson Chandler as long as we have Brewer. Wouldn't Lawson and Harden arguably be the best backcourt in the league?
Couldn't we run Harden Chandler Ariza. Better floor spacing and still could guard 1 through 3. Lawson will be bullied by bigger point guards
