The Rockets have peculiar needs at the PG spot, unlike most NBA teams. Short of potential HOF players like Paul and Westbrook no PG is going to generate more points with the ball than Harden does. So when Harden is on the floor (38 minutes a game) the Rockets do not need a PG that can create offense. They need a PG that can knock down the open three, take the ball up the court and play defense. Harden led the league in assists on three pointers, was a close second in points scored, and warped defensive alignments better than any player out there. Just my two cents.
I think Beverley is probably offered a Bradley type deal at 3/25m, which he probably deserves. Then there is probably some idiot team (Dallas) which will offer (3/30). Unfortunately both of those deals are prohibitive to the Rocket's future avenues for improvement, however to lose Beverley for nothing is a step backwards. The most realistic scenario which does not impede future flexibility, nor does it entail losing Beverley is too offer him a very high one year deal. It would need to be high enough to entice Beverley to "bet on himself" and think he will get even more money next offseason, or the one after. Given his ego and calling himself the Wolverine, I don't think it would be too hard to do. Offer Beverley, 2 year, max contract, which is somewhere in the 30 million dollar range, or 15m per year, with the second year being only very slightly guaranteed. You keep him, you create a great trade asset, and you keep your Durant option open.
I think you have to look at it another way: If you sign Llull to the MLE ($5.3m) and retain PatBev for roughly the same amount you have less than 16% of the cap invested in the point guard position. This isn't 16% of actual salary however since you are operating well over the cap. I believe a team will offer PatBev the full MLE .... at that rate I'd match without hesitation rather than letting him walk for nothing. You can always move him later if need be and likely get a solid asset in return. The other issues is if you do let him walk , because you are over the cap you have no means of replacing him other than minimum deals. If you retain him , you still have his salary to use to move around over the cap and can take back between 125-150% of his salary via trade. Let him walk and you dont have that option. I'd be tempted to retain him up to about $8m .... but at the MLE value of $5.3 it's an easy decision , at least in my opinion.
i'd match his contract even if he got offered more than the full MLE. maybe similar to avery bradley's 4yr/32M. why? he may not be worth that money now, but in 1 year when the cap jumps, that money will look like a bargain.
I'm watching game 4 again in the WC Finals and find it very difficult at this juncture not to imagine Llull playing the point, with Beverley giving Harden a blow or coming off the bench, Terry being the 3rd option at the 1/2. That series is very winnable in that scenario, in my humble opinion. I hope things play out that way this off-season. It would make me a very happy camper.
James Harden disagrees with you http://www.cbssports.com/nba/eye-on-basketball/25199950/james-harden-wants-a-backcourt-upgrade-for-rockets we've tried keeping the ball in Harden's hands the entire time he's out there. it's too one dimensional. Similar situation to Lebron's time with cleveland (the first stint and these finals without Kyrie and Love). when Josh Smith is your only other playmaker, you need more playmakers.
On a team that won 56 games despite losing 220 roster games due to injury. On a team that made it to the WCF missing 2 starters fro the entire playoffs. OK.
Okay but then what happened once they reached the WCF? They got waxed in 5 games. If WCF is your ultimate goal then okay sure, keep it going with 1 playmaker on the squad. Otherwise, it does nothing but benefit the team to add multiple playmakers so that the defense can't just target one guy.
They barely lost the first two. Had the ball bounced a different way on a couple of plays, we might have taken either or both. I don't call that getting waxed... especially since we were injured. With Beverley, OR Dmo, it could have been very different and almost was anyway. the question is how replaceable is PBev. I would say not easily replaceable considering his strong points, but replaceable. That said, I would say Harden overstated things saying "we need help" at PG considering our starting PG wasn't in the game. Maybe I didn't catch all his context on that comment as I wasn't in the mood after the loss to hear that, but if he just meant we need depth there, I understand that. If he meant we need someone much better than PBev, it's going to be hard to get that kind of tenacity and heart with better offensive skills/3 pt shooting and not take a hit on bball IQ or ball handling ability, especially if we keep DMO and don't shake the rest of the team completely up depleting our depth, which had been touted as one of our strong points for most of the year.
Are you for real? that would be even dumber then the offer parsons got from dallas, that would a move where if i was the owner id fire morey on the spot... He is replacable, very much so ...and to offer him anything more than 4 million a year is overpaying to me, but i could see how people would offer him6 at the MAX. Dont be fooled by his defense which is great, but he doesent do much else on the court and if you are giving people max money because of their defense then LOL aaron craft as BBh could be had for the min just sign him up ffs
agree 100% but that wont be an option cuz to sign beverely we would probably have to match an offer we just cant afford to..I can basically guarantee beverley wont be in a rockets uniform next year if he gets more than 5/yr , morey is too smart for that 1) average shooter 2)ok ball handler 3)bad playmaker 4)VERY injury prone i just hope Lull comes here and resolves this PG mess we are truly in...if not the next best option will be lawson
IMO if the rockets can somehow convince Llull to come over and resign Beverly at the same time that would be a very impressive off season. Possibly adding a veteran like Scola would be icing on the cake and maybe moving Dorsey somehow.
Personally I see Bevs drop in d as a direct result of his attempt to be a better offensive/playmaker baller. He is not that. What Bev does is play at a hyper attacking style that annoys and disrupts offenses. He's also a decent rebounder. That combination works on this team because Harden can handle most of the playmaking roles. The problem is sometimes Harden gets caught up in ISO and that's when you need a playmaker. Bevs playmaking skills at best are poor and if that is as I suspect contributing to a drop in defense then you have to ask yourself is he really what we need. And if his cost is 7-8 mil than you really have to ask that. Give me a true pg even if there is a little drop off on D.
I think Bev is easily replaceable, and frankly needs to be replaced. I would agree that D-Mo being healthy would've made a huge difference in the Warriors series. If for no other reason than all those horrible shots put up by Josh Smith in Games 2 and 5 would have gone to other players(including D-Mo). Considering we lost Game 2 by a single point, the impact of his absence can't be overstated. Back to Bev though. Maybe he and D-Mo would've been enough to put the Rockets over the top this season. But we have to remember that the guy actually had a fairly mediocre year. His shooting performance wasn't very good and he had a 2-month stretch that was downright brutal. His supposed calling card, his defense, regressed. And worst of all, he got hurt again late in the season and this time the injury knocked him out of the playoffs altogether. I want the Rockets to win a title next season. We all do. But I also want them to be a dominant team. I want them to contend for several years and not just be a flash in the pan that at best eeks out one title(as I suspect the Warriors may wind up doing). One way for that to happen is to finally bring in a real playmaker at PG. That will cut down on the turnovers which have plagued this team, prevent them from blowing so many big leads, reduce the heavy minutes their key guys have to play, and most importantly, take a ton of pressure off of Harden so that a WCF Game 5 performance never happens again.
Patrick Beverley is the Draymond Green of this team. Without Bev Harden gets exposed on D and the team loses its edge. Should he start? Not if we get Lawson. But Bev's worth is more than numbers. I think if we had a healthy Beverley against GS we have a legitimate chance to beat them
One thing that people seem to be forgetting is that Bev is one of those precious get out of salary cap jail free cards because of his Bird rights. Bev last season was a 10/4/3 guy with a 2.2:1 assist/turn over ration while shooting 35.6% from down town. For reference Llull was a 11/3/4 performer in Euroleague. And Bev played good defense outside of 15 feet last season. 56 wins last season is verging on being dominant. And that was with 120 starter games being lost to injury. If the Rockets had the health that the Warriors had last season a win total in the mid sixties would not have been out of the question.
Bev was a bargain last season because of his meager salary. That won't be the case going forward. The Rockets have to ask themselves if they really believe he's worth the big bump in pay he's bound to receive(they wisely decided no in the case of Parsons). Also, 35.6% from downtown ain't that great. It's not bad, but it also could stand to be a lot better given the number of wide open looks the Rockets perimeter guys receive with Harden drawing so much attention. Imagine if we had a 40+% 3-point shooter at the PG spot and what that would do for our offense. Also, Bev is not a playmaker. The Rockets desperately need that.
40+% 3 point shooters are incredibly difficult to obtain. In fact there were exactly 20 of them if you filter on GP > 20 and 3PA > 2. I would imagine none are available except maybe Hedo Turkoglu.
