Great work. Repped. Personally I think you get the best bang for your buck by maxing Harrison Barnes and Hassan Whiteside. Their maxes are cheaper. Bring more H's to H-Town! Beverley/Harden/Ariza/Barnes/Whiteside. Beasley. With a younger group all around Hardens prime we could have them together for awhile. Not golden state or San Antonio level but would be fun to watch. This series exposed ariza, so when his contact is up I would have him bounced and Barnes groomed as his replacement. Then that year I would throw whatever I could to get Serge Ibaka. Twin towers, love em. Barnes/Ibaka/Whiteside is a tough defensive front court. You might be able to pick up Rondo on the cheap as a brilliant mind who will keep Hardens diva in deck. If going for Horford, I would try for Pau Gasol and Rondo. Between those 3, there lots of veteran experience and they all have great basketball minds. Horford max, Rondo and Gasol shouldn't cost much. Personally I don't care for Horford.
If we strike out on Durant then a hortford/Anderson combo would be very nice. A legit pf and center that can actually shoot
http://hoopshype.com/2016/03/05/nba-free-agency-2016-the-top-players/ I want 3 point shooters and nothing but them. Surround Harden with good shooters and our offense is deadly and our defense is better because we're not missing as many threes that lead to long rebounds and fast breaks (+ the JVG effect) Unrestricted FAs I go after hard: Horford, Durant, Ryan Anderson, Courtney Lee, Batum, Bazemore Restricted FAs I make a juicy offer to: Harrison Barnes, Fournier, Parsons, Afflalo Also, keep DMo.
My two cents: Noah will get something between 15 x year, Lee 10 and Dud 6/7, maybe a full MLE. I like Seth with the BAE though.
Seth Curry will be a good cheap option at PG. One thing he can do is shoot. Defense is eh, but Bev defense isnt all that great. Move Ariza to the bench. Durant and Horford will be a pipedream. I am down for Courtney Lee to play off Harden.
Knowing morey and his stupid ideas he would prob bring back the old rockets roster. Hes deff bringing in clee, scola, ish smith,
Ekpe udoh may be a low risk high reward back up option.....I didnt realize he was in Europe..always played D...looks mobile post injuries and actually hitting jumpers..post up game has fluidity....passionate play. Seems capable and good option to play alongside Harden at times.
Not a fan of that comparison. Two entirely different players. But I suppose I understand the idea here. We're going to strikeout with Durant so your recourse is to toss big money at a second tier free agent like Barnes and hope he blossoms. I just don't see it. He doesn't stand out to me at all. This is going to be a depressing summer.
I think nobody is that sold on Barnes in fact, but if you have the space you have to use it, so, in case you miss on the best players, it's still better to pay a young guy which can still develop and is young, than a 27 year old done player which only ability is to throw anything in the air, imo at least.
As role players I think we should definitely target Noah and Courtney Lee. I want to see Harden guarding 3's rather than 2's and I think Lee could help us do that, as well as play backup PG when needed. Noah is a great passer, rebounder, good defender, below average scorer. He has a very strong character in terms of working hard on the court and fighting for everything. He is very injury prone, but maybe that's good for us while we develop Capela? I think Capela can learn a lot from Noah and we can limit Noah to 15-30 minutes. Then you have to try for Horford and I think this is suddenly a very good option for Horford if we pick the right coach.
Here's what Barnes has going for him 1. 23 years old 2. Can hit the 3 at 40% 3. Strong enough guard PFs and play stretch 4. 4. High IQ, unselfish 5. Above average defense. What are 3-D wings that can legit play PF worth these days? At least Danny Green money. Probably 15 million.
