2016 Free Agency Ideas

Regarding Whiteside and culture.

For one, culture starts from the very top and is distilled throughout the organization from there. The very top meaning Les. And while I don't "hate" Les, or hate the "DM" culture of seemingly analytic driven approach, I also don't love it, and don't see it changing.

Bringing in high IQ and high/good culture players, of course will help.

Would I feel better about Horford, culturally, than Whiteside? Yeah, of course, on paper. Horford has won in college, has been part of a very professional Bud culture in Atlanta, etc.

Do I think that justifies paying him even more than you'd have to pay Whiteside, say $25 million a year? When he's a worse defender, worse rebounder, and only marginally better offensive player? When he's older, more prone to injury? No, not really.

That said, if people can point me in the direction of recent incidents involving Whiteside and his "culture" issues, I'd love to get smarter about it. I'm not talking about before he burst onto the scene. He's a different person and player now. I get that incidents on the court can seem foolish at times... but then, that's the exact personality of Draymond, which seems integral to the GSW culture imo. Sometimes you need a bit of a knucklehead, if it can be channeled smartly. And, heaven knows, I'll take that personality anyway over Dwight's laugh/smile/passive agressiveness.

 

What about Jeff Green? Maybe at 8-10 mill 4 year team option 4th? He's been bounced around a bit but he gets almost 3 assists a game and can score. His 3pt% isn't great but in the MDA game I don't know how needed it would be. I recall him, Durant and Harden being called the Superfriends but I don't know why. Could be just another chip on the table to lure Durant. He's a capable small ball 4 too.

 

You know every offseason we are all se t into a tizzy over who is going to be our next big free agent player. Rarely do we end up with the player we want.

 

Yeah, I saw that quote. And that scares the crap out of me. Because I don't think free agency will be put on hold by most teams. Only a handful of ballclubs probably think they have a legit shot at the likes of Durant and Horford. The rest will move quickly to secure the services of the other available free agents.

We've basically succeeded twice in the Les Alexander era in landing big name free agents. Pippen in 1999(technically a sign-and-trade, but he chose to come here) and Dwight in 2013. This is the problem with Les' approach to building a team. We rely far too much on free agency because of his aversion to going through the draft(and specifically the lottery). So when we strike out, it's a major setback for the organization.

Also, I would note that Pippen was a complete bust and Dwight really only gave us 1 1/2 good regular seasons and 1 good postseason. So even when we do hit the jackpot in free agency, it doesn't really lead to anything.

 

Assuming Beverly, Brewer, and Beverly and McDaniels are traded for draft picks, the cap space should be right around 62mil. In free agency the Rockets take:

Jeff Green 4/30m
Marvin Williams 4/30m
Eric Gordon 3/22m
Brandon Jennings 3/22m
Allen Crabbe 4/50m
Hassan Whiteside 4/80m
Resign Dmo

Lineup

Whiteside/Capella
Dmo/Green/Beasley/Harrell
Crabbe/Williams/Dekker
Harden/Gordon/Draft pick
Jennings/Terry/ Draft pick

Thoughts!

 

Sorry! I entered Beverly twice. I meant to add Arias. Before some smarty person comes in to highlight the mistake and ignore the overall thought! Lol

 

**Dwight walks
**Let Terrence Jones, D-Mo, Jason Terry, and Josh Smith walk.
**Trade - Brewer / 2nd Rd pick for BOS Avery Bradley

Sign:
- Ish Smith
- Seth Curry
- Allen Crabbe
- Kent Bazemore
- Marvin Williams
- Al Horford
- Marreese Speights

New Roster
PG: Ish Smith, Patrick Beverley, Seth Curry
SG: James Harden, Avery Bradley (SG/PG), Allen Crabbe
SF: Michael Beasley, Trevor Ariza, Kent Bazemore (SF/SG), KJ McDaniels (SF/SG), Sam Dekker
PF: Marvin Williams, Marreese Speights (PF/C), Montrezl Harrell
C: Al Horford (PF/C), Clint Capela (PF/C)

 

**Dwight walks
**Let Terrence Jones, D-Mo, Jason Terry, and Josh Smith walk.
**Trade - Brewer / 2nd Rd pick for BOS Avery Bradley
**KD leaves OKC

Sign:
- Ish Smith
- Marvin Williams
- Al Horford
- Marreese Speights
- Kevin Durant

New Roster
PG: Ish Smith, Patrick Beverley
SG: James Harden, Avery Bradley (SG/PG)
SF: Kevin Durant, Michael Beasley (SF/PF), Trevor Ariza (SF/SG), KJ McDaniels (SF/SG), Sam Dekker
PF: Marvin Williams, Marreese Speights (PF/C), Montrezl Harrell
C: Al Horford (C/PF), Clint Capela (C/PF)

 

no offence, but I just can't understand why there are so many people here who are actually in favour of having Jeff Green in a Rocket uniform especially at such a price. And Brandon Jennings. Unless he wants to get near vet minimum.

Jeff Green is someone who doesn't try much and who everywhere he has played in has been an utter dissapointment and a negative influence. He would fit perfectly with our last years lockeroom. Get your paycheck and don't bother showing up.

And Brandon Jennings has been very very bad after his injury. It has been a long while since he came back and he hasn't gotten much better. And unfortunately most epidiomiologic analysis shows that most athletes who suffer an achilles injury are never the same. The sample is small but all the evidence points that Jennings will be like that.

 

I'm personally not a huge fan of Green but his length and versatility is why I chose him. Is be fine with a Luol Deng instead. As far as Jennings he didn't look good but that injury generally takes a full year to fully recover from. The kid in Dallas had a similar injury I believe and wasn't had. My whole point was getting guys for value who could score and shoot.

 

No way in hell is Ainge going to trade Bradley for Brewer and a 2nd round pick. I think the Celtics have 5 2nd round picks. They don't need more. Brewer isn't even close to value for Bradley. To get Bradley you would have to give up Ariza.

I am not in the camp that Brewer is a negative asset. Many people feel that he is. But I think he can be moved for something positive. But probably not more than just a 2nd round pick.

 

Agreed. I don't see the appeal in Jeff Green either. Pass.

 

Worth throwing in here...

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">I heard some teams need a shot blocker </p>&mdash; Nappy Gilmore ™ (@LarrySanders) <a href="https://twitter.com/LarrySanders/status/742556469275463680">June 14, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

Quick everyone tag maury and and larry sanderz!

 

Noel kid from Sixers
http://www.sportingnews.com/nba/news/rockets-salary-cap-offseason-free-agency-dwight-howard-houston-james-harden-future/un2l40n57mg41sgh10mvrb8x9

 

Don't be surprised if the Rockets offer Boban Marjanović some stupid 3 year offer.

 

I'm tired of being a team that just chucks 3s but yet doesn't have any shooters besides James. Get me Seth Curry or Troy Daniels and Mirza Teletovic

 

Him and bezy going smoke weed allday

 

I'm starting to like the Seth Curry idea. He's a restricted FA, though. What do y'all think is the magic number that the Kings won't match?