You need Vets who have been through something and won. Gabe would be perfect especially if you believe Green, Bari and Sengun are going to develop into stars. And he’s a starter that won’t break the bank.
Overpaying Porzingis would at least make more sense than trading #4 for Siakam if Tilman is so determined to sign Harden and pair him with somebody. (I don't want to Siakam or Porzingis. Just saying it's the lesser of two evils...)
Think this would be a very good off-season. Doubt Lively makes it to 20, but who cares. The key is not to sign Harden to more than 3 years. I also wouldn’t mind packaging Tate, KJM, and some picks for another vet sharpshooter. If you can’t get Harden then go for Conley or Caruso in a trade. Gabe Vincent is not a bad idea either.
Vincent could be had for avg NBA Starter money too. I’m out the Harden thing, Wouldn’t even consider it.
Houston Rockets Trade Breakdown Change in Team Outlook: -13.6 ppg, +0.6 rpg, and -1.4 apg. Incoming Players Kyle Kuzma 27 year old, 6-10, 221 lb F from Utah 21.2 ppg, 7.2 rpg, 3.7 apg in 35.0 minutes in 2022-2023 Deni Avdija 22 year old, 6-9, 210 lb SG from Maccabi Tel Aviv U18 (Israel) 9.2 ppg, 6.4 rpg, 2.8 apg in 26.6 minutes in 2022-2023 Outgoing Players Jalen Green 21 year old, 6-6, 178 lb SG from NBA G League Ignite 22.1 ppg, 3.7 rpg, 3.7 apg in 34.2 minutes in 2022-2023 Jae'sean Tate 27 year old, 6-4, 230 lb F from Ohio State 9.1 ppg, 3.8 rpg, 2.7 apg in 21.9 minutes in 2022-2023 K.J. Martin 22 year old, 6-7, 215 lb F from IMG Academy (Florida) 12.7 ppg, 5.5 rpg, 1.5 apg in 28.0 minutes in 2022-2023
Just be a mad lad and go for it for the next several years: Green Harden OG Anunoby Jabari Siakam TyTy Sengun Fillers
Philosophy below my assumed picks in Bold. Run offense primarily through Sengun then the guards as 2nd option. KPJ wins sixth man of the year getting starter minutes playing 2/3 Draft: PG: Scoot or Amen #4 High Upside LONG player at # 20 (Lively, Leonard, Rupert, GG Jackson, etc with a ton of defensive potential. Free Agency: Sign Starting Point Guard for $25-40M/ yr for 4 years (Reaves, Harden, FVV) Sign backup Center for around MLE (Naz Reid, Poeltl) Resign Boban for Minimum Trade for OG Anunoby or Mikal Bridges using future BKN picks and KMJ/Tate. Need a GREAT defender that can make 3s or more to round out the lineup. If neither can be had then sign a vet SF on a 1 year deal with plan to sign OG or another Wing next offseason. PG: Reaves, Amen/Scoot, TyTy SG: Green, KPJ, JC SF: OG Anunoby, KPJ/Tari, Tate/KMJ PF: Bari, Tari, Garuba C: Sengun, Naz Reid, Boban 20th pick (Rupert) starts in G league until injuries accumulate.
There isn't a single player on the rockets who should be untouchable. We've seen guys get drafted early and make instant impact like Morant and Tatum. The Rockets have Green who hasn't done anything to impact winning games, but I would give Smith and Sengun another year minimum. It doesn't take that long if you're a real player getting alot of minutes.
Tatum is an odd example considering he averaged 14 points his first season and under 16 his second. If anything, Tatum is the perfect example of a player taking his jump in the third season.
The trade market isn’t even better. Boston is looking for possible cap relief. Maybe we could swing a minor trade for Brogdon Pick 19 and KPJ for Brogdon
Brogdon wouldn’t be bad. No need to include KPJ though. If the Celtics want to dump salary we are the team that can help. No need to include assets unless it’s to out-bid someone else. I would first target Smart and see if he could be had for a reasonable amount of assets. We could eat a couple of salaries for them while sending next to nothing back. Smart will probably command to much, but he would be a perfect fit for us.
Trading back salary would allow them to still go after more players on the market, versus having redundancy at the guard position. No need to absorb unnecessary salary. would rather have Brogdon over Smart. Better overall player. We got to stop with the one dimensional players
I’d like to see the Rockets try to leverage taking on Simmons contract to get Bridges. How about #4, 2024 Nets pick, 2025 Nets Swap for Bridges and Simmons. We can either buy Simmons out or see if Ime can get something out of him off the bench. Sengun would be your PG in the half-court, KPJ can bring the ball up hand it over to Sengun and be a spot up shooter/cutter. A lineup of KPJ, Green, Bridges, Jabari, Sengun might get you to play-in range. You would still have plenty of cap space in a couple of years and you could create more by trading Tate, KJM, and the like for draft picks and then signing a vet backup center. I believe you would then have a full MLE available as well. So as a straw man: Guard rotation: KPJ, Green, Josh, Tyty, Simmons SF: Bridges, Tari PF: Jabari, Tari, Garuba C: Sengun, Lopez or Poehtl Guys you could target with MLE or portion thereof (some may be too expensive for MLE) Grant Williams Gabe Vincent Poehtl Paul Reed Coby White Kelly Oubre Jr. Dillon Brooks Harrison Barnes Plumlee Schroeder Hachimura Jackson Hayes Naz Reid Powell Tre Jones
