Starting line-up last year was: Howard Jones Parsons Harden Beverley with the Bosh trade, it would have been: Howard Bosh Parsons Harden Beverley That would certainly be better, but it's not the end of the world. The team last year was really really good. They are only going to get better. They got rid of Asik, who was way overpaid for his 15 minutes a game and got a 1st round draft pick out of it. He didn't even play much of the year and the Rockets did fine. They also got rid of an overpaid Lin, who most here wanted gone anyway. So basically, the Rockets are now in position to sign free agents or trade for players, thus improving the team from last year. No, they didn't make a "splash" this summer like people wanted, but it's not as bad as you think. It only seems that way because you are thinking about "what could have been". The team is essentially the same as last year... with room to make improvements. It will be interesting to see what Morey's moves will be.
i think the starting 5 is still legit, but now we can expect almost 0% production from bench. even with lin/asik, our bench stats was almost laughable.
Nice positive view, but I think you're exaggerating a little. It is not exactly the same as last year..we need to rebuild our bench. We lost our 2 best, albeit overpaid bench players. If we go out with our current roster it'll be worse than last year because we have no depth. Also I think you are underrating Asik's contribution. Without him, Aldridge would've continued on his tear, and we probably would've lost in 4 or 5.
The problem is not that the Rockets have gotten worse (though without Asik and Lin, I certainly think so); the problem is that the Rockets have not gotten any better. The series against the Blazers exposed a lot of the Rockets' problems. But if things stand still, the next season's version of the Rockets will have the same coach and the same core except without two key contributors. If you're content with the Rockets remaining a ~50 win team with perhaps the Western Conference finals as the ceiling, then you shouldn't worry too much. But most people here wanted championships.
That's what the next two days are for. We have plenty of cap space, we just don't have the time. Asik will be missed for his defense, Lin for his offense (when he was on he really provided a spark - but that didn't happen too often last season). A guy like Okafor could help with big men defense for a much lower price (of course he isn't half as good as Asik, but if healthy should be serviceable). A guy like Stephenson could help on both sides of the ball. Maybe Bledsoe or Dragic are in play. Deng is a great all around player. We could do trades, maybe for a guy like Millsap. Ilyasova? J. Smith? Plenty of options. This offseason is far from over...
All the more reason to be positive and see if the bench can be legit with the extra cap room. Laughable bench stats and 2 of those highly-paid almost non- contributors jettisoned. Seems like the right move.
Both Asik and Lin got paid 5mil each for the first 2 years. They will be overpaid this year, but definitely not for the past 2 years. The bigger issue is that you got to get assets return after trading away Asik and Lin. If Rox gets none, then it is going to be a terrible situation.
We have to hope that Harden decides to play defense and the young guys to continue to grow and that Howard ages gracefully. Our bench is essentially non existent. And lest we forget we still have the same coaching staff. These sound like a lot of IFs. I'm more of a fact guy not a what IF guy. I hope to see tangible improvements in the next couple days.
If Rockets went to Finals, or even WCF, yes it's fine to stand pat. But they didn't. This team needs improvements if the goal is to win a championship in the next couple of years.
Agree, if we match Parsons then we haven't lost much assuming we rebuild the bench a bit (guard should be easier to sign than backup center). The only issue I have is we didn't capitalize on our cap space (out o our control, we can't make players sign here). The key loss is we don't have tradable assets going forward should we want to go after Love or Aldridge (both pipe dreams) or lesser starters (more likely). But we did get a higher first round pick out of the Asik deal which can't be complained about. Giving up Lin hurts since we had to give up a pick, this move necessitates you sign someone/anyone with the cap space you made. I trust in Morey to do that and match parsons. If we don't match Parsons I look for the team to take a step back if they try and save cap space for next year.
Well it depends on what happens with Parsons. He helped all of the guys we had play better together. He was like a glue. In addition his other skills added to the mix. So with that group we lost to Portland in the 1st round. If we lose Parsons our team doesn't play as well together, we are worse at SF, and our bench is worse. That's as of now. But until the off season is over I won't rule anything out. I wouldn't mind adding small pieces and keeping our core together and letting them grow. They are young enough and familiarity with each other will help the team.
I think it's not all positive and worrying frankly, but it depends on how Morey executes in the next 24 hours. Lin is probably not to difficult to replace with his salary (or even a bit lower) and we probably want to play Daniels more anyway. But replacing Asik is going to be a major issue. Remember that defensive fall off when Asik or Dwight gets off the floor? You can't play Dwight for 48 minutes, so who's playing the 12 min-14 min when he's not on the floor. Centers are damn expensive. Let's see if Morey has a plan B.
Asik and Lin are gone -- that's your first 2 off the bench. Parsons is either gone or will be vastly overpaid. Been rejected by Bosh twice now. Never even really considered by Melo. Some reasons why: Kevin McHale is still an incompetent head coach. It is becoming obvious that players don't want to play for Daryl Morey, probably because he's a press w**** and because of his history treating players like numbers rather than people. This team, as it stands, is far worse than last year.
The starting 5 is still solid. I thought last year the Rockets had one of the best starting lineups in the league. And if Harden, T-Jones, and Parsons(especially now that he's being paid superstar money) continue to improve, that won't change. The problem is their bench has been gutted in order to pursue a bunch of star free agents who never wanted to come here in the first place. And now we've got about a day left to do something with that cap space from the Asik and Lin deals or else this team will have very little flexibility going forward. That's not the kind of situation you wanna be in when you're coming off yet another first round loss.
Bosh and the Mavs really did screw the Rockets over. They could still yet salvage this off-season if Morey can get in one or two solid role players, to compensate for Asik and Lin leaving, in time to match Parsons inflated deal. If Rockets only manage to resign Parsons and are hamstrung, cap-wise, then Rockets are going to be really light in roster depth, especially if one or more of the starters are out any length of time, next season.
And one other issue. Not only is McFail still our coach, but Morey's done nothing to address the two assistant coach vacancies on the bench.
No we are not. Next question. It is disapointing that we could have bosh and with bosh a team that would be one of the clear favorites. But the team we have is still very good. And with some smart moves by morey a contender.
McHale is one of the reasons that players DO consider us. So now you are saying that people aren't signing with Houston because of Morey? I think the whole "treats players as numbers" agenda is way overblown.