I agree on Wall staying for leadership. Great mentor to Jones and other rookies Dipo/Gordon/House/Tucker/Nwaba are all tradable to me. Clear the vets on the bench and make room for these rookies
Dipo and class, now I've heard it all. When Dipo was on the Pacers he would tell teams that he wanted to play for them, sometimes in the middle of the game. His teammates were not fond of him. He is rehabbing his image in Houston.
Trading Nwaba makes no sense. He is the Rockets most efficient and consistent defensive player. And he is actually more efficient on offense than even Tate.
But he is 27 (the age most NBA players peak) and has an injury history. I probably wouldnt actively shop him but if a contending team looking for defense off the bench offerred a second round pick I'd aboslutely take it. I think someone like Scottie Lewis could replace much of what Nwaba does with potential to be better on offense. Plus he is younger and cheaper. There are others too.
We're not just clearing them, we're trading them for pics and eventually through pics or trade, we'll get our 2 stars next to wall. Wall = CP3 of Eastern Conference.
The Rockets defense that we are all celebrating and enjoying depends on more players like Nwaba, not less. Nwaba is only 27. Wood is 25. Not seeing the age issue here and Nwaba is 100% returned from his Achilles injury, which you could see plainly if watching the games. He is not the gimp that Boogie has become.
Cutting off nose to spite your face. Rockets need to keep defensive core of Nwaba-Tate-Brown, especially if you all are trying to sell off wholesale PJ, House, EGo and Dipo. You have to be surgical with FRP not use like carpet bombs.
Ok, I am going to get into this today. Consider this thread a combination of the random trade threat and the draft forum with, of course, a sprinkle of tank vs win at all costs debate. As I mentioned in the original post, the Rockets find themselves situated in such a way that half the roster’s contracts expire after this season and there is only KJ Martin signed 3 seasons from now. Add to that they are likely to have multiple first round picks in the next 3 drafts, Brooklyn’s first in ‘26 and then the Brooklyn pick swaps in ’25 & ’27. Simply put the Rockets are situated long term as good, or better really, than just about every team in the NBA. This thread is about charting a hypothetical course using all of these assets to put together a Roster that can contend in a similar way and for a similar length of the great teams of the 80s (Celtics, Pistons and Lakers), 90s (Rockets and Bulls), 00’s (Lakers & Spurs) & 10s (LeBron and GSW). With sound strategy and a little luck the Rockets can be that of the 20s. This thread can serve as Stone’s blueprint courtesy of Clutchfans! And we’re off!
Coaching I think Silas is making the case, given all of the difficult circumstances he has dealt with and the way the team has responded, that he is the right man for this job. He is a keeper and I think we are lucky to have him. I do think that Will Weaver is a guy who is going to be poached in the near future as someone’s head coach. The rest of the staff are guys that I think are here for the foreseeable future. The only change I would look at, once Weaver leaves, is to bring back a true legend as Assistant Head Coach: Mario Elie. (This alone should get a like from @Clutch). I think Elie would be perfect given his background with the rockets but also his experience as a player that won titles with multiple teams and a guy who played for and coached with some HOF types. Obviously Silas has to sign off.
The 20-21 season is all about asset acquisition. The Rockets are not contenders and so their window is in the future. Players whose best days are behind them or are more valuable to teams on different timelines than the Rockets are absolutely trade candidates. There are exceptions such as Wall and Ego (each of whom would likely require assets to trade and who can be valuable veterans) or a player who we acquire in order to facilitate other deals with draft picks provided for our trouble. 20-21 Roster Trade #1: https://tradenba.com/trades/fJJqLQLQs Trade #2: https://tradenba.com/trades/tkGRKCAYF PG: Wall – Hampton SG: Herro – Gordon – Porter – Brown – Jones - Thomas SF: Nesmith – Tate – Nwaba – Martin – Kurucs PF: Williams - Nnaji C: Wood – Olynyk – Cousins Trade #1 turns PJ and Dipo, 2 players whose past outshines their futures, for 1 bona fide foundational piece in Herro, a fill in at C for Wood who is on a expiring contract and 2 lottery ticket forwards who may or may not pan out. My guess is that Nesmith has value as a shooter off the bench and Williams ends up as an end of the bench 6 fouls at worst. I think Miami agrees to move Herro for Dipo due to the fact that Beal is not looking like he is going to force his way to Miami. That is, in my mind, the only way he ends up on the Heat as I don’t see Washington keeping him in conference if he is moved and I think the Pels have better assets for a Beal trade. Boston gets added defense with some shooting in the form of a battle tested vet on an expiring deal at the cost of 2 guys that might not even see the floor in the playoffs. Win-Win-Win. Trade #2 is similar to #1 in that the Rockets turn 2 vets who have value now into 2 players whose value is low now and uncertain moving forward. Hampton is averaging 3 minutes a game and Nnaji is playing 2 minutes a night. Denver doesn’t have time to try and develop these players and continue trying to get home court advantage/avoid LAL & LAC in the playoffs. Chances are that both are busts but the cost of seeing if there is anything there is a guy who is already checking out (BMc) and a guy who is unlikely to stick when his contract expires next year.
If 20-21 can be considered the “tank year” (despite the fact that the team tried to win but focused as much on developing young players) than 21-22 is the turning point. It would be nice for Silver to do the Rockets a solid and get them into the top 4 but I presume the Rockets will be picking #16 (Miami’s pick after they got the 7 seed with Dipo), #23 (Portland) and a second rounder . With the picks the Rockets brought in a power forward (Kai Jones), a combo guard (Tre Mann) and a true pg (Daishen Nix) to round out their roster. I could see the Rockets also dipping into free agency to find a 4 (Trey Lyles?) to put out there while Jones develops from the bench or RGV. And bring back Cousins for depth/veteran presence. 21-22 Roster PG Wall – Hampton – Mann – Nix SG Herro – Gordon – Porter –Jones SF Tate – Nesmith – Martin PF Lyles – Jones – Williams C Wood - Cousins
22-23 is too hard to even try and predict. With 3 picks in the 22 draft and a bevy of young players the Rockets could make a play to move up near the top of the draft so they either add another potential franchise player to Herro and Wood and the developing, deep rotation of young players or they continue to add (hopefully) quality players on friendly contracts. The big thing in the 22-23 season is the expiring contracts for Wall and Gordon. Those could be extremely valuable to move to a team looking to move large salaried (read prime time) players.
From 23-24 forward the Rockets should have multiple picks (possibly high ones) from the Brooklyn trade to add to an already formidable roster. The team is probably more like the 00s Pistons or 90s Sonics in that it is built on depth from 1-12 with a few possible all nba players and no generational talents but it is built to be together for a long time and if any one of Herro or Wood (or one of the many possible draft picks) hit then maybe they are in the same conversations as those dominant teams of the past.
