Amen and Sengun will develop regardless. Booker will make keeping the other players difficult as he makes 35% of the roster. If Amen also wants a max then after Sengun, Amen and Booker the rest of the team will have to be on cheap deals. Look at Nuggets they dont have anybody making more than vet min or rookie deals after Jokic and his 3 sidekicks. If you look at Booker's stats he is playing as the sidekick to KD his stats are barely better than Jalen. On this team without the gravity of KD I can see him putting up Jalenesque nos but costing twice as much. He is turning 30 next year and as we have seen with FVV sometimes some players start regressing in their early 30 already. Booker could be one of those players as his nos have regressed tremendously despite still being in his prime.
The same problem Phoenix has. You really can’t have more than 2 super max contracts on a team with the current apron rules. Amen and Sengun (or someone Sengun is traded for) are going to be those contracts. Booker is not worth the super max. We are better off keeping the Phoenix picks or trading them for young 3&D non-stars than going for broke. Teams are going to have to build from within unless they are named the Lakers or GSW. It is a new era of rule driven parity for the NBA.
Jalen Green is showing he can get Rebounds and Assists if he is the Primary Guard starting the offense and creating plays in pick and roll. 15 points 7 Rebounds, 8 Assists There is more to Jalen Green, why is Ime Udoka holding Jalen Green back in playmaking. Let him create, trust him more especially in this tough stretch without Fred VanVleet and Amen Thompson.
Devin Booker is from East Lansing, Michigan. Devin Booker grew up a Huge Detroit Pistons Fan. The Detroit Pistons are the Favorites to land Devin Booker.
Stone is better than Morey Morey has got way too big for his boots. Stone was left with nothing and he built our current roster. We needed assets and he got them. Every team needs them.
Between the Harden trade and the 3 years he was fully allowed to tank, Stone was handed more assets in just 4 years of being a GM than Morey had his entire tenure with the Rockets.
I would give up FVV and all the Suns picks/swap back for Booker. I'd PROBABLY deal Jalen plus all their capital back too for him if push came to shove. Although...that WOULD most certainly be a good start towards getting BOTH Book and KD. To be clear, I don't think KD should warrant a lot. I'm not game on overpaying for him due to age/downside risk. But, I could get my head around acquiring both. I'm definitely not including Jabari in this deal. It's too much.
Morey was charged with a seemingly impossible task...to reload on the run..no rebuild. And, he successfully did it, while having to deal with one of the NBA's greatest dynasties. It took the League stepping in AND a CP3 injury to keep us from at least one title. Stone has been given a blank canvas with a much greater margin for error. Apples and oranges... He's done a very good job...bringing in Ime, the Harden deal, stealing guys like Sengun/Tari later in the first ( I love Cam too), grabbing Amen (and Jabari as far as Im concerned) establishing a culture with vets like DB & FVV.. We're way ahead of schedule....on our way.
I need to watch more Booker games It is obvious he can score but what about everything else He gets a 9 out of 10 in scoring but what is he everywhere else? Assisting? Defending? Rebounding? I'm not being negative of dogging him but just asking where would you put him in the whole team game? I have no interest in watching him go for 70 and us losing that game Rocket River
I think you're simply underestimating the importance of a 9/10 scorer. The Rockets are currently 17th in offense, and bottom 5 in all shooting/passing metrics. The only thing on offense the Rockets are good at are offensive rebounding and transition. If the Rockets had any kind of 9/10 scorer right now, we'd be discussing how we're matching up against OKC and Denver in the playoffs rather than who to trade for this offseason. All the points about Booker's age and future salaries are fair, but if you don't think he helps this team quite a lot, then you are seriously underestimating how putrid this offense currently is relative to a team with championship aspirations.
He creates more for others than FVV, but is a little more reckless. Much much better creator for others than Green. Defending...probably better than Green, but bad. Rebounding...a little worse than Green. I see Booker as what Green would become if a lot goes right for Green, except the Rockets don't have to wait for Green to develop (if he develops). When Green has a good game, the Rockets win. Booker has good games a lot more often than Green. Booker would help a lot. Granted, I think there is a decent chance that Amen or Sengun will jump forward in their abilities next season. My only concerns with Booker would be the amount of draft capital needed for him and whether Amen improvements lead him to be a SG. On the money, Rockets would be fine until 27-28. In 27-28, money is only a concern if the Rockets young players all develop. In which case, the Rockets are forced to trade someone for draft picks.
Morey was a one hit wonder he did the Harden trade and didn't do much else in the 10+ yrs as Rockets GM. Always chased after the big names and ignored youth and rebuiiding in favor of win now moves that didn't pan out. Rox hadn't made a draft 5 yrs before he left and the Rox was the oldest team in the league when Harden wanted out. Morey came into Philly with an MVP candidate in Embiid, former All star in Ben Simmons and a blank check from the owner. He made that team into a mess chasing after washed Rox players and now Philly has to tank to avoid giving their pick to OKC while having 3 max players in Embiid, Podcast P and Maxey. Philly is so ****ed I dunno why Morey hasn't been fired yet like he stuck Philly with bad contracts for the next 4 yrs.
The Devin Booker fall off: 2024 vs 2025 Points/36: 27.1 ---> 25.0 FG%: 49.2% ---> 45.7% 2P%: 55.2% ---> 53.4% 3P%: 36.4% ---> 34.5% AST%: 31.2% ---> 29.4% AST:TO: 2.7 ---> 2.4 FTA/36: 6.7 ---> 6.5 Rim FGA/36: 2.7 ---> 1.9 Rim FG%: 76.0% ---> 65.5% Overall on/off differential: +6.4 ---> -0.6 Offensive on/off differential: +8.4 ---> +2.2 And no, Booker's across the board offensive decline is not the supporting cast's fault. The Suns have among the best spacing in the league. They shoot 39% from 3 as a team (no thanks to Booker). They've been mostly healthy all season. This isn't Maxey or LaMelo playing a season with G leaguers. Booker has just declined.
I want to say it's hard to believe someone who was on clutchfans since 2008 actually put the Rockets decision to compete every year following the T-Mac/Yao career ending injuries on Morey rather than Les. But it does feel like a lot of Clutchfans have gone anti-Morey since the China incident and subsequently being forced out for basically destroying all of Tilman's ventures in China. I feel whatever grudge you feel for Morey losing the NBA massive amount of money shouldn't affect your judgement of his job done as a GM though.
