[Chron] Morey says Rockets not done acquiring players

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No that's not the answer to the question. You're answering the question: Why would we be more willing to TRY next season? To which I say, why on earth would we believe a guy who said he will do whatever it takes to win a championship THIS season and ended up dumping salary?

If the players weren't available now, why would they be available to us next season? Our assets aren't any better except for Gordon being 30 games closer to being an expiring.

 

Wait a second.
Moose has a good relationship with Josh Smith?
I don't believe this. He made fun of him publicly in Detroit and basically said he was the reason they were losing.

 

I think Tillman would have done anything to win a championship this season. There just wasn't an opportunity to improve those odds substantially. Next year and the next he can go over the luxury tax without going into the repeater (something almost every team will not do). He also should have a better opportunity because I believe Golden State will lose Durant, Thompson, Cousins or others. Gordan being an expiring is a big deal as we saw with the other trades that have been consummated this year.

 

You make excellent and important points. Personally, I don't believe it true that we didn't have the right kind of assets. I looked through the deals too. If you look at rumors of who we were willing to trade for, almost 100% of them had expiring contracts or rookie deals. We were handicapped by the fact that even maintaining our salary is out of the question unless for a top 15 player.

I ask you this: if Dan Gilbert is the owner and like he did with the Cavs he tells Morey he can spend anything to make the championship happen, do you think we end up where we are right now?

 

Yes, reminds me of that time rockets were in the same boat. Young undrafted rookie makes big splash, looks like rotation player and gets multi year deal, only to regress and get buried in the rotation. I know it was a long time ago, but do y’all remember the name Gary Clark? Not to be confused with the musician.

 

That's subjective. You have your opinion about it, and I have a different one. I think there wasn't an opportunity only because taking on salary was not an option unless we acquired a franchise level star, and we don't necessarily need a franchise star to compete with the Warriors.

He certainly CAN. Whether he will is a different issue. If he is only willing to do it for a top 10 player, then we are most likely going to be having this exact same conversation next season. So far in his first full season in charge, he has shown that we cannot take his word for anything.

The Warriors won a ring and then had a 73-win regular season with Curry/Draymond/Klay. They are not going to lose everybody. If they lose Durant and Cousins, they will simply do as they've always done: put their money where their mouth is and acquire another piece using Iguodala/Livingston's contract(s) and future picks. They will spend. They will go over the tax, because winning it all allows you to do that. Knowing they won 73 and were 1 game away from back to back titles, they intentionally put themselves in a precarious financial position to acquire Durant. They took that risk and it took them from being a contender to being a dynasty. Tilman's short report card so far is an F, and it's not entirely out of the blue, it's allegedly how he runs all his businesses: profit-driven.

 

He was willing to go over the luxury tax for Butler, that is well documented. Who are these other guys that would have given us a demonstratively better odds at beating Golden State with the roster they have now? What owner or gm would go into luxury tax and tie their hands for repeater tax without getting someone that would have demonstrably improved their odds this year? The fact of the matter is that there was no one available with our assets that we could have gotten that would have made a difference. It was the owner that agreed to the Chris Paul max contract and the Capella extension by the way. Both in an attempt to keep us competitive. Your letting your disappointment at the trade line get in the way of rational thought.

 

Who on earth doesn't want Butler for Gordon and a few mediocre picks? Of course he wanted that. The cheapest owner in the league would want that. That's not the sign of a high willingness to take on salary.

On who we could get, again, we don't know. Both of us are sharing subjective opinions. What we receive as rumors is part of the truth. Almost ALL the rumors were focused on expiring guys or rookie contracts. Personally, I'm sure that if we were willing to go all in and blow up the salary we could overpay for someone. This is overpaying time. Dan Gilbert didn't want to give those contracts to Tristan and JR. He just knew he couldn't risk losing guys at that point. He took the risk a few years (lost money almost every year), and won it once. Tilman takes home at least $50m a year, and our playoff windfall wouldn't match GS, but it would blow away GS.

I'm not being emotional here. I love Shumpert as a role player. Faried and Rivers are playing well. This is not my problem at all. My problem is that this owner said he will do whatever it takes, but he didn't mean whatever. I don't appreciate being lied to. There is a big difference between "whatever" and "only if I get a top 15 player back, otherwise we must dump". Vastly different.

 

Mirotic, Barnes, Harris, J. Green, Ellington, Hood -- plenty of the players traded would have gotten the Rockets closer to where they were last year and given them a fighting chance. Did they not have the assets to acquire any of these players? It seems the decision on management's part was: if we can't make the team substantially better (Jimmy Butler), let's stand pat and save some money. Standing pat this year means an early exit from the playoffs. It means essentially throwing away a year of Harden's prime and looking toward next season. As a fan, I couldn't care less about Tillman's finances. Spend the money and get incrementally better, because since the offseason, you've gotten incrementally worse, and what you have now isn't good enough to contend. Or maybe get bold, target Deandre Jordan, and offer Capela, Gordon and picks for stud player. Being conservative and penny-pinching aren't going to win a championship.

 

I disagree. I think you're wildly over-reacting. I believe that when healthy this is a better team than we entered the playoffs with last year. We just haven't been healthy yet. Hopefully that will come together at the right time.

Also, anyone who is capable of seeing the big picture understands that it's a given that Cousins is leaving Golden State this off season and it's highly likely they lose Durant as well. Klay Thompson is likely to re-sign but it's not impossible they lose him too. Next year the NBA will be WIDE OPEN. So if you can't get a true star this year than it's preferable to maintain your assets and try to make a big move in the off-season. Meanwhile you keep trying to improve your team this year via trading dead weight for Shump and adding guys like Rivers and Faried off the buyout market. And we'll see. I suspect we're going to get another buyout guy or two capable of contributing. None of the guys you mentioned move the needle much more than Rivers and Faried (or Markieff, Ellington, Kanter and other possible buyout targets) with the exception of Tobias Harris. Some of the guys you mentioned may still end up being bought out. We'll see.

 

Finally, some common sense.

 

Good to hear things sound promising with Markieff. He is the best buyout guy out there to fit the team as a backup PF and a stretch 5.

I'd like to sign House, if for no other reason then to ADD to the talent pipeline. Even if he doesn't contribute in the rotation because people are ahead of him. Because without a 1st round pick, getting House locked down as a bench rotation player basically can act as a de-facto 1st talent.

Gortat would be solid. He sets GREAT screens. He is durable. Don't sleep on him. If you have to face OKC and Adams in a playoff, having someone like Gortat for minutes could be important. I would rather have him over Monroe.

The Jamal Crawford interest is odd. Mainly because I don't see the minutes and he is very bad defensive player. But he would fit in well in the lockerroom. At least he has big game experience to take big shots. Could help the "garbage lineup" keep leads and keep Harden resting on the bench. Lowkey that is something.

 

This and exactly this. People keep spamming his name because the previous guy said his name. House just has a big body and "fit" in, but doesnt excel at anything. People tripping like he's an all star.

 

Bucks will lose everything, not improve and not add anyone new
Sixers, although Brand is authorized to max the 2 guys, are not going to add depth to complete the roster
Raptors will lose Kawhi, and Kawhi will join the Globetrotters, he won't go anywhere that matters
Anthony Davis is not going to join the Lakers or Celtics
Warriors will know their salary constraints and they will sit around, it's not like they too have an expiring and late first rounders to offer
Boston is just going to fizzle out
Mavs, with Porzingis and Doncic and Cap space, are going to be nobodies
Denver will become nobodies with Paul Millsap coming off their cap

Meanwhile the Rockets will split the MLE between 2-3 players and get whoever they want with expiring contracts and picks and other GM's are just going to suddenly realize they have been too harsh on us. This has been planned so well, the title is ours for the taking. It's TOTALLY different next season. Everyone will sit around while we make our sneaky good pick ups. This is the realistic take.

 

Please assist this old phart to catch up - - who is Moose? And who is Crawdaddy? Thanks.

 

Greg Monroe and Jamal Crawford

 

Same boat... but I believe it’s Greg Monroe and Jamal Crawford. Someone correct me if I’m wrong

 

Better team on paper, possibly. Healthy? That's the magic word in sports, ask any Supe Bowl champ. Or GSW - - Steph is hurt (and Dray fouls up), boom - - LeBron Clevelanizes'm; then, MBAB gets owied followed by CP3 and JEHj doesn't get to be the #1 James. So - -

Last year's Rox squad had an 'it' factor that has only appeared on too rare of occasions this year. Can they 'it' it together like the #6 seeded supernovae of '95?

 

Thanks. GMonroe? meh and a half!