They are my top two targets outside of durant. I just wanted to see if we could add another player like Anderson or Barnes. But if I had to pick only two it would be Conley and whiteside.
Conley certainly has made himself "more available" this offseason than I had originally thought. He went from "locked into Memphis" to "playing the field" pretty quickly over the last few months.
I just think you overpay for bigs and lock yourself into a team with no salary cap flexibility and too much invested in a position that returns too little. I would like to have him - but as Morey said "you need to be the team that finds and develops those players, not overpays for them"
I certainly can see Mike Conly as our Point guard next season. My our starting 5 could be PG CONLY SG HARDEN SMF DURANT PF HORFORD C WHITESIDE IF Howard goes then we could afford them all. ( Morey, please look after it!!!!!!!!)
I feel the same way about Conley that I do about Batum... Both are fantastic two-way players. High IQ, good reputation, good fit, intangibles off the charts, etc. ...but at what cost? If you essentially swap one of those two for Dwight, we're no better. Both of these players are essentially glorified glue guys. We would be lucky to have either of them, but let's call a spade a spade: they're not superstars. A max contract is hard for me to justify under that scenario. I know they'll both probably get it, though. To me, adding Batum or Conley makes the most sense only if we're lucky enough land KD or some other superstar to play alongside Harden.
You are definitely correct. However the only way to get players even that good in their prime is to overpay. Also I think everyone is forgetting that the cap is increasing this offseason AND next offseason. The cap in 2017 is estimated to be $107 million. Just think about that for a second. You could easily afford a few max contracts in that setting, and players know you can too so I suspect they (and their agents) would be expecting it. I still argue the best thing for this franchise long term is young talent which you can only get via the draft, which would mean going young this off season and trying to truly rebuild instead of reload. It sounds crazy, but: 1. Harden is still young at 26 and in many ways need to grow as a leader and basketball player. Is also not like he currently immensely cheaper now than he will be in 3-4 years. 2. This team is so far way from being consistently in the current conversation with elite teams such as the Warriors or Spurs or just a notch below like OKC, the Clippers, and Cavs. 3. Any coach coming into this them who has some sort of legitimate offensive or defensive schemes will take time to implement. Any true motion offense or advance defense takes time to learn roles, trust teammates, and become reflexive. 4. We can potentially get some influx of young talent to pair with another great free agent class in 2017 plus (if they stink in 2016) some young gun to pair with Harden. I know it is not what people want to hear, and it not something Les would likely do. But it would be the only way to legitimately turn this franchise around.
You vastly over rate Harrison Barnes. He is by far the easiest player on that team to replace. He's replaceable. Good luck to any team that gives him the max. They'll need it because Barnes is a bonafide scrub. He came into college with a ton of hype, but that's all gone now. He is who he is. Ariza does what he does.
Good post. I completely get what you're saying. My gripe with getting a Conley or Batum type is JUST getting a Conley or Batum type. As you accurately pointed out, we can go one of two ways: reloading or truly rebuilding. If all we're going to do is add a Conley type and run on the treadmill for a couple of years, it lands us somewhere in the middle of those two strategies (and I don't mean that in a good way). Where we're kind of retooling but also making Conley part of our foundation; a foundation of which all other moves will be based off of. To me, that's a flawed strategy unless we're landing a KD type to play alongside Harden, thus making a Conley or Batum level addition potentially lethal.
It's not about who I recommend, it's about knowing your personnel. Harden needs a combo guard next to him much like Westbrook was when he was in OKC. That way they both can share the ball handling duties and score with or without the ball on offense and both be available to play defense full time. This season showed Harden does not play at his best along side a floor general type point like Conley(see Ty Lawson) because he wants to handle the ball and be a play maker as well. I have always said that Harden needs a Eric Bledsoe type back court mate. Bledsoe himself would be ideal, he can strap up on defense, can be a play maker and a leader with or with out the ball in his hands, and he can stick the three.
Man, I cringe whenever anybody says build through the draft in the NBA. Look at NBA drafts. A high pick does not guarantee you a superstar. These Johnny Flynn's were not necessarily the outrageous picks people paint them as. Marcus Fizer went where he was expected to go. There's just no surefire way to draft for the NBA to avoid busts. The bust rate is so high. Plus, some years don't even have a James Harden prize at the top. You get lucky and win the lottery but you're going to have no better than a second tier franchise player no matter how good you are at drafting. That said, I agree about not wanting to pay the Max to some of these guys. Even if their market value is definitely the Max, the problem is these elite teams have players who are underpaid by the Max. This whole Max limitation on contracts just messes up parity of the league. Plus, you have really productive players taking discounts like Dirk, Duncan, and West. How are you going to compete with the top when they are paying Duncan 1/3 what you pay Howard? I think the Rockets are in a tough spot, cuz I don't see them as attractive to a Durant or a Lebron. Adding solid role players by paying the Max is not a wise strategy. Not adding talent and losing Harden is not a good strategy. And building through the draft doesn't appear to be a good strategy (see Sixers). I guess I advocate trying for more quality role players on less pricey contracts to put around Harden until we can get somebody else who will outperform a Max contract. Adding Conley & Batum is not going to worry the Warriors, Spurs, or Cavs.
Conley ain't coming to Houston unless he's stupid. He saw what happened to Ty Lawson, and we don't even have a coach. Stop dreaming.
