I used to like Josh Smith alot but I think he had a horrible season. I noticed he has been lazy on help defense this year, and that didn't change much in the playoffs (most noticeable in the elimination game which is very disturbing especially on a contract year).
If we strike out on Dwight and Chris Paul, I say we focus on player development, which should be done regardless of what happens in free agency. To me, this years free-agency, out side of those two stars, is very underwhelming, and given the youth on this team, there's no need to rush to sign anybody. Personally I think Motiejunas, Jones and Robinson are all very talented forwards, I believe we might have our starting PF of the future in one of these guys. If we make moves I think it should be to address the back-up center position, which I think can be met via the draft (Jeff Withey), along with a back up SF position, given the possible departures of Delfino and Garcia.
Waiving Delfino and Garcia to sign Dwight is fine but I still think it would be a mistake to break up any of our core of Dwight, Asik, Lin, and Harden to get him. There are other options and I trust Morey can find the big that we need without killing our chemistry.
Move #1: Trade Asik to a team needing a center for a future 1st round draft pick. I love Asik, but Dwight is a major improvement and keeping both is not necessary/economical. So trade Asik to a team that needs a C and has cap room to take him on (Pelicans or Hawks...which also takes them out of the race for Dwight, so a deal with them might be difficult unless they are convinced they are not getting him). Move #2: Sign Dwight to 4yr/88 million max contract (~22.15 million starting salary with 4.5% annual increases according to new CBA rules). The new CBA kind of helps here actually b/c sign-and-trade deals are the same as if he signs with us outright, so sign-and-trade won't get him the extra year, so we won't have to give up Parsons or other talent to get him. We have to wine and dine him and convince him to leave LA for a team with a much brighter future but much less pressure. Also, he makes up for that extra year w/ lack of state income tax...gotta love Texas. Move #3: Sign Timofey Mozgov to 2 yr/7 million. Who?...exactly. This guy reminds me a lot of Asik from last year. He is a solid defensive rebounding center stuck behind other players right now. He is averaging 12 and 10 w/ nearly 2 blocks per 36 minutes in Denver right now. Denver does not have room to sign him back, so we can get him on a steal if you ask me. Move #4: Re-sign Francisco Garcia to a 2 yr/6 million. Cisco is a great veteran presence who can contribute off the bench and has shown this year he steps up when we need him. He earned this contract, given it was a small sample size. I would make the 2nd year a team option, much like the Delfino deal last year, to keep financial flexibility. Move #5: Sign either Matt Barnes (2 yr/8 million-use MLE) or Re-rign Carlos Delfino (2 year/6million). I would rather sign Barnes in this situation. Delfino was good, but not great for us this year. Barnes brings something Delfino does not every night: perimeter defense...something we really need. Garcia can take over the 3pt shooting that we lose w/ Delfino. Also, Delfino is going to be coming off a ****ty injury, don't know how he will recover, wish him the best though. All in all, this puts us about 4-5 million over the cap and nowhere near the luxury tax line for the next couple years. Add in the 2nd round pick from this draft on a true PG in case Beverley or Lin goes down. Lineup next year: Lin/Beverley/2nd Rounder Harden/Garcia Parsons/Barnes/Jones Robinson/Motiejunas/Jones Howard/Mozgov We will have 2 first rounders in a great draft next year, and great cap flexibility for summer of 2015 (2 years) to either re-sign Parsons (probably 4yr/40 million) or make a run at Kevin Love if one of Robinson/Motiejunas/Jones does not work out (We could potentially only have Harden and Dwight would be committed to salaries that summer). This is my ideal off season that I believe will let us continue to build team chemistry this summer, get more talent, and compete w/ the top teams, especially Thunder and Heat. Sorry for the long ass post.
The Rockets would have neeeever picked up Jeremy Lin had they gotten Harden first. How many times have Lin/Beverly passed up open 3 point looks where a guy like Derek Fisher (barf) would have instantly taken them. This team is way better off with Harden/Howard and 3 high % 3pt shooters.
First off, Howard would make only $20.4M, not $22.1. Not sure where you got that number from. Second off, if we wanted to keep Delfino, we'd just pick up his 2nd yr $3M option. But most importantly, that isn't how the salary cap works. You can't just sign players and go over it; hence the name salary cap. Being $4-5M over the cap is the problem. We're not somehow re-signing players through their bird rights to go over the cap, we're just renouncing the team option we already have on them to then fight for them in free agency (which would make little sense in Delfino's case). We don't have the room to make all those moves you suggested. I mean, we could in theory keep Delfino and if Mozgov comes cheap, we can add him as well, if we trade Asik for a first round pick. Move TRob and we can get D12. But that's essentially the classic "sign D12 then move Asik" strategy that many have suggested. You're simply saying move Asik for Mozgov and keep Delfino...whereas I would rather move Asik for Millsap in that scenario.
We need to get more defensive. Even in half court sets, our ball movement was good so I do not see a problem scoring in hte playoffs. On the other hand we need better perimeter defense. I'd like to get Tony Allen on this team as small, but impactful move.
So wait a minute... The only "Bad" things they could come up with about this team's season were about "what if" the James Harden trade didn't happen, a PG that averaged 13 ppg and 6 apg having an "underwhelming" season, and a rookie that didn't hurt or help the team. That's a pretty damn good season if you ask me.
I agree, except you need one more guy except Harden that can make a play to take the pressure off Harden. He's carrying too much of the load and it showed in the playoffs with his turnovers.
Maybe the article did not specifically say Lin would play much worse without Harden but he did imply Lin would be very disappointing without Harden and that's not necessarily a fact.
At the risk of stating the obvious, the best thing about this season is that we made the playoffs and as a result, brought to the fore areas the team has needs and where we are set. For example, though Bev played well in the regular season, I dont think we truly understood his full value until playoff time in which he was huge. One of the observations I made during Game 6 was how much I appreciated what Landry/Scola brought to the table as PF's who could consistently create their own shot. Right now we dont have a big that the team can play through and rely too heavily on our guards and are dangerously dependent on the 3 ball to be competitive. Terrence Jones is still far from being a consistent offensive player and Donuts/Robinson didnt garner enough favor to see time on the court which should mean something. Definitely should be an interesting offseason.....
Ok. To clear up salary cap questions... Alexander said he would go over if its for the right player. Hence Howard. Need you not worry Clutch Fans over salary. Leave that to the professionals. We will add a player using cap this year and thats a fact. Alexander just said if we don't add a star. We will add a terrific player this year to add to the cast. The reason this is ok is mainly, because of Lin, Asik, Parsons, etc being on 1 year deals for the summer of 2014. We could easily, EASILY deal them in that particular offseason to add another a STAR. (If we don't already have that star.) The league is already putting a strangle hold on teams to stop them from becoming the Heat. David Stern wants a balanced league and in this future of a league... 2 stars will become the norm. It would still be extremely hard to get 3 stars. It would take players taking less money. I am under the impression if Howard or Paul don't sign with Houston. That we will get Josh Smith, Paul Millsap, or a player of the same caliber through free agency or trade. Don't worry guys. This core will most likely remain the same while we add a significant piece this offseason. Which means we will be BETTER next season. I predict a 4-5 seed next year, maybe better if we add a star. Future looks amazing. A far cry from 2008-2012. Thank you Morey.
That's a good argument. Paul Millsap (born February 10, 1985) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Millsap Josh Smith (born December 5, 1985) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josh_Smith That not quite 10 months makes all the difference, doesn't it?
Josh Smith is 27, turns 28 in december which makes him only 3 days older then dwight. CP3 turns 28 tomorrow. Josh smith has another 3-4 years of prime left, same for dwight and paul. Like another said, our capspace will be hit hard next offseason with parsons so using it this summer might be wise. I say go for dwight and or paul if we can. If we can't get either sign smith and some solid backups. Here's 5 players that could help our team that are FA's - Tony Allen, Randy Foye, Kyle Korver, Mike Dunleavy, Samuel Dalmbert. All could be had for under 5 mill and are non restricted FA's. If we can get J.smith and a couple of those FA's i'd be really happy with our offseason.
Who exactly did you get this from? I've heard it before, but to be clear, Paul Millsap is 10 months older than Josh Smith.
Yeah, just like the Warriors fans said that Steph Curry would play "much worse" without Monta Ellis controlling the ball. Remember when they loudly booed the team owner, in his own building for trading Ellis away ?
