Who are those players? Paul Milsap, Goran Dragic or Rajon Rondo? Those are going to be the only options in 2015 and none are worth punting an entire season. None of them are even that much better than Parsons. Especially Rondo coming off injury and the fact he is just a terrible fit with Dwight and James. And if we don't get one? We waste two years and Dwight opts out and we recruit him and a 3rd star all over again. This offseason has been an absolute disaster.
First off, only ONE of those teams will make it to the NBA Finals. So they can add depth all they want, but in the end it will only matter to one team. Secondly, the Rockets roster was a little out of whack with Asik and Lin and Parsons being grossly underpaid. The Rockets were not in the same position as the rest of the team in the Western Conference. If Morey could have pulled off the Bosh deal while shedding the contracts of Asik and Lin and signing Parsons for a reasonable amount, he would have been a genius and would have been very lucky to juggle all of that in one big swoop. It didn't fall into place perfectly, and now we're here. But this was the right move.
The cap space didn't matter because we couldn't use the cap space. Their bloated 2015 salaries still being on the roster in 2014-15 wouldn't have mattered to anyone, but Les Alexander. And we got Ariza through trading Asik. Trading Lin, literally, didn't improve the Rockets at all, cost them an asset and didn't open up any flexibility it couldn't have had mid season by trading Lin. In fact, a mid season trade would have allowed us to get his production in the mean time, cut into his real dollar hit to a new team, allowed us to acquire more salary than the TPE via the matching rules, and allowed us to give up a lesser asset to get rid of him.
The Mavs are not nearly as close to a championship as the Rockets. That is complete absurdity. Having to pay Parsons 15 mil a year isn't going to allow them to sign any max player over the next few years. Rockets are better at PG and significantly better at SG and C. I'd call Ariza and Parsons a wash right now. Ariza is better on D and has a much more at value contract while Parsons is slightly better on offense but could take a step forward from just being a role player paid like a superstar. Neither team really has a bench but Rockets stil have their exceptions to add a few pieces. Furthermore, this NOLA pick and Jeremy Lin's 8.3 TPE only add to the list of growing assets available to strike a big time deal down the road. I just don't see Ariza in favor of Parsons as a step back.
I felt like the same Rockets team from last season are championship contenders. They swept the defending champions. Another year of chemistry, and a small upgrade somewhere, I don’t see how they’re not contenders.
I don't think you have an understanding of the differences between: balance sheet, cap sheet, and roster. The first two are different. The first two and the last one are enormously different.
The Jeremy Lin TPE, while giving up a 1st, is much, much less valuable than just having Jeremy Lin. Trading him (and the pick) without the firm commitment from Bosh is a monumental mistake. It greatly hinders our ability to add a big time player down the road.
You are right one of those teams will make the finals. We didn't pry Dwight Howard away from LA to only see first round exits. You are right it didn't turn out the way we wanted, but did it turn out the way Miami wanted? No, but Pat Riley busted his arse to put out a really competitive team. I bleed rocket red and was born and raised on the rockets, but i am not going to sit back and here my GM say that we aren't going to win this year anyway just because things didn't go his way. Isn't his job to find the most competitive team for next season?!?!? I mean how do we know that he won't strike out again? How do we know for sure Kevin Love will choose harden and Howard over Lebron? We don't it's a gamble; it's a gamble we have lost more so then won.
Of course Parsons wasn't going to take the Rockets to a championship - that's Harden and Howard's job. Parson's job was to be a 3rd option, which he was extremely good at. What is the obsession with "3 stars or bust"? Outside of the Spurs, whose stars are aging and really are just about an incredible system at this point, what team has 3 stars? Why have we determined that it's impossible to build around 2 stars and a lot of good role players, of which Parsons was an excellent one?
You don't pay 3rd options $15MM. That money can be spread around to a few good players, instead of one.
2 thumbs up OP great thread I agree. Parsons wasa good the last few years because of his deal and age. Now with that $$$$ he is not worth it, OP is right.
Yet, they continue to act like a team constantly rebuilding. The Rockets could have spent their 10.8 million left before 11 tonight and retained Parsons. That could've meant trading for a point guard or power forward upgrade, or splitting it on multiple guys to build a strong bench. That's what contenders do. What do the Rockets do? Sign Trevor Ariza to replace Parsons and have no intention of using the rest of the cap space to get significant help for this season because Daryl Morey is so afraid that he'll miss out on Kevin Love and Rondo next summer, or Durant in 2016. That kind of attitude pisses off 29 year old Dwight Howard, who signed here not just for the money, but to win his first NBA championship. By the team Morey feels he has a championship caliber team, Dwight very well won't be here to see it. Morey treats everyone and everything in terms of stats and numbers. Sure, he let Parsons out early. But at the end of the day, he had every chance to lock up Parsons on Thursday afternoon and instead had the player leaving frustrated and pissed off, ready to find a team willing to overpay him out of anger. It's plain to see that Morey does not account for the human element. He doesn't get how players can develop chemistry after playing with each other over time and improve the team's play on the court. That's what happened with Parker, Ginobili and Duncan in San Antonio. Unless he actually stops tinkering with the core of the roster and actually lets players play with each other for multiple seasons, the Rockets won't ever be a championship caliber team under his watch, unless the stars perfectly align in free agency.
bmd, I truly appreciate you trying to find the silver lining in this FA mess, but what I can't get over is our fixation on a BIG 3 or bust mentality. We have two stars, adding Ariza was a net positive as we rid ourselves of Linsanity. I started to get excited because TA could spell both Harden and Parsons, and give us some 3/D off the bench--perfect 6th man for us. I believe that the minutes that Harden and Parsons played contributed to their defensive lapses. Not a great excuse, but if you're butt tired something has to give. I thought that if we could add another C and PG, we would seem to be on the trajectory for improving on last year. I mean it takes time for teams to get in sync and we've only had one year with our core. It takes a team to win a championship and we had one of the youngest, most exciting teams in the league last year. I'm certain we would have improved just because our young guys would have gotten better. Instead we go all in for a 3rd star. Bron wasn't even close, Melo came for a visit and free food, Lowry couldn't wait to see what the market might bare and jumped on $12M and Bosh broke our hearts by doing the best thing for his family and not the Rox. I still wonder if he screwed us with a promise or whether we jumped the gun. Certainly, hindsight is 20/20, but it appears Morey's magic has worn off. Trading Lin, 1st and a 2nd for cash and Euro grandpa? WTF was that?? Turning Asik into a "potential" lottery pick sounded great at the time, but if we weren't looking for cap space what else could we have gotten? Finally, CP25... I'm not sure about a wink deal, but that's just wrong if it was. We draft the guy, develop him and basically lose the last two years of service because he did some recruiting? Was his recruiting really what got us Dwight? If so, then why would you not resign him if you were going to leave him vulnerable??? Again, that just doesn't make sense. Writing the team off this year? WTF is that? We're a good team, adding to the core and improving certainly could have gotten us past round 1. Hell JVG picked us to win it all last year, he may be a homer, but at times we played like we could have been with a little more defense and a few calls. I'm obviously not qualified to run an NBA team, but this past week has seemed to be one mistake after another. Hopefully, there is something behind the curtain and once its unveiled I'll be like "WHEW! That's fantastic, I didn't see that coming." Ok, I'll shut up, I do feel better that I got that off my chest. GARM Therapy works!
I agree this is a good move. Look at all the unfavorable dynamics the Rockets had last offseason after signing Dwight with Asik and Lin. They're now gone, we got Ariza on the cheap who, while isn't nearly as good as Parsons, provides for more flexibility in getting other players. The Rockets did really well last season and really need to let TJones grow or upgrade, as well as improve in 3PT shooting. I really hope they find a way to bring Troy Daniels back, because I grew so withered of watching Lin and Parsons hesitate to take wide open 3s that I'm confident that Ariza and Daniels would shoot instantly and with good success. Even if Houston doesn't make any more big time moves this offseason I think they will be just as good or better especially if they bring back Daniels and Nick Johnson turns out to be a stud. Optimism!
