Orlando is 3 games behind seed no.3. They are very much in the playoffs and their GM will not do any trades that sell off valuable starters as long as they are not out of the playoffs for good. And even then no incentive to trade Vucevic and his bargain contract whatsoever. Why you say "that's where they will be eventually" ? It's the wings that are too many not the center. Honestly I don't see how a defence less center is fit with Harden even if he has good post game and to get someone like Vucevic god knows how many assets will have to be given up. It will require an overpayment. And that no defence good post game center will most likely end up coming off the bench anyway. If it's post game you want off the bench the free Big Al will do just fine.
They hire Skiles, a defensive minded coach... they're a top 4 seed. We hire Thibs... We're also better than with JB. At least with my logic anyway.
All of that is on the coach as well. It's his job to refocus his unit period. And right now the coaching staff has a problem with redirecting them to the teams main purpose, and that's to win a championship. Right now the current and old coach has a big time problem dealing with the different personalities on this team. And when that happens you have b****ing and frustrations mounting up all over the damn place. The product is tainted and it shows it's ugly head on the court. THAT'S ON THE COACH
Rockets will probably go after Whiteside hard this summer. He is the perfect fit with Harden's game. Whiteside gets about 4 blocks/game (Dwight never avg'd that may blocks....not even in his prime) and is 1.23 ppp at about 18% frequency. The guy protects the rim and dunks anything around the rim. IMO a guy like Camby or Tyson Chandler would be best suited to play at center for Harden. 2016/17 Rockets: Whiteside/D-Mo/Ariza/Harden/?PG------Capela and Harrell off the bench. FA's that may be in play as well: Durant and Augustin......PG needs to be somewhat good at catch n shoot.
That's 1.23 at about 18% frequency as the roll man x Whiteside. *It is safe to say that Rondo would not have worked with Harden and Melo (Ball dominant players) probably wouldn't have worked either; but Bosh may have worked with D12 and Harden as a stretch 4.......Ryan Anderson and Teletovic may as well. *as witnessed by the Lawson experiment.
No doubt all the teams will going after Whiteside.....including the Lakers. Most teams will be focused on D12 and Durant. Hibbert gets $15 mil/ yr while averaging 6 points & 1.? Blks/game. Whiteside will get $18 to $20 mil.....still cheaper than D12.....perhaps w/more production. Howard rotates defensively better; but the ceiling on Whiteside may be higher. I'm just throwing crap at the wall......Rocket13 posted he did the math on the Rockets getting/having D12/KD/Harden/Conely.......guessing there is money left over to retain D-Mo and put an adequate bench.
You don't really need money left over to retain DMo, he's a restricted free agent and they have his Bird rights.
Let's not kid ourselves, the Rockets will be in a bidding war with many teams for D12, KD, Whiteside, D-Mo (RFA). ORtg DRtg PER D12 (14/15): 105 100 19.2 (15/16): 112 103 19.6 Whiteside (14/15): 117 97 26.2 (15/16): 108 92 23.0 Capela (15/16): 103 103 18.1 Our fall back plan. *i know PER/DRtg/ORtg are not the tell-all-stats......just a basis some may go by.
Not trying to sound rude.......I expect the Rockets to have to shell out $10 mil for D-Mo. I thought $8 mil for Parsons back then. $15 mil dollars later !!
In theory he could, but I think much like with Bev he'll wait to sign something till after the Rockets make their moves. At which point, they could match any offer if they wanted to without hurting other off-season moves. Another example of this was the Spurs offseason with Kawhi Leonard. He waited till after the LMA deal was done to get paid so that they could have both.
Age matters..vucevic is on his prime..that team isnt making a playoff run any time soon. The point of getting offensive help is for Harden to do less, so he can do more defensively. You keep saying Vucevic is a starter but keep referring to bench post scoring. Vucevic can start here and he'd bring more than post scoring. He can face up some, also. Shoot the mid range shot.
I agree totally, and Terrence Jones and Corey Brewer are not those guys. I would go to even saying we would of been better having Carmelo rather than Ariza at this point, cause hes not really doing anything out there as well this season. I mean the only bright spot has be Thorton, and only reason hes playing as hard as he is, is cause he needs a contract. So i wonder why...
@Bobbythegreat: Thanks. I kind of just worry about the Russian Billionaire who tends to favor the Eastern Euro players. Where I think the Rockets will only go up to $12 mil for D-Mo following a back injury season......Prok may go $15 mil or more. Brooklyn can get down to about $48 mil in payroll ($6 mil in non-guarantee x J Jack and about $6 mil in players w/player options that will probably test the market).
Vucevic has 3 more years on his contract after this year. Their roster is set with guys that just need a little more experience. Vucevic/A Gordon/Fournier/Oladipo/Elfrid Payton. Maybe they give up on Oladipo. Vucevic is a solid player that I don't see Orlando parting with. Just my opinion.
Harden needs to adjust his game to Ty. Ty hasn't been a good fit but 95% of that is Harden & the coaching staff. They are treating Ty like he's a rookie on a short leash. What they fail to comprehend is we can use Ty when teams overload on James.
im trying to get an espn trade machine going by trading harden but daam it is a b****. i do think he can be had for equal value. i wish teams can have an extra roster spot or two
