Morey isn't trading his contract flexibility going after his pipe-dream lineup that includes Durant. Plus we'd have to give up too much just for a salary match.
Markieff Morris is not a Morey player, sorry but this thread is a waste of CF time. Morey is not giving PHX T.Jones for Morris. He might if they gave up a draft pick(s) and PHX isn't going to do that. Jones is better than Morris NOW. Despite all the injuries and short comings Jones in half the career minutes is a more productive player. We all complain about 3 main areas for the Rockets, Rebounding, Shots Made/Missed (mainly open 3's and layups), Turnovers. Jones is a better rebounder. Morris has played 7798 minutes and he is at 7.7 rebounds per 36 minutes without a dominating rebounder in PHX. Jones is still improving and has played with Asik when he lead the league in rebounds, Howard a glass killer and he still is at 9.0 rebounds per 36 minutes. Jones is a BETTER scorer. Jones is a way better in terms of eFG% 553% Compared to Morris at .476 YUCK! Plus Jones is still developing his 3 point shot where Morris is and has been getting worse, last year he shot .318 these are very big Morey numbers, sorry it ain't happen'. Turnovers? Jones 1.3 per 36 Morris is at 2.3 per 36. And you thought Jones was bad. Plus Jones is twice the shot blocker as Morris and they are about equal at everything else except free throws which is our biggest weakness in my book. But Jones and Morris shoot so few a game it wouldn't move the needle. Some of you are so focused on Jones's Portland series and Clippers series, the dude was against LMA on fire and Blake Griffin. They regular have big nights just like Harden. Give Jones a chance to get better defending those guys. He can learn from Hayes on how to slow them down. We need to let it play out with our current roster. Any number of things could happen this season. D-Mo could be hurt again or take another step forward and become the stretch 4 with an awesome post game, nice passing skills, decent defender in the paint and improve his rebounding enough to satisfy the CF doubters. Same thing with Jones is possible. Maybe they are both out and Harrell shows he fits, not likely but it could happen. Just be patient. Let our team gel for once.
I still believe we should have offered most of the mid-level on a 1 year contract for Josh Smith, and forgot about KJ. Back-up SG shouldn't be a big concern, with Brewer, Lawson and Thornton on the team. We are playing for a championship, and our PF is still questionable. DMO is coming off an injury and hasn't proven himself in the playoffs. Jones isn't good enough in the playoffs against the West's power forwards. And if one of those two are injured come playoffs? Rookies gonna play?
josh smith was the answer? no. the money didn't even matter. that shouldn't even be brought up at this point.
Jones and Dmo are expiring, Morris being worse then both is subjective, he averaged 15 points, 6 boards, 2 assist and a steal last season on a competitive western conf team, he's arguably better then both. Jones and Dmo will demand 12+ million each, I highly highly doubt we keep both, who here really expects us to pay Dmo and Motie a combined 25+ million? That would make our PF spot the highest paid position on our roster, while also being the weakest at the same time. Harrell and Dekker are also highly likely to be d-league bound the majority of their rookie seasons, they have proved absolutely nothing yet. You don't rely on rookies to become impact players when your trying to win championships, if they do blow up, cool good for us, but until we should not expect them to amount to anything or be apart of the rotation or replace a player like Jones who plays 25+ minutes a game.
I understand that its in the past now and time to move on. But I don't understand how people act like he wasn't essential to us crushing the Mavs and beating the Clips. Is he the answer? No, not solely. But I do believe with a healthy Dmo, addition of Lawson and keeping the rest of the team intact (meaning bringing Smith back) we would have a better shot at the title. I honestly don't think if you replaced Dmo with Smith we would have beaten the Clips. I do think Dmo would have been way better against the Warriors than Smith, but Josh brings a different element. We could have used the both of them
Someone could try to argue Morris over DMo, but it would be pretty funny if they tried. The only area where Morris is legitimate better than DMo is FT shooting. Literally every other area is either a wash or DMo being clearly better.
don't think people are discrediting what josh smith did in game 6 against the clips. but like it or not that isn't something you'll probably see again very soon. that doesn't take away from the fact that he is incredibly inconsistent either. as far as the mavs series, the rockets were/are just plain better with or without smith. but in the end, there isn't much to complain about. The rockets made him a offer which was more money than what he took from the clips so the money part doesn't really matter. it was his choice. we got ty lawson at an incredible deal. Move on. This team got better without smith on it.
That's not really true, the team would be better with Smith on it as the backup PF, but it's not a crippling loss. Jones isn't the player Smith is, but if he improves a bit in the offseason he could come close.
i didn't say this same team wouldn't be better with smith on it. I said this team got better and that's without Smith on it.
I see your point but it took Josh doing something he rarely does in those handful of games where he was the difference maker - hit the long ball consistently. He was a complete wildcard and just happened to come through in some key moments - but don't forget he killed us in other games too. I would rather take a slightly worse player who I can count on from game to game over Smith's occasional brilliance mixed in with cringe-worthy brain cramps.
and at this point of their career, you speak as if Smith is this player that's so much higher than TJ which is false.
Fair enough, I agree with that. Smith is still considerably better than Jones even at this point in his career. Jones is really weak defensively and if you include the playoffs and regular season together, Smith was a significantly better 3 point shooter as well. Basically Josh Smith of last year is the ceiling for what Jones could be this year if he improves enough.
Jones is vastly underrated around here which is surprising, given that we usually overrate our own players. Jones > Morris, especially when you factor in off-court attitude. I guess we always have to have a whipping boy. I don't want anything to do with Morris. Definitely not at the cost of jones.
Perfectly said. CF undervalues Josh Smith like crazy. I don't know what Morey was thinking on that one, though he's done a lot of other great things.
As it was Smith left for less money, if making more money was what he was looking for, he'd have stayed. If being on the best team was what he was looking for, he'd have stayed. Clearly he was looking for something else.
