I think you're on to something as far as targeting Boozer/Anderson. I would say Boozer rather than Anderson as I've heard Gentry's new staff really likes their actual roster and they believe they can make the top 4 of the west this year. Also heard the coaching staff still believes in Tyreke and have been working hard with him defensively especially.
It doesn't mean Terry is gone. Most likely Jones will be gone in a 2 for 1 trade which will give us an open roster spot for him
One thing I will say about Thornton is that he has never played on a winning team with another great player. Here in Houston he gets to play with two great players and very good role players in ariza brew bev and hopefully smith. I think he will see more room to operate and do want he does best score in efficient spots. Playing with harden gets you open looks, this is the first true wing scorer harden has gotten to play with since he's been on the rockets. I wouldn't be surprised if thorton puts up 13-15ppg this season. I really like this move a lot I think 10 games in many of the doubters will like it too. Thorton can ball and with open looks this guy will have plenty of 20 point outings in rockets red I can't wait.
No effing way Morey goes after Evans. For every good play he makes, there are four dumb ones that follow. That said, after this past playoffs I have come around to liking Ryan Anderson. Dude showed some grit. Bring him over. Re: JET, I think we have to bring him back. If I see him come back to another team for the minimum, or even $2-2.5M I'll be disappointed. Dude was clutch when we needed buckets. He has the killer instinct and confidence when we were down... something that some players that are paid to have, didn't actually have.
If where trying to take the Pelicans starting SF, they're going to need a starting SF in return. Ariza, Papa and Jones(or Motie) for Evens and Anderson works financially, question is, do the Pels even want Ariza back? Especially at the cost of a better and younger forward in Evens and their 6th man stretch 4 in Anderson? I dunno, i'm sure we could muster up a intriguing trade package (example) Ariza, Papa, Motie, Rights to Dekker, 2016 1st + agreement to not match KJ offer sheet for Evens + Anderson We'd be loosing a shooter in Ariza, but gaining one in Anderson. Problem is Anderson isn't the defender that Dmo is, and Evens isn't the defender that Ariza is. We'd be taking a hit defensively, while still having a depth problem at the point. Plus side is that Anderson is a hell of a stretch 4, and Evens can really distribute the ball well and create for both him self and others on offense. Evens is a good young player who would create havoc next to James as well, both are very quick/strong and are such good finishers around the rim. Evens takes 60+ % of his buckets at the rim, and shoots 33% from 3's in the corners which isn't bad (albeit a small sample).
As afar as "win now mode" ... Would you agree that in 2016, no matter what moves they do or don't make, NO has a very slim chance of even repeating as #8 seed in West? Dallas and Portland may drop out, but nobody else, and OKC is a lock to replace 1 of them w even decent health Plus I could easily see Utah or Minny flying right by NO this season, not to mention they barely got in over PHX thanks to Davis miracle buzzer beater To me, if you're the Pels and you want to win above all else, you're #1 Priority for the next 10+ years is to keep The Brow in a Pels uni by making him happy You don't have to worry about 2016 after he just resigned You have to worry about 2020, when you could be in the same situation as OKC finds itself now with Durant Or where the Cavs were with LeBron in 2009 Both small market owners started throwing around desparate $ at avg vets in a last ditch effort to prove to their superstars they could surround them w enough help to WIN BIG in a non-glamour NBA market without the benefit of high lotto picks If you're NO, you don't repeat the past sins of Holiday/Gordon/Tyreke mistakes by overpaying non-stars to surround your franchise player ... not after getting a Mulligan for those mistakes with Davis reupping for 5 more years Instead, you go to him and explain that taking a step back in the lotto now could yield him the Westbrook or Kyrie type of superstar he needs to truly WIN In the end, in a non-glamour market like NO, you're best chance of landing that player is in the Top 5 of the draft Nobody's giving you a pick like that for any combo of Jrue, Tyreke, Gordon and Anderson You have to earn it by sucking for a year Why did LeBron return to CLE? Because they sucked enough to draft Kyrie and Wiggins, whom they could then flip for Love The draft brought them the stars they needed to convince The King he could win in CLE WIN NOW Mode (hello Larry Hughes) is what drove LBJ to leave in the first place How did the Lakers, with ancient hobbled Kobe, suddenly get the first FA meeting w LMA, the top FA on the market? Because they sucked enough to draft Randle and Russell It didn't work this time, but you can bet the next time a superstar signs on with them, it will be to join the core formed from their lotto picks WIN NOW mode last year got them Carlos Boozer and Jeremy Lin Double Yuck OKC got Durant, Westbrook and Harden with Top 5 draft picks after sucking for several years WIN NOW mode has so far yielded: matching $80M offer sheet to Enes Kanter ... aka Larry Hughes 2.0 Yuck If they do indeed lose KD, you can bet it won't be to the Pelicans, and you can bet it will be bc he knows his team is locked in to a mediocre roster with no real chance to win Better for NO to take their shot getting another stud in Top 5 next yr to pair w Davis, then have $40M to convince a 3rd star in FA to come join a rising powerhouse led by what looks to be The Best Big Man of THIS Generation I agree w you that those 'loose change' pieces I was offering weren't equal value for Evans + Anderson in a trade ... but aren't they roughly the same pics we were seriously going to offer PORT in S&T scenarios for LaMarcus Aldridge? Combined salaries for those 2 ($19M) is almost exact match for what we could offer as Max to LMA ... and he's a Top 12-15 NBA superstar in his prime who was the best overall FA available this offseason Surely it's not absurd to suggest a similar package for 2 overpaid backups on a mediocre non-contender
I don't like Marcus Thornton's game. If people griped at Kevin Martin while he was here, Thornton is even worse in the same areas as Martin. I do like the signing. Good bargain at vet minimum.
Wonder if ghost/adleman could refer to someone from the rockets that played under adleman that is no longer here like Lowry, scola, Carl herrerras psycho crush patpat
Does anyone know if NO had SF Dekker in for predraft workouts? Oh the irony if we traded their pick back to them Maybe DMo could be flipped to a 3rd team w too many Guards but desparately needing a go-to post scorer? Boston or Phoenix maybe? We know PHX was insistent on DMo's inclusion for any Dragic deal, and they came in 2nd for LMA as go-to 4 post scorer Would Bledsoe be enough of an upgrade over Holiday at PG to improve NO's chances in the West? We know BOS has a glut at G and their top FA priority was PF Kevin Love We've heard they had a deal with PHI to send Smart for PF Nerlens Noel Maybe DM can use his Boston connections and Jedi mind trucks to convince Ainge that DMo is a perfect Love/Noel hybrid, and convince NO that Marcus Smart is the young Draft Pick they need to pair with Davis? I do know this ... Codman repeatedly mentioned a Guard similar to Harden ... an "off guard playing point" Aren't Tyreke and Harden both lefties? Both excellent ball handlers and play makers for scoring guards? They are very similar players IMO Plus ... we have heard NOTHING linking Rockets and Evans ... def DM style to make a deal out of nowhere ... and Codman kept mentioning the Rafer deal ... another out of nowhere trade One last thing .... Codman has repeated "TY" about a dozen times in his posts the past 24 hrs ... The easy references are to TY Lawson & TYson Chandler, but the repetition kinda makes me think this is a 'clue-within-a-clue' ... maybe it's all just hinting at TYreke Evans?
We needed another shooter in the back court badly to take some pressure off Harden. Thornton is exactly that. He's coming off a down year, but hes a career 36% 3pt shooter. He's a rocket killer. I've always felt he was an underrated player. He's exactly what we need when James goes to the bench or we need to make up a deficit quickly. Just a great move by Morey; I would have been fine paying him more than the min. (I'm sure he had more lucrative offers). What a coup. Guess David West and Marcus thornton just want to win! With our backup 2guard shooter in tow, now we just need a PG to pair with Bev, and resign Smoove. Those two things happen and we are solidly #3 in the West with upside. Probably best we can do going into the season.
Wow what a signing! Basically no risk and the reward could be something else! This guy should get plenty of open looks and remember he did average about 20 points a game a fee years back. If he can just handle the ball off the bench by not turning it over And try to get a little bit going on offensive and just shoot pretty well this is a huge pick up. HUGE. I can definitely see this being corey brewer like and him having games where he just goes off and we sit there and think dang, what a good pick up by DM!
Of course not. I disagree. There is a very slim chance they MISS the playoffs not make them. Minny over NO? Are you joking milos? The Suns have sold off all their bench and have almost no good wings. NO>>>Suns Unless ofc Davis goes down then they will miss them. And the reason Lebron went back to Cle was because he was from Cle. Davis is from Chicago not New Orleans. He is not connected to the city.
NO didn't have Dekker in predraft workouts because they didn't have a first round pick. Besides Dekker only made very limited workouts. Only in lottery teams. Because he was certain he would go in the lottery.
my initial thought was tyreke as well, as i alluded to in the cyber thread yesterday. obviously the kid has talent, but has zero clue about shot selection. maybe morey thinks he can fix that to some extent the same way we resurrected smoove's career..
Not sure how voting in favor of the MT signing also means those who voted yes don't care for Jason Terry. That makes no sense.
Codman did write about the Rockets looking for chemisTRY. I was wondering why the capitalization of the last three letters. Maybe the TRY along with all the other clues means TYReke, after all. Also, Cod a season or two ago was riddling us this, riddling us that about going after a specific big. The deal fell through; the big got hurt. Turned out to be Jason Smith, who was on the Pelicans at the time. Might be a team to whom he's connected.
I don't have much inside info and am certainly not an insider but I do know for a fact through a relationship that I have that the Pelicans coaching staff believe they will surprise many and make it to the playoffs easier than expected (not just an 8th seed). It's certainly not ground-breaking news and take it for what it's worth but it does have some influence on the people they decide to trade (if any).
Who cares if Morey and McHale says DMO is our 2nd best offensive player, he's not even qualified to be a role player for you.
