Next moves for the Rockets: How Houston keeps contending

Yeah , streaky EG was the 2nd best scorer on the team …. I'm not sure that's enough to get you a championship ….

Sure , CP3 may be "Serviceable" in the final year of his deal …. but that's not what he's being paid like. He's got to be great if he's sucking up 30% of your total cap space.

 

We have to move Paul, This guy don't reflect of Hussle an hard work here, Please get sumthing in return for him, this guy is jealous of Harden. From the start of the season he was on sum other $hit, guy didn't play hard, I told y'all before he got hurt earlier if he get out the way Harden can ball, boy did he ball..Hakeem laid the foundation of what's it's going to take to get the gold, Chris not it for us.. even in his best years Arron Brooks gave this guy the works...

 

The key is Paul. Sit him down and have an honest conversation asking him to retire or restructure his contract. If he restructures we will be able to move him to the Lakers were he is from and with his best friend. With Paul gone Rivers gets a bigger role and there will cap to retain him.

Tomball Jimmy value is sinking... he is a good target but not at a maximum price point.

House’s value went down in the playoffs but he is still a fit here. Sign him up on the cheap but not a minimum.

Buy as many second round picks as possible and develop a crew of “Chase Buddingers” on those type of contracts, too.

Summer league is were our championship will be won or lost. Let’s make a pack to keep our “Melton” types. We are going to have make the decision to develop and still use Harden to win. We did it this season but stopped the development part. IMO, if House had played all season with us he wouldn’t have been lost in the playoffs. In Jon Lucas we must trust.

Free agency—> Richaun Holmes type players —> better than average but not great and please be fair but don’t over pay. Solid and reliable players, please.

 

The Rockets' window isn't shut just yet. I'm as pissed as anyone, but let's step back and look at the landscape next season:

1) The Competition in the West - Yes, the Nuggets will be better. But the Blazers have a ton of free agents, they're gonna lose Kanter, and Nurkic could be out most of the season. The Spurs are a wild card if they sign a big name free agent. Same with the Clippers. The Jazz will likely be the same team. And OKC is capped out with an aging Russ. The Lakers are a mess right now. They're more likely to trade LeBron than sign one or two superstars at the rate they're going.

Which leaves the Warriors. If Durant and Boogie depart, they're left with this core. But this core just beat us, you say. True, but can they really count on Iggy at age 36 shooting lights out like that again? Will Looney still be on the roster given he made a paltry $1.5 mil this year and is a free agent? BTW, Jerebko, Bogut, Bell, and Cook are all free agents too. Can the Warriors keep all of them? Doubtful.

So there's a decent chance we go into next season with the Nuggets, Clippers, Jazz, Spurs, an aging Thunder, and a depleted Warriors as our competition in the West. I'll take my chances against that lineup.

2) The Rockets Roster - This is where Morey and Tillman can't panic. Yes, Clint absolutely sucked against the Warriors. But he was solid against the Jazz in the first round outside of Games 3 and 4 when he was fighting two viruses. He was really good all season, especially when CP3 and Harden were also in the lineup. That last stat cannot be overlooked. The Rockets are damn near unbeatable when all three are playing. Remember how bad we looked after Capela was injured vs Orlando? Let's not overreact and throw away a talented 25 year-old center on a reasonable contract because of one bad series.

Gordon is a bit more of a question mark. He had a great final two months of the season, but he sucked prior to that. Maybe keeping him as a starter going forward is the key. And maybe he plays better all year next season because a new contract is on the line(barring the Rockets extending him this summer). But I don't think you move him unless you're getting a star(Butler?) in return.

Rivers, House, and Faried. This is the big question mark heading into the offseason. Just like Ariza and Luc were last year. Rivers I believe is a must. He was critical to the Rockets' success this season. Hell, we might've been up 3-2 going into Game 6 had he not been sick in the series opener. The question is can the MLE get it done? If so, use it on him. Which brings us to House. I do want him back. Again, the question will be money. He is a restricted free agent, but the Rockets can't offer him much. If another team swoops in with even a minimal offer like $2 mil/yr, he's likely gone. We're pretty much at the mercy of other GMs at this point. Faried I'd love to have back, but I can't see him taking the minimum to stay. And he can't exactly be thrilled with how D'Antoni benched him in the Semifinals. Which brings me to.....

3) Coaching - D'Antoni has to go. Yes, he had tremendous success in the regular season all 3 years he's been here. The Rockets averaged over 57 wins a season under him. But Kevin McFail's Rockets averaged 55 wins the 2 years prior to the season he was fired. And I'm pretty sure no one misses him or mistakes him for a good coach. What this shows me given how Harden is literally the only player left from those McFail teams is that if you merely have James Harden on your roster, you're gonna win 50+ games. There's a reason he's gonna finish at least 2nd in MVP voting for the 4th time in 5 years.

Just like McFail was outcoached by Stotts in 2014, D'Antoni has been badly outclassed by Pop and Kerr in 2017 and 2019. He simply doesn't have what it takes to win the chess match in a playoff series. He doesn't make adjustments either during or in between games. He fails to get his players prepared even for critical must win games. And he arbitrarily shortens his rotation. This latter point is what drives me crazy. Going into Game 5 vs the Spurs 2 years ago, D'Antoni announced to everyone that he was gonna ride with only 7 players. The end result was an exhausted Harden in OT who settled for bad 3-point prayers and the Rockets lost a nailbiter and went on to collapse in Game 6. This season, he benched House after a couple bad outings against the Warriors and never played Faried a single minute. This despite the Rockets getting killed on the glass. The end result was a close loss in Game 5 thanks in large part to poor rebounding and then a loss at home in Game 6 again due to being outhustled and killed on the boards.

I have no idea who's out there to replace him. Hopefully Morey and Tillman have had a few guys in mind as a contingency plan. But bringing back D'Antoni next season will result in the same outcome. Good regular season. Short playoff run.

 

A hope and a prayer is the bar J.R., because we are the dreamers.

 

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/sp...Rockets-Q-A-with-Jonathan-Feigen-13838545.php

Q. So how do they get better?

A. Never rule out a bold move, but the most likely avenues are with the mid-level exception and minimum contracts. They could have as much as $9 million of mid-level money to spend, though given what that would take under CBA rules and the roster constraints that would bring, it is much more likely they operate with the $5.7 million exception.

Though spending the exception money would push the Rockets back into the luxury tax, general manager Daryl Morey has already been given a green light to pay the tax, a person with knowledge of the team's planning said.

Q. With just six rotation players under contract, who from among the others will be back?

A. The inclination is to say Rivers is most likely, given his fit, role and production. But those same reasons might make him expensive to keep. The Rockets signed him to a minimum contract as a free agent, meaning they have no Bird rights. A minimum contract will not get it done again. Faried's exclusion from the rotation in the postseason makes it unlikely that he will return. The tougher questions are with the hometown players, House and Gerald Green.

The Rockets were unwilling to offer House more than a minimum contract, eventually bumping it up to three seasons. House turned it down, believing minimum represented worst-case scenario. The Rockets would have to use mid-level money to offer more than minimum. It is unclear if other teams that did not offer House a guaranteed contract before the season or pick him up when the Warriors cut him or the Rockets waived him would offer more now.

Green barely held on to a rotation spot, He signed for the minimum last summer after his breakthrough season. Needing depth with little to spend, the Rockets might be happy to have him back at that price, especially given his great attitude.

Iman Shumpert moved ahead of House and Green in the rotation, and the Rockets have Bird rights to sign him, but will be cautious.

 

LOL

 

If Durant leaves they are offering Klay as much as they can to keep him, so both of those things are very unlikely to happen together

 

If possible, I want players who can make a shot when that patented Rockets third or fourth quarter comes where we lose leads and careless turnovers happen. I mean look at GS, if **** gets tight for them, you can bet Klay or Steph can make some back to back threes to bail their asses out. We sorely need clutchness like that to counter our late game woes.

 

Indeed, but we'll never know. D'Antoni needs to swallow his pride and tweak his offensive schemes to include mid-range shots ala Warriors.

 

I agree with almost all of these points.

Paul is here until the end. moving him earlier would hinder our chances of attracting other free agents. you have to show that you take care of your players. to that end I think tucker and nene are here until their contract runs out too.

I'd be tempted to package gordon and capela to see if we can get a legit star next to harden. most likely we don't have enough for Davis, or guys like that. I think we can be in the running for players like beal for example. but then as you said the problem becomes how to we replace Capela's rebounding and rim protection. its not easy, and even though he was a non-factor against the warriors he's extremely important against every other team.

so I'm left with gordon/shumpert/picks for beal, butler, love, vocavic, Aaron gordon. I don't think any other stars would be available and fit in our lineup. vucavic and butler can't play defense against the warriors. Aaron gordon and butler might not be available. I'd go all in on beal. he's basically ego on ego's best night's, except that's Beal's average night. he's younger and will keep our window open longer. I believe it is possible to trade shumpert before free agency starts, like on draft night. if I'm wrong I think we keep ego.

so we'd have Paul-harden-beal-tucker-capela, with nene, hartenstein, Clarke, and cap holds which would put us over the cap but under the tax. we should then have access to the non-taxpayer MLE and the LLE. I'd use the LLE on retaining rivers. Them I'm giving the MLE to JaMychal Green.

 

i agree with you that Gordon and picks for a true star makes a lot of sense (considering he's a free agent after next season). But it would have to be a Beal-type player to be worth it (btw I live in DC and i don't think they will let him go). Pretty sure Nene's contract is mostly non-guaranteed for next season. I don't think you trade PJ Tucker. If you could get someone like DeAndre Jordan to take the MLE then Capela becomes expendable. Gordon/Capela/picks could get you some real star power in return.