I think you are right in that the Rockets should do more of trying to “find” a skilled perimeter player out there, that they believe in and is undervalued right now. Stone has not really had success at that kind of thing. His success has been accumulating and using top half FRP’s, and acquiring veteran known commodities. Not diamonds in the rough. We don’t even really try. Once you’re a good, capped out team, making one or two of those “finds” is critical. Lowry and Derrick White are a high standard though.
I'm willing to give Stone more or less a pass on his history since he's been rebuilding for most of his time as GM. And yeah, it is hard to get a Lowry or Derrick White when they were still relatively unknowns. But unfortunately that is the level of player the Rockets probably need to match up against OKC, if not also the Spurs and the Nuggets, in the playoffs. It's clear this is a talented roster, but probably need a lead guard to make all the pieces fit. If they don't find someone, I don't like the chances that Reed can develop into that guy for this season.
He makes $14m this year, that's just out of reach for the Rockets - Unless Fred agrees to be traded and that's not happening.
I would give them a 1st and 2 2nds. If i had to I would I would give them 2 firsts but I wouldn’t tell them that upfront. Rockets need a star like point guard, not back up level pg
Not necessarily. Sacramento is going to blow it up either way. You easily add a third team...hi Pels and BK ( TM)
More I think about it the more I kinda want Westbrook for Holiday + 2nd. Schroeder would probably be better but I’m not trying to give up DFS or depth Westbrook wouldn’t be bad off the bench as a playmaker for our shooters. Help stabilize the offense when Reed gets shaky and still learning and also allow him a little more off ball. He’s avg. 7assist and 35% from 3 isn’t the end of the world. Hit a few on us. Could probably teach Amen a thing or two about having ungodly athleticism and playing point guard Reunite Westbrook / KD and I bet Harden forces his way here somehow for one last year of the trio and they retire together
How is Jrue a reasonable get with a $34m contract. Who you gonna trade to make that happen? Remember they are hard capped so it's basically dollar for dollar to match. Fred aint gonna approve a trade. Forget that $25m. Jabari is untradable on a poison pill contract.
Adding a 3rd team doesn't escape the problems of being hard capped at the apron. You don't have a single contract that works either, so you have to account for either bringing back a 2nd body in the trade or signing one to a minimum to satisfy roster limits. Tari and Capela don't make the math work for Schroder. It leaves the Rockets over the 1A and under the minimum roster of 14. Unless you are adding DFS and one of Tari or Capela, Or Fred (and that's not happening), the math is literally impossible. Alvarado is someone who they could get ....
Random thought: Maybe we could use a shooting big man to lower Steven's minutes and play on B2Bs more than we need a point guard? Clint looks washed AF and just doesn't bring much beyond rebounding and a dunk or two. TL;DR bring back Jock (41% from three on 2.8 3PA!)
I guess my “NBA trade machine” logic was dependant on FVV accepting the trade, but I wasn’t aware at the time of that caveat. Sounds like Jrue is off the table darn. I am not sure Marcus Smart is really in any way a more conventional PG than Amen. He is probably a lesser Amen with a marginally better 3pter. Is Mike Conley still healthy/un-retired lol.
