When Josh Smith and the Rockets split up I wondered if he left or we booted him. Clearly his game has holes in it, but we pursued him less than a year ago, and were thrilled to get him. He possess a rounded skill set, certainly he helped us advance in the playoffs, and salary seemed more than reasonable. There has been discussion here on why, how, better with/without, etc, but I don't feel the complete story has been revealed to us. Now Chuck Hayes leaves under similar circumstances. Clearly holes in his game, he does bring something to the table, again price is right. And again a question of did we do him wrong. I guess the high road says we saw the writing on the wall, and in both cases professionally gave Smith and Hayes the heads up. The writing on the being that baring exceptional circumstances neither would get PT. Did the Rockets tell these guys that Jones and DMo are who we are going with? One is the starter and the other will be the big sub with no real minutes left for Smith or Hayes. I assume Smith and Hayes both see themselves in the 8-9 man rotation. The low road would be that Morey/Rockets see assets/flexibility/McDaniels/Montrezl/hard cap as more important than Smith or Hayes in whatever roll they would provide and (politely) showed them the door. All of that seems one question, but overlaid over that is concern about the Rockets PF position. It has to be considered our weakest position to start with. Jones and DMo are both coming off injuries. And our back up center is unproven/inexperienced, so it is hard to count on him sliding over to PF if needed. Are we in a strong enough position to chase away guys like Smith and Hayes? Are Smith and Hayes just not the solution? Parts of this has been discussed in other threads, but I'd like to know the board's opinion on the overall Smith, Hayes and PF situations; both the events of the past as well as expectations for our future.
Well Josh Smith took less money to go to the Clips. He though he'd get more time there. Hayes is just a salary cap flexibility situation. Hopefully we can sign Harrell and he starts quick
Well, Smith played 25.5 minutes per game with the Rockets this past season. I can't imagine he'll get more minutes than that with the Clippers. So it is a little strange actually.
DeAndre Jordan and Blake Griffin both play about 35 minutes per game. So if Josh Smith was the exclusive back-up for both Griffin and Jordan, the maximum number of minutes he would get is 26 minutes per game. That's the absolute maximum. But it is practically impossible to substitute players so that Smith is the only back-up for both the 4 and the 5, so his MPG would be less than 26. The only other possibility is for Smith to play some at the SF spot... which I have no idea why the Clippers would want him to, and I have no idea why Josh Smith would want to considering he sucks at the 3. It really doesn't make much sense from a basketball stand-point.
He'd get far less this next season assuming a healthy jones and Dmo. Baring injury or trade there are no guarantees for as many minutes as last year.
Your scenario is fine, just to add to it - - assuming Blake and DJ close out games then Josh is glued to the bench at crunch time.
I'm convinced that Morey used Hayes as an excuse to get Harrell to sign for minimum. Like telling Harrell's agent: "Sorry, but we're just strapped. We can't hard cap ourselves. I promise you will make it up to you later." Otherwise, Morey just signs Hayes. Why make an announcement over a verbal agreement that can be reneged, unless you are doing so as a negotiating ploy? Then he tries to apologize to Hayes by saying, "we'll give you a coaching job."
bmd, wrt Smith's pt at LAC, it's somewhat off topic for the thread, but when you say Smith sucks at the 3, I don't think you are factoring in what Chris Paul can do. I'd agree with you, except LAC has a superstar PG. Paul can deal with it and make it work. Smith can easily get 28-30 mpg, even in the playoffs when Blake starts playing 40 mpg. [EDIT] Afterall, we're talking about Matt Barnes is the starting SF. He's not exactly a 3pt threat, either. It's up to the superstar PG to make it work.
Smith wanted a more defined role and minutes. He would not get that here in Houston. DMo and Jones are going to get the bulk minutes at the four and Capela is a more suitable back up for Howard at center. If we had to get rid of Jones to get Lawson, we would have probably signed back Smith in a heartbeat. Even though I think Smith is the better player between him and Jones, the Rockets obviously prefer Jones in the back up 4 role.
Explain to me why Jones would get minutes in front of Smith. That's what I don't understand. And why would we commit to Jones when we would have to pay him $15M next season? I think Smith left because he was taken for granted during the KJ deal, and I don't blame him.
We keep hearing this, but no one ever suggests (at least not on this board) that maybe Josh is after a ring. We barely beat LAC, so it's not a stretch for Josh to think if he moves to LAC he's going to make them better, which would mean a serious contender. In the pre-Lawson environment, he clearly made LAC a threat. He's got to be thinking that.
Smith and Hayes are very different. Smith is still in his prime and even though his value took a big hit being waived by a team in the middle of the season, he is still a starter talent, or at least a solid rotation guy. Hayes has never commanded much PT without Yao's injuries and some smart coaching decisions. I don't think he expects anything more than a vet min salary and a 3rd string role. As heypartner pointed out, Smith could think that the Clippers+Smith would be a better team than Rockets+Smith. Hayes's is a completely different story. He wanted to be here. The Rockets announced a verbal agreement between the parties. All of a sudden the deal was pulled off the table. It didn't look like a normal free agent contract negotiation.
Jones turns it over much less and will make his layups. Much more efficient. I like our 3 headed PFs because they all had very different non-overlapping skills.
Why would people think the Rockets booted Hayes? The deal from the get go was a partially guaranteed deal, the Rockets never offered him a fully guaranteed contract.
My problem with Smith is that he's gone from a Rockets team in which he was a significant contributor, and gave him a chance after a dismal stint in Detroit, to a Clippers team where he will be benched and competing for minutes against Blake Griffin, arguably the best PF in the League. Not to mention, for less money. Idiot.
My prediction is that D-Mo will start but TJ will get equal minutes. Probably will rotate as starters.
I agree, especially considering the upcoming contract negotiations with our restricted pfs... I feel like a shrewd operator like Morley would love to have smith in front of someone like jones so when he has to match both offers only one will be a large contract
This. I know it's en vogue to dump on one in favor of the other(s), but I still think the three were a really nice mix of skills.
