Potential 3rd teams in Houston/Orlando deals involving Eric Gordon and Aaron Gordon: Nets: Spencer Dinwiddie Golden State: Kelly Oubre Jr.
Yep, when Wood gets switched out to the perimeter there’s no Covington to pick up the rebounding and defensive slack. So the Rockets look worse defensively and rebounding wise than what they did under MDA.
The MDA haters love focusing on the lack of size but Rockets last season had MUCH higher defensive rating, MUCH better at generating turnovers and even better at rebounding. The Rockets new defensive scheme is very similar to Turner's scheme. Jack of Trades, Master of None.
Hou In: Gary Harris, OG Anunoby, MPJ, 3 FRPs Toronto In: Harden Denver In: Aaron Gordon Orlando In: Fred VanVleet *Other salary filler will be necessary to make the deal work. Each of these teams have the salaries necessary to make it work. Houston gets 2 very good building blocks and 3 picks. OG is locked up for 4 years, and MPJ for 2 + restricted free agency. Toronto gets Harden at the price of VanVleet, Anunoby and 3 FRPs. Wouldn’t be surprised if Toronto gave up more picks/prospects. Denver gets Aaron Gordon for MPJ and the ability to dump Gary Harris. Orlando gets Fred VanVleet to start next to Fultz as their long term guard pairing, cleans up their future at the forward spots. Wall / Harris Gordon / McLemore Anunoby / Tate MPJ / Nwaba Wood / Cousins
I believe he can be, but the poison pill applies. It’s just more difficult because the outgoing and income aren’t the same, but I believe he can be traded.
I wonder if there are any low key really good young players that Stone could be targeting. A la Dejountae Murray on SAS or JJJ on MEM, etc. Not those exact players per se (though I would love to have them), but just other players who haven’t been mentioned but who may very well be available in a 3-way deal beyond the MPJ/Simmons/Brown/Herro headlines. Will be interesting to see what Stone does...
You could then trade PJ Tucker for a 1st, and then figure out what you want to do with McLemore and Nwaba, on whether you want to keep them or get more draft compensation. I’d prefer to at least keep McLemore, as getting shooters isn’t easy and he works with pretty much any lineup, with the goal of resigning him in the offseason with early-bird rights. With the 3 other first we current own, plus the 3 in the Harden trade, 1 in the Tucker trade, and 1 of our own, we could have up to 8 FRPs to deal for someone like Bradley Beal. Harris, House and 6 FRPs for Beal. Wall / Gordon Beal / McLemore Anunoby / Tate MPJ / Nwaba Wood / Cousins We could actually be pretty good with that lineup. Age of the roster: “Core” Beal (27) Wood (25) Anunoby (23) MPJ (22) Tate (25) McLemore (27) Quality Vets - Future Expirings Wall (30) Gordon (32)
Wall for for Paul he has a higher chance of being healthy. And Harden/Gordon/Tucker for Westbrook and Beal. He is like 3rd in the league in rebounding at PG for crying out loud. That effort level could bring up the entire team. Beal replaces Hardens scoring. Probably take 2 first round picks to get it done though. Going all in now or never Paul Beal Westbrook Wood Cousins Bench: doesn’t matter with that lineup Yes I’m joking
One team that I would hope the Rockets are looking at is Atlanta. They have several players who I would be interested in as well as some larger salaries to make things work out under the CBA. What do y'all think of something like this? https://tradenba.com/trades/-ml2RCKHS
FO has demonstrated a willingness to wait things out. Teams are already more desperate than they were a week ago. Give it to the trade deadline and you'll have teams really willing to mortgage their future for short-term gains. And I think that's what the FO wants more than anything else - unrestricted first rounders + swaps. I'd imagine they're looking for something close to 3 unrestricted first rounders and another 2 swaps with minimal protections, in addition to young players.
