I hear Ivey is in the dog house in detroit. Would Monty and Silas trade Ivey for Green and sweeteners?
Difference is, Jamal Murray very intentionally gave up the reigns to Jokic and worked on playing off the ball for the good of his team. I doubt Mitchell is willing to do the same. I think we probably just end up in Cleveland's shoes if we trade for him, with a guy who's good enough to get away with dominating the ball on offense but not good enough to go deep into the playoffs.
Man, I am so conflicted. I think we are a #1 scoring option away from being a very, very good team. So, what's the answer? Do we exercise patience and see if one of Green, Whitmore, or Thompson can become that bucket? Or cash in the Nets' pick while they still have a lot of value? I really don't know the answer.
Yeah, it's tough. Part of me is like "just go get Markkanen at the stated price". Part of me wants to be patient and see what we've got. But at this point I've at least tipped over into the, "Jalen needs to be coming off the bench if he stays" camp. Question is, is it better to bench him and inevitably hurt his trade value, or just trade him now while some teams might still think "I can fix him".
I really like Markkanen, I mentioned picking him up 2 years back .... but I don't like his fit with this current group. Sure, you can move Jabari to the 3 spot and its likely a neutral move, the problem for me is Brooks & Tari. Brooks is a 3 and that's it. Tari is a 3 or a 4. Neither of them has the skillset to give you what's needed out of the 2 spot. You can't ask either one - Brooks or Tari to be the ball handler on a pick and roll as a regular part of the offense. As poorly as Jalen has shot the ball, he's infinitely better than both of those guys as a secondary ball handler and creator. The only other 2's on the roster are Cam, Nate Hinton & Jeenathan Williams - none of which appear to be ready for prime time. You could probably get away with running Sengun, Markkanen, Jabari, Brooks, FVV as a situational group but I don't see it as a lineup getting major minutes. Just too much pressure on FVV as the only guard. The other thing about Markkanen is his contract, its this year and next .... I'm not giving up 4-5 FRP unless it comes with an extension. Our window has to be wider than 2 years, particularly as you don't know who your 2 guard is. It really seems to me that improving this roster has to come at the 2 spot.
Meh. Brooks can easily play the 2. He's literally listed as a SG/SF. Besides, the NBA is drifting away from such rigid positional definitions. It doesn't matter who is your #1 scorer so long as you have one. FVV / Brooks / Markkanen / Smith / Sengun Holiday / Amen / Eason / Green That's a great primary nine-man rotation. I wouldn't give up 4 - 5 RFPs, but I'd probably trade Green, Tate, filler, and some draft compensation.
It's not about him being a scorer, its about a secondary ball handler / facilitator which he is not well suited for no matter what you list him as. You generally need two guys on the floor who can get the ball across the time line & get the team into its offensive sets. Brooks is not that guy. Holiday is more that guy than Brooks or Tari but that FVV / Holiday pairing leaves you ultra small at both spots. I don't want to see Brooks initiating the pick and roll multiple times a game. It's a turnover waiting to happen.
I'd argue it's a little less important for the Rockets to have a facilitating 2-guard since Sengun does a lot of playmaking in the halfcourt. Having a second guy who can bring the ball up is fair to worry about, I suppose. Dillon can do it a bit, but yeah, it's not really his strong suit. Maybe you start Amen at the 2 guard spot (if he can ever f***ing get healthy) and move Jabari to the bench backing up both the 4 and 5 spots for 25+ minutes per game?
Our only decent ballhandlers are FVV Amen Holiday Sengun Brooks Jeff Green are passable at times (JG is improving in his passing) Tari and Tate are blackholes (I feel this seriously holds Tari back)
Trade rumors on Donovan Mitchell. What would it take for Hou to snag and wouldn’t want? They wouldn’t want Sengun unless they included a big in trade. Doubt they’d we have enough to get him but him over Green would make us borderline contenders.
Really agree with most of this, but I see improving the 2 spot as more a floor raiser and the easiest spot to improve in the short term. I don't see FVV, Tari, Brooks, and Smith as road blocks to a true ceiling raiser even though I really like the potential of Tari and Bari. Getting Markkanen and it taking 4-5 FRPs would basically remove the Rockets flexibility to improve elsewhere other than from internal development. Until the Rockets know who their stars are and what they do, I would not focus on raising the floor at the 2 spot in the short term other than with internal development/internal options.
Stone to Iko on whether he'll make a trade: Lots of stuff about, too early to tell, likes the team and thinks it can get better without roster moves, but going to do their due diligence on possible trades, etc.
Yeah. I don’t see the fit for Markkanen. Better options are Bridges if you are going to give up all the Nets picks and Jalen, Brogdan or Carruso if you want a quick fix that will probably only cost a FRP and filler. Brooks needs to continue to start at small forward. Tari is a great sixth man off the bench, why screw that up?
