If you could get a pick for Brooks, we would have already done it. The only reason he is still here is because he would cost us a pick to move him. We will see him start at the beginning of the season, but I predict his minutes will go down at the turn of the year or around the trade deadline. If he is still here next year, I doubt he will be starting. I only predict he gets traded as part of a larger deal that brings in a franchise-type player. That’s what we are saving our draft picks for, and until we make that move, I don’t see us offloading a pick just to move Brooks.
I do like the idea of targetting LaMelo Ball. His injury history scares me but he is a very good 2 way player who is young and fits this timeline. Dont think Charlotte would be trading him anytime soon, but its Charlotte so who knows.
Dude he's only been here one season. We signed him as an FA. He had career highs across the board so there's no way he disappointed Udoka. How can you perceive that as the only reason he's here is cause we can't get a pick for him? He's here because he's exceeded expectations and his contract is easy declining while the cap skyrockets.
If we are as good as most think our future Rocket FRPs have less value than a high SRP —> and come with guaranteed rosters spots.
Totally agree with some of the posts before. Just have to wait for the next disgruntled guy. Need the idiot owners and idiot GMs out there to step up and do what they do best.
It's a revolving door, we'll find one at the right time. It's more important to find out what our young core is made of next season so that we know exactly what kind of max-level player to acquire. Our core is well spread out across the positions, we might not even need anyone if one more player takes a major step (Jabari? Jalen? Amen?). That still leaves us with 5 prospects from which we need 1 more all star level player. Why are we acquiring someone else when we could cultivate everything in house on more favorable CBA terms? I'd give this team at least 30 games before starting to think about acquiring a star. I'd want to see what Udoka can do with a roster that has some chemistry and understanding of winning basketball. The players by all accounts have been working very hard this summer.
I'd prefer to keep Uncle Jeff... but this package for Himmy (if Heat were bout it) would be too hard to pass up (giggity)
Maybe this could be my bias that I just don't trust Jalen Green, but if Booker, Shai, or Luka came available, I would be willing to risk Green for the certainty of having one of those guys. I have faith that these guys basically fit with every other young player on the Rockets.
I agree but Luke and Shai are not going to become available. Our 3 most realistic targets are Booker, Durant, and Giannis. I wouldn’t give up too much for Durant and I think that Booker and Giannis trades should be centered strongly around draft picks. The only way Giannis would be available is if he forces his way out, so the onus would be on us to convince him, not the Bucks to pick the Rockets. Phoenix really is in a poor spot. If they wait too long on Booker the price goes down, similar to the conundrum we have with Jalen. If Jalen breaks out, we have no need for Booker.
Fair enough. It's subjective. From my perspective though we would be breaking up a group that we would regret breaking up and dramatically reducing our ability to have very flexible salaries like the Warriors dynasty. To me there's nothing to gain from doing something like this before we know what we have. We can make a better decision.
I'm with theDude on this one. How long he's been here and how we acquired him are irrelevant. I looked up his stats and didn't see any career highs except in rebounds and 3%, both by .1%. I'm not dogging on him, I respect what he brought to the Rockets last season. That said, he's redundant and overpaid. He's the 2nd highest paid player on the team, but 3rd best small forward. Thompson and Eason may be better defenders already, not to mention superior offensive players at a fraction of the price. Brooks is Shane Battier without the brains. Rockets are a bit stuck. He loses a lot of his value once we take him out of the starting lineup, but the team is better IMO with Thompson and Eason getting his minutes. We need to wait for a trade and pretend we don't want to trade our precious starter. I would gladly pay several 2nd rounders to dump him, he just not the value we need to really compete in the next 3 years. I hope you're right and I'm wrong and he turns into a baller, but again he's paid 2nd and may not even be a top 9 player, even with this many players under 22.
What allowed that Warriors dynasty was a giant leap in the salary cap allowing them to have 4 dudes on big contracts .... and then the Wiggins trade that netted them Kamminga with Wiggins getting a max extension keeping their payroll near the highest in the league even after Durant left. The league isn't going to allow that to happen again and has instituted cap smoothing limited to 10% per year. At most, the Rockets will be able to afford 3 dudes on rookie max extensions ....
Of course but you can keep more with rookie extension maxes than you can with externally acquired ones. You have more control over the market and rookie maxes are the cheapest. If we plan this right, we could be in a league where the majority will only pay for 2.5 max contracts while we have 3-3.5. Major competitive advantage.
No but that's actually irrelevant. There's no way a guy has a career high type of year (his best shooting in years + matching his career high in several categories + key part of a major turnaround in wins) and he's considered disappointing. That's one of the best outcomes you can expect out of signing someone. He's only the 2nd highest paid player because our core 7 are all in rookie contracts. His % of cap is really manageable, the cap is increasing while his salary is declining, he can help practically anyone for 30 minutes a game. I bet we'll get decent value for him. I think Eason will be healthy and outplay Brooks in the first 30 games. We'll trade Brooks to a contender for a late first probably by the deadline.
He is a guy for a 0.500 team but once you reached that he is not really that special. Celtics have Jrue and White, OKC have the Dorture Chamber and Caruso, Minny has Alexander Walker, McDaniels, Gobert. Denver had KCP, now Strawther, Aaron Gordon, MPJ...... All of these are less flamboyant and harder workers. They do not chuck up shots as well.
I read this as saying teams over 0.500 value defense. The Rockets currently have the following above average defenders: Adams (assuming health) Tari Amen Brooks FVV (more off ball than on ball except against players that try to bully him) Tate Landale I suspect Jabari becomes another one this coming season or next. I think it is very clear that the Rockets want to add a star (either internally or externally) and have that star surrounded by defenders. Most teams acquire star(s) and then then build team around them. I think the Rockets wanted to do that, but have not sat on their knees and went ahead and acquired defenders while trying to find a star(s). I do not agree with Brooks's career year like the other poster. Taking less shots was an improvement, but he was not consistently disruptive on defense the last 4 months of last season. I'm guessing he was banged up which hurt his defense and he'll be better defensively this season. I think Brooks will have some value the season after the coming season as the salary cap increases a lot. I think the Capture the Flagg game is going to limit his value this season (i.e., I think he has value, but it might be difficult to deal him quickly or at all).
