Rockets acquire Suns picks, return Nets picks to Brooklyn

With Phx on the 2nd apron we can still all the Subs players and they cant do anything about it.

 

If Booker isnt the best player on your team why are you even paying him the Super max? On that alone your entire argument falls apart why 35% will be tied up to a guy who isnt even your best player? Dont you think your best player will also want a super max contract if Booker isnt the best player and he is making the super max? It doesnt really make any sense.

OKC and Denver have the same structure they have a supermax making 35% of the cap who is also their best player. If we trade for Booker we need to have the same team structure which means we need to gut the Core 6 cuz we cant afford them. Right now Rox structure is we dont have anybody making the max so we can afford to have depth on the team along with 6 guys who will prob make 20-38M each. This is what makes them a good team bringing in Booker and losing guys of the core due to Booker's salary well the Rox arent that good anymore.

"Only 16M" along with Jock Landale contract that is basically the extension for either Jabari or Tari already. JG is gonna make 33M next year and Booker is gonna make 53M next year. Its actually 20M not 16M.

Jordan was seen as the best player of his team, in today's age he will make the super max just like Jokic, SGA and Booker. You need to compare players making the same salary, Jalen Green making 33M is role player money Booker making 56M is supermax money. Why does Jalen Green who is making the same salary as Derrick White need to be better than Michael Jordan who also be a supermax in todays NBA?

Maybe we have different expectations for Super max players I expect him to be a top 5 player in the world to make 35% of the salary in your case he just has to be better than Jalen Green and he is good enough for a super max contract already.

Finally, Jalen and Booker are already closer than you think. On 3 pt alone Jalen already shoots better than Booker. On defense Jalen is better than Booker. Efficiency yes Booker is still more efficient, but our team needs 3 pt shooters and we need a spacer very badly. The 4% increase on DB efficiency doesnt really warrant 20M more payment. Downgrading at 3 pt, defense and age while paying 20M more for the privilege is not a good strat.

You can already see Suns losing games left and right with both Booker and Kd healthy and playing. Booker just isnt that good to be making that much.

 

Question 1. The objective is to win.
Question2. The objective is to win. You are arguing about saving the owner money.


The Rockets would not need to make a decision on players until the Amen extension. At which time, the Rockets trade whoever they can't afford if their players are good enough to make it an issue.

As the money between Green and Booker isn't an issue, it is a pure basketball decision between the 2 and whether the Rockets would prefer having the draft picks.

There is more to the game than 3 point shooting. Booker is a volume scorer with a TS% that hovers around 60% that gets a lot of assists with the same amount of turnovers. That's about 2 ppg in being more efficient (i.e, this isn't taking shots from anyone but Green) plus another 4 or so on assists. Booker is a massive upgrade over Green as he is now.

On shooting, Booker is around 50% in midrange while Green is barely cracking 30% From a gravity point of view, Booker has to be guarded out to the three point line.

 

If you count all the dudes on max deals, how many of them are really worth the cost / cap hit?

I think there are very few who justify that max.


Someone justify paying Zach Lavine max money .... and there are many other examples.

 

Damn I must be watching the wrong Devin booker and basketball, 59 ts 55 ts isn't that much of difference, maybe cause one is 10 yr vet and other is 4 yr vet but let's go to 3pt now, Green doesn't have to be guarded out to the three points line? So he so bad with a 35 that they leave him open but Bookers 34 pt he's been guarded? Break it down this season, last 25 last 82 , greens 3pt percentage been higher, now regulars fg per, 45-43 that much of a difference, then booker must be showing how much important he is right now to suns under 500 record..

To come up with mid range now, only had of full players uses that shot,

And green is better defender than booker.. and room for improvement

If booker was that good he wouldn't only good years with an old Chris Paul

 

Here's all the deals given that were 30% of the cap or more and what grade i'd give them:

Curry in 17-18: A
Harden in 17-18: A-
Wall in 17-18: F
Westbrook in 17-18: F
Lillard in 19-20: C+
Giannis in 20-21: A
Gobert in 20-21 (31% of cap not 35%): C+
Luka in 21-22 (30%): A
Embiid in 21-22: Impossible to grade, right now probably a C?
Trae in 21-22 (30%): C
Booker in 22-23: C
Jokic in 22-23: A+
KAT in 22-23: D
Jaylen Brown: D

All are 35% of the cap unless specified otherwise.

 

Of course there is more to the game than 3 point shots. However, at the moment, Green is objectively shooting better from 3, and it’s really not very close IMO. While their 3pt % is pretty similar at the moment, (1) Jalen is radically improving as a 3pt shooter, whereas Booker is seemingly regressing; and (2) Green is shooting well from 3 on much higher volume. Booker, for his career, has averaged about 6 3pa a game, whereas Green is averaging 8.3 attempts per game this season.

Why is this important? Because a .36 - .37 3 pt shooter who averages 8 - 9 3s a game has a far, far bigger impact on spacing than a player who shoots that same average on 5 - 6 3pa. That is massively critical for us because, at the moment, our two other best prospects are not shooters. Amen / Sengun / Green really works well IF Green continues to develop into a solid volume 3 point shooter.

In other words, I think there’s a world where Green develops into a worse player than Booker but one who is a much better fit for our team. I also think there’s a decent chance Green develops into a player that is just objectively better than Booker, not that’s another discussion entirely.

 

4% in TS% is 2 ppg at that volume solely on efficiency. That may not sound like a lot, but that's probably 4-6 wins a year just on TS%.

Green improving at defense does not mean he's good. As bad as Booker is at defense, he's better than Green.

The NBA is a team game. While people can debate the quality fo stars today vs stars of the past, but the big difference is that guys 3-8 on teams are generally much better than 5, 10 years ago. The Rockets without a star were chewing through teams with stars until FVV got hurt. It is going to be incredible tough for 1-2 stars to carry a team without depth.

 

Might I add that the Rockets only benefit from the Suns being bad.

Let them make their own decisions regarding Booker/KD as they sit at the bottom of the Western Conference.

Rockets shouldn't bail them out. Hold onto the picks and save them for an Ant type of player.

 

Great Post.

 

It's hard to look at Booker's stats and not think he is declining from his peak. His contract is going in the opposite direction.

I have been out on Booker. Wouldn't mind Durant if the price wasn't too steep. The commitment is much shorter.

 

Maybe, I'm wrong.

I don't have nearly as positive a view of Green as others on this board.

 

You know I've been critical of Jalen, particularly his 3 point shooting as it pretty much unlocks everything else.


Over the last 30 games he's shooting .391 from deep.

That's considerably better than league average and not a small sample size, nearly half a season.

If he sustains the current level of play, he'll have outplayed his contract and Stone will be giving him a max after next year.

 

I don’t get into data as much as many people on this site. I just go off of watching the games.

Jalen Green is definitely improved as a shooter. I expect that is he matures and get stronger he will become more affluent and taking the ball to the rack.

but I think it’s highly likely at this point it’s worth the extension he received.

 

35% seems scary because it feels like you only have 65% left to work with but in reality, real contenders want to be positioned right under the 2nd apron which is around 134% of the cap so there really is a lot of room left for the other players. It gets really scary if you have 2 35% guys like the Celtics but to be eligible for a supermax. You need to have made All NBA before your extension so safe to say, Amen is really the only guy on the team who even has a shot at that in the near future. It would be really easy to build a team with 4 25%max guys + 35% supermax +minimums or if you can negotiate a little even 5 20%max + supermax + minimums. Obviously if you can negotiate further to get guys with injury concerns like Bari and Tari to take even more team friendly contracts, then there's plenty of room to work with. It's really easy to fit salaries around a team of young players because even the 1st max extension that comes after the rookie contract is still relatively small. You get in trouble once you start handing out veteran max contracts like the Suns have right now.

 

Even in that span, the TS% difference only drops to 3.5%. That's still about 1.5 ppg ignoring that Booker is the better defender and better creator. Booker is currently an efficient scorer overall. Green is not.

I accept that I'm not all knowing about basketball. Booker looks a lot better than Green to me such that I would only be concerned with the picks and whether Amen is better as a SG. I hope Green is as good as the rest of y'all think prior to Amen's contract being up.

 

Windy on KD's future with Phoenix: "They're gonna trade him and he knows that. I think everybody's intentions are crystal clear here"

 

Green's history of up and down keeps a lot of us wary of his current "hot" stretch. I'm sympathetic of your skepticism. But I can't deny the fact the this time it looks more real than any other times in his career. So I guess I'm a sucker again.

The problem of comparing Green and Booker is the fact that they are at different stages of their career. Booker is in his prime while Green still has the "P" word (potential) hanging on his neck. I've always felt that if Green could reach Booker's level, it would fulfill our hope for him. With that view, trading Green for Booker should be a no brainer. (Let put the contracts aside and just consider basketball.) One has reached the ceiling while the other has the similar ceiling but has not proven to have reached it yet.

Now people are saying that there's a good change Green will be better than Booker. That's something I have never entertained. The only clear advantage of Green over Booker is his athleticism. Even with his hot 3pt shooting, Booker is still a more efficient scorer. And he is a better playmaker. For Green to be better than Booker, he will have to (1) raise his efficiency to Booker's level AND (2) raise his playmaking ability. Neither one is a given, and I don't know how likely.

 

Would Udoka even play Bol? If he is not a hound on defense or at least high IQ vet, then Ime has a tendency to park them on bench + forget they even exist.

 

How many times do we need to hear that KD is going to be traded this summer? I thought Luka being fat is a much better story, lets continue that one instead.