While I’m interested in acquiring KD for the right price, I cannot stress enough, the Rockets aren’t a KD trade away from anything. More work would need to be done.
Jalen isn't good enough on defense to be a 3rd or 4th option on offense. I'm not saying he's a bad defender, but if your 3rd or 4th option isn't a really good defender, it is hard to build a great team.
The Rocket agreed to extending the deadline so they could have longer to try to trade him under the 24-25 operating year. The Rockets have no intention of exercising the team option without trading him. FVV agreed to extension as if the Rockets got a trade lined up, he gets more money than extension option. There was no downside for either party to extend it even if the likelihood of the team option getting exercised is almost nil. Maybe the Suns do something incredibly stupid, but other than that, the Rockets early Bird rights to FVV almost guarantee the Rockets outbid every other team once they decline the option.
This is basically it. Jalen scores. He either makes it as an on-ball player or he's scoring off the bench. He really can't play the 3 and d role.
While more work would need to be done to get to championship level, Kevin Durant solves or addresses the Rockets’ three biggest weaknesses: Shooting, a lack of a go-to scorer and the ability to make free throws. Not to mention, the Rockets would still have a team with plenty of young talent and an elite defense around him. They could easily be a Western Conference Finals team next year if they get Durant at the right price. With Giannis deciding for now to remain in Milwaukee, Durant makes a lot of sense as a short-term upgrade designed to help the young guys experience going deep in the playoffs.
I think this is underselling it and misstating the problem - he's a pretty good catch & shoot 3 point guy (40%), and defensively he was fine this year. I think he'd be better served with anoter elite perimeter player and get a lot more open shots - but the Rockets don't really have one. Instead they have an elbow floor clogger like Sengun and Thompson who is best in the dunker spot or creating havoc but not really an on-ball creator. Like, I thik if the Rockets somehow got Giannis, they would be better served to hold on to Green becuase he complements Giannis battering ram style way better than Sengun or arguably even Thompson. Giannis needs catch & shoot players, full stop.
I like Durant but if we’re modeling ourselves after the Thunder or Pacers, at what stage did they trade for a 37 year old All-Star? Seems more like a trade to sell more jerseys
Exactly agreed, OKC's oldest player is Caruso, still in his prime and just turned 31. They are built around a 26 year old SGA, even Indiana has 31 year old Siakam as the elder and Haliburton at 25. They didn't do desperate moves like trade for a 37 year old and potentially pay him $120 million to build around with their young core. At least they made smarter, much younger moves.
They also didn't try to pay CP3 or extend him after taking them to the playoffs. They let Shai sink or swim for two years. They didn't prioritize a bottom 5 point guard over youngins
I’m not a proponent of trading for KD. That’s a good team post-trade, but my concern is farther down the line. Do you extend KD, and at what cost? Does extending him mean that you can’t give Amen the max? Or if you do, do you have to trade Sengun? Are you suddenly trading for players like Gobert to “maximize the window”? Trading for a player like Durant is a slippery slope that I don’t want to be on. I think this team needs to make some trades to improve some positions, but I don’t think it needs to be for former greats on big deals. It causes a chain reaction that is hard to recover from.
Absolutely good point, $50-60 million in cap space hurts extensions, flexibility and future moves. Albatross contracts are hard to move, like Paul George, Beal etc. We go from have potentially a decade of contention, to a short term win now mode of desperation unnecessarily trading out youth and assets. I'd rather develop, contend and have flexibility long term, as other younger stars or free agent opportunities may arise and our team will organically improve into their prime years.
The Suns are using Miami and Minnesota as leverage. We should call their bluff. FVV, Cam, #10 and Jock Landale…
I agree we should hold fast and not overpay. But I'd rather trade Jalen and Jabari rather than FVV and pick 10. Jalen is bad and worse than Fred, and getting off his contract would be great. And pick 10 to take someone like Carter Bryant to replace Jabari makes a ton of sense, since it allows us to avoid the Jabari extension situation, and to replace him with a good and similar role player on a brand new rookie contract.
I'm fine with the shooting if he was off ball and learned more how to get ball while playing offball. Defense, he's gotten better at guarding guards. He can't guard up a position well (FVV was guarding Draymond at times). He can't play off ball defense well as he appears he can't multitask. Sometimes he guards his man well, but leaves open passing lane or vice versa. Sometimes he collapses paint too much, but leaves his man wide open instead of playing the nail. He isn't close to the best PoA defender, but that's what he's best at. He's gotten better, but he absolutely needs Amen to be a PG to be able to guard guys he can guard.
