Rockets rotation going forward

Even though Clark is not really a SF, I agree that he has earned a shot to start.

Let PJ Tucker play the SF.

 

i wonder who we sign after melo’s departure..and I can feel MCW is out too..can we use the vet min again? McCaw is still available..

 

His feet. We would definitely be a bit slow on the perimeter, but at least we would be highly intelligent.

I am all for Clark starting. I absolutely love his game.

 

please no, to many similarities to the names

 

I think Clark is close to earning a starting spot, but it doesn't really matter. I'm perfectly happy with Clark backing up the 3 and 4 while he is learning to think faster. There's still 30 minutes off the bench for him, and he can pair up with Tucker just as easily as he can with Ennis. Harden will guard the worst 2/3/4 and 2 of these guys will split up the assignment that suits them best.

Ennis is good for 25 minutes and will improve as he gets used to being a starter, pacing himself, has a second go at guarding starting-level wings, team defense improves and Jeff B comes back. His 3pt% on the season is good and again, like Tucker last season, I expect that to improve with more familiarity, repetition and practice.

What really matters is that we don't have huge dips in defensive intensity and that when we switch there are multiple people capable of limiting points off mismatches favoring our opponents (Tucker/Clark/Ennis will not flat out give up when switched onto a PG or C) and helping other teammates who get in trouble. We can live on defense if Harden is the only liability, and to be honest Harden has not been that big a liability for almost a year now. Poor team defense makes everyone look bad, both to the eye and in advanced stats. Not to mention the psychological effects of constantly seeing your defensive "web" break down.

Further, I'm 99% certain the team will acquire another 3&D wing before the deadline, which is really all we need to get back to last year's level. I just hope that guy is closer to 6'9 than 6'5 with a decent wingspan. Doesn't have to be great, just has to be able to compete for minutes with our guys. Unfortunately I don't think that will be enough to give us a better shot this season than last, barring a Warriors injury of course. Still it's better to be in the WCF with even a 1% chance than to be on the treadmill.

 

IMO McCaw is everything we hoped MCW would be - a decent backup with good system upside. Plus he has a 6'10 wingspan vs MCW's 6'7 wingspan, is an inch taller, 4 years younger, shoots well from the corners and comes from a better coaching staff and team culture.

I wish we would take a chance on him, he could genuinely develop into a very good backup by season's end. He had a terrible season and we could nab him at half his value. The problem is he will want a player option in year 2, and if he plays decent ball he will opt out so we lose the opportunity to keep him after he's had his first Rockets training camp and summer.

At $5.5m/2yrs (which we could offer him with our remaining MLE) he would be a good deal and it would hurt the Warriors to match that. I think we could get that much value out of him though and waive MCW. Not going to change much, but every bit counts I guess. We usually save some money to sign waived players, but this year it looks like we're the one doing the waiving.

 

We need two more nba level guys that are not on the roster right now period. Need a big and a ball handling wing.

 

i like the idea but mcw is still guaranteed $1.2M this season so with the lux tax added in i could see morey either just keeping him or waiting all the way till the deadline trying to include him in a deal

 

After we trade Knight, Chriss, MCW, and a pick for Kyle Korver & JR Smith...

Starters
Paul
Harden
Tucker
Clark
Capela
Bench
Gordon
Korver
JR
Ennis
Hartenstein

 

do you have anyone particular on your mind who we could trade for?

 

Just once I want more to experiment with adding an elite 3 point shooter to his 3 point shooting team

 

Kyle Korver - last 3 seasons from corner three (138 out of 283 = 49%)

JR Smith - last 3 seasons from corner three (155 out of 337 = 46%)

Nick Young - last 3 seasons from corner three (96 out of 241 = 40%). He is a free agent.

Pretty easy to acquire all 3. Have a bench full of snipers.

 

Would love Demarre Carroll for >>> Knight and our 2019 pick to SAC, TE and 2 second rounders to BKN. It's a lot for Carroll, but in effect it's serving the purpose that multiple trades would: Getting Carroll for no rotation players + dumping Knight's contract (which on its own is arguably a negative 1.5 picks asset). Carroll has some of the attitude we lost in Ariza/Moute, I bet he can give us 20-25 extremely solid minutes at the 3/4.

I'm optimistic in saying someone mediocre like Allen Crabbe, Shumpert or Bazemore COULD get us back into the WCF. Shumpert in particular has a shockingly good DRPM over the combined past 5 years so maybe there's more to him than what we see + his 3 ball is falling at the moment. Crabbe can shoot if nothing else, and he has the length to at least get a hand in Durant's face. Bazemore is ok, I kind of see him as a slightly better Ennis.

Btw, I know these are not game changers, but we have to be realistic about our assets, and these guys are the minimum required to give us a better quarter each game. If we acquire Carroll and a really good FA breaks loose for our leftover MLE, we could be in solid shape again in time for the playoffs.

 

True, if the financial situation is really tight then it would be difficult.

 

I’d rather keep those assets and just sign Nick Young, and try to pry MCcaw from GS. MCcaw has some real game.

We could use a Knight, Criss, MCW and pick package to then maybe get a back up big and or a true 3 and D wing. I don’t think JR and Korver are playable in the Western Conference playoffs, especially versus Golden State.

 

Imagine Harden and Capela pick&roll with Tucker (46% from that spot) in one corner, JR (46% from that spot) in the other corner, and Korver on the wing (42% from that spot).

How do you stop it?

 

Yes to korver, sure I’ll take young for the minimum, meh on jr Smith.

 

Wasn’t korver pretty successful statistically against the warriors?