If we cut him it frees up cap space to sign another max player, so I think cutting Harden is the obvious choice.
I thought the same thing about Lin with Lowry and Dragic. Let's just waive Lin and Harden and keep the smaller contracts since they are more movable.
There is some significant overestimating the impact of Aldridge around here. He is better than Thabeet, but not much. Unless McHale works some magic, Aldridge is 5 fouls and a couple rebounds. I feel for OKC though, Thabeet is now their backup C.
Aldrich hasn't proven anything at the NBA level (and neither has Smith). The only thing he has on Smith is that he's been in the league for like one more year, and did more in college (with an elite team). Other than that? People are reaching through thin air. I doubt he'd get waived right after a trade, but people need to stop acting like Aldrich is a guy who's actually proven something in the NBA. He's barely ever played, and when he did, it's been for a small handful of minutes per game.
How big is Smith. I don't think Cole has impressed too much yet, but assumed that his size and youth would buy him more time to develop. It sure feels good to have a few players taller than 6'9".
Yeah, that LaMarcus Aldridge is terrible. Aldrich on the other hand, now there's a stud. Honestly though, Aldrich is young and still has the potential to improve. If there are better backup C's on the market right now, by all means let him go. But right now he fills a need. As for the last two cuts, I think Hayward is gone. I think the last cut will be between Cook/Douglas/Machado. Livingston has definitely played well enough in the preseason to merit a roster spot. The only way I see him not making the team is if he gets moved for a pick.
And per 48 minute stats mean nothing when you are not very athletic. You can say that about Aldrich, 6-7 minutes a game, that's fine, but put up in a game for 30+ minutes. I guarantee you his production would not be linear. He has potential, but he has to work on his conditioning big time.
The deal with Boston was clearly worth it as the second round pick from CHA (likely #31 overall) was one of the assets in the deal for James Harden. That pick is worth more than whatever HOU has to eat on JuJuan Johnson's contract. I think there is a reasonable chance that someone claims Johnson off waivers, in which case HOU would owe Johnson nothing (this is my understanding, anyway). Seems unlikely that anybody claims either Jon Brockman or Gary Forbes, but both are likely to wind up on somebody's fifteen man roster, and my understanding is that this results in some savings for HOU. The trades that netted each player were also clearly worth it. As I believe that Daryl Morey would like to execute a quantity-for-quality in-season trade for a veteran big man (Paul Millsap?), what makes the most sense here is to waive Scott Machado and Greg Smith. Pretty likely that each player gets claimed, so again, based on my understanding of NBA rules, HOU will wind up owing each player $0. My projected in-season trade: Paul Millsap to HOU; Terrence Jones, Lazar Hayward, Shaun Livingston, and Toney Douglas to UTA Revised roster: Starting lineup PG Jeremy Lin SG James Harden SF Chandler Parsons PF Paul Millsap C Omer Asik Key reserves Carlos Delfino, Cole Aldrich, Daequan Cook, Patrick Patterson End of the bench (little or no PT) Marcus Morris Royce White Donatas Motiejunas Although it would obviously make more sense to send Morris, White, and Motiejunas to the developmental league (so they can get regular playing time) and fill out the final three spots on the active roster with low cost (minimum salary) pickups.
He could be, everyone left has some guaranteed money left in deals. Forbes, Brockman and Johnson are all guaranteed, and unless claimed, we owe them their salaries.
I think Aldrich sucks but even sucky 7footers have value. We could probably get a 2nd rounder for him so why waive him? Aldrich will stay on the roster.
I prefer Smith to Aldrich anyway.. Aldrich can stay as a project ala Thabeet. The two extra cuts are Machado and Fogg (not even sure if he's still on the team)
