Glad you responded because I know how highly you value First Round Picks and I wanted to gauge that value as it relates to Butler. I would certainly have done the deal because players at Butler's level rarely come on the market at discounted costs.
Even though Jimmy is gone, I suspect by the trade deadline we will have traded at least one and probably two picks.
In order to give this idea some context, you really need to also list the names of every one of the 300 or so #16-60 draft picks since Butler's draft who never played a single minute in the NBA.
The fact that they traded him east is pretty good for us. I can see the Sixers imploding and he will get traded here for 3 first round picks instead of 4. Minnesota is crazy for not taking 4 first round picks knowing how bad our team is currently playing and how bad our financial situation is gonna be for the next 4 years. I don't see how just traded away 2/3 of their shooting for Jimmy. It will be interesting to see how a lineup of fultz butler and simmons can play together with no floor spacing.
I wouldn't he surprised. Look, I get the value of FRPs. They are cost controlled and on a team with high salary players that is very important. And it is important to keep "growing the crops" so the roster has some youth. All of that is fair. On the other hand, we have Harden in his prime. CP at the back end of his prime. CP is here to augment Harden. While you don't want to totally give up the future, you have a bird in the hand now and that is this Harden lead team. If you are not going ALL OUT to add premium pieces to this Harden/CP team, then you are wasting their value. Why waste their value so you can have "a little more value" in the future for a team that could totally be in flux? I am not saying be cavalier with those 1st rounders. But they should be in play if there are "sellers" out there with high value players at discounted costs.
I'm curious how you know that. Since then we've been missing fundamental players almost every game. Paul 2 game suspension, Harden hamstring 3 games etc... Only Capela and Tucker have played all 12 games. Knight hasn't played at all and Chriss barely played in just 3 games. Nene hasn't played *at *all. Not 1 game this season with the planned rotation. At full strength we would have won some more games and you probably wouldn't even be making such an argument. We are shooting .417 as a team which is abysmal. If we had Moute, Ariza and Anderson using their current shooting it would be *even *lower.
They could’ve been guaranteed first overall picks and Thibs wasn’t taking that deal. Thibs was looking out for 2018-19 Thibs and no one/nothing else. Arguably rightfully, from his perspective. Point being...He wasn’t taking our deal regardless. He really, really, really didn’t want to deal with Houston. It is what it is.
Jimmy Butler was probably Morey's best chance at adding a 3rd star. It is rare players at that level become available at discounted costs due to circumstance. And additionally rare that the "suitor" list was rather tight, limiting the field for asset packages. Right now, there doesn't appear to be many sellers. Perhaps that will grow by Dec 15th through Feb 7th. We'll see. If they can't find another star, Rockets should look to improve bench depth at the margins. The Rockets bench is Eric Gordon and rookie Gary Clark. That is it. Too many other hurt players (Knight, Nene), young players (Hartenstein, Zhou, Edwards), or players with big holes in their game (Chriss, Green, MCW). @Codman talks about #DecreaseTheDrop as it relates to getting a back up PG...but I would go even farther and just say #DecreaseTheDrop should extend to THE ENTIRE BENCH. Either you buoy the team with a troika of high level players or you build a strong foundation on the "rotation" side. (preferably both). But you gotta get one of those. Let's see if Morey can make those moves at the margins.
if we lose the next couple games (likely) and drop to 5-9, tilman is going to be itching to cut salary not add more
5-9 could clearly happen. But I am looking at the 20 Game mark. The next two are ridiculously tough. But "how they play" is important too. If they lose the next 2 and are 5-9, but "play well" I would keep watching to see if they can go 5-1 in the next 6 to get to ".500" at the 20 game mark. They could survive from that point forward. So I am looking at .500 at the 20 game mark to any key pivot points.
Agreed on the Chris Paul front. Is it possible that he aged in just a few short months? Do you think the mind is willing but the body just can’t? Or do you think it’s worse and it is something deeper such as a rift in the clubhouse between Paul and Harden?
The scapegoating of the reigning MVP making it's first appearance on the board. Could only happen to Houston.
fair enough, at 10-10 there's still a chance we could get the 2nd or 3rd seed. but 8-12, for instance, tilman will definitely be "evaluating" his pay-out situation
From the outside that might seem risky. But my guess is Morey does risk assessment on every transaction. Same with putting a set value on a player and sticking with it. If he would have made the move, my confidence would be high that Butler would have stayed. As fans we are always worried. Mostly because we don't have all of the information. The information Morey clearly does. As for CP, it is being revealed he has tendonitis in his elbow. That will come and go. But a big part of his game that makes him successful ON THIS TEAM is being "aggressive for his shot." That is mental. He can't sit back at be "just the facilitator." He has to be a scorer and have that mindset. See the Pacers game. See the Lakers game. See the Nets game. Aggressive. Take the early 3 when that high pick is set. Looking for a better shot? No, that is the best shot. Take that snake dribble FT line jumper. Want better? No, you are a star, that is your shot. Shoot. Think of Lillard or McCollum and how they shoot. Shoot the shots, get a lather and get in a rhythm. Then later in the game, you can call on that rhythm. If the Rockets can find a 3rd scorer (like Butler) then CP can settle into the "3rd star" role and be more passive scoring.
I think getting the 3rd seed (away from GSW's side of the bracket) and a home 1st round series is a worthwhile goal now. That should be the target.
So we're going to beat both the Warriors and the Eastern Conference champions without homecourt with this team?
