Based on lack of PT, and position duplication you are correct. However, keep in eye out for Livingston. I wouldn't be surprised if they kept him and cut Smith instead because of his contract making potential trades easier later in the season. That is unless Smith has made the decision easier by impressing the coaches in practice & the two games this week. Right now its hard to tell whether they are sold on Smith or not moving forward enough for me to say one way or another who its going to be.
I feel you on this one, but understand that it was a contractual thing. He was only traded for because of the fact that they could release him right away without ever paying him a dime against the cap for 2013. Unfortunately he was just part the Dalembert trade. The real question is why in the world was Milwaukee that eager to get rid of him after one season? However, in the end, he still might not have made the 15 man roster for the Rockets given his position duplication, and relatively low upside as a star player. It was best for him as a player to have been cut when he was cut to have an opportunity with another team that needed some young help at the 4 spot.
More likely to cut livingston...than smith..by cutting livingston...I think they get some cap savings...
As a 3.5 mil expiring contract this season, Livingston might have more value to the team in terms of "cap saving value" not necessarily to them, but to a trading team. The 3.5 mil number is a nice expiring contract to have because the aggregate salaries have to be within a certain percentage of each teams incoming and outgoing salaries. Its nice to have one or two mid sized expiring deals to help bridge whatever gaps you might have in a deal without having to give up 3 or 4 minimum contract players instead to bridge the gap on a deal. -case in point- Its also funny that this thread just mentioned Jon Leuer. When Milwaukee made the Dalembert trade, they probably did not want to give up Leuer at all, but needed more salary to get the trade done. Had they had another mid sized contract on the books that was expiring, they might have been able to salvage Leuer & Brockman in the deal. Look towards the future in February and they might be forced to trade someone like Marcus Morris, along with the likes Toney Douglas, and Scott Machado to bridge the gap on a trade when they could have saved Morris and Machado from that deal had they been able to offer Livingston instead of the other two players that they really wanted to keep in the end. -That being said if Smith blows away the coaches and looks like a player thats going to make that much of a difference to them in the end, then keep him by all means. However, just realize that if its a contractual decision, there is more value to Livingston as an expiring contract that one might think.
The earlier one is cut the greater that player's options. Cut late the player becomes a more likely resign to ViperLand.
Either way, they still become UN-restricted free agents with the ability to do whatever they would like with their next signing decision. When Jeremy Lin was cut last season by the Rockets Im sure that RGV was an option given to him.... However, Jeremy still had better ones despite being an undrafted second year player cut by 2 prior teams. Greg Smith was signed by Houston last year mainly because they could not hide him in the D-League much longer before other teams picked him up themselves. If the Rockets give up on him again, I would assume other teams would have major interest. Who knows with Machado, but I would be willing to guess that with his SL and preseason play, it wouldn't be a huge stretch to think that another team would have interest in signing him right away.
Yes, of course. But a week or so from now the options are, in fact, fewer with more competition for what options exist.
Agree with CertifiedTroll. Why in the world go after Delfino when Lamb needs some run, and we got combo guards too? Was Morey thinking Martin would suck in his contract year?
Youngest team in the NBA signing a character veteran. I really don't know what's so dumbfounding about this. I understand that you want to get Lamb PT and see him develop/get a high draft pick, but I don't see how it's logical to believe that Delfino's (short term) presence sets this team backwards overall.
He probably planned to move martin and wanted a veteran to take the spot until Lamb is ready to take it over.
K Mart is going to average 25ppg, 3rpg, 3 apg, and 1.3 spg. Probably end up trading to Atlanta or something.
Bingo. Look, if you put Lamb out there for 30+ minutes a night, you might do more damage to his career than good. Young players need other veterans they can learn from or else they can turn into a player like Nick Young. Delfino is a pretty low risk veteran to throw in the mix. Yes, he's costing them a roster spot this season, but its not like the Rockets are going to be losing future superstar talent if they have to cut Greg Smith from the roster because of it. As you mentioned, at some point in the season Kevin Martin will almost surely be traded. When that happens Lamb will be given the green light to start firing away. Until that happens, Lamb can just take a back seat for 6 weeks or so and learn something.
Perhaps we haven't cut anybody b/c we're trying to make minor moves? Also, Delfino was a good acquisition. If you just put out a bunch of young guys w/o veterans you get a bad team that doesn't develop. They begin looking for stats rather than learning how to win. Even OKC, who seems to be the standard for teams building from the ground up, had a healthy veteran presence on their roster. Below are the 8 players with the most minutes/game (i.e. their 8 man rotation) during the rookie years of Durant and Westbrook. 2007-2008 Roster (Seattle Supersonics) Player / Age / Minutes per Game Kevin Durant / 19 / 34.6 Earl Watson / 28 / 29.1 Nick Collison / 27 / 28.5 Jeff Green / 21 / 28.2 Chris Wilcox / 25 / 28.0 Kurt Thomas / 35 / 25.2 Damien Wilkins / 28 / 24.3 Wally Szcerbiak / 30 / 23.6 Avg. Age of Top 8 = 26.625 years 2008-2009 Roster (Oklahoma City Thunder) Player / Age / Minutes per Game Kevin Durant / 20 / 39 Jeff Green / 22 / 36.8 Russ. Westbrook / 20 / 32.5 Thabo Sefolosha / 24 / 31.2 Desmond Mason / 31 / 27.3 Earl Watson / 29 / 26.1 Nick Collison / 28 / 25.8 Nenad Krstic / 29 / 24.8 Avg. Age of Top 8 = 24.75 Our top 8 (if we didn't have Delfino) would have an average age of around 23.3. Even though that number isn't too far off from the 08-09 OKC team, we have to remember that we have slightly older guys without experience (unlike OKC which had KD and Green who had a full season of starter's minutes). Asik (26), Lin (24), Patterson (23), and to a lesser degree Parsons (23) don't have the level of experience that KD at 20 and Green at 22 had.
You don't give unready rookies 30-40 mpg right away with no veteran guidance or they will risk turning into the next Kemba Walker.
What are you talking about! You don't need any veterans (or maybe ONE, at most) to mentor young players. Play them, and they'll figure it out on their own! If the talent is there, it'll come out on its own. Sincerely, Nick Young, Andray Blatche and Javale McGee
We hawe enough weterans without Delfino: Kewin Martin, Tommy Doubwas, Jewemy Win, Chandler Barsons, Omer Asics are all Weterans.
