I think McDaniels is an insurance policy in case the Rockets can't keep Brewer. As it is, McDaniels is learning the McHale system in practice. So, he will be thoroughly evaluated. If anything, he's an insurance this year in case Ariza or Brewer were to get injured. Who knows what type of interaction Cannon and McHale? Because it seemed that McHale didn't trust Cannon with the PG duties. But Cannon had been around for over a year, and he still didn't have McHales confidence. One should think of how many plays Cannon botched? That would be an interesting question to ask McHale.
meh. canaan wasn't getting minutes, a lesson to not throw a ball at your coach when you're mad. kj might be valuable if we can resign him cheaply. might be out the door if he asks for too much in a Lance style move.
No one is going to throw Lance type money at KJ McDaniels. But he will definitely be getting paid as a 1st round rookie scale player as opposed to a 2nd rounder.
This still will remain a question mark and a big one. He showed some flash but he also showed he is not a good shooter. How many winning teams will be patient enough to spend time on him to be a future role player? And how many bad teams or lottery teams would take him but not to take a gamble with a new picks (assuming most of them will have the picks)? And plus the fact that the reason he signed the 1 year deal is want to have certain rights to pick his next team, so I doubt he will choose to play for teams like the 76ers or the knicks again. It's very difficult to predict how he will end up next season at this point.
Is this another example of Maury making a move just to make one? Another case of Maury playing fantasy basketball with his "assets"?
You could be on to something here. He might have more success at FanDuel or DraftKingz than he does at putting together NBA teams that can go deep in the post-season.
Nah, just another example of you, Carl, and the other usual Morey haters desperately searching for reasons to criticize the 3rd best ranked GM according to ESPN. Pathetic.
As most have said, this seems like insurance. The hope is that we take Brewer-Smith-Llull-KJ into the offseason and bring back as many as we can. If we can't bring KJ back, it's probably because we've signed two of the other three. That would be a Good Thing. But if Smith and/or Brewer leave, a young defensive stud with "Upside" on a cheap-ish contract isn't a bad consolation prize.
What I want to know is why isn't KJ getting some D-League burn? Are we afraid he'll get injured? Or is he really needed on the bench?
The same ESPN just predicted the Rockets would be the most likely candidate to be eliminated in an upset in the 1st rd of the playoffs.
We would barely have any more cap room than the exceptions would allow us, so that wouldn't make any sense.
Grantland: The NBA Groupon Games: Which Players Are the Next Free-Agent Steals? Among the many names... Spoiler Bismack Biyombo Mirza Teletovic Kyle O'Quinn Ed Davis Jae Crowder Jonas Jerebko Will Barton Honorable mention: Al-Farouq Aminu Cory Joseph Tyler Hansbrough Lavoy Allen Aron Baynes Derrick Williams Alexis Ajinca Jeff Withey Kendall Marshall John Jenkins Busty Robinson K.J. McDaniels
Yeah, ESPN likes to harp on the Rockets. For them it is a win win jab at Houston. As it easy to pile on Houston as a target of disdain. It is far away from other cities and most people dont leave Houston, so you dont have Houstonians scattered all over the US like other major cites. Heck it is a city in a Republican state with a lot of oil refineries, and a good job market. So ESPN saying Rockets are most likely candidate to be upset is ridiculously biased, it is just keeping up the Negative Houston media bias. Realistically, i would say anyone the Spurs play is the most likely team to be upset in the 1st round of the playoffs.
Typical red herring argument. We are talking about the GM. Most consider him one of the best in the business. That is a fact.
But K McDaniels is here only as quality end of bench depth. He is not a core part of the group. Morey gives McHale the chess pieces, and that is that. Cannon was no longer a piece that McHale could use, so Morey flipped him. McDaniels might turn some heads in 2 or 3 years playing for someone else. But unless he shows that level under McHale, he isnt getting court time anytime soon. If McDaniels is worth keeping, then they might make him a strong contract offer, but I would not lose any sleep over it. Look at Ariza, he floundered his first go around with Rockets. Then when he figured out his style Morey targeted him.
