What moves can we make? Not much in the way of tradeable assets, and a small MLE. We could trade Gordon, but I can't see us actually upgrading from him I imagine Morey's primary goal is trying to turn the Anderson contract into 2 manageable contracts. Sign some buy low candidates, try to make some moves in season. Only actual priority is adding a rotation swingman.
They are in a LA hotel room with all the neat displays and materials they created for the Lebron James meeting that never happened.
I just don't see any splash available. Not even "Rockets looking at" (worthy of excitement) kinda reports to start the fires.
He's barely played in Minnesota. Minnesota isn't going to give him up until a contract year. There's no chance right now because Minnesota is well in compete mode. They could have been the 3rd seed this past year.
I think there are no viable big moves on the table anymore outside of simply matching whatever Capela gets offered.
There was a report that he’s not happy with the work ethic of the team. If he doesn’t sign that max extension then we will know more
The longer we go without anything connecting the Rockets to MLE names (I'm assuming MCW, Ennis, and Nunnally are minimum offers), the more curious I get about Llull and Carmelo. Very strange that Tyreke Evans, a potential fit mentioned by @cyberx who appears at least somewhat open to MLE offers (Thunder), isn't even meeting with Houston. As @justtxyank mentioned to me on Twitter, it could be the Rockets earmarking the MLE for Mbah a Moute and the Round 2 draft picks... but if that were the case, I think Luc would agree to terms fairly quickly. That's a pretty good pay increase for him, considering his injury concerns and the fact that he fell out of the playoff rotation entirely. The longer Luc goes without a deal, the more my guess is the Rockets are trying to get him on the non-Bird tender or even the minimum again. The reason I keep coming back to Llull and Melo is because the former isn't really on the market at all (Houston holds his rights), and the latter isn't a FA yet since OKC has to either buy him out or waive and stretch. Thus, no rumors. Not that I'm necessarily endorsing either scenario... but one of those two would be an easy explanation for the "quiet," IMO, as it pertains to the Rockets and MLE candidates.
Thanks. Capela is coming back, letting him walk gives us no advantage or cap room whatsoever. I bet they stretch Rynos contract if they want to save money due to the tax, before letting Capela go.
Yeah neither did ch44. Minnesota is going to offer him his extension. Where it will get dicey is when he hopefully refuses and pulls a Kawhi. It’ll largely depend on if he wants to be here or not
This could be the case but Tyreke really seems to fit a better need with Ariza's departure but of course Morey could make other moves to fill in. Just seems like Tyreke makes too much sense and he is obviously someone interested in a 5.3 MLE deal or he wouldn't have even given OKC the time of day. We have potentially more playing time to offer and better playmakers while offering the exact same contract (one would think). Will be somewhat shocked if the Rockets aren't at least interested in Tyreke. Maybe OKC is just leverage at this point to try to get a longer term deal somewhere? Anyways, a little confused by this offseason so far. I thought we would be aggressive and linked to fringe MLE types like Evans but most of those guys have signed slightly larger deals.
Put it like this..... if the playoffs excluded divisions and conferences, the west would be top heavy. We haven’t done much to get better but like you said, other teams have.
Unless we're starting Gordon, I'm pretty sure our starting wing will come via trade...not free agency. Players to watch: Kent Bazemore Nic Batum (IF he will waive his player option for 2020-2021) Melo Harrison Barnes (unlikely) Tobias Harris Otto Porter Jr. Kelly Oubre Jr. Washington seems like a good trade partner for us. They can't keep both Kelly Oubre Jr. and Otto Porter Jr. from a practical standpoint, plus they just drafted Tony Brown. They are also looking at a significant tax bill and don't have a center. A few ideas: Ryno + Zhou Qi + Rights to Hartenstein +1st for Otto Porter Jr. Nene + 1st + Rights to Hartenstein for Kelly Oubre Jr.
There's a sign on Pat Fertitta's bedroom door that says DON'T NOT DISTURB! in magic marker - seems like things are about to really start heating up.
I'd trade Eric Gordon + Ryan Anderson for Kemba Walker + Nicholas Batum. The Batum contract is even more atrocious than Anderson's, but we get our 3rd all star. Walker is extremely underrated.
Where does Llull fit in? I'd love to have him but with CP3, Harden and Gordon how does this work? I guess putting CP3 on a minutes restriction would be nice which could open up minutes for Llull.
Morey's MO after striking out of the top 5 is to hold base and wait for things to shake out in Feb. Ryno's contract will be less ass by then. Oh dear God, please let that be true!!!
