Honestly, I wish the Rockets would make a huge investment in their scouting department. Also, hire a shooting coach. With the rookies we will be drafting + another year of Wood/KPJ/KJ/Tate/Khyri, etc there isn't one free agent out there that really gets my attention. Another year of losing won't be so bad if it will allow our young talent to develop.
Do the Rockets not have a large budget/staff in scouting relative the rest of the league? (Honest question). I would thought that would have been key part or Morey's philosophy and thus Stone's philosophy.
From what I have heard it would take more than the MLE to get him. He is the type of player that the Rockets should be focusing on though. He has some limitations but he has the type of upside to be a fixture on a really good team and he is young. Personally I would try to keep Nwaba only because of his effort and how well he is liked and how hard he works. The others are fine, but they take up potential roster spots. This should have already been done. He works very hard, is confident and is improving every year. Defensively he has upside as well. Agree. They are not part of the long term or short term solution. There are a couple people at TC that really like Gordon as a person, but there are also some that are ready for him to go. I have to think that they try to move him. Yes, and which picks they get and how these picks are made is more important than anything that happened this season. The Rockets future in large part hangs in the balance. I would not be adverse to the Rockets moving one of the later picks to a team for a good deal, such as two future #1's lottery protected. Yeah and the only one we have a pretty good idea of is Wood, and he has some injury concerns and only has two years left on his deal.
Daryl Morey asked to revamp the scouting department and player development when TF bought the team. It was part of a plan to also improve the facilities. This is something that Morey had wanted to do for a number of years. The idea being to have a more cutting edge scouting and development program with far more resources being expended on that part of the organization. It was supposed to be completely redone with new employees added and with new titles and an updated philosophy. It never happened. I am sure will claim COVID played a part, but the money was never spent and the plan was never realized. From what I have been told, it did upset Morey and called into question the long term competitiveness of the organization.
Our offensive system and lack of team continuity has really helped to highlight Olynk's talents, but I would not make him some sort of priority FA. We definitely should not overpay. I don't think we'll do much in free agency in the offseason as we need to keep spots open for draft picks and Armoni Brooks developmental type guys. Some young guys I wouldn't mind giving a real opportunity to - Lauri Markennen Zach Collins Harry Giles Jarred Vanderbilt Mo Wagner Nico Mannion Ignas Brazdeikis I also wonder how Skal Labissiere would fit in our system
Some interesting names there. Zach Collins would be a great pickup, but I doubt the Blazers let him walk. Wouldn't mind a prove-it deal for Giles, although it's concerning that he couldn't get any minutes when Nurkic got hurt and the Blazers were among the worst defensive teams in the league. Jarred Vanderbilt is another player I was thinking about. Churn the bench. Get some other cheap, young players in the mix: Jarred Vanderbilt, SF/PF - Lanky, long, multipositional defender/rebounder. Not a shooter. I think his ceiling is a decent rotation player, but could start in lineups with a floor spacing big. Reminds me of Andre Roberson. From Houston! Saben Lee, PG - Quick and athletic guard. Gets into the paint pretty easily. Kind of has that Ish Smith shiftiness. Draws a lot of freethrows. Good touch around the rim. Shot isn't terrible, but needs improvement. Vision / decision making improved over the season. A few vets I think could "break out" and potentially get flipped for other assets: Willy Hernangomez, PF/C - Solid, smart big who does a little bit of everything on offense. When he gets 20+ mins, hes a double-double. Decent finisher in the paint. Has a faceup, midrange game. Can space the floor a bit, but not a strength. Defense is whatever.. he's not a modern switchable big. His minutes have fluctuated all season, but by all accounts, he's been a pro about it. Georges Niang, SF/PF - Potential 3 and D wing. Improved shot and confidence. 43% on 4 attempts, in only 16 mins per game. Has a pretty well rounded offensive game otherwise (guy was a bucket at Iowa). Much improved defender. Feels like he could get a slight overpay in a weak wing FA class.
Do we? It's well known that last season that we had shoot-a-rounds instead of practices. https://lakeshowlife.com/2014/05/07/jalen-rose-mike-dantoni-doesnt-prepare/
A quality defensive coach would be nice too. All the BS narratives about Harden and MDA lack of defense, but this season clearly epitomizes how wrong CF was on this one.
I don’t care what anyone says...I want Vanderbilt. I wanted him earlier, I want him now. Hometown kid! Can play d as a big man. Got better this year and as it progressed—-3rd big with wood and olynyk keep nwaba. Keep Kelly o olynyk/Vanderbilt Wood/kj Tate/nwaba Khyri/Gordon/brooks Kpj/augustin +our picks wow...still doesn’t look good...but I want Vanderbilt if he’s cheap and minny won’t match
Sure , I'm on board for tank 2.0 ..... But I don't want to waste assets either. Letting Olynyk walk for nothing and not using the MLE would be just that .... Wasted assets.
Give me Niang An ascending young player that plays defense and can score. The biggest two things the Rockets are missing is a creator on offense and a well rounded 6'7, 6'8 wing. IMHO
How many Embiid types are there in NBA? There is no 1 player that can shut down Embiid anyway. Need to run him off the court with pace and switches.
