The Build Around Amen trade

Is Turner's contract being ranked that badly just based on his performance this season, or is it expected value? Because I kind of feel like he's just having a down season, since he's not even in his 30s yet. Who knows though. But yeah, it's a bad contract. Portis' deal doesn't seem that bad to me? It's just NT-MLE money, and he's a 14 and 6 guy with solid scoring efficiency and high 3P%. His defense isn't good, but he still seems like a decent 6th man type.

 

Do you honestly think paying Quickley, Okongwu, Portis, Turner, and NAW $105M into the 1st year of Amen's extension is a good idea?

My opinion on FVV and Durant is that they gave/give Amen and Sengun a chance to win. If they don't, their contracts come off the books without significantly hurting the Rockets long-term. To me, 1 FRP as I did not like Jalen Green on his contract, and Durant's extension basically was designed so Amen could get the max. I am vehemently opposed to jettisoning their contracts in a manner that hurts the Rockets long-term.

On the future, I think the Rockets should probably stand mostly pat through next season unless another team makes a mistake. In the 2027 offseason, the Rockets have tons of potential tradeable contracts and 7 tradeable FRPs (10 overall). Other than getting someone like Trey Murphy, I think the Rockets are focused on giving the team next season a puncher's chance without spending much, and focused on maintaining 2027 as the year the Rockets retool. Personaly, I think Sengun gets traded at the 2026 deadline or 2027 offseason, but it really depends on how Sengun plays to see if Rockets deal him and what they can get.

When I'm speculating at improving the Rockets, I don't start with I hate these players so let me speculate on trades to get rid of them. I start with targets. Trey Murphy would be the target for me. He's mostly contracts like JSJ, Capela, Adams, FVV, and/or DFS with 2-3 or so picks.

Edit: I don't have much faith in my basketball knowledge at a micro level. Mostly, I think I'm decent at understanding the ramifications of how certain moves affect the Rockets' ability to do things.

 

Turner is paid a lot. It was a bad contract the moment it was signed. The Bucks did it as an effort to keep Giannis happy. It has gotten worse. If a team has Giannis, he makes some sense. For all other teams, Capela is likely a better player, but at worst, a better contract.

Portis....I'm surprised he's a 14 ppg scorer. That said, he can't play defense. He's hunted and he's much easier prey than Reed. He should not play a competitive minute on a good team. As he has 1 more year than DFS guaranteed, he's on a worse contract than DFS.

Capela and DFS are guaranteed to make $7M in 27-28. Turner and Portis....$43M. I'd rather cut Capela and DFS than have Turner and Portis for $43M in 27-28. Durant is on the hook for $46M that season.

 

I think the idea of "building around Amen" and the idea of "building around Reed and Amen" are two very different things. I can see a path of a more uptempo style of play that plays to the strengths of Jabari, Reed, Tari, and Amen. Jabari and Amen in particular are not necessarily elite against set defenses but both(especially with Reed pushing) can be particularly dangerous playing a 7 seconds or less style of offense. Stylistically it's on another planet from where we are today with KD and Alpi but I think the ceiling is higher because unlike the original 7 seconds or less offense - this one can actually play defense which was always the achilles heal of those old Suns teams.

I think when you say the "build around Amen trade" - you make a case for a Harden/Luka style offense and I think most posters here understand that's probably a bit of a leap for Amen's game. I just see a lot more commonality between Reed and Amen turning into something akin to a Nash and Shawn Marion or Curry and Draymond than a guy who becomes so good scoring in iso that defenses HAVE to double and then they pick apart those defenses with excellent court vision. I think Amen can do this in stretches in a half court setting - but it would look a more like Giannis bulldozing his way into the paint and finding shooters on the kick out than Harden/Luka and I wouldn't want the whole offense to be built around that - it's just a way to run some half court offense when you can't get out and push pace/tempo earlier in the shot clock.