we have a defensive small forward. his name is PJ Tucker. We've been playing him out of position ever since Luc got hurt last year.
Geeze.... No love for House or potentially Gary Clark Jr? House was part of our squad, getting minutes, when we had a +60 win team in the second half of the season. If we can grab a legit wing defender then great but I'm not feeling too bad about what we have. Let's do some CP3 "load management" and have him come of the bench but still close: Harden Gordon House Tucker Capela I think that lineup really fits wells.
To this point, I'm okay if the Rockets choose to save the remainder of the TPMLE for a potential buyout later in the season. But I also hope they are actively pursuing potential trades as rumored/reported and ready to spend a draft pick or two to add a significant rotation player like RoCo. I'm not okay with the front office sitting on their hands and doing nothing at this juncture to shore up the rotation for the season other than waiting to see if any more free agents are available to sign for the vet min.
House will likely be a useful player. He is an average defender though. He is useful but he isn’t especially long and isn’t the plus defensive wing we need. Gary Clark Jr. isn’t an NBA player. He is a positive on the defensive end but he is a huge liability offensively.
RoCo all day. Great defender both on and off ball. Can shoot the 3, though shaky at times. 6'9"!!!!! He can play SF and PF!!!!!! Great value contract. TWolves will likely be fighting for the 8th seed against SAS, NO, SAC, DAL since LAC, LAL, HOU, DEN, UTAH, GS, POR are definitely better. Might as well retool this upcoming year and trade some of their assets (like OKC) besides KAT, Layman, and Culver. I like the SnT Shumpert + pick(s) 3-team deal I've been seeing here as a possible strategy. But another possibility is trading EGo in a 3-team deal then using SnT Shumpert on another deal. http://tradenba.com/trades/HyQjlUE-H (only reason it fails is because it has Wolves without draft picks) Add a tall big that can rebound at a decent rate, plays decent perimeter D, and shoots the 3. -Sign Trey Lyles, QO rescinded by DEN after acquiring Grant from OKC And an emergency high flying backup center for lobs and blocks. -Ryan Anderson TE for Robert Williams from BOS, BOS could then sign Tacko Falls as the 3rd center Capela, Hartenstein, Williams RoCo, Lyles, Davis Tucker, House, Clark Harden, Green, Ponds CP3, Rivers, Clemons
The talk is coming from _holic As to why OKC would rather route Winslow to Houston versus keeping him themselves is a mystery.
Put together the trade between Miami and OKC that 1. Does not involve Bam or Herro 2. Gets OKC out of the tax 3. Gets Miami out of the tax 4. Gets Westbrook to Miami 5. Does not involve OKC taking back long term bad salary (James Johnson, Dion Waiters) 6. Does not involve a 3rd team After you fail there then try to put together a 3- team deal that accomplishes 1-6. And then we can start discussing your best 3- team deal not involving the Rockets versus my 3- team deal involving the Rockets with Winslow coming to Houston.
It's interesting that Covington would be great here... if only we didn't waive him in his second year.
Chris Paul and Harden’s minutes will be staggered for sure, but there is no way Gordon is starting over Paul.
No, I can't repost something that hasn't been posted. I have talked about Winslow often over the last year. We had a lot of discussions dating back to last season. And he was almost a Rocket then. But since the conclusion of the season...and now that Whiteside has moved on...the deal would be different. But there is opportunity here. And it basically comes down to this......OKC needs to rebuild...AND THEY KNOW IT. And there's very little market for Westbrook. I really don't think there's more than one team that wants Westbrook. Unless Washington comes out of the woods with a Wall and assets deal for Westbrook...the market is Miami...period. So OKC is really hamstrung here. And if I'm Miami I ain't budging. Expirings and Winslow is the BEST DEAL I do if I'm Miami. Help OKC get Russ off the books. Maybe they can flip Goran for another asset. But that's it!!! Without another team wanting Westbrook, OKC is stuck. First round picks?? Get real. Bam and Herro?? Why? Let Russ and OKC sit there and rot together. OKC knows this. And Miami knows this. The ONLY REASON Riley is going after Russ is because the price is super low. Westbrook is owed huge money over the next 4 years. And his trade value will have to be rehabbed by another season playing alongside another superstar that takes the ball out of Russ's grubby mitts and makes him more efficient by helping him with finishes and open catch-and-shoots. And that's my point about finding a trade for Westbrook, OKC, and Miami. NOBODY ELSE WANTS HIM!!!!! Sure OKC can get out of the tax....and keep Russ. But they know they ain't winning anything. And they'll be just bad enough to be 7-8 seed in the playoffs, get smacked around..and then have another middling non-lottery draft pick. All those picks they've got....none of them are going to be lottery picks. Not any time soon at least. So they are DEAD as far as being contenders. D-E-A-D. It's time to clean out Russ. And then possibly move Adams for whatever value they can get in youngsters/picks. Then use their cap space going forward similar to how Atlanta has done. Take on deals while they're lottery bound and picking up assets along the way. OKC is REBUILDING. They are not going to be able to re-tool. And here's the catch with Winslow....he's got 2 years left and he's a free bird. And he's not interested in a rebuild either. Winslow wants to go to the playoffs and contend. So the OKC/Winslow match...isn't a match at all really. They'll be running the Paul George risk all over again. Of course they got those assets. But their chances of winning a championship in the Westbrook era floated out the door with George. So I'm telling you all that adds up to Westbrook leaving OKC super cheap. They'll be lucky to get one decent draft pick out of him. There's no reason for Miami to pay much more than that. And they could swap back the picks for 20, 22, 24 picks and add one additional pick. OKC could give Miami back 21, and 23 in favor of 20, 22, 24 picks. That's all Miami can do in the picks department. And then Miami has no other mechanism to upgrade short of combining Herro with Waiters/Johnson as expirings next summer. What BOTH TEAMS need is: 1. to escape the tax altogether for 2019-20. Not just stay under the hard cap in Miami's case. But to escape the tax. Because they are in danger of being repeater luxury tax payers if they stay in the tax this season. And OKC just got done paying the repeater tax. So OKC has to be out of the tax for at least 2 seasons. And Miami needs to escape the tax this season in order to establish a future window of 3 years of luxury tax possibilities without hitting the repeater luxury tax in another year or two. Both teams have to escape the luxury tax this year. 2. A salary cap path forward to becoming contenders. MIAMI Riley knows that Butler/Westbrook is likely an also-ran team. He knows he still needs another piece. And he also knows that next season is Bam's last season to have a small cap hold before they have to pay him big. He also knows James Johnson and Dion Waiters hold ZERO VALUE in the trade market and actually have negative trade value. NOBODY WANTS THEM just like NOBODY WANTS WESTBROOK! And they probably won't want them next summer either except as filler for giving Miami back an asset while stripping Herro or Bam away from Miami. Miami's path forward to title contention is by somehow removing some of the dead weight of James Johnson and Dion Waiters (Olynk probably has some positive trade value especially as an expiring next summer), and replacing them with cap space so he can make a run at a free agent next summer in a somewhat suppressed market for free agents after this season. If Riley can get cap space...he can then make an appeal to a guy like Draymond. Butler Westbrook Draymond Bam or Lowry?? Lowry Westbrook Butler Bam Bottom Line for Miami: The best play for them is to obtain Westbrook while dumping one or both of James Johnson and Dion Waiters with Winslow. Miami is trying to become a contender next season and forward for the next 4 seasons. OKC OKC is starting from the bottom. They need to get out of the tax, get out of long-term deals, go to the lottery, develop their youngsters, re-capture cap space so they can then take on short term salaries and receive assets, and find their next young superstar that they can automatically retain for at least 8 seasons. It's a complete tear-down for them. So they need expiring contracts that they could possibly flip...and some youngsters/pick if that is feasible. HOUSTON Our window is now. We need 2 upgrades. Read me loud and clear. 2 UPGRADES!!!! K?!?!?!? (All this bullcorn about "Run it Back" and "We're almost there, just fill out the margins/edges". Give me a break!) And we aren't worried about the luxury tax for the next 3 seasons. Although it would be nice to avoid it at least one season and extend our window with Harden. We have: 1. Shump in a potential SnT at $13,213,481 2. Nene in a potential SnT at $4,381,776 3. Ego on an expiring deal looking to get payed $14,057,730 and definitely worth a first round pick to a contending team 4. Capela on a long term deal with 4 years remaining on what most of us consider a value deal at $14,896,552 5. Non-guaranteed and guaranteed salaries of Deyonte, Chiozza, Frazier, Clark, and Harty totaling another $7,312,765 that are all trade-able and could be guaranteed. 6. All of our first round picks going forward and second round picks in every year save for 2022. There's a myriad of ways to construct a deal that would make sense for all parties with WInslow coming here that would leave us enough assets to pursue one more major upgrade while leaving OKC slightly more value than they can get anywhere else and also leave Miami in a position to continue to build out by adding one more piece or keeping a piece we give them. I think the odds are actually quite good here that we enter a 3-way deal with OKC/MIAMI. But there are other teams that could possibly offer better value to both teams. We'll have to wait it out. But so far....I don't see any. And that's why I proposed to you all.....put together a deal that meets the criteria for both OKC and MIAMI that is better than what I'm suggesting.. which is basically Winslow here plus a bad contract from Miami...James Johnson or Dion Waiters....while we send out Shump and something else...whether it be one of Ego/Capela or possibly a combination of Nene or possibly a combination of both and our minimums and maybe one first or 2 or 3 second rounders....... Who is going to beat that?? Show me. Before you get ahead of yourself....remember I said...I think we have enough assets to swing the deal for Winslow and still have enough assets to go after someone else...Love/Otto/???? Show us either how Miami and OKC can construct a deal on their own that solves both their problem. Or show us a 3 team deal with another team that gives OKC and Miami the bare essentials of what they need to get them to complete a deal...that would be better than what I can put together with our roster.
