[ClutchFans] Podcast: On De’Anthony Melton and the Rockets 2018 Draft, plus LeBron and free agency

anyone have highlights on Deng..... dont really know much about him.....

I'm about as excited for this summer league as I was when we had Ish running the show......

 

nice. good around game..... why wouldn't he get drafted?

 

No idea. He had an MCL injury as a freshman, but made it through after that. Defense is not his strong point. 0.5 steals as a sophomore or as a junior. He can chase down players on defense and block them at the rim.
Let's see if he can reproduce these skills at the summer league.

MCL injury was a sprain. He is 21. Junior stats 15.5 points, 5.3 rebounds, 3 Assists.
.447 Fg percentage, around 35 percent 3 point shooting. 2017-18. He played better after Donovan Mitchell joined the Utah Jazz.

 

If I were to guess, I'd say there's a chance we don't ever see Melton or Edwards play for us. I could easily see a Donte Green type of situation where they put together a few impressive summer league games and we use that to engineer a bigger deal involving them both, future picks, EG, and RA.

 

Can the Rockets retain Edwards' rights by sending him to the G-League, without signing him to a guaranteed contract?

 

Yes. That's what they did with Isaiah Hartenstein last year.

 

Slight semantic point regarding the wording "by sending him."

Due to the way you worded the question, I feel compelled to point out that they can't make him go, though. For instance, he can freely go to Europe, if he wants, for more money. That is to say, until he signs an NBA contract, Rockets can't assign him anywhere. But yes, he's free to sign a contract with another league, and we retain his NBA rights. G-League only pays like $35k Max, though, without an NBA contract.

Hartenstein never signed an NBA contract. He chose G-League over playing in Europe, right? But was never allowed to be called up, yet also wasn't allowed to be snatched up by another team. That was a helluva commitment by Hartenstein to forego likely more money in Europe, to play closer to Houston for $35k or whatever the G-League max is.

 

That is what I thought it was, but I wanted to be sure.

 

Gary Clark highlights. I apologize if this has already been posted.

 

For some weird reason, I read the title as "D'Antoni Meltdown"

 

but they didn't right?...with the news today that they signed Edwards?

 

They signed both Edwards and Clark. Will be interesting to see if they used any of the MLE money? Interesting they didn’t also announce Melton - my guess is they didn’t use the MLE on Clark/Edwards, but plan to do so for Melton.

 

A correction on the Deng Adel stats. He ended up with 14.9 points instead of 15.5 points as a junior, with a 35 percent 3 point shooting percentage, and 5.2 rebounds instead of 5.3 rebounds.
As a sophomore, Deng ended up with 12.1 points per game. Fg percentage as a junior remained at .447. He might develop to become a Gerald Green type scorer along with good passing ability.

 

I thought Vince Edwards would be eligible for a 2 year guaranteed contract since he was selected in the 2nd round. I don't have any problem with him being on Exhibit 10. I hope he will play well, and Gary Clark too.

 

Any player can be signed to a two-year minimum contract via the Minimum Player Exception. That happens all the time in the NBA, with rookies and veterans alike.

The fact that Edwards was willing to accept an Exhibit 10 in his contract -- meaning that he very well may end up on a two-way contract -- is a no-lose proposition for the Rockets.

See how he and all the other two-way and Exhibit 10 guys do in training camp, see if any are worthy of a spot on the 15-man roster, put the best two who don't make the 15-man roster on two-way contracts, and try to get the rest on the Vipers as affiliate players. (FYI, the Vipers have returning player rights to RJ Hunter, so it is quite possible the Rockets release him from his two-way contract to make room for Edwards/Clark/??? but then have the Vipers pick him back up. The Vipers do NOT have returning player rights to Markel Brown, however, so he'd likely be gone if he were waived...assuming he even takes his qualifying offer.)

 

It mitigates the risk somewhat, but I wouldn't call it a no-lose proposition. In the scenario that he turns out to be a significant contributor this year, we'd be missing out on the opportunity to have him locked up for more than 1 year on a cheap salary.

But considering that we gave up absolutely nothing but cash to get him, I'd say there is upside without any real downside. Have to weigh the risks both ways.

 

This sounds good. Very flexible.

 

Thanks for this great post.