I don't much like any of the players mentioned being linked to the Rockets. They raise the floor but not the ceiling ..... why spend that cap space on players who don't raise the ceiling of your team only to be left without the ability to add that ceiling raiser when he comes available. I mean great, Brook and Brooks raise your floor to 30 wins ..... but take reps away from Tari, Jabari & Sengun.
My priorities would be FVV Bruce Brown Brook Lopez FVV/Amen Green/KPJ Brown/KJM/Cam Jabari/Tari Sengun//Lopez Don’t really care who starts at first, but I like the idea of playing Amen with another PG like FVV who doesn’t need the ball and can space the floor. Think surrounding Sengun with great cutters like Bruce Brown and Tari could be pretty deadly. Mimic what Denver does with Joker, Tari playing an Aaron Gordon role. Also love what you could do with Amen/FVV/Green/Jabari/Lopez, just so much shooting around Amen. He’ll be able to probe defenses pretty easily I think. Obviously some combination of KPJ, KJM, Tate, JayGup, TyTy could all end up being traded too. Crazy time of year with all the different things Stone could do to change/improve the roster.
He can talk the talk all he wants but unless the GM guts the team, 12 players are beyond young. Not gonna change.
So I guess Udoka wants either Harden or VanFleet and G Williams/Lopez type players to go along and lift up this young squad to a play-in atmosphere
To me it sounded like he is just alleviating the burden on those youngsters but he wants to come across confident while doing so. It remains to be seen which vets are available. Do not buy this balancing act this season, it takes a lot of time to do that......not being naive here.
We need guys who are willing to play the Crash Davis role for a decent paycheck. The bag of talent willing to do that is almost non-existent. They won't win here. It's a re-build. Most veterans want out of this situation. Not in it. It would have to be guys that don't move the needle on the court. Or a guy everyone has lost total faith in. Many of the targets on this list, who aren't even that good, will turn their back on our struggling franchise.
The players that will want to play here are players that want the paycheck. Especially players, that already have a ring and are looking to cash in. Of course you want to add players, that embrace the mentor role and still give it their all. I think Brook Lopez fits that bill - and I would be fine to get FVV on a two year deal. Dillon Brooks doesn't look like a mentor to me - he will bring toughness and a defensive mindset, but he seems immature and to be more a me player.
FVV would be a HUGE mistake. Compare his stats to KPJ and they are identical except KPJ averages 44% shooting vs 39% for FVV (which is bad). KPJ also averages 5 rebounds to 4 for FVV. Allother stats are almost identical. Why pay 30 million for that….just keep KPJ.
KPJ, Jasean Tate, Eason, KMart Jr, and Josh Christopher are all better than Dillon Brooks. Van Vleet at 30 mil or less is not bad since we gotta hit the salary floor anyway.
If they get these guys on two year deals that will be awesome. Let them help build a culture and then trade them to contenders to keep salary slots moving along next year.
