There's been much debate on whether this was a good deal or not done by Morey, considering that Anderson's remaining 3 years and $60M+ left on his contract is an impediment towards acquiring Carmelo. Like most fans, I have mixed feelings towards Ryno. When he's hitting (or even when he's just not ice cold), he helps spread the floor and make the Rockets go. He also has occasional rebounding successes and tries on defense (but is pretty futile there). I'm not dead set in one camp or the other as to Ryno being a mistake. Morey (according to the latest Simmons podcast) believed the Ryno early big payday contract last year was necessary for getting that level of talent, for he said that the next step down in talented FAs was too big. And as much as Ryno sucked in the playoffs, the guy did well enough in the regular season (40.3% 3pters, 5.2 win shares - 4th on the team). And it's because the Rockets had a great season that Chris Paul came. Seriously, would CP3 still want to come here if the Rockets went 41-41 for the 2nd season in a row (or they could have even been worse)? Ryno was part of a winning team...the team with the 3rd freaking best record in the NBA. Now perhaps he still was super overpaid to the point that he wasn't worth it. But for someone to make that argument legit, then they have to bring up another player from last year's FA class who got paid less than Ryno (or paid the same) and would have given the Rockets Ryno or better production. link from last year's FA class - http://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/2...where-players-are-going-whos-still-available/ At least then, then argument could be "Morey should have signed this guy instead, because he also hit 3 pters well, helped in win shares, and would be an easier contract to move." We can't just say Ryno sucks and the Rockets can't improve because of him, because to be fair, the Rockets improved in part because of him and he helped make CP3 want to come to Houston.
Chris Paul came to play with Harden and get more of his buddies here. He did not come here because of Anderson. There is a reason the Rockets are desperately trying to unload him and are having a hard time. But if it makes you feel better...
A point that Zach Lowe brought up several times, including during today's podcast with Bobby Marks: If the Rockets didn't sign Anderson and Gordon, they wouldn't have won 55 games, and Chris Paul would not have chosen to sign with Houston if they had another mediocre year like they did in 2015-16.
Reportedly we weren't even the highest bidder. So he took less to join the ROX. Yes, looking back, we did over pay. But in last offseason' craziness, you had to overpay to get a serviceable big man.
You are not comprehending my post. I'm not even a big Ryno fan...I'm ambivalent towards Ryno. Of course CP3 came here mostly because of Harden, but more importantly, he came to a 55 win team with a future and a chance to win. 2 years ago, the Rockets were 41 - 41. Also, you're not adding to the debate by pointing out who the Rockets should have signed instead. If you really believe that then we'll agree to disagree. The Rockets' future last year at 41-41 with a Dwight & Dmo front court was not bright. Honestly, I didn't believe in a Capela/BigDikNene & Ryno/Ariza front court, but the move worked. You don't put any weight at all into the Rockets' success last year as a motivating factor towards CP3 signing here?
Was Ryan Anderson the only shooter available in the market last year? We are making it sound like he was the only one available, took all of Rockets 3 point shots and made them all. He did not shoot well at home. So let's say we got another shooter and gave him Ryan's minutes for road games. I doubt we would be terribly worse with another decent shooter. There was no difference in Lou Williams and Anderson in some of games. It's not like Anderson gives you anything else. He is a massive defensive liability. We won 55 games last season because of James Harden who was in beast mode. Give him another shooter in place of Anderson and we still win plenty of games. Lastly, even if we assume that we could not have won all those games without Ryan Anderson and then CP would not have come.....but then if he is also the reason that the team could not be rebuilt to compete with the Warriors, because as of right now he is, then it does not matter. Ultimately he held us back.
Actually, I meant to add had we resigned Terrence Jones as well, then with him, Dwight and DMo, we return to our glory, Harden gets MVP, MDA the Coach of the Year, Bev 1st Team Defense, EGo SMOY, and we don't even have to trade Brewer and our #1 pick for Lou. Morey probably even wins Executive of the Year over Myers. and Chris Paul still comes
All of Rockets believed last year that Ryan Anderson was instrumental in opening up the floor. Can they be wrong? Perhaps. But I'm inclined to think they're not given how defenders played Anderson last year. Was he a liability in the playoffs? No doubt. But I don't remember any time in the regular season where he didn't come as advertised, which is a floor spreading stretch 4 in the truest sense. So really yeah, if you're gonna tell me the Rockets would've easily won 55 games without Anderson but some mediocre sort-of-stretch-4 I'd say BS. But how much of an impact he played is certainly up for debate. Perhaps we win 50? 45? Everyone thought we'd win like 40 so clearly we overachieved and Anderson was one of the main changes in personnel. I do think his contract is a liability though because of the decreasing cap and his skillset being limited to teams like the Rockets who value his spacing more than most teams. But I can't deny the positive impact he's had on the floor last year.
Just watch the games and you can see the defense out guarding Anderson 5 feet past the 3-pt line. He's a huge factor in the historic offensive success. No one could have predicted that he couldn't shoot at TC - if not for that, I don't think people would be as down on him.
this is my exact point all the time. anybody can criticize or point out what's wrong or when things are going bad, but more often than not these same people don't talk about better alternatives or what they would've done to be smarter than morey/les. I'm all for disagreeing with whoevers in charge but I think it is only a productive and worthwhile conversation if you bring alternatives to what you think are "Better ideas". Then we can either agree with or criticize your preferred methods. These posters that just criticize and don't offer any alternatives are like chickens with their heads cut off.
The argument that Ryno stretched the floor and helped add wins is a valid one. The addition of he, and Eric Gordon proved to be much more valuable than Dwight Howard. Don't get me started on D-Mo because that's silly, Ryno is a much better player and contributer. He was definitely overpaid but Morey has had a crush on this guy for years.. His contract would actually help us if he could somehow trade him for Carmelo Anthony for them to switch roles (even though I personally find Melo to be a black hole.)
I had predicted he would choke in the playoffs and would be a massive liability on defense and the boards. He might help you on offense when he is on, but then he is also one of big reasons Rockets give up a lot of points on the other end. The other team attacks Ryan on defense.
Yes. I linked the list in the original post. Here is the list again from last year: http://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/2...where-players-are-going-whos-still-available/ Who on that list got a better contract than Ryno and would have fit the Rockets better? Sadly, I think it was just a terrible FA class in terms of depth. Here are some options that the Rockets could have taken instead: Kent Bazemore 34.6% 3pters, 2.1 win shares, 4 years $70M Marvin Williams 35% 3pters, 5.0 win shares, 4 years $54.5M Luol Deng 30.9% 3pters, 0.9 win shares, 4 years $72M Mirza Teletovic 34.1% 3pters, 0.6 win shares, 3 years $30M Meyers Leonard 34.7% 3pters, 1.4 win shares, 4 years $41M Ryan Anderson 40.3% 3pters, 5.2 win shares, 4 years $80M
