I don't love it. Will they be better this year? Yes. But that was inevitable. Getting rid of Silas was a win no matter what, but a lot of what else they did came at a pretty steep price. I expect them to be an average to below average team for years.
Initially, I hated what we did in free agency (mainly, overpaying for Dillon Brooks, and losing KMJ, Garuba, TyTy for nothing), and not trading KPJ. But since we got Udoka and Fred Van Vleet and have (so far) not gotten anyone to reduce the role of our franchise player Alperen Sengun, I'm actually excited about this upcoming season.
I’m torn on losing Lopez. On one hand I wanted him for all of the obvious reasons. On the other hand I really want to give Alperen the keys and let him do his thing. Alperen is such a talented offensive player that losing Lopez could be a blessing in disguise.
No faith in the core 7? IMO, that is what you are saying, you don’t think Amen, Green, Cam, Jabari, Alperen, Tari and KPJ will improve to challenge for a WCF or Championship.
What’s your “Defensive Dogs” lineup? Im thinking FVV Brooks Cam Tari Bari I think it tight situations, Ime can lock down with some of these guys. Maybe Tate instead of Cam.
It’s fine. People gonna b**** no matter what (myself included). Some (minority) who wanted Harden back. So they’re upset. Many wanted to run it back with the kids. (Sign veterans who barely play and are OK with not playing). They’re upset. Hyperbole folks (“LiTerAlLy dOiNg NotHinG wAs BeTtEr tHaN sIgNiNg BroOks And VaNvLeEt!”) Stephen Silas —> Ime Udoka (CLEAR UPGRADE) Kevin Porter Jr., Daishen Nix, TyTy Washington Jr. —> Fred VanVleet, Amen Thompson (CLEAR UPGRADE) Jalen Green, Josh Christopher —> Jalen Green, Kevin Porter Jr. (BENCH UPGRADE) KJ Martin, Jae’Sean Tate —> Dillon Brooks, Jae’Sean Tate, Cam Whitmore (DEFENSIVE UPGRADE) Jabari Smith Jr., Tari Eason —> Jabari Smith Jr., Tari Eason, Jeff Green (SAME/ADDED DEPTH) Alperen Sengun, Usman Garuba, Boban Marjanovic —> Alperen Sengun, Jock Landale (SAME/NEGLIGIBLE) •Fred VanVleet — 3 years, $130M (3rd year team option) •Dillon Brooks — 4 years, $80M •Jock Landale — 4 years, $32M (only first year guaranteed) •Jeff Green — 1 year, $6M •Re-signed Trevor Hudgins & Darius Days to two-way contracts Free Agents: Daishen Nix, D.J. Augustin, Frank Kaminksy, Boban Marjanovic, Willie Cauley-Stein So let’s hear it, what should they have done differently? Where did they miss? Me, maybe would’ve made a run at DiVincenzo(shooter) and if they were going to give Brooks $20M, would’ve given Bruce Brown his contract. (Sorry, signing (just picking random names) Jevon Carter, Troy Brown and Dwight Powell does absolutely nothing for me.) BOLD = rumored interest/target Fred VanVleet — 3 years, $130M with ROCKETS Kyrie Irving — 3 years, $126M with MAVS D’Angelo Russell — 2 years, $37M Dennis Schroder — 2 years, $26M with RAPTORS Gabe Vincent — 3 years, $33M with LAKERS Tre Jones — 2 years, $20M with SPURS Jevon Carter — 3 years, $20M with BULLS Reggie Jackson — 2 years, $10.25M with NUGGETS Russell Westbrook — 2 years, $8M with CLIPPERS Derrick Rose — 2 years, $6.5M with GRIZZLIES Patrick Beverley — 1 year, $3.2M with SIXERS Dennis Smith Jr. — 1 year, $2.53M with NETS Ty Jerome — 2 years, $5M with CAVS Dru Smith — 2-way with HEAT Trevor Hudgins — 2-way with ROCKETS Caris LeVert — 2 years, $32M with CAVS Austin Reaves — 4 years, $56M with LAKERS Coby White — 3 years, $40M with BULLS Donte DiVincenzo — 4 years, $50M with KNICKS Shake Milton — 2 years, $10M with TIMBERWOLVES Nickeil Alexander-Walker — 2 years, $9M with TIMBERWOLVES Eric Gordon — 2 years with SUNS Josh Richardson — 2 years with HEAT Seth Curry — 2 years with MAVS Damion Lee — 2 years with SUNS Lonnie Walker IV — 1 year with BULLS Josh Okogie — agreement with SUNS Khris Middleton — 3 years, $102M with BUCKS Bruce Brown — 2 years, $45M with PACERS Dillon Brooks — 4 years, $80M with ROCKETS Max Strus — 4 years, $63M with CAVS Miles Bridges — 1 year, $7.9M with HORNETS Jalen McDaniels — 2 years, $9.3M with RAPTORS Troy Brown Jr. — 2 years, $8M with TIMBERWOLVES Julian Champagnie — 4 years, $12M with SPURS Cam Reddish — 2 years, $4.63M with LAKERS Jack White — 2 years with THUNDER Justin Holiday — 1 year with NUGGETS Yuta Watanabe — agreement with SUNS Jerami Grant — 5 years, $160M with BLAZERS Cam Johnson — 4 years, $108M with NETS Kyle Kuzma — 4 years, $102M with WIZARDS Draymond Green — 4 years, $100M with WARRIORS Harrison Barnes — 3 years, $54M with KINGS Rui Hachimura — 3 years, $51M with LAKERS Herb Jones — 4 years, $54M with PELICANS Joe Ingles — 2 years, $22M with MAGIC Georges Niang — 3 years, $26M with CAVS Trey Lyles — 2 years, $16M with KINGS Jeff Green — 1 year, $6M with ROCKETS Taurean Prince — 1 year, $4.5M with LAKERS Keita Bates-Diop — 2 years, $5M with SUNS Kevin Love — 2 years with HEAT Oshae Brissett — 2 years with CELTICS Jae Crowder — 1 year with BUCKS Chimezie Metu — 1 year with SUNS Darius Days — 2-WAY with ROCKETS Brook Lopez — 2 years, $48M with BUCKS Jakob Poeltl — 4 years, $80M with RAPTORS Nikola Vucevic — 3 years, $60M with BULLS Jock Landale — 4 years, $32M with ROCKETS Moritz Wagner — 2 years, $16M with MAGIC Dwight Powell — 3 years, $12M with MAVS Cody Zeller — 1 year, $3.1M with PELICANS Thomas Bryant — 2 years, $5.4M with HEAT Alex Len — 1 year, $3.2M with KINGS Sandro Mamukelashvili — 1 year, $2M with SPURS Drew Eubanks — 2 years with SUNS Jaxson Hayes — 2 years with LAKERS DeAndre Jordan — agreement with NUGGETS Orlando Robinson — agreement with HEAT Luka Garza — 2-way with TIMBERWOLVES Ibou Badji — 2-way with BLAZERS
Hollinger had an article today “In NBA free agency, cap space isn’t cool anymore” Eight teams entered the offseason with max or near-max money to spend in free agency: Detroit, Houston, Indiana, Orlando, Oklahoma City, Sacramento, San Antonio and Utah. Three others (Charlotte, Washington and the Lakers) also could have jumped in if they wished by renouncing their own free agents. That’s more than a third of the league! While several of those teams were rebuilding, they also had ambitions of taking large steps forward this summer. And yet the net result of all that cap space was one truly jarring free-agent move (VanVleet to Houston), followed by … some stuff. Let’s just say when the word “max cap space” came up this spring, Detroit fans weren’t imagining Joe Harris. … With that in mind, take a look at what our friends with cap space have done this summer. I get that we’re not quite done yet, and in particular a couple of restricted free agents remain on the market and could receive offer sheets. Nonetheless, there isn’t a player in that group who could hold a candle to our class of 2019, so I think the point will hold regardless. • Houston was the only team that pursued the “old model,” launching into a feeding frenzy that saw the Rockets sign VanVleet, Dillon Brooks and Jeff Green while trading three former first-round picks. Everyone else went a different direction. • Detroit, with near-max room and clear marching orders to improve, turned its nearly $30 million in cap room into Harris and Monte Morris while netting one second-round pick. • Oklahoma City had even more room than Detroit; the Thunder used it to A) pay $33 million to move up two spots in the draft by taking on Davis Bertans, B) take on a second-round pick for Victor Oladipo, and C) sign Vasa Micic to a contract that would fit in the room exception if they ever actually used the rest of their cap space. (Me: They also took on Patty Mills so 3 salary dumps for 2nd round picks: Bertans, Oladipo, Mills) • Indiana turned its cap room into a short-term overpay on Bruce Brown — at least this one had some on-court oomph — and a trade for Obi Toppin. We’ll talk more about the Brown deal in a minute. • Orlando would have had to waive players such as Gary Harris or Markelle Fultz to have max room and opted not to; even so, the Magic’s only real move was filling the space with Joe Ingles for a year. • Sacramento broke new ground by using cap space to overpay its own player rather than somebody else’s, with a $217 million renegotiate-and-extend for Domantas Sabonis that I would describe as, um, player-friendly. • San Antonio volunteered itself as a dumping ground for Cedi Osman and maintains significant cap room to absorb whatever flotsam the inevitable trades of James Harden and Damian Lillard produce. • Utah used the bulk of its room to take on somebody else’s problem contract, turning Rudy Gay into John Collins. The Jazz still have enough room left to renegotiate-and-extend Jordan Clarkson or take on another bad contract. • Charlotte and Washington could have entered the fray but never really had any stomach for jumping in. The Wizards somewhat oddly opted to (over)pay Kyle Kuzma; the Hornets’ situation is still unclear pending restricted free agents P.J. Washington and Miles Bridges, but they haven’t been a player in unrestricted free agency thus far. • Even the Lakers — the Lakers, people, the free-agent destination par excellence for decades now – took one look at the options and decided “Nah, we’re good.” So, in the aggregate, $30 million or so in cap room gets you … a couple of seconds? That’s it??? It seems things really have changed. You’re just not getting an elite player for free anymore; teams have become too savvy and extending players has become too easy. On the flip side, nobody is foolish enough to just spend the money on randoms because they have the money; Deng-Mozgov summers are likely a thing of the past. In fact, the smartest plays I’ve seen on the board have come from teams such as Orlando and Indiana, who have adopted something of a hybrid strategy by essentially turning their cap room into both a useful player and a trade exception. Bruce Brown is overpaid at $45 million over two years, but with a second-year team option he basically operates as a trade exception. If any deal comes up to get the Pacers a truly difference-making player, they have the large expiring deal they need …and that’s true at any point in the next two years if they pick up the option. In the meantime, they landed a genuinely useful player to help in the backcourt; this is way higher up the food chain than absorbing a salary dump. Orlando had a similar concept with half the money; Ingles isn’t on Brown’s level, but having his deal on the books lets the Magic quickly pivot if a trade opportunity presents itself. For teams like the Magic and Pacers that are still figuring out what they have, I thought this was a particularly clever use of their cap room, and I was a bit surprised more teams didn’t go for the short-term overpay as a means of rolling over cap space. One thing is for sure: Cap space isn’t cool anymore. The dream of an All-Star free-agent signing is impossible if none of them ever become free agents in the first place. As a result, teams will need to think a lot more strategically about what max-type cap room even means anymore, and what options are truly viable for franchises in that position. Many of them got 50 cents on their cap room dollar this year, and with so few genuine stars hitting free agency, I’m not sure the ROI is going to improve much in coming seasons. Should they have become a dumping ground for merely 2nd round picks? (San Antonio, OKC, Utah, Detroit) John Collins? Cedi Osman? Lamar Stevens? Davis Bertans? Victor Oladipo? Patty Mills? Joe Harris? They make the same coaching moves (Silas for Udoka) but keep everything else the same. Same draft picks(Amen and Cam) and same roster(rotation) from last year. How many games would you have them winning this year? This next step, if they’re going to take it, depends on the kids. Not VanVleet, not Brooks, not Landale, not Jeff Green. They probably won’t be here in 3 years. And if the kids don’t take the next step, they may not be either. (And Stone too.)
I guess it all depends on how you rate the importance of the draft vs off-season acquisitions. I'd give the draft an A+ considering their position, and I'd give the moves after that an F. A literal fail. I urge someone to come up with a worse way at spending almost almost 230M worth of contracts for guys that might not even be starters on most teams, while simultaneously giving up on 4 prospects. Two of them I really like actually in Garuba and KMJ. Now we can finish 12th in the West instead of 14th, while still donating our pick to OKC anyway. Not a fan at all. Hopefully Amen gets some playing time in this brutal roster at least.
I’d say this off-season was a vote of confidence for Sengun going forward, and I think this was the case even had Lopez been signed. I don’t think there is as much to that rumor about the front office not being behind Sengun.
I expect big things from Jabari this season Our bench is about to be deep. KPJ going to have a field day. Amen will be 10x the back up Nix was We have Brooks,Tari, Jabari, and Amen as a defense now Jalen and Sengun just need to come prepared
In other words, we had the best offseason of anyone with money to spend on other team’s free agents. Negative comments! Ignoring reality! Angry at the world! …. I must be on clutchfans. I’m actually pretty happy. I don’t get the pessimism.
I can't really argue against the Rockets' moves so far this off-season. Yeah, they overpaid for VanVleet and Brooks, but they wanted to make sure to get the best free agents they could and tnd the pool of available FAs didn't seem that great overall. Also, as one of the league's worst teams, their options were even more limited. And although both contracts are for over two years, it sounds like it would be structured to give the Rockets flexibility when they need it. (VanVleet's third year is team option, and Brooks' contract is front loaded, so it would theoretically allow the team to trade him in years three or four.) Hate to see some of the young players go, especially TyTy, and I guess the Rockets could've tried to get more for them. But they're not deal-breakers, and even if the Lopez deal fell through, the freed cap space could still be used to bring in one more solid veteran role player. Overall, these don't seem completely like "win now" moves, but rather an attempt to get the right roster to help the young future stars to develop and have a truly contending roster three or four years down the road. To that end, it seems like the Rockets are moving in the right direction. Now, we'll have to see if all the players buy into the program.
Exactly these vets are here to teach them how to play defense in the NBA. People should really think of the next two years as development bootcamp for our top prospects.
