All those players were younger than this or last yr age uncle Green, he is like 37 but has aged like wine plus I have think he missed a season due to inner health probs In his younger days he was more so Horry with crazy poster ability that he still flashes at this old stage time to time But Cassell/Horry played their roles top notch and Luc was a hound on defense, him and Tucker were dogs
I don't hate the idea of adding a guy like Allen or Jones, but I would much prefer we get a younger guy. Feel like I've been repeating this ad nauseam, but we are in "phase 2". We are ready to try and make the playoffs, but we are not title contenders yet, and won't be for at least two or three more years, if not longer. I would love to get a guy who can grow & build chemistry with our young core and be here for the long run, especially if we end up giving up a FRP for him. Preferably a dude who still has some upside left to give us room for internal growth. Cason Wallace would be ideal IMO, and OKC has too many guards and wings, so I wonder if they might be willing to listen.
Good thread. I think the general question is what do we do with the roster? My thought is that we saw a pretty big leap from Sengun, and then nice improvements from Tari and Jabari. It's probably safe to assume there will be more improvements at varying degrees from our 6 young guys next season as well. I wouldn't touch that. I wouldn't move any of them just for roster balance or generic role players because you might find that one of the young guys just improves to cover that perceived gap. I would continue to draft BPA this year (and really most years). But, I think it will be easier to fill the shooting gap in our rotation because there may well be more role player shooter types that are within our pick range. I would trade Brooks for either draft considerations or a young player that fits our needs (somewhat dependent on the draft). I think Brooks is regressing to the mean. With Tari coming back we have 3 guys I'd rather see get minutes over him (Tari/Amen/Cam). If Landale continues to play well and actual builds some trade value, I would also pursue trade options with him. I'd be fine going to next season with Sengun/Adams at center and Jabari playing some small ball 5. I would keep FVV and look to renegotiate his last year option to a lower number but with more years. He's valuable to this team and at a lower number on more years he'd be a trade asset in our back pocket. I would also retain Jeff Green/Tate as possible trade filler guys that can step in and play if needed since they dont have much trade value on their own. If no trade materializes, just let them expire and maybe they resign on vet min deals after we resign our young guys. I would re sign Holiday. He's nice cheap professional that can be serviceable when guys go down with injuries. I generally wouldn't bother trading picks unless that perfect star player was out there. But, I think it's unlikely. The guys that I think are really worth trading a large number of picks for usually get to pick where they land. Also, if it's all about getting a star, those picks are lottery tickets for the chance to draft a star. Generally, I think we should go into next year assuming that most growth will need to come from within. Our young guys need to perform. It won't matter if you trade all your picks for a star if everyone else is mediocre.
@RudyTBag great thread, thanks for starting it (I was contemplating it, but couldn't get off my ass). First, big fan of Ime--Stone aced that hire. Really like staff he assembled as well. Excited for Year 2 with these guys. Second, good friend of mine is Pistons fan. He's pumped by their young core, but said they needed some vet leadership and experience. We've got a solid core of vets, but could add another in offseason. We need shooters, we should be able to get one in the draft and maybe a vet as well. Would like one of those 2 to also be a playmaker. Our young core has phenomenal potential! No one is a finished product, which truly makes our future so f EXCITING!! Tari's return will be instrumental for Ime's rotation and Top 5 defense next year. Alpi's continued improvement both in his body and shooting will be key to how far we can go. Bari's 3rd year should see more confidence and an even better all around game begin to materialize. Jalen is teasing us with his talent. He has to be a consistent threat, lock in his stroke, keep hustling on D, and keep developing his playmaking skills. I'm very encouraged, but not sold yet. Amen is immensely talented and smart. He must learn to shoot and tighten up his handles, but he's a selfless juggernaut when he's on the court. Cam is one of my favs, because he's fearless, can shoot, can score, and is a highlight everytime he unleashes the beast. He needs to improve his court awareness, playmaking, and understanding of defense. I love where we are because our future is extremely bright and Brooklyn picks almost feel like an unfair advantage. We're not the best young team (OKC and ORL probably top 2), but we're 3rd and I'd take our HC over the other 2. I voted for 37-40 win prediction and if we pull that off or better its a huge success for this team.
I think it is probably right that the Rockets won't be title contenders next year. That said, I think the Rockets should be open to that possibility. Every time the Rockets young players start to show signs of improvement, someone gets hurt. First it was Landale and Adams, but Sengun came out the gate on fire making the Rockets center position a force with Tari helping out the backups. Then Tari is playing hurt for a while before being shutdown as Cam and Amen improve. Then just as Amen is going bonkers, Landale is close to 100%, and then Green starts playing well, Sengun and Cam go down. I don't think it is easy to estimate how good the Rockets will be next year when everyone is hopefully playing together. I think the Rockets are going to smoke teams when starting lineups are off the court. It is really about getting players to fit with Amen and Sengun in the starting lineup. If the Rockets can find a starting lineup that works well, they might be the team discounted as a title contender because they are too young.
Don't know what we have that OKC would want for Wallace. They already have our lotto pick this year, Utah's lotto pick, and about a half dozen other teams' future 1st round picks. If they have too many guards and wings, do we have a spare big they want? A lightly used Jock Landale? Considering they traded away Dereck Lively II and took on Bertans' salary last summer specifically for Wallace I doubt they'd be interested.
My thought was a trade centered on Dillon Brooks. Not sure if they'd be interested, but he seems like better positional fit for them. They have so many guards on that roster it's kind of ridiculous.
Been meaning to respond to this, just got a lot going on ..... I like all the players listed, just not real sure how realistic any of them are. Sheppard is probably gonna go top 5. We gotta win the lottery to have a shot at him. Ayo Dosunmu I really liked in that 21 draft with one of the picks wasted on Garuba & Christopher. He's on a great contract for three years ~$7m per (less than 5% of the cap). Shooting 49/39/80 I just don't see a reason for Chicago to give him to us ..... even if they were to blow **** up, he's probably the guy they'd prefer to keep and dump all those high salary guy. Brooks doesn't move the needle for them .... Maybe a #1 pick but that's complicated and definitely NOT one of the Brooklyn picks. Cason Wallace is on a rookie deal and outplaying it - shooting 50/40/77. They may have a glut of guards but I'd bet they'd prefer to keep Wallace over Giddy .... otherwise, I think you'd have to overpay for him, and they have enough draft picks that they wouldn't take another for him. Brooks? They have Luguentz Dort & Jalen Williams, doesn't seem to fit. They'd probably want one of the players we don't want to give up. De'Anthony Melton - the former Rocket might be the easiest to get of the bunch as he's an expiring contract. Probably takes MLE money to get him in FA, not sure I'd be willing to pay him that.
