Why do you think we signed Adrien, Bima? By the way, I'm not real high on Smith. I'm not pumping him. He's slow and goofy. I understood why we cut him. What I said was I don't understand the Adrien signing, out of nowhere, from Europe. Where is he going to get minutes besides garbage time? You tell me, what was the purpose of giving Adrien that money? Was the club performing on a previous handshake commitment to him when he was in dleague with us previously? I can't figure out the reason Adrien is here. The reason I'm wondering if Adrien was brought in for salary purposes for a trade is.....that is the only reason Thabeet is here. You know it. I know it. Anyone with a lick of sense knows the only reason Thabeet is still on the roster is because of the possibility of using him as an expiring in a trade. His contract is an option and if he isn't traded by the trade deadline, I fully expect we will cut him and bring in Smith or perhaps Marcus Cousin or some other big to see if we can catch some lightning in a bottle.
You're over-thinking the Adrien situation. The Rockets signed him because they think he's a good player. Morey goes for value, often overlooking roster needs. Why did he draft Aaron Brooks? Patrick Patterson? Because they were the best players available and represented the best value for the team. Adrien was THE BEST player in the D-League last year. He was playing well in Europe. They could lock him up for the minimum for two years (with the second year non-guaranteed). Good value, in their minds. This boils down to several fans (like you) disagreeing with a decision the Rockets made. There's no ulterior motive here that somehow aligns your thinking with theirs. You just don't have the same opinion of Adrien that the Rockets' front office does. Pretty simple, really.
Bingo... After the trade deadline of course. That said, If another team offered him a contract before the deadline, I would absolutely consider cutting Thabeet to offer him a contract of equal value, If he was kind enough to tell us about it. Legitimate 6-10 guys, with ridiculous 7-3 wingspans, record setting handsize and 36 inch verticals DO NOT grow on trees. Not to mention the fact that the guy is 20 years old, and has shown a much improved motor compared to his Fresno days. As a rebuilding team, you HAVE to make room for that kind of talent, imo. So yes, I just might limit our flexibility to grab this guy. Again, Greg Smith's hands are literally "one foot wide"... With some of the post moves he has shown in the dleague, I am sold on his (Perkins) potential.
It's also nice to see the guy hitting 65% of his freethrows. That improvement is exciting. If he has a work ethic, he can be an awesome dirty work C... He already sets better screens than anyone on the roster.
Agreed, you have to take risks on young guys with potential since we are not going for a high draft pick. DD
Explain the timing; that is what is spawning the conspiracy theories. Was he under contract in Europe until recently? Don't I recall that they signed him after the pre-season had begun and specifically after Smith made a pretty good showing in a few minutes? Forgive our enthusiasm! :grin:
Al Horford Height=6-10 Weight=246 Vertical=36 Wingspan=7-1 Standing Reach=8-11 Lane Agility=12.15 Greg Smith Height=6-10 Weight=250 Vertical=36 Wingspan=7-3 Standing Reach=9-0 Lane Agility=8.33 Add in the freak hands and the polish that he has added since his last college game, and I am ready to jump on the bandwagon. The guy is a ridiculous, ELITE, physical specimen, and he shows no signs of having any "Terrence problems". He seems to be a good, hardworking kid. Let it be known that I liked him before he was pulling off the surprisingly agile post moves in the DLeague. WOW... That's a great point.
If that is what they thought than this organization is worse off than I thought. This guy is a scrub at best on an NBA level, and at a position we are stacked at, why bother even signing him? You can find Adrien's at every YMCA in the nation....Mike Harris was better than him.... Just not that good at basketball and if that is the kind of risk this org is going to take, it is pretty telling.....and sad as a Rockets fan. DD
All I'm thinking is if the guy is as AMAZAZING as you guys make him out to be on this board, why hasn't he been rostered already? Or at that even drafted....
Bingo. Adrien was under contract in Italy after the lockout ended. Training camps were organized very quickly, and there is a lot of red tape to cut through with FIBA in order for players to get clearance to sign with NBA teams. That's all it was. The timing was purely a FIBA issue. It had nothing to do with any other players. The Rockets wanted to add Adrien. Once they were allowed to sign him, they did. Just stop it, DD! Seriously?!?! We're talking about the Rockets wanting to sign a more proven commodity as their 15th man here! This is not some franchise-altering decision. If Greg Smith gets signed by another NBA team and turns into another Ben Wallace, then the Rockets might end up looking foolish. But the fact remains that Greg Smith's physical tools were just as apparent BEFORE the draft, yet 60 picks came and went without Greg Smith being one of them. Jeff Adrien is not just "some scrub at the YMCA". Is he even an average NBA player? No. But he's better than many players at the ends of NBA benches around the league. Adrien has admittedly had a very poor showing in his limited regular season playing time thus far, so I can understand several fans' frustration with having him on the roster over a 20-year-old with more potential. But this is being blown WAY out of proportion. It's the 15th man. He's making the minimum. I like Smith. I also like Adrien. I don't think either will ever amount to anything more than a quality 10th man (or a poor rotation player) on an NBA roster. Smith definitely has more potential, but he's still in the D-League for a reason.
If you believe that, then you are just not as concerned about the team as others of us are. Everything is important...especially the 15ht man on the roster, because it signifies the direction of the team. If you don't fill the 15th spot with young guys with more potential,,,then it becomes a cancer the spreads up through the team by exemplifying to the others that the GM and Coach don't about a youth movement...if they won't even begin with the 15th roster spot...so why try. It's like trying to win the NDBL championship with vets. Spoiler how I do? Did I sound like a real fan b****ing at the coach/gm. lol I think that is the logic being applied in this thread. This extremely silly argument about Smith is merely a way for disgruntled fans looking for any tidbit of a reason to hurl insults at the team ... plain and simple. and it is so transparent. we will see arguments like this about 100s of more times this year. nothing you can do about it when the anti-GM/Coach people want to get together exercise their b****ing.
No one is saying he is amazing, but it is a fact that he has amazing tools and youth on his side. He won't be Ben Wallace, but under the right tutelage, I could see him being something like Kendrick Perkins...
The point is that as a team that is rebuilding we don't need guys whose potential upside is as the 12th man. You don't take flyers on them, you take flyers on guys that might pan out. And yes, they generally DO NOT pan out, but you take shots at guys like Sean Williams or Greg Smith, not journeyman role players like Adrien, what a waste of a roster space. Lord, I am not saying he will be anything, just that philosophically they should be looking more at HIM, or Whiteside, or Jordan, or any other BIG GUY with potential over some Mike Harris wannabe. Our roster has enough of those already. Look Bima this is not earth shattering and probably would not make a hill of beans difference, but it does show a glimpse into how the organization thinks, the risk averse approach to asset gathering. Get the safe guy - sure we got TWill I guess, but even he was a low risk shot. If you are going to take risks - and a good GM should - then we should be taking them in the 2nd round and at the end of the bench. IMO. DD
And HP Is right, I am more dissappointed with how Morey is gathering assets and playing it safe than anything to do with Smith, though I would like him on the roster over Flynn & Adrien, but I understand their contracts can be traded. YIPPEEE...we get to root for contracts to be traded...how great is that !!! DD
Hahaha. The problem is that, this time, it's not just the "anti-Morey crowd". It's more reputable (and typically more level-headed) posters like DD, knote32 and jopatmc leading the charge. SMH. One more thing about Adrien, then I'm going to try to leave this thread alone and let it continue to fester: People tend to forget (especially given their tough starting schedule and resulting bad record) that this team is actually TRYING TO MAKE THE PLAYOFFS THIS SEASON. The roster is filled with guys like Jordan Hill and Hasheem Thabeet, top prospects who still don't seem to have a clue how to play NBA basketball consistently in the minutes they've been given. The Rockets (probably prompted by Chris Finch's experience as Vipers head coach) seem to feel confidently that Jeff Adrien is a solid--albeit not spectacular--pro ball player who could possibly give the Rockets some consistent minutes off the bench in a pinch. When a team is right on the playoff bubble (as the Rockets expected to be going into training camp), having a guy like Jeff Adrien instead of another kid with potential but no clue how to play NBA ball yet could make a difference down the stretch between making the playoffs and missing by a game or two. I'm not trying to make Jeff Adrien out to be some world-beater, because he's not. I'm just saying that Morey and the Rockets are known for doing anything they can to gain an advantage, no matter how seemingly insignificant. And having Jeff Adrien at the end of the Rockets' bench instead of Greg Smith is probably going to increase (even if only a tiny bit) the Rockets' chances of making the playoffs this season. Since the playoffs are this team's goal this season--hate it as you will--it just makes sense that Adrien is on the roster while Smith isn't. EDIT: DD, saw your post above. I think this should suffice as my response to your points there. I understand your focus on the philosophical approach. But remember that the Rockets have not yet committed to a full-on rebuild. That's what YOU want right now (along with many others on this BBS). The Rockets' short-term goals may be just different enough for them to take a different end-of-bench guy. I guess you and Daryl Morey will have to agree to disagree.
I can understand where you are coming from Bima, but I think it is very strange that we are in a sort of "win now" mode when it comes to picking our, as you put it, "15th man". I understand the thinking behind it, but I don't agree. (I'm not sure Daryl does either... Thanks Les)
Our roster also has enough project big men. If 2nd overall pick Thabeet can't get any time, what makes you think they'll have time to develop undrafted Greg Smith?
