Who will the Rocket's starting 4 be in 2014-2015

For some reason I think it's Ilyasova.

Bev
Harden
Parsons
Ilyasova
Howard

Bench in order of minutes played

Ariza, jones, Daniels, Johnson/cheap backup 5

Being our main 10 guys.

 

Backup SG should be Daniels or Johnson or... and this is my hope, Sergio Llul.

Parsons is 3/4. If the Rockets match Parsons, he will most definitely play stretch 4 at times. Possibly even to end games ala Delfino 2 years ago.

 

I personally think that Greg Monroe would be a great add at the 4 spot and he can even play at the 5 when Howard needs a rest.

 

Parsons is way to small to be a starting PF.. he needs to bulk up.

Ariza signing, while a good value, seems strange if we intend to match Parsons.

 

Yeah we could definitely go that route, I'm worried about having Parsons put in 15+ minutes a night at the PF spot though. Things could be worse though.

Harden(35)/Daniels(13)
Ariza(30)/Parsons(18)
Jones(30)Parsons(18)

Is also a solid rotation.

 

In FA, I expect us to still sign serviceable veteran C and PFs (say Birdman and Brand).

Brand wouldn't see a ton of time (10-15mpg?) but he'd be useful against the better offensive PFs.

So I see the minutes from 2-4 distributed something like this:

PF: Jones (26); Parsons (12); Brand (10)
SF: Parsons (22); Ariza (26)
SG: Harden (36); Daniels (8); Ariza (4)

Giving Harden 36, Parsons 34, and Ariza around 30 total.

 

Ariza needs to start against Kevin Durant, and good offensive SFs. Parsons is better off the bench because he can actually sort of playmake.

 

Get Ilyasova and we'll have a competitive good team, regardless of whether we match Parsons.

Ilyasova had a terrible last season, but he was very productive in the 2 seasons before that. It'll be a win-win situation with the Bucks, as the Bucks is looking to shed his contract (3 years at ~8M each).

I think we can get him with DMo, Casspi, and a second round pick, and that would be a tremendous upgrade at the 4.

 

Ariza is to back up both Harden and Parsons for the best 2-3 rotation in the league. i think we either get Anderson or another PF back from the Asik trade (3-way to get Ilyasova?) or we use the TPE plus a 2nd pk to get Kris Humphries (S&T). i also hope DH12 to recruit J.Nelson and we can pick up Brand as back up 5.

Howard, Brand, DMo
Humphries/Ilyasova, Jones, Covington
Parsons, Ariza, Casspi
Harden, Daniels, Johnson
Beverley, Nelson, Canaan