Another 5 reviewer review!
HartfordWhalers wrote:Hartfordwhalers Review
Key Losses:
Dwight Howard
Seemed inevitable, and yet they got absolutely nothing for him at the trade deadline. Feels like even a 2nd rounder would have been swell in hindsight.
Losses:
J.B. Bickerstaff (interim coach)
Jason Terry
Terrence Jones
Josh Smith
Andrew Goudelock
I'm really curious to see how Jones does. It probably wasn't going to work out in Houston, but would have brought him back for the q/o personally.
Draft:
#37 Chinanu Onuaku
#43 Zhou Qi
Underhanded ft's and the latest Chinese, the big winner here is the local beat reporters.
Trades:
none
What? Maybe Philly fired Hinkie and Morey?
Free Agency:
Mike D’Antoni (head coach)
James Harden 4/118m renegotiate and extend (last year PO)
Ryan Anderson 4/$80m
Eric Gordon 4/$52.9m
Nene1/$2.9m
Chinanu Onuaku 3/$2.5m
Pablo Prigioni 2/$2.2 m
Partially guaranteed deals to
Kyle Wiltjer (2 years) Isaiah Taylor (2 years)
Unaccepted (as of now) Qualifying Offer: Donatas Motiejunas ($4,433,683)
The Harden renegotiation and extension is a nice move. But then the hard work of fitting a team around him comes in. I don't see Eric Gordon/Harden as a great pairing,least of all the health concerns. I don't see Ryan Anderson as worth 20m. I've never said, Jason Terry is too old, lets see if Pablo Prignoni isn't. Nene is legit signing. Even a drunk monkey can hit the target if given enough darts?
Meanwhile, Motie needs to sign sometime soon, right? I hope this contract isn't scary but at this point it might be. Or it might be a bargain. Who knows?
Current Depth Chart: (as usual this is a rough draft taken from bbinsiders)
PG: Patrick Beverley, Pablo Prigioni, Gary Payton II, Isaiah Taylor
SG: James Harden, Eric Gordon, K.J. McDaniels
SF: Trevor Ariza, Corey Brewer, Sam Dekker
PF: Ryan Anderson, Michael Beasley, Montrezl Harrell, Kyle Wiltjer
C: Clint Capela, Nene, Chinanu Onuaku
(Donatas Motiejunas not listed)
Needs: Talent. Chemistry. Capela to become a dominant center, Harden to have a Curryesque offensive season, Ryan Anderson to not look like a 1 way big, Trevor Ariza to look like a borderline all star 3&D stud, and Beverley to be all defensive team. Otherwise, not much.
Additional Thoughts:If/when Montrezl Harrell outplays Ryan Anderson, and Ryan Anderson immediately goes onto the trade block, who do you trade him for?
I'm going with Rudy Gay and Kosta Koufos for Ryan Anderson and KJ McDaniels (or Dekker).
Projected Win/Loss: 43-39
Off-Season Grade: C- Felt bad giving a D when they locked up a superstar for an extra year, but backing off a D+ still felt wrong. Give me a week to decide I don't care about HArden enough not to hate the ever living crap out of the rest of it enough to a D+, and I will get there. So, probably best to post this now. Besides, when they get Rudy Gay, its a C-.
bondom34 wrote:bondom34 Review
Key Losses:
Dwight Howard
Losses:
J.B. Bickerstaff (interim coach)
Jason Terry
Terrence Jones
Josh Smith
Andrew Goudelock
Draft:
#37 Chinanu Onuaku
#43 Zhou Qi
Trades:
none
Really? That feels weird.
Free Agency:
Mike D’Antoni (head coach)
James Harden 4/118m renegotiate and extend (last year PO)
Ryan Anderson 4/$80m
Eric Gordon 4/$52.9m
Nene1/$2.9m
Chinanu Onuaku 3/$2.5m
Pablo Prigioni 2/$2.2 m
Partially guaranteed deals to
Kyle Wiltjer (2 years) Isaiah Taylor (2 years)
Unaccepted (as of now) Qualifying Offer: Donatas Motiejunas ($4,433,683)
Current Depth Chart: (as usual this is a rough draft taken from bbinsiders)
PG: Patrick Beverley, Pablo Prigioni, Gary Payton II, Isaiah Taylor
SG: James Harden, Eric Gordon, K.J. McDaniels
SF: Trevor Ariza, Corey Brewer, Sam Dekker
PF: Ryan Anderson, Michael Beasley, Montrezl Harrell, Kyle Wiltjer
C: Clint Capela, Nene, Chinanu Onuaku
(Donatas Motiejunas not listed)
Needs:
A backup big, backup PG and hopefully some defense from both, more on that later.
Additional Thoughts:
Interesting offseason for Houston to me. Dwight was an expected loss. Normally they're all in on the big fish, but this year they went the opposite route and went straight to the second level free agents. Big money on Anderson honestly wasn't something I loved, and I feel the same for Gordon. If Gordon is healthy he should be a pretty good addition but I'm not sure I see the need as much as other things (backup PG/PF/C) and he's seemingly never healthy. Hopefully that at least changes.
MDA fits well with the roster too but his reputation defensively isn't so hot and for a team mostly lacking in above average defenders there's a chance for some really fun, high scoring games. The ultimate question I suppose is can they defend well enough to hold off opponents, and I think that will largely depend on Harden on that end. Not a bad offseason, but not really a good one either to me.
Projected Win/Loss:
41-41
Off-Season Grade: C+
dbrandon wrote:dbrandon Review
Key Losses:
Dwight Howard
If the reports of friction are true, this probably had to happen. And Dwight was going to ask for too much, and Capela can do a good portion of his job.
Still probably hurts the team in the short-term, though.
Losses:
J.B. Bickerstaff (interim coach)
Jason Terry
Terrence Jones
Josh Smith
Andrew Goudelock
JB seems a decent sort. I don't know that he was much better of a coach than McHale, though. I still like Terry as a 3rd or 4th guard off the bench—he's a savvy vet with a little left in the tank. T Jones hasn't lived up to his potential. Josh Smith is Josh Smith. Andrew Goudelock is...yeah, that's not a huge loss.
Draft:
#37 Chinanu Onuaku
#43 Zhou Qi
I really don't know what to think of these guys. Qi I know a little more about—it makes business sense to get the Chinese guy. He has some skills for sure, but he's made of vermicelli.
Trades:
none
Free Agency:
Mike D’Antoni (head coach)
James Harden 4/118m renegotiate and extend (last year PO)
Ryan Anderson 4/$80m
Eric Gordon 4/$52.9m
Nene1/$2.9m
Chinanu Onuaku 3/$2.5m
Pablo Prigioni 2/$2.2 m
Partially guaranteed deals to
Kyle Wiltjer (2 years) Isaiah Taylor (2 years)
Gary Payton II
Unaccepted (as of now) Qualifying Offer: Donatas Motiejunas ($4,433,683)
I really like D'Antoni for this team, actually, especially with the FA acquisitions they made. Forget defense, though. That's not happening.
Getting Harden to renegotiate and extend was an excellent move. Keep your star locked up a little longer, keep him happy.
Anderson's a good fit, at least offensively, and so is Gordon. This team should absolutely light it up from distance, which would be a change from the bricky high-volume teams they've fielded in recent years.
Nene is a good guy to have as a bench big, and his deal won't kill you if his body falls apart again. Priggy Smalls is a solid backup guard.
I like the acquisition of Wiltjer and Taylor, and I LOVE getting Payton. Wanted OKC to take a flier on him (part of that was just due to wanting to see GP Senior's head explode when he realized he had to cheer for the Thunder).
If it were me, I'd try to keep DMo around, injured back and all. He offers them a little different look, and if you want to go 5-out you can slide him to the 5.
Current Depth Chart: (as usual this is a rough draft taken from bbinsiders)
PG: Patrick Beverley, Pablo Prigioni, Gary Payton II, Isaiah Taylor
SG: James Harden, Eric Gordon, K.J. McDaniels
SF: Trevor Ariza, Corey Brewer, Sam Dekker
PF: Ryan Anderson, Michael Beasley, Montrezl Harrell, Kyle Wiltjer
C: Clint Capela, Nene, Chinanu Onuaku
(Donatas Motiejunas not listed)
Needs:
DEFENSE. Can Beverley, Ariza and Capela do enough to cover for noted weak spots Anderson and Harden? And let's not even talk about the bench. There are a LOT of one-way players on this roster. It's Morey, and knowing him I'd expect him to be active at the trade deadline.
Offense won't be a problem—if anything they have an embarassment of riches.
Additional Thoughts:
Can this team stay healthy? Anderson, Gordon and Nene are all set to be fairly significant contributors, and all 3 have missed long stretches to injury recently.
Projected Win/Loss:
47 wins
Off-Season Grade:
C+
I wish I could give this an incomplete or a ????, because there are just too many questions here. I think they did relatively well in the draft and with picking up unsigned guys, but there are a ton of questions with the guys in the rotation, and I'm not entirely sure they're better than last year.
Slava wrote:Slava Review
Key Losses:
Dwight Howard
I'm not really fussed on them losing Howard as I think Capela is more in tune with what they need and last season, the small ball line up with Beverley-Harden-Brewer-Ariza-Capela clocked in 127 ORTG and 98 DRTG according to 82games.com, albeit in limited minutes. I think D'Antoni will try to use it as often as he can.
Losses:
J.B. Bickerstaff (interim coach)
Jason Terry
Terrence Jones
Josh Smith
Andrew Goudelock
Terrence Jones seems like a waste of potential after having an excellent 14-15 season, the rest are not meaningful and it became quite clear that JBB for his own sanity would rather be an assistant coach elsewhere.
Draft:
#37 Chinanu Onuaku
#43 Zhou Qi
Not very exciting, unless you are a Zhou Qi fan and I don't think either player will receive any meaningful PT or make an immediate impact.
Trades:
none
Free Agency:
Mike D’Antoni (head coach)
James Harden 4/118m renegotiate and extend (last year PO)
Ryan Anderson 4/$80m
Eric Gordon 4/$52.9m
Nene1/$2.9m
Chinanu Onuaku 3/$2.5m
Pablo Prigioni 2/$2.2 m
Partially guaranteed deals to
Kyle Wiltjer (2 years) Isaiah Taylor (2 years)
Unaccepted (as of now) Qualifying Offer: Donatas Motiejunas ($4,433,683)
I'm ambivalent on the coaching change, Mike D'Antoni is ideologically much in sync with Daryl Morey but he is also a bit head strong in his basketball philosophy and clashed with ball dominant players in the past.
Its no secret that James Harden is the kingpin here, while he is an extremely talented offensive player he is also high maintenance and Morey/McHale catered for him rather freely. So this has the makings of a circus if D'Antoni approaches this job with his trademark arrogance and lack of subtlety with star player maintenance.
Gordon is going to be pretty important if they decide to employ a small ball line up with Ariza at the 4 and I like Kyle Wiltjer as an undrafted signing.
I'm not the biggest Ryan Anderson fan but they lacked any kind of consistent shooting last season and it made matters very difficult for Harden so the need to shop at the premium end for a shooter is understandable. However, this is not a roster that has a big to cover for his short comings, not that playing next to Anthony Davis helped either.
Current Depth Chart: (as usual this is a rough draft taken from bbinsiders)
PG: Patrick Beverley, Pablo Prigioni, Gary Payton II, Isaiah Taylor
SG: James Harden, Eric Gordon, K.J. McDaniels
SF: Trevor Ariza, Corey Brewer, Sam Dekker
PF: Ryan Anderson, Michael Beasley, Montrezl Harrell, Kyle Wiltjer
C: Clint Capela, Nene, Chinanu Onuaku
(Donatas Motiejunas not listed)
The continuity with Beverley, Harden and Ariza from 1-3 is a rather welcome sight for a Daryl Morey team. I can see GP2 with his athleticism and energy supplant Prigioni as the back up PG. If Ryan Anderson is injured, expect Kyle WIltjer to start and Beasley should be waived sooner than later when D'Antoni loses his patience there.
Needs:
A workable peace treaty between Mike D'Antoni and James Harden.
Eric Gordon's needs to stay healthy or Sam Dekker needs to show he is ready to contribute meaningful minutes.
A reliable back up center.
Additional Thoughts:
At this point I feel like Morey peaked with the Harden trade, subsequently followed by the Howard free agency and has since been on a steady decline. The Ty Lawson experiment last year was a failure and even if he bought low on him, he relied on him being a very vital piece.
I see the same this year with his reliance on Eric Gordon. This team has enough quality around Harden so they will make the playoffs and be a first round exit, so this seems like stasis and ownership/star players get agitated in stasis. The Harden extension is the only exciting news for the summer.
They will go again and try to entice a top tier player to play with Harden in 2017 but right now they seem to have lost that attraction they had for free agents, 3 years ago.
Projected Win/Loss: 45-37, 1st round loss
Off-Season Grade: B-
Mr. E wrote:Mr. E Review
I will start off by once again proclaiming my intense disatisfaction with the coaching decision by the Rockets. After a train wreck of a season, one of the only glimmers of hope were all of the reports that Harden & Morey seemed to be cultivating a relationship with Jeff Van Gundy. Alas, that light at the end of the tunnel just turned out to be another train in the form of Les Alexander being in love with a basketball team from a decade ago who.
Key Losses:
Dwight Howard
I really like the big fella, but he was not interested in modifying his game to fit where the team was going. I wish him the best in Atlanta (whenever they aren't playing Houston), and I have no ill=feelings in regards to his departure.
Losses:
J.B. Bickerstaff (interim coach)
Jason Terry
Terrence Jones
Josh Smith
Andrew Goudelock
Are there any losses here? Jason Terry was invaluable as a veteran presence, but his on-court production was falling off, especially with all the Rockets were asking him to do. I do hope that he comes back to the team as an assistant coach.
Terrence Jones did hurt, but only because his value was pretty reasonable at some point. I do not know the full story of what happened to see him drop off of the radar like he did, but Morey may have overplayed his hand in years prior (with 20/20 hindsight).
J.B. Bickerstaff was put in an unwinnable situation by being named interim coach of a squad in meltdown. Fortunately, he's young and well-regarded enough that it won't hurt his career in the long-run. His rep could take the hit that was the 2015/2016 Rockets
Draft:
#37 Chinanu Onuaku
#43 Zhou Qi
Unabashed fan of the Zhou Qi draft pick, and it seems that Nike agrees with me, already featuring him in an ad with LeBron James! He won't be over until next year at the earliest, most likely. Onaku will likely make the team, but I expect him to spend time with the Rio Grande Valley Vipers just as Clint Capela did a couple years ago. The opportunity exists for him on this team.
Good jub drafting, considering they only had the two second round picks.
Trades:
none
Very Un-Morey. I can't shake the feeling that something is up.
Free Agency:
Mike D’Antoni (head coach)
James Harden 4/118m renegotiate and extend (last year PO)
Ryan Anderson 4/$80m
Eric Gordon 4/$52.9m
Nene1/$2.9m
Chinanu Onuaku 3/$2.5m
Pablo Prigioni 2/$2.2 m
Partially guaranteed deals to
Kyle Wiltjer (2 years) Isaiah Taylor (2 years)
The first name on the list is the most important when considering the free agent signings. I may not have agreed with the coaching choice, but they went all-in and signed players accordingly. On paper, Anderson, Gordon & Nene are perfect fits for a high-volume offensive scheme which MDA likes to run. They can get open, they can create opportunities and they can just flat-out put the ball in the basket!
When they are healthy. There is so much to worry about health-wise with these guys. If they can all play 80% of the games this season then they can be a dangerous squad.
Pablo Money provides the veteran presence that was once Jason Terry. He does not appear to be your average 40 year-old, but hopefully the Rockets won't depend on him for heavy minutes.
Wiltjer will spend time with the RGVV, but he seems tailor-made for this team.
James Harden was the best signing of the off-season. The extension was an unexpected move, but one that the franchise sorely needed. This is his team and they are committed to each other in the long run.
Unaccepted (as of now) Qualifying Offer: Donatas Motiejunas ($4,433,683)
I'm not sure what's taking so long, but I expect him back in the Rockets lineup before training camp. Hopefully he can get some summer practice time in with everyone else.
Current Depth Chart: (as usual this is a rough draft taken from bbinsiders)
PG: Patrick Beverley, Pablo Prigioni, Gary Payton II, Isaiah Taylor
SG: James Harden, Eric Gordon, K.J. McDaniels
SF: Trevor Ariza, Corey Brewer, Sam Dekker
PF: Ryan Anderson, Michael Beasley, Montrezl Harrell, Kyle Wiltjer
C: Clint Capela, Nene, Chinanu Onuaku
(Donatas Motiejunas not listed)
Again, I have the feeling that a trade is brewing.
Needs:
Health. I know that every team can say that, but looking at the history of the Rockets top guys and they appear to be walking on a thin line between success and utter failure. Judging by some of the off-season practices I've seen with these guys they do seem to be on the same page, and they all seem very enthusiastic about the chance to play in D'Antoni's system. They need to get Motiejunas' deal done so that he can re-join the team and gel with them. Harden needs to keep that chip on his shoulder and go into the 2016/2017 season with guns blazing. He is among the most disliked players by sports media and the internet comment/forum section, so he needs to feed upon that and go back to what he did a couple of seasons ago.
Additional Thoughts:
I honestly am not sure what to make of this Rockets squad. I probably won't until we get a few weeks into the season. I do think that they are going to surprise a lot of people. This team should have the ability to run their opponents out of the gym on any given night. I'm not sure how it will translate to playoff success, but much to Les Alexander's joy, they should be a fun team to watch in the regular season.
Projected Win/Loss: 50-32, second in the Southwest, 5th seed
Off-Season Grade: B- They are committed to a direction with which I personally do not agree, but just judging on that they did well. The MDA hire lowered my grade; but the Harden extension raised it back up.
j/k
