Fairview4Life wrote:hillbilly hare wrote:They have a horde of young prospects and trade assets.
What young prospects and trade assets do they have, exactly? I like Thomas Robinson, but he's still more potential than actual trade asset at this point, which is why he only managed to get a guy like Patrick Patterson back for him. That's the only real young prospect they have. No one gave a **** about Marcus Morris, and no one gives a **** about Royce White, Terrence Jones, or Donut. What are teams going to trade for those guys? Maybe a late first or 2nd round pick, and nothing for White. Chandler Parsons is excellent value per $, but even he isn't going to net you all that much from another team. No one is trading for Lin.
I'd take Jonas over every single one of those "prospects". Amir is head and shoulders better than all of them, and is only 25. Lowry is better than Lin. Hell, Quincy Acy has shown more in his limited minutes than a guy like Terrence Jones has, but I'm betting you wouldn't consider him to be a part of the Raps "horde" of young prospects.
This is the kind of hyperbole around Morey that I object to. Harden and Asik = fantastic work. The trade and extension for Harden along with signing Asik were bold gambles. Finding Parsons and slotting him in = fantastic work. But they don't have some horde of young prospects that is the envy of the league. They have a bunch of decent young guys that no one else is going to offer much for, but that play hard and work within their system. That isn't a bad thing, but it isn't some cornucopia of riches.
Object to it all you want. If it's a debate over GMs and their body of work, you can point out (sadly but truly), that the 2 fantastic moves you just mentioned are the same 2 moves that our own GM could've carried out, if he were actually a good GM.
Prospects' trade value is perceived value. If Morey was able to trade Morris for Robinson, then Morris obviously had some perceived value and I think Morey is betting that Robinson will have some in the future too. I think Robinson was acquired in order to see if his trade value can be raised, and raised enough to be an attractive asset in a package. As to the rest, I'll have to disagree that Acy has more trade value than Terrence Jones, and no, I don't consider Acy to be a prospect with much perceived trade value.
As to what other teams will trade for "those guys", I think that's a what and see thing. Their value was high-ish after last year's summer league, so it's hard not to still call them prospects, as they're more in the 21-22 year old range.
I too consider Jonas a much better prospect than any of those guys, but that's not the point I'm making. Jonas is not, or at least I hope he's not, a prospective trade chip. The guys on Houston are.
I love the Raptors, but going overboard about our players doesn't make you more of a fan than me. Unfortunately for us I think Morey's done an immensely better job than Colangelo the last couple years and that the Rockets are a solid young team now, though more importantly, they are poised to make huge strides this off-season. I do think their young prospects, including Chandler Parsons, especially if they have another big summer league (guys like Robinson and Jones and Donatas) could have good perceived trade value and could be part of a package for an upgrade at a position of need. I mean, I like Ed Davis, but did anyone here honestly think that he and Jose would net us Rudy Gay? In terms of cost-cutting teams trading away a star to save tax money, Memphis might've rated Parsons a better prospect than Ed. If Houston had been willing to use pure cap space to absorb Rudy's deal, I think Parsons + minor filler might've gotten it done. That's what having good perceived young prospects, plus intelligently maneuvered cap space, can do to upgrade your lineup quickly.
You may not agree, but I do think that the perceived trade value of Houston's young guys, i.e. Parsons + Robinson + the others, could net the Rockets a star. On top of that, Morey has created about 20M in cap space next year, with which to try to acquire another star. So, to a team with a 23-year old superstar SG, the top D rebounder in the league at C, and a solid if overrated young PG (yes I agree that Lowry's better, possibly much better if healthy), the Rockets will be in a position to add 2 stars next year, and they have 2 positions of need. Good job and props to Morey.