RealGM

We are about 12 weeks away from the new NBA season (yes, I'm counting down already). Between right now: today, August 14th and the start of the season do you believe that the Rockets will make a trade?

Will it be a major trade? A Plan "C" from the summer's original plan?

Will it be a minor trade? Notable, but not a game-changer at face value.

Will they not make a trade at all and go with the motley crewe they are putting together around Harden and Howard?

I am hoping that they don't. I kinda like this team as is. It is still a perfect mix of veteran leadership and youth.

no, the roster you see now is the roster they're going with for the 14-15 season, till jan/feb when a trade comes up. solid starting lineup, the bench tho...cross those fingers will ya morey!

lol no the bench is fine. i dont exepct anything special, but its gonna be fun watching them compete each other.

With the team they have now, you already know that you are going to get a better defensively oriented team than last season.

CoolbeansB wrote:With the team they have now, you already know that you are going to get a better defensively oriented team than last season.

We don't "know" that. You are hoping that is the case. Parsons, Lin and especially Asik were all good defenders.

texasholdem wrote:

CoolbeansB wrote:With the team they have now, you already know that you are going to get a better defensively oriented team than last season.

We don't "know" that. You are hoping that is the case. Parsons, Lin and especially Asik were all good defenders.

Parsons and Asik were good defenders. Lin defense was terrible. Out of the new additions, Ariza is a better defender than Parsons, IMO. Dorsey was one of the best defensive bigs in Europe according to Morey. Both of our rookies, Capela and Johnson are better known for their defense. Even Harden is said to be playing better defense. So already we have more defenders on the team than last season.

Also lets not forget Papanikulau being known as a defender as well.

CoolbeansB wrote:

texasholdem wrote:

CoolbeansB wrote:With the team they have now, you already know that you are going to get a better defensively oriented team than last season.

We don't "know" that. You are hoping that is the case. Parsons, Lin and especially Asik were all good defenders.

Parsons and Asik were good defenders. Lin defense was terrible. Out of the new additions, Ariza is a better defender than Parsons, IMO. Dorsey was one of the best defensive bigs in Europe according to Morey. Both of our rookies, Capela and Johnson are better known for their defense. Even Harden is said to be playing better defense. So already we have more defenders on the team than last season.

Parson hasn't been a good defender since his rookie year

They will make a minor trade before the season maybe a couple seconds and non/partial guarantees for a better bench player is my guess. And of course a bigger trade around deadline

zapatasblood wrote:Parson hasn't been a good defender since his rookie year

Did you feel this way before he signed with Dallas? He regressed some as his offense improved but he still wasn't a terrible defender like Harden.

texasholdem wrote:

zapatasblood wrote:Parson hasn't been a good defender since his rookie year

Did you feel this way before he signed with Dallas? He regressed some as his offense improved but he still wasn't a terrible defender like Harden.

Felt like that since the beginning of last season since his second year it fell off and after Batum had his way with him it was clear his defense not good. Anyways never said terrible just said not good anymore. Don't really that Parsons is not Rocket

Won't be traded: Harden, Howard

Can't be traded before season: Ariza, Daniels, Dorsey, Adrien, Johnson, Capela, Papaniko, Ish Smith

Can be traded before season: Motiejunas, Jones, Beverley, Canaan, Covington, Gee, Hopson

i think the suns will trade dragic(during season)_...especially if bledsoe signs for the 4yr/48mil....if bledsoe signs that deal,the suns will have a hard time trading bledsoe with his injury history...this coming season will be dragic's expiring deal since you know he will opt out next season for a bigger payday...so depending on who the rockets give up, assuming morey even wants dragic, you will see rockets in the mix for dragic trade.

also, keep in mind about nick johnson. he is an arizona guy. i'm sure the suns are keeping an eye on him. however, if nick plays really well for the rockets, i dont see the rockets including him in a package to be traded anywhere unless it was another star type player.

if dragic plays awful during the 1st half this season, then you could see things change. the suns want to run a 3 guard system, but deep down they know that isn't going to be a championship team. one of those guys will be traded and very likely dragic.

CoolbeansB wrote:

texasholdem wrote:

CoolbeansB wrote:With the team they have now, you already know that you are going to get a better defensively oriented team than last season.

We don't "know" that. You are hoping that is the case. Parsons, Lin and especially Asik were all good defenders.

Parsons and Asik were good defenders. Lin defense was terrible. Out of the new additions, Ariza is a better defender than Parsons, IMO. Dorsey was one of the best defensive bigs in Europe according to Morey. Both of our rookies, Capela and Johnson are better known for their defense. Even Harden is said to be playing better defense. So already we have more defenders on the team than last season.

Too soon.

Also, everything you wrote is based on your own personal feelings and the rumors you hear.

I'm not saying you're wrong, however...

Saying Parsons is a good defender and Lin is terrible while also providing no reasoning is not convincing. Also, even if you assume Lin was terrible at defense, trading Lin doesn't make the team better on defense. HOU just gained a vacancy on the roster. Canaan is tiny and not known to be good defender even in D-league/SL

Dorsey is good(limited) in Europe, but not in the NBA. Capela and Johnson are also not proven in the NBA.

Rumor is Harden is playing better defense, there was 1 instagram of him playing 1 on 1 defense for literally 5 seconds. Harden also said he was to play better defense last off season.

I watched the Team USA vs Brazil last night. Harden did try with effort when he was defending on the ball. However, he gave up easily on pick and rolls. Once he hits a pick, he was done, he gives up on the play and looks to fast break or get a steal. Harden is mentally fixated on offense and his offensive stats. That's not a terrible thing, but I'm saying it's too soon to assume that the team has improved on defense.

At least wait until watching a few preseason games before you judge.

I don't think we'll make it trade but I wish we would because everyone on our bench is either unproven or not very good

MKL wrote:

CoolbeansB wrote:

texasholdem wrote:
We don't "know" that. You are hoping that is the case. Parsons, Lin and especially Asik were all good defenders.

Parsons and Asik were good defenders. Lin defense was terrible. Out of the new additions, Ariza is a better defender than Parsons, IMO. Dorsey was one of the best defensive bigs in Europe according to Morey. Both of our rookies, Capela and Johnson are better known for their defense. Even Harden is said to be playing better defense. So already we have more defenders on the team than last season.

Too soon.

Also, everything you wrote is based on your own personal feelings and the rumors you hear.

I'm not saying you're wrong, however...

Saying Parsons is a good defender and Lin is terrible while also providing no reasoning is not convincing. Also, even if you assume Lin was terrible at defense, trading Lin doesn't make the team better on defense. HOU just gained a vacancy on the roster. Canaan is tiny and not known to be good defender even in D-league/SL

Dorsey is good(limited) in Europe, but not in the NBA. Capela and Johnson are also not proven in the NBA.

Rumor is Harden is playing better defense, there was 1 instagram of him playing 1 on 1 defense for literally 5 seconds. Harden also said he was to play better defense last off season.

I watched the Team USA vs Brazil last night. Harden did try with effort when he was defending on the ball. However, he gave up easily on pick and rolls. Once he hits a pick, he was done, he gives up on the play and looks to fast break or get a steal. Harden is mentally fixated on offense and his offensive stats. That's not a terrible thing, but I'm saying it's too soon to assume that the team has improved on defense.

At least wait until watching a few preseason games before you judge.

Watching every game (sometimes twice) makes me a good judge on whether or not someone on the team is playing defense. Playing good defense for a handful of games out of 82 makes you a possible liability on the floor. I didn't say Lin was a bad player, just his defense was lacking. Hardens defense was terrible also. Parsons is a good defender when he wants to be. He was a lot more consistent at defense than the other two.

If everyone would step back and look at the recent additions to the team, you would see that they make the team more defensive than offensive.

Okay, I get that Ariza is pretty good defender. But you're saying that's a slight improvement to Parsons.

Lin's lack of defense is debatable because there are no stats to support this. You watching the games like the rest of us doesn't make your opinion more convincing.

Regardless of the fact that removing Lin from the team and having Canaan fill in that roster spot is NOT an improvement on defense.

Dorsey as the replacement for Asik, as much faith as I have in DM, I just do not buy it. I think a small trade or signing is a must. Some of the latest signing have been just sad to bad at best. Cisco really? We would be better pulling from the D league. The players from overseas l know nothing about so maybe there is hope.

They probably need a trade, but I have a hard time seeing anything substantial that make sense at this point, I mean you need to give something to get something, if Morey is unwilling to give up anything of value in the present of future, and is also unwilling to take bad contracts, what the hell are you trading with?

CoolbeansB wrote:

texasholdem wrote:

CoolbeansB wrote:With the team they have now, you already know that you are going to get a better defensively oriented team than last season.

We don't "know" that. You are hoping that is the case. Parsons, Lin and especially Asik were all good defenders.

Parsons and Asik were good defenders. Lin defense was terrible. Out of the new additions, Ariza is a better defender than Parsons, IMO. Dorsey was one of the best defensive bigs in Europe according to Morey. Both of our rookies, Capela and Johnson are better known for their defense. Even Harden is said to be playing better defense. So already we have more defenders on the team than last season.

Lin was probably a worse defender than Harden..at least Harden got an occasional steal.

MR_EE wrote:
Lin was probably a worse defender than Harden..at least Harden got an occasional steal.

They have the exact same career average in steals per game: 1.3, with Jeremy playing 4 less minutes per game.