[Iko] If I’m the Rockets, KCP and Bruce Brown Are Circled On My Big Board

[Tor_Raps]

So we've been talking "toxic contract" a lot as a potential path to stockpile assets while adding a player who we feel can be beneficial to us. There have been a lot of talks of Houston potentially wanting to get off Dillon Brooks' contract.

Houston has A LOT of assets that could help our rebuild while Brooks can actually provide value to the starting lineup. Now Brooks is a level below Wiggins/Hunter (other guys we've been mentioning) but if Houston is able to add a much better asset than the other teams, going down this path might be the better scenario for us.

So what additional asset would you NEED from Houston to take on Brooks' contract?

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5546494/2024/06/10/nba-draft-2024-spurs-rockets-teams/

[ontnut]

DOES Houston want to get off Brooks? Didn't they just sign him, and I thought he was playing pretty well for them. Vet leadership and toughness and whatnot...

I never liked Brooks' game, and was pretty surprised at the contract he got. I guess it was just HOU throwing money around like they did with FVV. I mean, if they want to give us one good pick and one protected pick and Brooks for Brown's contract...Maybe?

3 more years of $21m or so for Brooks? Mehhhhh

[ishoy123]

No one. Why would you add Brooks (who's 28) for $20m over the next 3 seasons when you already have RJ and Scottie at the 3 and 4 who aren't great shooters?

[vulture]

If the raptors can get tari eason for brown that would be perfect. He’s such an underrated 3 and D wing.
Basically 75% years of being OG and saves Scottie from guarding the best players.

[ontnut]

If the raptors can get tari eason for brown that would be perfect. He’s such an underrated 3 and D wing.
Basically 75% years of being OG and saves Scottie from guarding the best players.

Eason is nice. Eating $60m+ for him is rough, but...he's gonna be damn good.

[aminiaturebuddha]

As much as he can be an a**hole, I think Brooks is actually exactly the kind of player that the Raptors need right now. If his shooting from last year is a decent indication of what he can do (.359 from 3 on 5.1 attempts per game), he could slot right into the starting lineup and take on all of the toughest defensive assignments that we don't want Scottie, RJ or Quickley handling. With Scottie back to playing his baseline rover-type defensive role that he excelled at early last season, and with Poeltl and Brooks, I think the Raps would be at least league average defensively.

And although he has a reputation of being a selfish player at times, I actually think he's a decent passer. So if you put him in Darko's ball movement system he'd be quite capable of making the right plays, and it might tone down his more selfish tendencies.

Brooks' salary isn't really that bad. The Rockets are on the hook for a declining salary for another 3 years that begins at $22.3 million this year and ends up at $20 million in 2026-27.

So to answer your question, I'm not sure I'd really need all that much to take on his contract. I'd actually seriously consider pulling the trigger on Brown for Brooks straight up.

[DelAbbot]

Come on guys, we all know who on the Rockets is the real Toxvvic Asset for the Raptors.

[Tor_Raps]

Come on guys, we all know who on the Rockets is the real Toxvvic Asset for the Raptors.

Loll Fred's on a 40M expiring deal so not the worst asset

[DelAbbot]

Come on guys, we all know who on the Rockets is the real Toxvvic Asset for the Raptors.

Loll Fred's on a 40M expiring deal so not the worst asset

[Tor_Raps]

Come on guys, we all know who on the Rockets is the real Toxvvic Asset for the Raptors.

Loll Fred's on a 40M expiring deal so not the worst asset

I got the joke and gave you "loll" for it but needed to be Buzz Killington here

[DreamTeam09]

The article isn't implying Trading books, they wanna add Brown to that team.

Unfortunately they don't have enough unwanted contracts to match salary. Eason would be cool tho

[TorontoBarneys]

I'd be interested in acquiring Tari Eason from them.

[PoundTown]

I'd be interested in acquiring Tari Eason from them.

Big time. That dude could be a really solid starting 3 man. Don't think they make him available in a Brown type move though.

[PhilBlackson]

As others have said, only if they’re attaching Eason at minimum.

But eating Brooks’ contract and awful shooting further shrinking the floor again. We need a pretty serious asset to essentially cap out our team financially until Brooks contract is over. This is basically again like asking if eating Hunter’s contract is worth AJ or Moody is worth it to deal with paying Wiggz. Eason is one player who if he does pan out can pretty much be exactly the player you need to fill the current hole in the lineup where as Moody & AJ are SG which we already have in RJ & Gradey.

I’m guessing another similarish type deal would be Brown (+19) to SAC for one of Huerter or Barnes + 13 if say one of Holland, Williams or Saluan fall to their pick (all of whom our FO have looked at) and the Raps love one of those to be our future SF/PF…

But overall I think it’s gonna come down to a trade like one of those OR you see if NYK are willing to trade Bogi + one of their picks where Knicks essentially swap salaries for a player who they seem to like for a player that oddly seemed to fall out of favour (likely doesn’t defend well enough for Thibs).

In a dream world I’d trade Brown and the IND pick in a package that gets JS Jr but obv that’s more a fantasy than anything else lol

[Merit]

As much as he can be an a**hole, I think Brooks is actually exactly the kind of player that the Raptors need right now. If his shooting from last year is a decent indication of what he can do (.359 from 3 on 5.1 attempts per game), he could slot right into the starting lineup and take on all of the toughest defensive assignments that we don't want Scottie, RJ or Quickley handling. With Scottie back to playing his baseline rover-type defensive role that he excelled at early last season, and with Poeltl and Brooks, I think the Raps would be at least league average defensively.

And although he has a reputation of being a selfish player at times, I actually think he's a decent passer. So if you put him in Darko's ball movement system he'd be quite capable of making the right plays, and it might tone down his more selfish tendencies.

Brooks' salary isn't really that bad. The Rockets are on the hook for a declining salary for another 3 years that begins at $22.3 million this year and ends up at $20 million in 2026-27.

So to answer your question, I'm not sure I'd really need all that much to take on his contract. I'd actually seriously consider pulling the trigger on Brown for Brooks straight up.

I’d need something from Houston to account for term. Tari Eason is legit, but so is JaeSean Tate, who would come cheaper and would be cool with a bench role. However, I’d try and get Jalen Green with Dillon for Boucher/Brown/Future 1st. No idea whether that makes sense for them value wise

[ItsDanger]

Houston has many interesting questions to answer. Biggest current one is that it seems like Green and Sengun don't mesh well on the court. I don't see Brown as a fit there unless Green is out of the picture.

[will]

If KCP and Bruce Brown are circled on your big board, you might as well throw out that big board.

[PhilBlackson]

As much as he can be an a**hole, I think Brooks is actually exactly the kind of player that the Raptors need right now. If his shooting from last year is a decent indication of what he can do (.359 from 3 on 5.1 attempts per game), he could slot right into the starting lineup and take on all of the toughest defensive assignments that we don't want Scottie, RJ or Quickley handling. With Scottie back to playing his baseline rover-type defensive role that he excelled at early last season, and with Poeltl and Brooks, I think the Raps would be at least league average defensively.

And although he has a reputation of being a selfish player at times, I actually think he's a decent passer. So if you put him in Darko's ball movement system he'd be quite capable of making the right plays, and it might tone down his more selfish tendencies.

Brooks' salary isn't really that bad. The Rockets are on the hook for a declining salary for another 3 years that begins at $22.3 million this year and ends up at $20 million in 2026-27.

So to answer your question, I'm not sure I'd really need all that much to take on his contract. I'd actually seriously consider pulling the trigger on Brown for Brooks straight up.

I’d need something from Houston to account for term. Tari Eason is legit, but so is JaeSean Tate, who would come cheaper and would be cool with a bench role. However, I’d try and get Jalen Green with Dillon for Boucher/Brown/Future 1st. No idea whether that makes sense for them value wise

Not a chance in hell you get Green for that

HOU only floats his name as bait for who they think might be a star. I don't think they even consider using him to just get average vets and/or future assets that are likely not another high lotto pick. If they were to take that deal they'd probably ask that either we include another non-24' first (unprotected or very lightly protected) or add Gradey, I don't even want to open up the debate of if we should do it (but if it's Gradey I would lol).

Although really I think this is a non conversation because I just don't believe that they're using JG for anything else than star trade bait.

It's either they look to get off Brooks' contract (because they have to start paying their young guys ie/ Green) & attach Eason OR....if they're just that thirsty to make a Playoffs, then its (I'm not sure if they have control over their) 2025' FRP (with probably top 10 protection) + Tate + Jeff Green. But teams aren't going to give us a young player who may (or not be) a future star. You can debate all you want if you think Jalen can or can't be, given his last month of the season I think it's obvious he can be some level of star, maybe not superstar but still a well known player. We're far more likely to get a young player like a Moody, Griffin or Eason, that have more potential than Brown but they don't have space in their rotation and their teams are more concerned with winning now...I'd also throw SAC in there with one of Harrison or Huerter plus 24' pick swap which again would likely net a young player with more potential than Brown but not where a team thinks they're risking trading any level of star.

[PhilBlackson]

If KCP and Bruce Brown are circled on your big board, you might as well throw out that big board.

Hmm I don't really think that's fair...I think both guys have shown they be really good rotation pieces on a contending team.

They defend, they generally try to make the right play, make the hustle plays and work their butts off in general to play their roles without questioning/b*tching about which most young players can't and can hamper what a contending/competitive team is trying to do. Each guy was really good for DEN and you can see that's in these Playoffs, the Nuggets wishing they had another "Bruce Brown" (multiple people were literally saying they need BB during the MIN series lol) and other vets that could help make plays down the stretch of games and it wasn't there.

They're just connective pieces...they don't make sense on rebuilding teams like ours because our guys aren't even at the level yet where they could use them properly AND more importantly they're the kind of players that because they play very specific roles, you better actually need what a player like each of them specifically provides. They're literally to take care of the cracks in the foundation, not be the foundation itself.

It's not like here where he only played maybe a handful with the entire starting lineup then the rest of the season we ask him to take on too much to try & showcase him when he's obviously a limited player that must be USED a certain way. We were trying to get him to CREATE, that's not what he does.

But plug him into a place like DAL, LAL, PHI, PHX etc and suddenly his value shines when he can do all the little things for the stars. Josh Hart is just a greater example of this, he was solid everywhere he was, nothing special, teams liked him but he played with a star and suddenly his value shines through. Bruce & KCP may not be the level of Josh but they are those kind of players that contribute winning in the RIGHT situations that fit their specific role.

[Merit]

As much as he can be an a**hole, I think Brooks is actually exactly the kind of player that the Raptors need right now. If his shooting from last year is a decent indication of what he can do (.359 from 3 on 5.1 attempts per game), he could slot right into the starting lineup and take on all of the toughest defensive assignments that we don't want Scottie, RJ or Quickley handling. With Scottie back to playing his baseline rover-type defensive role that he excelled at early last season, and with Poeltl and Brooks, I think the Raps would be at least league average defensively.

And although he has a reputation of being a selfish player at times, I actually think he's a decent passer. So if you put him in Darko's ball movement system he'd be quite capable of making the right plays, and it might tone down his more selfish tendencies.

Brooks' salary isn't really that bad. The Rockets are on the hook for a declining salary for another 3 years that begins at $22.3 million this year and ends up at $20 million in 2026-27.

So to answer your question, I'm not sure I'd really need all that much to take on his contract. I'd actually seriously consider pulling the trigger on Brown for Brooks straight up.

I’d need something from Houston to account for term. Tari Eason is legit, but so is JaeSean Tate, who would come cheaper and would be cool with a bench role. However, I’d try and get Jalen Green with Dillon for Boucher/Brown/Future 1st. No idea whether that makes sense for them value wise

Not a chance in hell you get Green for that

HOU only floats his name as bait for who they think might be a star. I don't think they even consider using him to just get average vets and/or future assets that are likely not another high lotto pick. If they were to take that deal they'd probably ask that either we include another non-24' first (unprotected or very lightly protected) or add Gradey, I don't even want to open up the debate of if we should do it (but if it's Gradey I would lol).

Although really I think this is a non conversation because I just don't believe that they're using JG for anything else than star trade bait.

It's either they look to get off Brooks' contract (because they have to start paying their young guys ie/ Green) & attach Eason OR....if they're just that thirsty to make a Playoffs, then its (I'm not sure if they have control over their) 2025' FRP (with probably top 10 protection) + Tate + Jeff Green. But teams aren't going to give us a young player who may (or not be) a future star. You can debate all you want if you think Jalen can or can't be, given his last month of the season I think it's obvious he can be some level of star, maybe not superstar but still a well known player. We're far more likely to get a young player like a Moody, Griffin or Eason, that have more potential than Brown but they don't have space in their rotation and their teams are more concerned with winning now...I'd also throw SAC in there with one of Harrison or Huerter plus 24' pick swap which again would likely net a young player with more potential than Brown but not where a team thinks they're risking trading any level of star.

Cheers for the info. I would be good with Tari Eason/JaeSean Tate/Uncle Jeff as the return for Brown. Would that be something they’d do?