State of the Roster

[spolgar]

Fingers crossed that we don't cut Greg Smith to save a buck...

I hope we wouldn't. Greg Smith is legit. He and Ohbrect are good pieces to fit into the rotation.

My quagmire here is that we still have 2 pretty good powerforward prospects. Royce White in the doghouse is not new, but what the hell is up with TJones ?

I wish the plan is to watch Motie grow up a bit more. If he does well in the playoffs, and if he conditions himself in the offseason, then we have a future all star pf already. Getting an all star PF in the off season would hinder his development.

The nice thing with ABrooks is that we now have a 6th man spark off the bench who can shoot and run an offense without turning the ball over (Delfino). Our first unit back court plays entirely too many minutes. The second unit back court is now full with younger players who are all on the verge of making it. Looks like we might get some reprieve there too.

[moofs]

I wish the plan is to watch Motie grow up a bit more. If he does well in the playoffs, and if he conditions himself in the offseason, then we have a future all star pf already. Getting an all star PF in the off season would hinder his development.

You think Motie's all-star capable? I'm thinking he's more of a Kukoc at peak.

[hammel123]

Do you consider Bynum a prime target this offseason? Injuries -- yes, but thats the reason he's available. To me, he's the only player who gives Rockets a legitimate chance against elite teams (okc, miami). Josh Smith, Gasol, Eric Gordon etc. good players but not really difference makers. If you save Bynum for the playoffs by playing Asik during the regular season, you get the same type of edge that for example, Duran or Lebron give their respective teams

[spolgar]

You think Motie's all-star capable? I'm thinking he's more of a Kukoc at peak.

Kukoc was never happy when he was at Chicago. He never lifted, ate like crap, and since he was so talented he got his way in Europe. That didn't bode well for him in Chicago. I didn't figure this was true until halberstem wrote about it in Winning for keeps.

Motie doesn't seem like he is as entitled. By all accounts, he is a lotmore hard working. He might be better.

[Mr. E]

Motie & Cap'n Bev debuting at #8 and #10 respectively on the NBA's Rookie Ladder this week.

[madbucky]

Motie & Cap'n Bev debuting at #8 and #10 respectively on the NBA's Rookie Ladder this week.

Impressive!

Although I forgot that they are considered rookies, since Domo was drafted 2 years ago and played professionally for 6 years. Beverley was drafted 4 years ago and played professionally 5 years.

[pr0wler]

I feel like the roster has a lot of pieces, but have no idea what direction we're going. I really only know two starters will be here for sure next season:

1) James Harden
2) Chandler Parsons

The rest is up for grabs. We have 3 potential PG's with Lin, Beverly and now Brooks who all should be getting minutes. Is Jeremy Lin the answer? He's been OKAY so far, but definitely not a Top 15 starter in the league. He's only had 1 full season as a starter so could he improve more? Who knows.

Who's going to be our PF? D-Mo and Robinson have showed flashes but are both inconsistent and raw. I really like both of them and think that they could both get major minutes in the lineup with D-Mo playing the occasional backup 5. I think a lot of people suspect that they will try to acquire a "star" at the 4 spot to upgrade...but I'm not really sure who would be worth it. Is paying someone like Josh Smith, who is already 27 and inefficient offensively going to be deserving of a near max contract? Meh. Or Paul Millsap, who is a solid player but is getting close to 30 and never been an all-star before. I feel like if we're going to "upgrade" this position it's got to be for a legitamate all-star calibre player, because I think that one of, if not both of D-Mo and Robinson will be pretty damn good players in this league and I wouldn't want to throw it away and overpay for a temporary upgrade.

I really like Asik at center, but I'm still not sure why he only plays 30 MPG. He's the 2nd best rebounder in the league and plays great defense. Sure, he's still a work in progress offensively but he's not bad by any means and is making fast strides in that department. I wouldn't want to let him go unless we're getting Dwight at center.

I guess the point I'm trying to make is that I really like the young team we have going for us right now, and if we allow them to improve through experience they could turn out to be great players in a season or two. I don't want to give up on the potential of Robinson or D-mo for a decent player like Millsap...I'd rather just let them develop and see what happens. If we can land an all-star like Dwight, sure I think we'd have to move on from Asik, but otherwise we have the youngest team in the league and we're already a ~6-7 seed in the crowded Western conference.

[inquisitive]

would like to see asik avg around 33-34 min/game since he is the best rebounder in the league this year...we need him in the 4th despite his FT shooting.

[rocketsballin]

asik should be at 35mpg. too much small ball lineups

[Fear Tha Beard]

So what's the likelyhood of trading Lin and signing a more complimentary pg for the harden system?
And who might be a more suitable pg? Brandon jennings never seems to be brought up?

[texasholdem]

Jennings 18.4 ppg > Lin 12.7 ppg
Jennings 6.6 apg > Lin 6.2 apg
Jennings 2.6 topg > Lin 2.9 topg
Jennings 38% 3pt FG > Lin 33% 3pt FG
Jennings 81% FT > Lin 79% FT

Jennings 1.8 spg = Lin 1.8 spg
Jennings 3.3 rpg = Lin 3.3 rpg

Jennings 40% FG < Lin 43% FG

Brandon shoots and handles the ball a lot more than Lin does. Otherwise they are about even.
If he and Monta Ellis couldn't mesh together than I don't think he and Harden are all that compatible either.

[Fear Tha Beard]

I guess chris paul wouldn't be ideal either being that he's a true point guard, but then kobe's adapted to having nash carry the ball so maybe harden could deal with it too, not that paul will be leaving la anytime soon.

Does that mean to say that for all of lins so called 'faults', he is the best option for a harden based offense??

[Zubby]

Harden is versatile enough to be played in various ways. If we could get Paul that a no brainier, perfect PG for pretty much any team.
Jennings is a little better than Lin offensively, but Jennings like Lin is so damn inconsistent. If Jennings could play consistently like he is doing now or like he was in the beginning of the season he would be great... top 5 pg.

Only way I see Morey going after Jennings is if they do a sign & trade of Lin/Asik for Howard this summer.

[madbucky]

are you serious? Jennings is absolute trash. < 40% fg for his career. What Harden needs is a pass-first PG who can catch and shoot and play defense.

[spolgar]

With such a ball dominant guard as James Harden, who really is a position-less back court guy, I think the other player has to be as position less too.

The issue here is that Lin needs to be ball dominant to be effective, and as comparative advantage goes, since Harden's ball dominant ways leads to more wins than Lin being ball dominant, conventional wisdom says that James Harden's back court partner would employ the option of playing off the ball.

It is unfortunately not so black or white. We are not living in a world where James Harden makes correct decision about decision, night after night. Lin creates plays off the dribble more conservatively, but he's a good player too. He is adroit as a passer and much stronger defensive player than Harden on a consistent basis. The only reason why Harden doesn't get killed on the +/- now is that there is a dearth of good two way shooting guards across the league. The same cannot be said for Lin's position. In fact, Lin is one of the toughest players to play in the game right now. His intangibles are great, his leadership is prevalent to anyone who watches the game, his team mates love him. Why trade him for someone like Brandon Jennings?

I think at the end of the day both players have to address their issues and sublimate their games so the Rockets will be a better team. It's a thing in the off season to tweak and I'm sure they will work things out. PATIENCE!@#!@$#!@

[moofs]

Good article about Patrick Beverly:
http://www.thedreamshake.com/2013/3/8/4 ... to-the-nba

Meanwhile, Yao and Daryl need to stop eating so many meals together.

[madbucky]

Meanwhile, Yao and Daryl need to stop eating so many meals together.

oh my

[LarsV8]

are you serious? Jennings is absolute trash. < 40% fg for his career. What Harden needs is a pass-first PG who can catch and shoot and play defense.

[x-]

are you serious? Jennings is absolute trash. < 40% fg for his career. What Harden needs is a pass-first PG who can catch and shoot and play defense.

I doubt he comes over anytime soon.

Oh, and:

[spre8well]

are you serious? Jennings is absolute trash. < 40% fg for his career. What Harden needs is a pass-first PG who can catch and shoot and play defense.

I doubt he comes over anytime soon.

Oh, and:

yep, i can see it now.. lottery bound