PMOTT3 and Chuck Texas Early Off-Season Review: Houston Rockets

[Texas Chuck]

I want to start this review off with a little Chuck crow-eating. I was really really hard on Morey last off-season over how he let Parsons hit free agency when he didn't have to. I thought it was a clear mistake and I ripped him pretty hard over it. But pretty much every move he made last year after not picking up Parsons's option was really smart--the Asik and Lin trades, the Ariza deal, the JET trade, the not matching Parsons, Brewer trade, Prigs trade, McDaniels trade, signing Smith etc....

So I need to eat some crow in regards to my comments re: Morey who did a great job last year imo. But what about this year....


PMOTT3's Review:

Key Losses:

N/A

Other Losses:

Josh Smith
Pablo Prigioni
Nick Johnson
Joey Dorsey
Kostas Poponikalou

Can't believe I'm saying this but the only real loss here was Josh Smith. Prigs wasn't too bad either last year but probably wasn't going to get a lot of PT behind Lawson/Beverley.

Trades:

Prigs, Johnson, Pop, Dorsey, and protected 16' 1st for Lawson AND the DEN 2017 2nd

I could spend my entire review just talking about this one trade. The fact that Lawson foolishly decided to make his contract completely unguarnteed next season, Denver actually gave the rockets a 2nd in return, AND the rockets didn't give up anything of significant importance makes this deal a homerun homerun cycle

Draft:

Sam Dekker
Montrez Harrell

Never been high on Dekker and felt he just got hot at the right time in the march madness tourney to boost his draft stock. Harrell was a good value pick in the 2nd round.

Free Agency:

Marcus Thornton
Chuck Hayes
Re-signed Beverley
Re-signed KJ McDaniels
Re-signed Corey Brewer

Thornton and Hayes are just guys for depth purposes and garbage minutes

Beverley and McDaniels are solid deals. Brewer seems like a slight overpay but they needed him back or else they would have been really short on the wings.

Current Depth Chart (rough):

PG: Beverley/Lawson/JET?
SG: Harden/McDaniels/Thornton
SF: Ariza/Brewer/Dekker
PF: Jones/Harrell/Hayes
C: Howard/Montijunas/Capaela

* I actually think Beverley compliments Harden more in the starting lineup and i would use Lawson as my leader for the second unit.

Additional Thoughts:

The Lawson trade was the highlight of the off-season. If he can he get over his alcohol problems and look like the Ty Lawson from 2-3 years ago on the court..look out. Wasn't in love with their draft night but didnt hate it either. Re-signing Brewer, and Beverley was needed. Overall i think this team has serious potential if things break right with the Lawson addition. Top-end a 1-3 seed; Low-end a 4-6 seed.

Win/Loss Prediction: 58-24

Off-Season Grade: A

Lawson trade was a stroke of genious. Losing J-Smoove will probably come with its ups and downs but nothing that should be too serious. No bad contracts given out. Prigioni isn't really a big loss and they re-signed the guys that mattered most on relatively good deals. Great off-season imo.


Chuck Texas' Review

Losses:

Josh Smith
JET (might be back?)
Prigioni
Kostas P
Nick Johnson
Joey Dorsey

Nothing big here. Smith was pretty good in the PS, but they have to think Motiejunas can replace those minutes. Prigs and JET fought hard after Beverly went down too but upgrading them needed to happen.

Draft:

Sam Dekker
Montrezl Harrell

I like the Dekker pick. I hate to make the Parsons comparison(why you got to compare a white guy with a white guy....) but a SF with great size, probably more athletic than Parsons. Not a great shooter, but has a good stroke, can take the ball to the basket. Potential is there to get a useful player for sure. Loved the Harrell pick. Now he doesn't seem like a Morey guy based on his skill set, but this guy is going to have a 10 year career as a role player.

Trades:

Kostas, Prigs, Dorsey, Johnson, protected 1st for Lawson

I don't quite understand the fit here unless they do what I think they should and have Lawson be the 6th man. But the value is tremendous and with Lawson giving up the gte on that last year it removes the risk and gains Morey so much flexibility for next summer. The ultimate in buying low.

Free Agency:

Brewer
Beverly
Chuck Hayes
McDaniels
Thornton.

Loved them bringing back their own guys. Brewer and Beverly are really important role players and McDaniels is worth a further look. I don't mind Chuck Hayes as an end of bench veteran. I just hate Marcus Thornton, but for the min its whatever really.

Depth Chart(guessing):

Howard/Capela/Hayes
Motiejunas/Jones/Harrell
Ariza/Brewer/Dekker
Harden/Thornton/McDaniels
Beverly/Lawson/(JET?)

Needs:

Not much. I assume Morey will be looking to see if there is a star to be poached. I'd like to see another knock down shooting guard added. I think they will miss Prigs and JET in that regard.

Additional Thoughts:

I like this roster quite a bit. They need one of the PF's to really seize the job, but I love both Motie and Jones and trust one of them will get it. Motiejunas should spend time at both power positions. Beverly back on a bargain deal is great and I'd keep starting him. I'd love to have Lawson in pushing the ball with all those athletes on the 2nd unit and just play really fast while Harden is on the bench. Lawson is a risk but he gives them another real creator so Harden doesn't have such a heavy load. Really a fan of most of their kids too. Either more talent to feed into the pipeline or assets for Morey to play with.

Win-loss Prediction: 58-24

I just don't trust Howard's health quite enough to say 60 wins in this conference, but they finished 2nd last year with lots of key guys missing games and they are improved this year so it wouldn't shock me. Outside of Golden State I think they are right there with everyone else in the West.

Off-Season Grade: A

Loved the draft. The Lawson deal was a home run value-wise and getting Beverly back means they aren't dependent on a guy who doesn't look very dependable at the moment. They didn't get cute in free agency, but just brought back key contributors and Morey has tons of flexibility to make additional moves during the season.

[buckboy]

A from me. Team didn't need to do much other than resign Beverly IMO, and they got that done. Lawson for free is icing on the cake.

As a Wisconsin alum, I'm (perhaps surprisingly) not real high on Dekker. I think he could be a 7th man type scoring bench guy at his apex, but that's his ceiling to me. I've known him since he was 12 though, so I sure hope I'm wrong. Great kid.

[Hawk Eye]

A from me. Team didn't need to do much other than resign Beverly IMO, and they got that done. Lawson for free is icing on the cake.

As a Wisconsin alum, I'm (perhaps surprisingly) not real high on Dekker. I think he could be a 7th man type scoring bench guy at his apex, but that's his ceiling to me. I've known him since he was 12 though, so I sure hope I'm wrong. Great kid.

Sounds like we have the same view points on Dekker then. I really feel like Houston is trying to strike gold again with a Chandler Parsons 2.0 (Dekker). I know its off-topic here but since you mentioned your a Wisconsin alum, what are your view points on Kaminsky? Would you rather have Dekker or Frank?

[Hawk Eye]

so uhm..bump much? c'mon guys.

[buckboy]

A from me. Team didn't need to do much other than resign Beverly IMO, and they got that done. Lawson for free is icing on the cake.

As a Wisconsin alum, I'm (perhaps surprisingly) not real high on Dekker. I think he could be a 7th man type scoring bench guy at his apex, but that's his ceiling to me. I've known him since he was 12 though, so I sure hope I'm wrong. Great kid.

Sounds like we have the same view points on Dekker then. I really feel like Houston is trying to strike gold again with a Chandler Parsons 2.0 (Dekker). I know its off-topic here but since you mentioned your a Wisconsin alum, what are your view points on Kaminsky? Would you rather have Dekker or Frank?

I feel like Kaminsky has a more definitive place in the NBA. He has the potential to be an excellent stretch 4. I'd rather have Frank, but I'm not huge on him either. Bronson Koenig may be the best pro from last year's Wisconsin team. Love his game. Tremendous vision and could become a great shooter. His form is beautiful. Not showing up on any mocks though, which is obviously discouraging.

[RightToCensor]

Great Offseason for us.

I was skeptical as the days went by that we weren't gonna make move at all, which is concerning when you factor who our GM is. When Ty Lawson gets on the court he'll do wonders for our offense, essentially reducing the weight that was put on James Harden to carry this team in scoring and assisting. Bringing back Hayes is gonna be a nice veteran presence for us. Harrell is the rookie I'm most looking forward to seeing, he reminds me of a Taj Gibson banger, players like him can change the momentum of games with one big block or one big dunk.

[brackdan70]

Don't think their draft picks will amount to much, but no key losses from a solid team, and add Lawson. not bad.

[bondom34]

Love the Dekker pick, Lawson was zero risk, Bev signed cheap. Nothing bad at all, maybe losing Smoove.

[loserX]

They brought back Beverley on the cheap, acquired Lawson on the cheap, and did pretty well in the draft.

Getting Lawson filled their biggest need...and I agree that getting him to opt out of his final year as a trade condition made sense. (You have to be careful, though; Morey did the same thing with Brewer last year and ended up having to re-sign him for more money and years this summer. Though in Lawson's case there are additional risks which Morey is right to hedge.)

But the team went shopping and filled most of their needs at low prices. Sounds like a good offseason to me.

[lukekarts]

Great review. And you know Morey, when Melo asks for a trade he'll package Lawson's expiring contract, one of his PF's and a bunch of smaller assets and the Rockets will be Bev/Harden/Ariza/Melo/Dwight by the playoffs...

Or not. But still, I think the team is improved with the Lawson addition quite significantly, and another year of chemistry for the same core will really help them, maybe they beat the Clippers again to reach the WCF.

[Slava]

Depending on health, alcohol addiction among other things, they are probably as talented and deep as the Warriors, may be even slightly more. The quality of depth they acquired at each position is incredible and assuming Beverley and Motiejuanas stay in the starting line up, Capela/Jones/Thornton/Brewer/Lawson is a terrific second unit before you even come to the rookies and KJ McDaniels.

[Mr. E]

so uhm..bump much? c'mon guys.

I'm keeping this thread bookmarked for every time I see one of my fellow Rockets fans complain that the team isn't respected by RealGM users.

Pretty glowing reviews, but I have to agree that they were earned. This Rockets team really didn't have to do much this offseason rather than hold serve, but they somehow managed to find a way to improve. Like all teams health will be an issue; but this team did well last season after losing key guys for long stretches in the season and into the playoffs. I just don't think that anyone wants to go through that again.

The big question will be which of Motiejunas or Jones steps up to grab the brass ring. Honestly - I could see both having very good, very complementary seasons. Motiejunas can help Capela cover backup 5 minutes, so it's not like you're going to see Jones or Motie lose serious minutes just because one is starting over the other.

Lawson - well, first things first I hope that the guy gets his life into a good place. He'll have some good support with this organization, but at the end of the day it's up to him. I'm not sure if he'll start or not, but it's not a "quarterback controversy" in the classic sense. In Pat Beverley you have a guy who is team-first and will do whatever is asked of him. Some will try to manufacture a controversy here, but the fact is that both Harden and Beverley were pushing for a guy like Lawson on the team.

The pressing issue for me this upcoming season is minutes: as in trying to reduce them for Harden and Ariza. Bringing back Beverley and Brewer were big moves that needed to happen, and I am very hopeful that Marcus Thornton will actually surprise some people this season. He's playing for the vet's minimum with hopes of one more big contract to follow that. He's on a team where he will have an opportunity to flourish offensively if he earns the minutes.

The West is going to be wild next season, and I'm just happy right now that the Rockets look poised to be right there in the thick of it.

[sonictecture]

A year ago Morey went for a 3rd star/superstar by going after Chris Bosh. When that failed he worked diligently at filling in the roster with role players, cue James Harden's role player comment. The team enjoyed it's greatest success under Morey's tenure and came into this offseason seemingly with the ability to get the third star he coveted for the past two seasons.

What Morey came away with was Ty Lawson who is currently in alcohol rehab and projects as a questionable fit with the team. This acquisition is such a questionable move that both the team and player decided to make it a one year trial to see if it will work. So now the story for next season is in part Ty Lawson and his battle with substance abuse as he attempts to resurrect his career. I hope it has a happy ending, but the fact that Morey seems to be risking a prime season to see what will happen is astounding to me.

When I look at who Morey signed and drafted this summer I see a lack of perimeter shooting across the board. I see short power forwards. It's a weird mix that makes me wonder if last year was more fluke than building block to this season.

If Morey was suppose to take the team closer to a championship this summer, it seems as if he has failed to do so.

[texasholdem]

I wouldn't call the Lawson trade "a stroke of genius" any more than I would call trading for Harden one.
Morey took advantage of unpleasant circumstances for teams in a desperate situation.
But they say sometimes it's better to be lucky than to be good.

[sonictecture]

I wouldn't call the Lawson trade "a stroke of genius" any more than I would call trading for Harden one.
Morey took advantage of unpleasant circumstances for teams in a desperate situation.
But they say sometimes it's better to be lucky than to be good.

It's hard to say that OKC was in an unpleasant or desperate circumstance coming off a finals season and where Harden had a year left on his rookie contract before RFA. Presti was looking to avoid the repeater luxury tax and the reasons for that were solid at the time, but he chose to trade Harden.

I would agree however that Denver was desperate an in an unpleasant situation when they traded Lawson.

[texasholdem]

I wouldn't call the Lawson trade "a stroke of genius" any more than I would call trading for Harden one.
Morey took advantage of unpleasant circumstances for teams in a desperate situation.
But they say sometimes it's better to be lucky than to be good.

It's hard to say that OKC was in an unpleasant or desperate circumstance coming off a finals season and where Harden had a year left on his rookie contract before RFA. Presti was looking to avoid the repeater luxury tax and the reasons for that were solid at the time, but he chose to trade Harden.

I would agree however that Denver was desperate an in an unpleasant situation when they traded Lawson.

Well Presti didn't HAVE to trade Harden true but he basically chose Ibaka over Harden. He didn't think it would be possible under OKC ownership to keep all 4 of them so he decided to get at least something of value in return. Presti lost Rashard Lewis in the first month of his GM career for a conditional second round pick so maybe he didn't want that to happen again.

Of course him re-signing Kanter now kinda puts that decision in question.

[bondom34]

I wouldn't call the Lawson trade "a stroke of genius" any more than I would call trading for Harden one.
Morey took advantage of unpleasant circumstances for teams in a desperate situation.
But they say sometimes it's better to be lucky than to be good.

It's hard to say that OKC was in an unpleasant or desperate circumstance coming off a finals season and where Harden had a year left on his rookie contract before RFA. Presti was looking to avoid the repeater luxury tax and the reasons for that were solid at the time, but he chose to trade Harden.

I would agree however that Denver was desperate an in an unpleasant situation when they traded Lawson.

Well Presti didn't HAVE to trade Harden true but he basically chose Ibaka over Harden. He didn't think it would be possible under OKC ownership to keep all 4 of them so he decided to get at least something of value in return. Presti lost Rashard Lewis in the first month of his GM career for a conditional second round pick so maybe he didn't want that to happen again.

Of course him re-signing Kanter now kinda puts that decision in question.

He didn't really "lose" Lewis, so much as he lost the privilege of paying him that contract (and no, that's not being cheap its being not crazy, dude wasn't worth 5/$95). And Kanter has nothing to do w/ Harden. That said, I agree with both of you on the other stuff. I think Presti was wanting to avoid the repeater tax, and Morey was in a spot to have assets to get Harden, both got what they set out for in some way.

[Mr. E]

Respect to all, but the Harden/Rockets/Thunder conversation has been discussed quite often, so I'm going to steer this back to this current offseason for the the Rockets which has nothing to do with the Thunder (yet).

As I stated in my earlier, long-winded post I am happy with the Rockets offseason as it stands right now. The one thing that I really do want to see just to cap it off is to bring back Jason Terry. I thought that he played a great role for this team and he could continue to be a valuable contributor, both on and off of the court.

[bondom34]

Yeah, that may be the one thin spot on the roster, Jet would be a great return, though Lawson could likely play some 2 alongside Bev as well. There's a ton of possibilities for that bench right now, I actually feel like Smith may have been a slight loss for them which feels bizarre to say.

[texasholdem]

It's hard to say that OKC was in an unpleasant or desperate circumstance coming off a finals season and where Harden had a year left on his rookie contract before RFA. Presti was looking to avoid the repeater luxury tax and the reasons for that were solid at the time, but he chose to trade Harden.

I would agree however that Denver was desperate an in an unpleasant situation when they traded Lawson.

Well Presti didn't HAVE to trade Harden true but he basically chose Ibaka over Harden. He didn't think it would be possible under OKC ownership to keep all 4 of them so he decided to get at least something of value in return. Presti lost Rashard Lewis in the first month of his GM career for a conditional second round pick so maybe he didn't want that to happen again.

Of course him re-signing Kanter now kinda puts that decision in question.

He didn't really "lose" Lewis, so much as he lost the privilege of paying him that contract (and no, that's not being cheap its being not crazy, dude wasn't worth 5/$95). And Kanter has nothing to do w/ Harden. That said, I agree with both of you on the other stuff. I think Presti was wanting to avoid the repeater tax, and Morey was in a spot to have assets to get Harden, both got what they set out for in some way.

Well the point about Lewis is he wasn't able to get anything of value in return for a former All Star. Whether he was willing to pay him what ORL did or not isn't the issue.