Around the NBA: 2017—2018

[Pillendreher]

you liked james ennis until the rockets signed him.

I still like James Ennis. I have no problem with James Ennis. Yet I know that he's a role player who's probably at his best playing 15-18 minutes a night. He by himself can't replace both Ariza and LRMAM. It's not a coincidence that LMRM had the best On/Off DRtG on the Rockets (save for Nene, yet he didn't even play 800 minutes last season). He was not just some throw-in.

knight sucks but anderson was superfluous after they got melo for nothing.

At this point in his career, "getting Melo" is what you're paying.

Re Anderson: He traded a guy who can (still) play and has played decently in their system for two years for yet another guard who shouldn't even see the floor. Instead of having 15 million in dead money on the bench, I would have kept Anderson who has provided them with very efficient shooting the last two seasons.

this was solid maneuvering by morey with limited resources, and he didn't have to give up 1st round picks to do it.

Compared to 16/17, the Rockets made their biggest jump in team DRtG: They improved by almost 3pp100p. Chris Paul is a very good defender, but I doubt that their defense improvement was that big at the PG position going from Beverley to Paul (and the team's oncourt DRtG with Paul was the worst since his 2010 season with the Pelicans mind you). So where does this leave their defense? The way I see it, they'll have three to four average to good defenders in their 9-10 man rotation (with D'Antoni, it's probably 8-9). That includes Paul, Tucker and Capela with the starters and Ennis off the bench. That's asking an awful lot of 33 yo PJ Tucker, who might and probably will regress back to his mean next season btw. And Anthony is going to demand 25+ minutes every night; coontrary to last season, he won't be surrounded by the best defensive wing duo in the league though.

So while I would agree with you insofar as he got the most important guys back, I think it's evident that they took a step back on the defensive side and also made some very questionable choices when it comes to their forward rotation, which unless Morey manages to pull of a heist, is among the worst in the league as of right now in my opinion.

[ThunderBolt]

They replaced their forward defense with Ennis, who's nowhere close to bringing that kind of impact you'd need to duplicate Ariza and LRMAM, and now have both Anthony and Knight on their team.

Good luck. Maybe they will sign Deng. One can never have enough scrubs.

yes they may have taken a step back on the wing. how big a step is unknown. you liked james ennis until the rockets signed him.

morey kept capela and paul, by far the two most important pieces of the offseason. and acquired a potential replacement for a player he couldn't keep in ariza. knight sucks but anderson was superfluous after they got melo for nothing. this was solid maneuvering by morey with limited resources, and he didn't have to give up 1st round picks to do it.

i'm not debating whether or not houston will be worse. they probably will be.

You think Melo will poison the head of cp3 and harden the way he poisoned Westbrook?

[slick_watts]

I still like James Ennis. I have no problem with James Ennis. Yet I know that he's a role player who's probably at his best playing 15-18 minutes a night. He by himself can't replace both Ariza and LRMAM. It's not a coincidence that LMRM had the best On/Off DRtG on the Rockets (save for Nene, yet he didn't even play 800 minutes last season). He was not just some throw-in.

how many minutes is james ennis going to play for houston? much more than 15-18 minutes per game? he's not trevor ariza but is there another player out there who signed for league minimum who is closer to trevor ariza than james ennis? morey hit a home run on this one. no one is going to argue with you that houston got a player as good as trevor ariza for league minimum. that's not the point. the point is that morey made efficient use of his resources. if the thunder had signed james ennis to league minimum you'd be losing your mind over it.

At this point in his career, "getting Melo" is what you're paying.

melo sucks now. houston is counting on their ability to get him to be primarily a spot up three point shooter. we'll see what happens. worse case they bench him like they benched anderson.

Re Anderson: He traded a guy who can (still) play and has played decently in their system for two years for yet another guard who shouldn't even see the floor. Instead of having 15 million in dead money on the bench, I would have kept Anderson who has provided them with very efficient shooting the last two seasons.

they have no use for anderson after acquiring melo. they're going to have melo shooting threes and being bad on defense just like anderson was doing. again, where's the veteran's minimum alternative here? it's not about improving a 65 win team, morey's offseason was about managing the roster with severe limitations-- something that he's done without throwing 1st round picks all over the place mind you.

Compared to 16/17, the Rockets made their biggest jump in team DRtG: They improved by almost 3pp100p. Chris Paul is a very good defender, but I doubt that their defense improvement was that big at the PG position going from Beverley to Paul

why not? chris paul is one of the best defensive pg in nba history.

So while I would agree with you insofar as he got the most important guys back, I think it's evident that they took a step back on the defensive side and also made some very questionable choices when it comes to their forward rotation, which unless Morey manages to pull of a heist, is among the worst in the league as of right now in my opinion.

what are the questionable choices morey made? what are the better players he could have acquired to replace ariza, for example, while paying league minimum? or do you advocate he should have let either paul or capela walk? or traded anderson with future 1sts like sam presti would do to get a slightly better player than brandon knight?

sam presti is lauded for keeping paul george. not only did daryl morey keep a better player than paul george (chris paul), he re-signed clint capela to steal of a contract. but somehow morey has had a terrible summer relative to sam presti, because thunder reasons.

[slick_watts]

You think Melo will poison the head of cp3 and harden the way he poisoned Westbrook?

it's possible. but i think it's less likely. cp3 is not going to be treating melo like a basketball demigod. and neither will d'antoni.

[Pillendreher]

I still like James Ennis. I have no problem with James Ennis. Yet I know that he's a role player who's probably at his best playing 15-18 minutes a night. He by himself can't replace both Ariza and LRMAM. It's not a coincidence that LMRM had the best On/Off DRtG on the Rockets (save for Nene, yet he didn't even play 800 minutes last season). He was not just some throw-in.

how many minutes is james ennis going to play for houston? much more than 15-18 minutes per game? he's not trevor ariza but is there another player out there who signed for league minimum who is closer to trevor ariza than james ennis? morey hit a home run on this one.

No, he most certainly did not. Neither did Trevor Ariza die nor did he retire. He chose to play for a terrible, terrible team and got paid handsomely for it. You know what would have been a great outcome for the Rockets? If they had paid him instead of trying to replace him by a scrub and a role player 95 % of RealGM has never heard of. Imagine Sam Presti letting Serge Ibaka walk after 2014 and then trying to replace him with Jeremy Evans.

if the thunder had signed james ennis to league minimum you'd be losing your mind over it.

Why would I? When did James Ennis become Otto Porter?

At this point in his career, "getting Melo" is what you're paying.

melo sucks now. houston is counting on their ability to get him to be primarily a spot up three point shooter. we'll see what happens. worse case they bench him like they benched anderson.

Worst case scenario is they try to bench him and he's not having any of it.

Re Anderson: He traded a guy who can (still) play and has played decently in their system for two years for yet another guard who shouldn't even see the floor. Instead of having 15 million in dead money on the bench, I would have kept Anderson who has provided them with very efficient shooting the last two seasons.

they have no use for anderson after acquiring melo. they're going to have melo shooting threes and being bad on defense just like anderson was doing. again, where's the veteran's minimum alternative here? it's not about improving a 65 win team, morey's offseason was about managing the roster with severe limitations-- something that he's done without throwing 1st round picks all over the place mind you.

How about keeping your 59 TS% guy and not getting "I got so much left in the tank" Melo? That's something I'd start with.

Compared to 16/17, the Rockets made their biggest jump in team DRtG: They improved by almost 3pp100p. Chris Paul is a very good defender, but I doubt that their defense improvement was that big at the PG position going from Beverley to Paul

why not? chris paul is one of the best defensive pg in nba history.

Because Beverley is one of the best defensive point guards in the league.

what are the questionable choices morey made? what are the better players he could have acquired to replace ariza, for example, while paying league minimum?

He should have kept Ariza. Instead of being cheap, you know.

or traded anderson with future 1sts like sam presti would do to get a slightly better player than brandon knight?

Oh enough with this. I've stated multiple times that I don't like Schröder, but give me a break.

sam presti is lauded for keeping paul george. not only did daryl morey keep a better player than paul george (chris paul), he re-signed clint capela to steal of a contract. but somehow morey has had a terrible summer relative to sam presti, because thunder reasons.

Contrary to Morey, Presti managed to keep the guy nobody thought would be staying and improved the bench on multiple positions (one can like the trade or not, but Schröder is better than Felton and Noel is better than Patterson or Grant at the 5) while also getting rid of Anthony. Meanwhile, Morey gladly picked up the trash Presti threw out and managed to turn Ryan Anderson, who was still very much playable, into Brandon freaking Knight.

Oh and btw since we haven't even mentioned this: They let LRMAM go to the Clippers for four million a year. Afaik they still have their MLE. Too bad nobody's left to spend it on.

[bondom34]

they replaced ryan anderson with a player making 1/8 his salary (carmelo), they replaced trevor ariza with a player making 1/6 his salary (ennis). they kept capela at a steal of a contract. kept paul. losing lrmam hurts but maybe they see about deng now. knight sucks but he's league average 3pt at least. they take a shot on chriss.

morey is definitely one of top gm's in the biz. hard to see how he could have done much better. it's going to be amusing on this board if melo is a .700+ 3pr guy like ryan anderson was in houston.

I think it's interesting to do a little madlibs here and see what happens, because it's a little double standard that occured to me.

they replaced melo with a player making 1/3 his salary (grant), they gained depth. they kept george at a steal of a contract. kept grant. schroder sucks but he's better than knight. they take a shot on noel.

presti is definitely one of top gm's in the biz. hard to see how he could have done much better. it's going to be amusing on this board if schroder is a motivated and top tier sixth man.

Odd how you can use nearly the same words.

[slick_watts]

No, he most certainly did not. Neither did Trevor Ariza die nor did he retire. He chose to play for a terrible, terrible team and got paid handsomely for it. You know what would have been a great outcome for the Rockets? If they had paid him instead of trying to replace him by a scrub and a role player 95 % of RealGM has never heard of. Imagine Sam Presti letting Serge Ibaka walk after 2014 and then trying to replace him with Jeremy Evans.

he got paid more than the rockets could give him. they are a team with tax considerations and two major pieces to re-sign. new ownership is not like les alexander was. they're not paying trevor ariza eight figures, paying chris paul, and paying clint capela. you're making a false equivalence with your comparison, sam presti was not under tax pressure in 2014 so wouldn't let serge ibaka walk for jeremy evans. ennis is better than evans. 95% of realgm has never heard of him? who cares?

Why would I? When did James Ennis become Otto Porter?

two responses, two hyperboles. can we have an honest discussion or not? ennis is a decent, cheap role player. he's not trevor ariza. but he's 1/8 the cost. he was a good acquisition at that price. i'll ask again, was there another player in that price range morey could have signed that would have been a better fit?

Worst case scenario is they try to bench him and he's not having any of it.

what's he going to do? he's not on the books for two years $46 million like he was here. rockets could not play him at all without any consequences.

How about keeping your 59 TS% guy and not getting "I got so much left in the tank" Melo? That's something I'd start with.

oh, TS% is important now. i get confused. sometimes it's not important, like when anyone assails russell westbrook for any reason.

they are confident that melo will accept the role they envision for him. what role did melo have when he came to the thunder? much different than the one the rockets will expect him to have, i'd bet. if melo is a .700+ 3Pr spot up shooter is he better or worse than last year for the rockets?

Because Beverley is one of the best defensive point guards in the league.

and chris paul is better than him by a decent margin. this is like comparing michael jordan to clyde drexler.

He should have kept Ariza. Instead of being cheap, you know.

that was not morey's decision. they changed owners.

Oh enough with this. I've stated multiple times that I don't like Schröder, but give me a break.

but it's true. had morey traded anderson for a slightly better player than brandon knight, but included a future first it would have been more warranted than sam doing so. since the rockets are closer to actual contention. morey does not get boxed into corners like sam presti does.

Contrary to Morey, Presti managed to keep the guy nobody thought would be staying and improved the bench on multiple positions (one can like the trade or not, but Schröder is better than Felton and Noel is better than Patterson or Grant at the 5) while also getting rid of Anthony. Meanwhile, Morey gladly picked up the trash Presti threw out and managed to turn Ryan Anderson, who was still very much playable, into Brandon freaking Knight.

schroder and noel are not projected to be very good without major turnarounds and we all know about grant. i suppose that sam presti somewhat smoothed out the roster positionally. but he did so at a heavy cost, one that morey did not have to pay.

morey kept capela and paul. that was their summer. ariza and the rest of it is window dressing. they are going to still be an elite team, and morey has left the door open (just like sam presti has) for 'turnaround' possibilities with the role players he has acquired.

presti had a good summer. but morey's was better.

Oh and btw since we haven't even mentioned this: They let LRMAM go to the Clippers for four million a year. Afaik they still have their MLE. Too bad nobody's left to spend it on.

remember when you rolled your eyes at daryl morey and the next day he signed your boy james ennis? that's happened all summer. your eye rolling privileges are revoked.

and while we are on the topic of things we haven't mentioned: peep mcw this year. remember what i told you all last trade deadline. morey knows.

[slick_watts]

they replaced ryan anderson with a player making 1/8 his salary (carmelo), they replaced trevor ariza with a player making 1/6 his salary (ennis). they kept capela at a steal of a contract. kept paul. losing lrmam hurts but maybe they see about deng now. knight sucks but he's league average 3pt at least. they take a shot on chriss.

morey is definitely one of top gm's in the biz. hard to see how he could have done much better. it's going to be amusing on this board if melo is a .700+ 3pr guy like ryan anderson was in houston.

I think it's interesting to do a little madlibs here and see what happens, because it's a little double standard that occured to me.

they replaced melo with a player making 1/3 his salary (grant), they gained depth. they kept george at a steal of a contract. kept grant. schroder sucks but he's better than knight. they take a shot on noel.

presti is definitely one of top gm's in the biz. hard to see how he could have done much better. it's going to be amusing on this board if schroder is a motivated and top tier sixth man.

Odd how you can use nearly the same words.

i'm not criticizing sam's summer. he was good. but the schroder trade was a reach and will harm the team too much to justify.

also: paul george a steal of a contract? lol. come on.

[bondom34]

they replaced ryan anderson with a player making 1/8 his salary (carmelo), they replaced trevor ariza with a player making 1/6 his salary (ennis). they kept capela at a steal of a contract. kept paul. losing lrmam hurts but maybe they see about deng now. knight sucks but he's league average 3pt at least. they take a shot on chriss.

morey is definitely one of top gm's in the biz. hard to see how he could have done much better. it's going to be amusing on this board if melo is a .700+ 3pr guy like ryan anderson was in houston.

I think it's interesting to do a little madlibs here and see what happens, because it's a little double standard that occured to me.

they replaced melo with a player making 1/3 his salary (grant), they gained depth. they kept george at a steal of a contract. kept grant. schroder sucks but he's better than knight. they take a shot on noel.

presti is definitely one of top gm's in the biz. hard to see how he could have done much better. it's going to be amusing on this board if schroder is a motivated and top tier sixth man.

Odd how you can use nearly the same words.

i'm not criticizing sam's summer. he was good. but the schroder trade was a reach and will harm the team too much to justify.

also: paul george a steal of a contract? lol. come on.

I could change that to Grant.

And the schroder trade was better than the knight trade. And I say that as not a fan of Schroder. I legitimately don't think Knight is an NBA PG and would have started Okobo over him on ability.

[slick_watts]

I think it's interesting to do a little madlibs here and see what happens, because it's a little double standard that occured to me.



Odd how you can use nearly the same words.

i'm not criticizing sam's summer. he was good. but the schroder trade was a reach and will harm the team too much to justify.

also: paul george a steal of a contract? lol. come on.

I could change that to Grant.

And the schroder trade was better than the knight trade. And I say that as not a fan of Schroder. I legitimately don't think Knight is an NBA PG and would have started Okobo over him on ability.

i think you're saying things you don't even believe now. you think jerami grant was a steal?

the rockets swapped a player they had no use for to get a player they might have for and is owed less. and they take a chance on chriss, give up no picks. the thunder increased their payroll and tax commitment (relative to waiving anthony and stretching him) by taking on schroder, gave up a pick to do it, and take a chance on TLC.

i mean.. they seem pretty similar to me. except morey didn't take on extra money or send out picks.

[bondom34]

i'm not criticizing sam's summer. he was good. but the schroder trade was a reach and will harm the team too much to justify.

also: paul george a steal of a contract? lol. come on.

I could change that to Grant.

And the schroder trade was better than the knight trade. And I say that as not a fan of Schroder. I legitimately don't think Knight is an NBA PG and would have started Okobo over him on ability.

i think you're saying things you don't even believe now. you think jerami grant was a steal?

the rockets swapped a player they had no use for to get a player they might have for and is owed less. and they take a chance on chriss, give up no picks. the thunder increased their payroll and tax commitment (relative to waiving anthony and stretching him) by taking on schroder, gave up a pick to do it, and take a chance on TLC.

i mean.. they seem pretty similar to me. except morey didn't take on extra money or send out picks.

If Houston stretched Anderson they'd have saved more too.

The Thunder traded a player they had no use for for one who they do and is owed less. And took a chance on Noel. Houston could have stretched Anderson and saved more money. And lost its 2 most valuable wing defenders. I'm loving the double standard.

[Kizz Fastfists]

Houston didn't get better this off-season. They had a terrible off-season. Are they still better than the Thunder? Yes. Can you still think Houston has a chance against GS? No. Downgrading from Anderson to Melo is close enough that it doesn't matter if Melo buys in, which is unlikely. Losing Ariza and Moute is a significant loss and even if Knight does come in as a good 3pt shooter and solid ball handler he doesn't make up for their loss on the wings.

Even if you call the Schroder and Knight trades a wash it doesn't matter because both teams had bad off-seasons! I like the idea of taking a shot on Chriss for Houston, but I view him like Ferguson and TLC where there are fan expectations, but until they are realized it doesn't matter. You can't argue that Houston improved their roster this off-season. You can argue that with OKC. You can't argue that either of them improved their standing in the league. It is still GS, with a bigger gap, Houston, and then you can either rank the next few teams with OKC sitting around 6th in the West or say they are too close to separate at this point. If not for the vastly superior coaching that Houston has over OKC I'm not sure I view their talent much different. I think Houston still has a talent edge, but it isn't significant enough that OKC couldn't beat them in a series with Scott Brooks as the coach instead of Donovan.

[ThunderBolt]

If we are upset that Presti traded a protected 2022 FRP, why can’t morey get any heat for paying a 38 year old Paul $40 million the same year?

[Pillendreher]

No, he most certainly did not. Neither did Trevor Ariza die nor did he retire. He chose to play for a terrible, terrible team and got paid handsomely for it. You know what would have been a great outcome for the Rockets? If they had paid him instead of trying to replace him by a scrub and a role player 95 % of RealGM has never heard of. Imagine Sam Presti letting Serge Ibaka walk after 2014 and then trying to replace him with Jeremy Evans.

he got paid more than the rockets could give him. they are a team with tax considerations and two major pieces to re-sign. new ownership is not like les alexander was.they're not paying trevor ariza eight figures, paying chris paul, and paying clint capela.

He obviously got way overpaid to go to one of the worst teams in the league. He was making 7 million last year. You don't think he would have stayed with the team he had a chance at the title with for 10-12 million? This was obviously about them not willing to pay up. With other teams, that's called "cheap".

you're making a false equivalence with your comparison, sam presti was not under tax pressure in 2014

Oh - what kind of tax pressure are the Rockets under? And from what I understand, teams are expected to spend money when they're this close.

Why would I? When did James Ennis become Otto Porter?

two responses, two hyperboles.

You don't like that when it's not you doing the exaggerating, huh?

Worst case scenario is they try to bench him and he's not having any of it.

what's he going to do? he's not on the books for two years $46 million like he was here. rockets could not play him at all without any consequences.

How are they going to do that without any consequences? Are they putting him in a CIA prison offsite until the season is over? With Melo's "gravity", you can't just completely bench him and expect no consequences. And with their horrible forward rotation, who would take his minutes? Is PJ Tucker playing 42 minutes a night? Or James Ennis 32?

How about keeping your 59 TS% guy and not getting "I got so much left in the tank" Melo? That's something I'd start with.

oh, TS% is important now. i get confused. sometimes it's not important, like when anyone assails russell westbrook for any reason.

I know you'e not stupid enough to not understand this.

they are confident that melo will accept the role they envision for him. what role did melo have when he came to the thunder? much different than the one the rockets will expect him to have, i'd bet. if melo is a .700+ 3Pr spot up shooter is he better or worse than last year for the rockets?

Melo has made it clear multiple times that he's not going to become that player. This is just grasping at straws at this point.

He should have kept Ariza. Instead of being cheap, you know.

that was not morey's decision. they changed owners.

Then he should have done a better job standing up for his roster. Yet somehow the GM has nothing to do with this in this case. Curious!

Oh enough with this. I've stated multiple times that I don't like Schröder, but give me a break.

but it's true. had morey traded anderson for a slightly better player than brandon knight, but included a future first it would have been more warranted than sam doing so. since the rockets are closer to actual contention. morey does not get boxed into corners like sam presti does.

It's tough to get boxed into corners when you're too fat to fit into those corners.

Contrary to Morey, Presti managed to keep the guy nobody thought would be staying and improved the bench on multiple positions (one can like the trade or not, but Schröder is better than Felton and Noel is better than Patterson or Grant at the 5) while also getting rid of Anthony. Meanwhile, Morey gladly picked up the trash Presti threw out and managed to turn Ryan Anderson, who was still very much playable, into Brandon freaking Knight.

schroder and noel are not projected to be very good without major turnarounds and we all know about grant. i suppose that sam presti somewhat smoothed out the roster positionally. but he did so at a heavy cost, one that morey did not have to pay.

Except one of them improved the roster while the other one didn't. The small things.

ariza and the rest of it is window dressing.

It might matter having good to very good wing defenders if you're trying to win a title. Just saying.

Oh and btw since we haven't even mentioned this: They let LRMAM go to the Clippers for four million a year. Afaik they still have their MLE. Too bad nobody's left to spend it on.

remember when you rolled your eyes at daryl morey and the next day he signed your boy james ennis? that's happened all summer. your eye rolling privileges are revoked.[/QUOTE]

I will win this on appeal. You know this.

and while we are on the topic of things we haven't mentioned: peep mcw this year. remember what i told you all last trade deadline. morey knows.

Oh right, he got another scrub. I forgot about him. So that's three complete scrubs and James Ennis. Great summer.

[spearsy23]

Morey did what he could with what he had to work with. He isn't a failure just because the rockets got worse. Not paying Ariza 15 million is a good move, reupping cp3/capela is good, James Ennis is good, letting lrmam go is questionable, trading Anderson for Melo/Knight is bad. On the whole he's had a pretty good offseason.

[Soca]

Morey did what he could with what he had to work with. He isn't a failure just because the rockets got worse. Not paying Ariza 15 million is a good move, reupping cp3/capela is good, James Ennis is good, letting lrmam go is questionable, trading Anderson for Melo/Knight is bad. On the whole he's had a pretty good offseason.

On a one year deal I absolutely think Ariza was worth 15 mil for Houston. He brought a lot of the same intangibles for Houston that Iguodala brings for GS.

[Pillendreher]

Morey did what he could with what he had to work with. He isn't a failure just because the rockets got worse. Not paying Ariza 15 million is a good move, reupping cp3/capela is good, James Ennis is good, letting lrmam go is questionable, trading Anderson for Melo/Knight is bad. On the whole he's had a pretty good offseason.

On a one year deal I absolutely think Ariza was worth 15 mil for Houston. He brought a lot of the same intangibles for Houston that Iguodala brings for GS.

Hell, I don't even think he demands that much. He's getting 16 million a year because he has never gotten 8 figures (afaik) and because he gets extra for playing for a horrible team. If More offered him 12-14 million, I don't think it's out of the question he takes that.

[spearsy23]

Morey did what he could with what he had to work with. He isn't a failure just because the rockets got worse. Not paying Ariza 15 million is a good move, reupping cp3/capela is good, James Ennis is good, letting lrmam go is questionable, trading Anderson for Melo/Knight is bad. On the whole he's had a pretty good offseason.

On a one year deal I absolutely think Ariza was worth 15 mil for Houston. He brought a lot of the same intangibles for Houston that Iguodala brings for GS.

Hell, I don't even think he demands that much. He's getting 16 million a year because he has never gotten 8 figures (afaik) and because he gets extra for playing for a horrible team. If More offered him 12-14 million, I don't think it's out of the question he takes that.

Saying what you think doesn't really matter. I think it's much more likely he takes the biggest payday he can get, and he simply isn't worth it.

[Pillendreher]

On a one year deal I absolutely think Ariza was worth 15 mil for Houston. He brought a lot of the same intangibles for Houston that Iguodala brings for GS.

Hell, I don't even think he demands that much. He's getting 16 million a year because he has never gotten 8 figures (afaik) and because he gets extra for playing for a horrible team. If More offered him 12-14 million, I don't think it's out of the question he takes that.

Saying what you think doesn't really matter.

What kind of nonsense is this? Everything we post on here is about what we personally think. I assume he'd have stayed for a slightly inferior money, you suspect we would have left anyway. It's just a bunch of guessing based on few actual facts.

[spearsy23]

Hell, I don't even think he demands that much. He's getting 16 million a year because he has never gotten 8 figures (afaik) and because he gets extra for playing for a horrible team. If More offered him 12-14 million, I don't think it's out of the question he takes that.

Saying what you think doesn't really matter.

What kind of nonsense is this? Everything we post on here is about what we personally think. I assume he'd have stayed for a slightly inferior money, you suspect we would have left anyway. It's just a bunch of guessing based on few actual facts.

We're dealing with the reality of the situation Morey was faced with. Knocking him because you think Ariza would've stayed for less (with absolutely no evidence) isn't a valid criticism. Knocking him because he should've matched what Phoenix was offering is fair, ignorant of tax ramifications and cap constraints, but fair.

Creating an alternate reality and assuming failure based on it isn't productive, it's like knocking Presti for not trading Melo for Otto Porter, there's no indication that it was a possibility.

On top of that Ariza is 33 years old and has racked up some mileage. It wouldn't be surprising to see him break down completely, and even without that there's a good chance he's this year's George hill.