If you thought moving Gordon was tough, wait until you see Westbrook's contract. The Clippers may be better. Say Rivers, McLemore and Nwaba are accounted for. There is another path Houston could take, though. There is a price to be paid for all of that winning. Gersson Rosas would presumably have been Morey's heir had he not left for Minnesota in 2019. Dealing Harden now would at least give the Rockets a chance to keep a top-four pick in 2021. The 2022 and 2023 picks are too precious to surrender. For reasons that remain unclear, the Rockets signed him to an extension in 2019 that guaranteed him around $55 million over three years. The Rockets have not made a first-round pick since 2015, and they control their own in only two of the next seven drafts. But by holding him that long, they risk watching his value decline. There will be an undrafted rookie or two, and they may keep only 14 players, but when it’s all said and done, the Rockets should be expected to enter next season in tax territory. We'll factor in three more at the veteran's minimum (approximately $1.6 million) and two at the rookie minimum (just under $900,000), while also assuming Houston leaves a 15th roster spot vacant, with the idea that it could be filled by 10-day contracts when absolutely necessary. Is he really going to pay over $150 million for a roster that probably isn't championship-caliber in a season that may not include fans in arenas? A mediocre 2021 first-round pick alone is not going to be enough to dislodge Gordon from Houston’s books. With only around $5 million to spend, they’d probably be looking at players like Torrey Craig, Kent Bazemore, or if he’s open to leaving Milwaukee, Wesley Matthews Jr. Not bad, but probably not enough to shackle yourselves to seven years of Gordon money either. McLemore is as well given the season he just had, and Morey signed and stashed Nwaba, an underrated defender coming off of a torn Achilles tendon, ahead of the bubble specifically to have him in place for this season. The Stepien Rule prevents teams from being without first-round picks in consecutive seasons. Houston has three meaningful chances to avoid an extremely dark decade: their 2022 first-round pick, their 2023 first-round pick, and whatever they manage to get out of a Harden trade. One of them can decide to return unilaterally. Jeff Van Gundy is a dinosaur in coaching terms.
Gordon, Harden and Westbrook are significantly more complicated, so let’s look through their situations one-by-one. All indications suggest that Houston wants to take one more run at this. James Harden isn’t going to win an NBA title with the Rockets. They have only six players under contract and four of them are at least 31. History will never appreciate just how close the Houston Rockets came to winning a championship under Daryl Morey. Now Houston's roster is in the hands of Rafael Stone, the team's former general counsel whose experience in basketball operations, by general manager standards, is fairly limited. The Rockets might still have one final swing at that elusive championship left in them, but it will require deft management and impeccable execution. During an interaction on the show 'Jalen and Jacoby', Rose had this to say in this regard: Jalen Rose further went on to talk about how the efficacy of a teams' offense gets reduced when the ball is taken out of the hands of the best player in their roster. There are three avenues worth exploring. Another meaningful difference: the Rockets could go whole hog on minimums and even fill out an entire 15-man roster.
If the Rockets are going to trade him, they are going to have to do it with the understanding that they are taking back a similarly harmful contract. It would also allow them to trade Covington and Tucker at the peak of their value, guilt-free, and kick off a true rebuild. And that's basically it. Another meaningful difference: the Rockets could go whole hog on minimums and even fill out an entire 15-man roster.
That includes a possible James Harden trade, at either the deadline or in the 2021 offseason, when a number of contenders will have the cap space to either partially or entirely absorb his contract. If Houston is desperate to move Gordon now, something along these lines is what will likely be available. Sadly, that might have to mean giving away Tucker or Covington just to fill out the roster, especially if the Rockets plan to use the Taxpayer Mid-Level Exception on a real contributor.
Presiding over all of this is a heavily-leveraged restauranter in the middle of a pandemic. Jeff Green is a must after his strong showing in the bubble. Finding a suitor is nearly impossible.
The Pistons don't have a long-term point guard, but might draft one in November, and Griffin's contract is a year shorter. They don’t control their own 2021 pick, so immediate tanking wouldn’t necessarily be beneficial.
Shooters, veterans looking to win, and free agents trying to use Texas’ lack of a state income tax to squeeze every possible dollar out of a poor market will lead the way. They also have a younger facsimile of Covington in, Miami is always star-hunting, and while 2021 free agency makes far more sense for the, If the Knicks are interested in Westbrook, they’re interested in Harden. It would also allow them to trade Covington and Tucker at the peak of their value, guilt-free, and kick off a true rebuild. How much would this roster cost Fertitta? So is Mike D'Antoni, the second-most successful coach the franchise has ever known. Chris Paul was a crescendo in a decade-long opera of disappointment. The Rockets still have two All-Stars and an entirely unique playing style. That depends on how the season plays out. All Rights Reserved. The Rockets aren’t going to sign nine rookies either. Shooters, veterans looking to win, and free agents trying to use Texas' lack of a state income tax to squeeze every possible dollar out of a poor market will lead the way. But given the state of the rest of the league, it's hard to believe that they do right now. One reason why #NBA should root for it is how much it would wake up the NY market. The Rockets could use the stretch provision to waive Gordon and spread his owed salary out over the course of several years.
All of them are integral to Houston’s hopes of actually winning anything next season. However, it remains to be seen if the franchise would be better or worse of for that. He is overpaid. His final Rockets team finished third in the NBA with 23.1 3-point attempts per game. Few teams in NBA history have contended longer than Houston without ultimately tasting championship glory. Golden State may have been unbeatable as a whole, but one injury would have made them vulnerable. A team in their situation would probably be best-served going all-in and continuing to add short-term talent.
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