Houston Rockets offseason thread

[Dash]

Well we got nothing else to do until the playoffs are over. What do you guys think needs to happen?

 

Free agents: Goran Dragic, Courtney Lee, Marcus Camby and potentially Samuel Dalembert

 

Draft picks: 14th overall and 16th overall

 

Cap space: roughly $8 million, could expand to the max with renouncements / amnesty / trade.

[Built Ford Tough]

What do you figure the chances of Houston keeping both Dragic and Lowry?

[YugoRocketsFan]

What do you figure the chances of Houston keeping both Dragic and Lowry?

 

About 25%. The Rockets have 2 pretty good draft picks so they can make many potential trades, especially in a draft like this.

 

Honestly this off-season should be great, with 2 draft picks and Motiejunas coming along I can see us looking much better by October.

[ChosenOne]

Honestly I think it's time to really grab a star. I would resign both Dragic and Lee and then try to trade at least Dragic, Martin and a pick for a top notch player. I love Martin but he's never going to have a 100% healthy year and isn't a player that we can ride moving forward.

 

I fell like we have a lot of young stud pieces to make a couple of moves and enough cap if we trade Martin to sign a player like DWill.

 

Trade what ever the [expletive] we have to for Dwight.

Then sign DWill.

Bang!

[htownborn]

Sign back Courtney Lee, Goran Dragic(If he's cool being the 6th man), and Marcus Camby. And bring in Motiejunas from overseas.

 

We should draft a SG and C at the #14 and #16 spots. The prospects I think we should look at are Austin Rivers, Terrence Ross, Dion Waiters(he could be a reach at #14 and #16 though) Meyers Leonard, and Tyler Zeller

 

Try to trade Kevin Martin in a package deal to Minnesota for Michael Beasley. Lee can take Martin spot and Beasley can be our new starting SF. I know Beasley has attitude problems but he's still talented and is an upgrade at SF.

Edited May 4, 2012 by htownborn

[Dash]

What do you figure the chances of Houston keeping both Dragic and Lowry?

 

Very slim. Dragic wants to go somewhere where he can start and having another point guard on this roster that is very capable of stealing back his spot isn't very promising from his perspective.

 

Honestly this off-season should be great, with 2 draft picks and Motiejunas coming along I can see us looking much better by October.

 

If there is anything I'm pumped about for next season, its finally seeing Motiejunas in a Rockets uniform. At this point he's the only player we have that has the potential of being an all-star, he's improved tremendously overseas and probably could go in the top 5 in this year's draft.

Edited May 5, 2012 by Dash

[Dash]

Honestly I think it's time to really grab a star. I would resign both Dragic and Lee and then try to trade at least Dragic, Martin and a pick for a top notch player. I love Martin but he's never going to have a 100% healthy year and isn't a player that we can ride moving forward.

 

I fell like we have a lot of young stud pieces to make a couple of moves and enough cap if we trade Martin to sign a player like DWill.

 

Trade what ever the [expletive] we have to for Dwight.

Then sign DWill.

Bang!

 

Problem what that is Dragic wouldn't be able to be traded until midway through the regular season and I don't see him signing if we're pursuing Deron Williams.

 

And we still lack a trade piece that could be the center of a trade for a superstar like Dwight Howard.

 

Sign back Courtney Lee, Goran Dragic(If he's cool being the 6th man), and Marcus Camby. And bring in Motiejunas from overseas.

 

We should draft a SG and C at the #14 and #16 spots. The prospects I think we should look at are Austin Rivers, Terrence Ross, Dion Waiters(he could be a reach at #14 and #16 though) Meyers Leonard, and Tyler Zeller

 

Try to trade Kevin Martin in a package deal to Minnesota for Michael Beasley. Lee can take Martin spot and Beasley can be our new starting SF. I know Beasley has attitude problems but he's still talented and is an upgrade at SF.

 

Don't see any reason for Goran Dragic to come back as the sixth man, he's far and away the best player on this roster. Not a fan of trading Martin at all, I think we need to give him the chance to play beside Dragic before looking to move him because his trade value right now is GARBAGE and we're not going to get anything of value for him. Morey isn't known for selling low on his players and I don't like Beasley for this team either especially at the price of Martin.

 

As for our draft picks, we should be targeting high potential players because in our position we're aren't at the leisure of picking up superstars and frankly I'm sick of drafting above-average talent with the last pick in the lottery. I'd say package Kyle Lowry to the Sacramento Kings for the 5th pick assuming they don't move up, the Kings would get their point guard beside Tyreke Evans and Houston would have the opportunity to draft at the highest position ever in the Daryl Morey era. With that pick I would take Andre Drummond. I'm sure our draft experts like BFT are rolling their eyes over this, I'm honestly not a big Drummond fan either but again Houston is in a tough spot and they have to begin swinging for the fences and taking a chance on high reward prospect like Drummond despite his high bust factor. After the big four (Davis, Beal, Robinson, MKG) I don't see anyone else worth taking with a top 5 draft pick, its why I expect whoever ends up with the 5th/6th pick after the lottery to be dangling it in the trade market right away.

 

Austin Rivers, Perry Jones and Meyers Leonard are other prospects worth taking a look at. If we're going to stand pat and play it safe (highly unlikely) then I'm a fan of drafting Tyler Zeller (might have to move up a few spots for him) and Arnett Moultrie.

[htownborn]

Don't see any reason for Goran Dragic to come back as the sixth man, he's far and away the best player on this roster. Not a fan of trading Martin at all, I think we need to give him the chance to play beside Dragic before looking to move him because his trade value right now is GARBAGE and we're not going to get anything of value for him. Morey isn't known for selling low on his players and I don't like Beasley for this team either especially at the price of Martin.

 

As for our draft picks, we should be targeting high potential players because in our position we're aren't at the leisure of picking up superstars and frankly I'm sick of drafting above-average talent with the last pick in the lottery. I'd say package Kyle Lowry to the Sacramento Kings for the 5th pick assuming they don't move up, the Kings would get their point guard beside Tyreke Evans and Houston would have the opportunity to draft at the highest position ever in the Daryl Morey era. With that pick I would take Andre Drummond. I'm sure our draft experts like BFT are rolling their eyes over this, I'm honestly not a big Drummond fan either but again Houston is in a tough spot and they have to begin swinging for the fences and taking a chance on high reward prospect like Drummond despite his high bust factor. After the big four (Davis, Beal, Robinson, MKG) I don't see anyone else worth taking with a top 5 draft pick, its why I expect whoever ends up with the 5th/6th pick after the lottery to be dangling it in the trade market right away.

 

Austin Rivers, Perry Jones and Meyers Leonard are other prospects worth taking a look at. If we're going to stand pat and play it safe (highly unlikely) then I'm a fan of drafting Tyler Zeller (might have to move up a few spots for him) and Arnett Moultrie.

 

Truth be told I'm just not as high on Dragic as a lot of others are. He played well with Lowry out but we went on a 6 game losing streak with him starting (to be fair though he really didn't have no one backing him up at PG) and his style of play is to out of control IMO plus I just prefer Lowry as our starter. As for Martin I think after we traded him his confidence was shot down and he seemed unhappy in Houston the whole season. Also he played terrible this year and even though his value may be garbage I think he's value would be good enough to pull of getting Beasley or a player of his caliber. I feel were not getting anything better than that for Martin even if he played well last season since he's so one dimensional. Plus I think Lee would do good starting for us, he may not put up the points Martin does but he brings in the defense and hustle that Martin lacks and if we can get a Rivers or Ross in the draft it would make it that much better if you ask me.

 

That would be a good idea but if we do a trade with Sacramento and it includes Lowry I fell we might as well just trade Lowry and a pick for Evans or Lowry for Evans straight up since the Kings are supposedly shopping him this off-season and draft either Leonard or Zeller if their available. Tyreke's production hasn't been that good since his rookie season but a lot of that could have to do with how stacked the Kings roster is with young talent. However if we do the Lowry for the Kings 1st round pick trade I wouldn't be totally upset but like you I'm not as big on Drummond myself, I think he will be good but I think he's like a De'Andre Jordan type of player it may take him a couple of years.

 

I'm kind of hesitant on Perry Jones he's very talented with huge upside but he reminds me exactly of Anthony Randolph all the talent and physical tools but no motor. I already said I would like to have Rivers, Leonard, or Zeller. And Moultrie is another guy that looks interesting, he's athletic, good defender, and his post game looks pretty good for a guy coming out of college the problem with him is what will he play PF or C. Were stacked at PF with Scola, Pat-Patt, and not to mention the possibility of Motiejunas coming over next season and were desperate at C but he looks to thin to play C especially for his rookie year.

Edited May 7, 2012 by htownborn

[Built Ford Tough]

As for Martin I think after we traded him his confidence was shot down and he seemed unhappy in Houston the whole season.

 

I really think his problems can be blamed almost entirely on two things.

 

1. Losing Adelman

2. Refs tightening up on jumping into defender/rip through fouls

 

Adelman is such a great offensive coach and Martin thrived playing his his motion system that gave him so much room to operate off the ball, coming off screens, curls, backdoor cuts and things like that. He really isn't an iso scorer and needs to have plays draw up for him in order to be successfull offensively, much like Rip Hamilton back in his prime. I don't claim to have watched a lot of Rockets games, but from what I did see McHale isn't nearly as good at drawing up plays or freeing up players off the ball and Martin really missed that. It is not a coincidence that his play dropped off after Adelman left Sacramento and then with Houston as well.

 

As for the second point, he got to the line almost half as much as he did last year, drew 65 fouls and drew fouls 10.8% of the time. Compare that to last season where he was fouled 256 times (lockout played a factor, but still, a huge difference from a per game basis) and drew fouls16.8% of the time. I'd be willing to bet a large amount of money that the biggest reason for that decline was the refs being more strict on the rip through and pump and jump fouls, both of which Martin made a living off of.

 

I didn't see a lot of Rockets games, but those are the two biggest reasons for his decrease in production from what I saw.

 

As for our draft picks, we should be targeting high potential players because in our position we're aren't at the leisure of picking up superstars and frankly I'm sick of drafting above-average talent with the last pick in the lottery. I'd say package Kyle Lowry to the Sacramento Kings for the 5th pick assuming they don't move up, the Kings would get their point guard beside Tyreke Evans and Houston would have the opportunity to draft at the highest position ever in the Daryl Morey era. With that pick I would take Andre Drummond. I'm sure our draft experts like BFT are rolling their eyes over this, I'm honestly not a big Drummond fan either but again Houston is in a tough spot and they have to begin swinging for the fences and taking a chance on high reward prospect like Drummond despite his high bust factor. After the big four (Davis, Beal, Robinson, MKG) I don't see anyone else worth taking with a top 5 draft pick, its why I expect whoever ends up with the 5th/6th pick after the lottery to be dangling it in the trade market right away.

 

Austin Rivers, Perry Jones and Meyers Leonard are other prospects worth taking a look at. If we're going to stand pat and play it safe (highly unlikely) then I'm a fan of drafting Tyler Zeller (might have to move up a few spots for him) and Arnett Moultrie.

 

Why do you think I'd roll my eyes over drafting Drummond at 5? I fully believe he will be a top 5 pick unless he has an absolutely terrible showing at the combine and during pre-draft workouts. I don't think he will ever become the player he was projected to be back in high school but with this draft lacking in players with legitimate franchise potential, I'd be completely fine with a team drafting Drummond and banking on his potential. I'd even throw Perry Jones III in that same thought process as well, although not with a top 5 pick.

 

What I do disagree with is all of the Austin Rivers love that so many people have. I think he is basically going to be a worse version of Jerryd Bayless and would take both Dion Waiters and Terrence Ross (as well as Jeremy Lamb, if you view him like Givony and Ford as a fringe lottery/mid first round pick and not a top 8 prospect like I do) over him. I'd probably even take a chance on Tony Wroten before Rivers as well because, while both are selfish players who seem to have large egos, Wroten has the physical tools to back up his cocky, selfish playstyle. I could easily be wrong about Rivers, though, as a lot of people seem to really like him as a prospect.

[Dash]

I really think his problems can be blamed almost entirely on two things.

 

1. Losing Adelman

2. Refs tightening up on jumping into defender/rip through fouls

 

Adelman is such a great offensive coach and Martin thrived playing his his motion system that gave him so much room to operate off the ball, coming off screens, curls, backdoor cuts and things like that. He really isn't an iso scorer and needs to have plays draw up for him in order to be successfull offensively, much like Rip Hamilton back in his prime. I don't claim to have watched a lot of Rockets games, but from what I did see McHale isn't nearly as good at drawing up plays or freeing up players off the ball and Martin really missed that. It is not a coincidence that his play dropped off after Adelman left Sacramento and then with Houston as well.

 

As for the second point, he got to the line almost half as much as he did last year, drew 65 fouls and drew fouls 10.8% of the time. Compare that to last season where he was fouled 256 times (lockout played a factor, but still, a huge difference from a per game basis) and drew fouls16.8% of the time. I'd be willing to bet a large amount of money that the biggest reason for that decline was the refs being more strict on the rip through and pump and jump fouls, both of which Martin made a living off of.

 

I didn't see a lot of Rockets games, but those are the two biggest reasons for his decrease in production from what I saw.

 

3) Kevin McHale

4) Kyle Lowry

 

When Morey said that we would keeping a majority of Adelman's motion offense (part of why we brought up Chris Finch), I didn't think it would nearly be this bad. Mid-March I actually loved Kevin McHale, I supported the decision of hiring of him over Casey and I was impressed how he managed to "improve" this team despite hardly any roster changes when he took over. However, his play calling and in-game adjustments sucks and it eventually caught with him when the Rockets failed so miserably at the end of the season. Honestly I had no idea what Houston was running half the time I was watching, it just seemed like a bunch of Dragic iso's and posting freaking Patrick Patterson up.

 

Anyways back to Martin. McHale has one of the best, if not the best, off-ball player in the league and what does he tell him to do? He makes Martin stand around the perimeter...and do nothing...at all. Seriously I'm dumbfounded how he could misuse Martin so bad, he didn't seem have any sort of liking to him either and obviously favored Courtney Lee even when we were struggling to score and he had a guy capable of scoring 25 points rotting on the bench. Lowry brought Martin down too, I remember one of the first regular season games K-Mart was giving all the credit to his "all-star point guard" for his outstanding performance and yet as the season drew on Lowry would gradually deteriorate Kevin's game. He grew too overconfident and selfish (Aaron Brooks flashbacks) and he would mostly waste the shot clock and then pass it to Martin and force him to chuck up a shot. Martin has not played a single game with Goran Dragic starting and its one of the few things I was hoping to see before the season ended, but McHale would never let Martin off the bench because of his "injury".

 

McHale is a great talker, players love playing for him and he's one of the more talented post players to ever play the game so he's going to be a huge help for our big men prospects when he finally has a chance to work with them over the offseason and training camp. Those are his only qualities, he needs to surround himself with coordinators that make him out to be a better coach than he actually is in order to succeed. Kelvin Sampson did fine as the defensive coordinator but the offense is still a mess.

 

Chris Finch better be worth all this. He's the reason that Adelman is gone and if he doesn't live up to the hype as McHale eventual successor, there is going to be an outrage among the fanbase. Jeff Van Gundy is still an option down the road too, as far as I can tell the Rockets are the only team he may ever bother coming back for any time soon despite being fired by them.

 

Why do you think I'd roll my eyes over drafting Drummond at 5? I fully believe he will be a top 5 pick unless he has an absolutely terrible showing at the combine and during pre-draft workouts. I don't think he will ever become the player he was projected to be back in high school but with this draft lacking in players with legitimate franchise potential, I'd be completely fine with a team drafting Drummond and banking on his potential. I'd even throw Perry Jones III in that same thought process as well, although not with a top 5 pick.

 

What I do disagree with is all of the Austin Rivers love that so many people have. I think he is basically going to be a worse version of Jerryd Bayless and would take both Dion Waiters and Terrence Ross (as well as Jeremy Lamb, if you view him like Givony and Ford as a fringe lottery/mid first round pick and not a top 8 prospect like I do) over him. I'd probably even take a chance on Tony Wroten before Rivers as well because, while both are selfish players who seem to have large egos, Wroten has the physical tools to back up his cocky, selfish playstyle. I could easily be wrong about Rivers, though, as a lot of people seem to really like him as a prospect.

 

Ah I've just read a lot of negatives about him from everywhere I went and the only reason he goes top 5 is apparently because of his "potential", which I agree he likely won't ever live up to but I'm willing to bank on it.

 

I can't really comment on Rivers or any prospect for that matter so I'll have to take your word for it, I rarely watched college ball this year with college but like every year I'll step it up once the combine and workouts begin. I'd say around that time I'll be digging through scouting reports and watching old game tape.

 

I'm only mentioning Rivers because if Houston gets either Drummond/Jones along with Motiejunas then ideally we would want a high potential wing rather than another big man. I don't think there is any way that Lamb will last till the 14th pick but if he does then I'll be jumping backflips.

[Built Ford Tough]

Ah I've just read a lot of negatives about him from everywhere I went and the only reason he goes top 5 is apparently because of his "potential", which I agree he likely won't ever live up to but I'm willing to bank on it.

 

Well, that is true. If you look at him purely from what he did at UConn, there is no way he should be considered a top 5 pick. He looked lost more often than not, looked very disinterested for large portions of games, showed a serious lack of fundamentals and really wasn't very productive.

 

But there is that dangerous "p" word with him. There is no denying his physical attributes. If he gets put in the right situation he could easily become the best player in this draft. He is basically the definition of high-risk, high-reward prospect.

 

I can't really comment on Rivers or any prospect for that matter so I'll have to take your word for it, I rarely watched college ball this year with college but like every year I'll step it up once the combine and workouts begin. I'd say around that time I'll be digging through scouting reports and watching old game tape.

 

I'm only mentioning Rivers because if Houston gets either Drummond/Jones along with Motiejunas then ideally we would want a high potential wing rather than another big man. I don't think there is any way that Lamb will last till the 14th pick but if he does then I'll be jumping backflips.

 

I'd go for Waiters before Rivers. Waiters really does seem like a mini Wade when he is on his game. Like I said earlier, though, I'm not much of a Rivers fan but basically everybody considers Rivers as a better prospect than Waiters and these people will have seen much more of both of them than I have, so I'm sure there is something about Rivers that they see that I don't.

 

 

 

Anyways, I figured I'd post this here rather than creating a new thread.

 

Adrian Wojnarowski ‏ @WojYahooNBA

The NBA has suspended Houston Rockets scout David Patrick for one year for player contact violations during the lockout, sources tell Y!

 

Adrian Wojnarowski ‏ @WojYahooNBA

Houston hired Patrick in 2010 as a personnel scout. Previously, Patrick had been an assistant coach at St. Mary's College for four years.

 

Is this a big deal for the Rockets, or is Patrick just a minor scout for them?

[Dash]

I think he was a minor scout, probably had something to do with Patty Mills.

 

On Patrick's suspension, Rockets not fined or getting other penalties because Patrick's contact w players were not considered team business.

 

https://twitter.com/#!/Jonathan_Feigen/statuses/202170703804506113

[htownborn]

I really think his problems can be blamed almost entirely on two things.

 

1. Losing Adelman

2. Refs tightening up on jumping into defender/rip through fouls

 

Adelman is such a great offensive coach and Martin thrived playing his his motion system that gave him so much room to operate off the ball, coming off screens, curls, backdoor cuts and things like that. He really isn't an iso scorer and needs to have plays draw up for him in order to be successfull offensively, much like Rip Hamilton back in his prime. I don't claim to have watched a lot of Rockets games, but from what I did see McHale isn't nearly as good at drawing up plays or freeing up players off the ball and Martin really missed that. It is not a coincidence that his play dropped off after Adelman left Sacramento and then with Houston as well.

 

As for the second point, he got to the line almost half as much as he did last year, drew 65 fouls and drew fouls 10.8% of the time. Compare that to last season where he was fouled 256 times (lockout played a factor, but still, a huge difference from a per game basis) and drew fouls16.8% of the time. I'd be willing to bet a large amount of money that the biggest reason for that decline was the refs being more strict on the rip through and pump and jump fouls, both of which Martin made a living off of.

 

I didn't see a lot of Rockets games, but those are the two biggest reasons for his decrease in production from what I saw.

 

I agree with everything you said about the coaching situation and that's my point Martin isn't playing good here because he's a product of Adelman's system that's why the T'Wolves was rumored to try and get a deal done with him involved. Now that's not to say he wouldn't be good on anyone else's team other than Adelman's but as you said he clearly plays better when Adelman is calling the shots. I agree somewhat with you about him getting to the line especially about the refs tightening up on some calls like the rip through and jump and pump fouls but at the same time you can blame Kevin Martin for that. He wasn't nowhere near aggressive as he was the year before driving to the goal and drawing fouls and settled for a lot of 3's and long range jumpers this season. I don't know if it was because he lost some confidence or he just wasn't comfortable last year it could be both but if it continues I think it's time for a change of scenery.

 

 

What I do disagree with is all of the Austin Rivers love that so many people have. I think he is basically going to be a worse version of Jerryd Bayless and would take both Dion Waiters and Terrence Ross (as well as Jeremy Lamb, if you view him like Givony and Ford as a fringe lottery/mid first round pick and not a top 8 prospect like I do) over him. I'd probably even take a chance on Tony Wroten before Rivers as well because, while both are selfish players who seem to have large egos, Wroten has the physical tools to back up his cocky, selfish playstyle. I could easily be wrong about Rivers, though, as a lot of people seem to really like him as a prospect.

 

I agree with you on Austin Rivers I like him but I personally think he's a bit overrated myself a large part because of his name and because of his big shot he hit against N.Carolina. He's a bit one dimension to me, he's a very good scorer and has good one on one skills but he's really not that good of a defender, he's very ball dominate, he has a tendency to take bad shoots and it's hard to determine what position he'll play in the league, he has the body of a PG but plays like a SG. I will say this though if he's available when the Rockets pick at # 14 or # 16 I'd take him. Regardless about how you, me, or anyone think about him he is talented and could be better than what we think in the pro's. Me and you both agree with Waiters and Ross I think there 2 of the most NBA ready players in the draft and I haven't seen much of Tony Wroten but he kind of reminds me of a Tyreke Evans or Rodney Stuckey good size and strength, combo guard, good court vision, etc...

Edited May 27, 2012 by htownborn