Filling out the roster

[MarylandHawk]

3 hours ago, kg01 said:

Random thought but it seems to me 'winning' teams have linth and defensive versatility.  Do folks think we've done enough to add this to our team?

I feel like we could do more in the 3/4 area.  And we'll miss Wright.

I think we have done enough to be a top ten team in the league. How far we advance in the playoffs comes down to things like injuries, other teams melting down, luck, and consistent effort. I would like another veteran like Solo or someone who has championship experience and who is rough around the edges and vocal. We should have sent a contingency out for Haslem on the first day of free agency. Lol. 

[TRW]

Staying healthy and being able to make shots from the perimeter are my main two concerns. I also think we need one more big, powerful. Maybe not if JJ or old Mo can revive his career.

[kg01]

6 minutes ago, MarylandHawk said:

I think we have done enough to be a top ten team in the league. How far we advance in the playoffs comes down to things like injuries, other teams melting down, luck, and consistent effort. I would like another veteran like Solo or someone who has championship experience and who is rough around the edges and vocal. We should have sent a contingency out for Haslem on the first day of free agency. Lol. 

I was with you til Has-been....

Seriously though, I hope JJohnson shows us a lot this season.  He could be a real answer for us.

[MarylandHawk]

30 minutes ago, kg01 said:

I was with you til Has-been....

Seriously though, I hope JJohnson shows us a lot this season.  He could be a real answer for us.

The other thing I was thinking about is that the front office seemed like it was intentional on creating more minutes for John, JJ, And OO17. Their growth and opportunities seemed to be factored into this roster.  Gallo had a significant role so John has room to stretch out now. 

[sturt]

Could we see some trade of either of the former SAC assets in September?

We know this much... the theory has been out there for awhile that Schlields isn't done with this roster... perhaps uninformed theory, but a theory nonetheless.

Of course, I've spent the off-season mostly intrigued by OKC assets that seemingly could be had by virtue of the fact that they are on the short list of teams that must cut down some of their contracts before the season, one way or another. But/and my greatest OKC interest has always been someone who isn't even on their roster, but that they merely have rights to sign if they ever could get together on something... Micic.

Been intrigued just in the last 24 hours, though, to think about another team in a similar situation as OKC and to the same extreme of having 18 contracts, but only 15 slots into which to fit them. HOU received too much in return from DAL to not part ways with some of their booty, and it's thought that every one of those guys is likely to be playing somewhere else other than HOU. But most attractive is the guy going into his 3rd year who, The Athletic reported, has asked to be traded: Kenyon Martin, Jr.

Truly, he could be a fit for us behind Hunter.

Rocket bloggers have theorized they should be able to get a protected 2nd round pick for him, and that seems in the ballpark to me.

I'd propose breaking up the Holiday brothers, me. I'm like someone else here who recently said he prefers to think of BogBog as a SG, not a SF.

Further, I think Marquese Chriss has had 2 pretty strong seasons in the last 3. DAL probably most hated to part with him of all the assets that they sent to HOU. He would slot in very nicely as that other big that I'd like to think we're going to acquire at some point. Not that I've given up on Derrick Favors--I really think if/when OKC cuts him, someone's going to get him on a minimum contract and find he's got a lot of miles still left on that tread. But lately, the OKC beat writer has offered that he's begun to feel like they might keep Favors after all, in view of his veteran leadership. So, Chriss is a worthy thought here.

So... this trade with the better of our two 2024 2nd round picks also going to HOU sounds like a square deal to me.

Would KM get minutes ahead of Mo Harkless? Not really sure if they're both healthy, but then KM's the better bet to stay healthy, of course. And, too, KM costs you less than $2m this and next season... so, at worst, it's reasonable to assume he'd be your highest producing player per-dollar next season.

 

 

[AHF]

I'm still unsure there is actually any intent to add anything other than non-guaranteed salary to the team going forward with a plan to get under the tax line later this season.

[JayBirdHawk]

15 hours ago, sturt said:

Marquese Chriss h

Per Yahoo Sports, Chriss underwent knee surgery hours before the trade and will spend the next few months in rehab. Due to injury, Chriss will likely miss all of Houston's off-season workouts.

[Spud2nique]

Marqueef Chriss..  I’m good, thanks though! 

[sturt]

3 hours ago, AHF said:

I'm still unsure there is actually any intent to add anything other than non-guaranteed salary to the team going forward with a plan to get under the tax line later this season.

I'm still unsure that we have any evidence of a plan to get under the tax line later this season. It's reasonable to be that cynical. But what evidence we have suggests the team is prepared to pay some tax.

Correct me if you know something I don't.

Then... even accepting the premise... the post directly above this one envisions a roster adjustment that decreases the payroll by ~$4 million.

And so... the real question here is...

 

What's wrong with a trade where you lose $4 million of payroll, lose a 33 yr-old (read declining) wing, and lose a 2024 2nd rounder, and gain a Kenyon Martin, Jr., and perhaps fill out your low post depth chart with Chriss (... though I remain hopelessly devoted and strongly favor... Derrick).

 

 

[sturt]

47 minutes ago, Spud2nique said:

Marqueef Chriss..  I’m good, thanks though! 

Hmmm... given this turn of events, maybe I'm underestimating Chriss. Will have to reconsider.

[sturt]

2 hours ago, JayBirdHawk said:

Per Yahoo Sports, Chriss underwent knee surgery hours before the trade and will spend the next few months in rehab. Due to injury, Chriss will likely miss all of Houston's off-season workouts.

But I'm silly for thinking we should expect a player with 4 consecutive years of significant injury to have gotten a non-guaranteed deal.... hehe.

Nah. If we can sign Frank to a guaranteed deal and everyone is okay with that, I hardly think everyone should be up in arms about obtaining a guy who will miss off-season workouts. Again... call me silly.

 

Make no mistake, I'd do the trade w/o Chriss. He's a throw-in who happens to fill that last void in the roster, but also meets one of HOU's interests in making a deal--to chop down the pending roster.

[JayBirdHawk]

24 minutes ago, sturt said:

Again... call me silly.

Silly 

[sturt]

30 minutes ago, JayBirdHawk said:

Silly 

 

[AHF]

2 hours ago, sturt said:

I'm still unsure that we have any evidence of a plan to get under the tax line later this season. It's reasonable to be that cynical. But what evidence we have suggests the team is prepared to pay some tax.

Correct me if you know something I don't.

Then... even accepting the premise... the post directly above this one envisions a roster adjustment that decreases the payroll by ~$4 million.

And so... the real question here is...

 

What's wrong with a trade where you lose $4 million of payroll, lose a 33 yr-old (read declining) wing, and lose a 2024 2nd rounder, and gain a Kenyon Martin, Jr., and perhaps fill out your low post depth chart with Chriss (... though I remain hopelessly devoted and strongly favor... Derrick).

 

 

I think the evidence is rather compelling although only circumstantial.  I think if we were prepared to pay the tax that you don't just dip your toe into that pool.  You go in hard if you are going to invite the repeater tax.  So the fact that we dealt Huerter to get to the point where we had several disposable expiring salaries that makes it easy for us to make that move to get under the line is pretty strong stuff for me.

I think Huerter is with the team if we are willing to pay the tax and become a repeater or we go further to add more talent and salary to the team to upgrade the roster.  We haven't done either.  So while I fully recognize this is speculation, the evidence signals to me that we are hanging near the tax line with an easy path to going under and in the absence of a big trade that we will ultimately take that path.

You and I have different views on how heavily Nate is likely to rely on Justin Holiday.  I expect to see a lot of him and think it makes it unlikely we deal for an unproven player that Nate has not coached in Martin.  On Chriss, I see him as someone who has been a bust career to date and is a huge health risk as well.  I think it is unlikely to see him on our roster but it would be consistent with my expected path forward for the Hawks to see someone like him on an unguaranteed contract.

[JayBirdHawk]

 

 

[sturt]

5 minutes ago, AHF said:

I think if we were prepared to pay the tax that you don't just dip your toe into that pool.  You go in hard if you are going to invite the repeater tax. 

So, let's just get this out of the way.............

 

.... and... to the substance...

If I had to guess, I think the response from Ressler might go something like,

 

"A player of Kevin's caliber isn't a difference maker, at least not yet. And we're not yet prepared to pronounce this team a 'contender,' at least not yet. Had either one of those conditions been different, and most certainly if both had, we'd be 'in hard'."

 

I'd further venture that, as someone (camp?) suggested a month or so ago.... if they could flip that $3.6m exception for, say, Sterling Brown ($3m) on Aug 30 and make that part of a bigger trade that sent him, JDay ($6m) and Mo ($4m) for a wing who grades out just a shade above Huerter and priced in that low-to-mid teens salary... they'd do that.

[sturt]

18 minutes ago, JayBirdHawk said:

 

 

 

Hold on to Chauncee until BogBog's health gets a thumbs-up... and then, assuming that happens, to get Etienne on that other 2-Way. Martin signing to the big team roster makes some sense if that happens.

 

[sturt]

22 minutes ago, AHF said:

You and I have different views on how heavily Nate is likely to rely on Justin Holiday.

Depends on Griffin's progress.

I'm not counting on Griffin's progress, tho.

I have JDay for 16 minutes per night as-is. That's not chopped liver.

I believe camp, though, that there's been (though, who knows about recently) serious talk about still moving some parts around, and if that much is true, then it would seem more likely than not that JDay and/or Mo would be the focus of said moving parts around.

[JayBirdHawk]

19 minutes ago, sturt said:

 

Hold on to Chauncee until BogBog's health gets a thumbs-up... and then, assuming that happens, to get Etienne on that other 2-Way. Martin signing to the big team roster makes some sense if that happens.

 

2 way deals need to be finalized at the start of the seaon.

[Spud2nique]

3 hours ago, JayBirdHawk said:

Silly