. . . said:

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Looking at your team & any kind of moves, how much of that changes with the Davis trade & injuries to Golden State?

Doesn't change much. We're all in. There's a lot of stars available, one in particular we're hoping will choose the Rockets. If they do, we're hoping to add them to James & Chris. If not, we'll spend whatever it takes(mid level). Most teams are struggling to keep their starting five. We're bringing back the starting five that was 29-4 or something down the stretch & add a sixth rotation player. We're excited about where we're at right now.

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I think he's talking about Jimmy Butler, but I have no idea how that works without offloading some salary elsewhere first. He declined his player option for 19.8 million.

$125mm on the active roster on including cap holds on Shumpert, Black, House, Green, Rivers, etc.

Maybe a S&T for Eric Gordon (team friendly 1y/14mm deal left) and Nene - starts him at about 20mm-ish.

So
Capela
Tucker
Butler
Harden
Paul

Bench of Min contracts and resigning of players like House.

I think Butler probably gets more than that 20mm/year number, though.

I can't see how getting rid of EG and adding Jimmy Butler would make us that much better. EG is so important to the isoball style we play. He can sit 3 feet behind the 3pt line and drag defenders out of the paint. Jimmy Butler is a really good player but can't stretch the floor as well. EG is also a pretty good defender, Jimmy is better, but it's not like we would be swapping out a liability (like Harden or CP3).

lil99chris said:

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Eric Gordon was impressive for most of the 2019 playoffs. During the regular season, there were moments where I wondered how he was getting playing time.

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I think Philly fans might have said the same about Butler.

If we hope to get significantly better we would need both.

I just wish the Lakers would do something stupid and somehow Alex Caruso would end up a Rocket.

mazag08 said:

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I just wish the Lakers would do something stupid and somehow Alex Caruso would end up a Rocket.

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I agree. Love that kid, I've always thought he could be a solid NBA player.

Honestly if we could get butler and then keep Gordon to come off the bench that would be ideal. I'm assuming they are trying to do this by unloading Capella for a younger cheaper model? Not sure how you squeeze both unless T just feels like spending

We're going to end up with Andrew Wiggins, aren't we?

Don't think his game is fitting at all to our team. No chance Morey is even remotely interested.

Wiggins and Butler had an almost identical 3pt shooting percentage last year (.338 vs .339). Wiggins actually shot almost 2x more 3s as well.

Not actually advocating for Wiggins, just thought it was interesting

Wiggins advanced stats are awful as is his contract. Just some quick examples from Reddit:



https://www.reddit.com/r/nba/comments/6q8vro/andrew_wiggins_is_statistically_the_worst_21_year/
https://www.reddit.com/r/nba/comments/ax487b/andrew_wiggins_is_pretty_much_worthless_oc/
https://www.reddit.com/r/nba/comments/b8xut2/the_results_are_in_for_least_valuable_player/

AG@RICE said:

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Wiggins and Butler had an almost identical 3pt shooting percentage last year (.338 vs .339). Wiggins actually shot almost 2x more 3s as well.

Not actually advocating for Wiggins, just thought it was interesting

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I'd just adding to the dialogue not contradicting anything you're saying, but compare Wiggins and Butler:

Butler 20.2 PER on .172winshare/48 minutes. That's a solid eastern conference all-star.

Wiggins 12.4 PER on .012winshare/48 minutes. That's the worst starter in the league.

PascalsWager said:

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AG@RICE said:

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Wiggins and Butler had an almost identical 3pt shooting percentage last year (.338 vs .339). Wiggins actually shot almost 2x more 3s as well.

Not actually advocating for Wiggins, just thought it was interesting

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I'd just adding to the dialogue not contradicting anything you're saying, but compare Wiggins and Butler:

Butler 20.2 PER on .172winshare/48 minutes. That's a solid eastern conference all-star.

Wiggins 12.4 PER on .012winshare/48 minutes. That's the worst starter in the league.

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I'll add one more damning nugget to the Wiggins case...he actually averages less rebounds, steals and 2pt% despite being about 4 inches taller.

I hope the Lakers sign Wiggins.

Lol what? Wiggins is 1" taller than butler

They're both listed at 6'8" according to the NBA website

Welp, that sucks.

The "source" is probably Daryl Morey. Trying to get his phone ringing for trade proposals.

Who is gonna want 3y125mm of Chris Paul

Yeah nobody wants that contract..trading him is going to be tough

Head Ninja In Charge said:

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LET'S GOOOOO. BURN IT ALL DOWN.

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Looks like the Clippers will end up being more successful than us on that CP3 trade deal.

I'm not buying a lot of what is in that article. Tension sure, but unsalvageable relationship? Give me a break.

I'm just so confused by these reports. The National media guys are the ones writing the CP has demanded out. The Houston-centric media have said that yes, there was tension during the season, but no it isn't a problem. Morey has said explicitly that CP has not asked for a trade. Morey has also said numerous times (including this morning) that all 5 starters will return.

It seems like a "where there's smoke there's fire" sort of situation, but it seems like there would be at least one member of the Houston media that would report the "CP wants out" narrative.

In case any of your non-Rocket friends or co-workers try to come at you.

CFTXAG10 said:

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I'm not buying a lot of what is in that article. Tension sure, but unsalvageable relationship? Give me a break.

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This. I love how so many people seem to think that a team's star players have to be best friends off the court. Makes no sense.

CP is a family man who (from what we get to see) has a no-nonsense personality and probably just goes straight home after every game to be with his kids. Harden is, uh, the opposite of all that. It makes MORE sense that wouldn't talk outside of work.

"CP3 to the Lakers" is trending on Twitter right now.

Would be hilarious. I may be the only one but I am faulting Harden in a lot of this. They will never win a championship playing his brand of ball in the playoffs. I think a tweak to his game here or there and they are in the finals last to years.