11 replies to this topic

[Red94]

New post: The Rockets Daily - October 14, 2013
By: John Eby

Breaking Good - ESPN Insider's Amin Elhassan lists Chandler Parsons as one of eight guys he expects to have a breakout year while still on a rookie contract. He explains:

Quote:

With the offseason acquisition of Dwight Howard, Parsons shifts from a secondary scoring option to a tertiary one. What this means is opposing defenses have to focus most of their efforts on stopping Howard and James Harden, which will allow Parsons to feast on poorer individual defenders and exploit weakside defenses.

I'll put it another way. Dwight Howard made Hedo "Love Handles" Turkoglu look like a borderline All-Star. Imagine what he can do for Parsons.

Mull It Omer - In the season preview for the New Orleans Pelicans, Bill Simmons throws out a trade proposal that many fans are already thinking about: Omer Asik straight-up for Ryan Anderson (skip to 7:15 in the video).

Is Anderson a better fit next to Howard than Asik? Yes, but that's the wrong question to ask. The real question is, "Does Anderson bring more value to Houston's roster than Asik?"

I would say he does not. Anderson brings great shooting, good rebounding, and no defense to the table. His value over Omri Casspi, Donatas Motiejunas, Terrence Jones, Francisco Garcia or even Parsons filling the stretch 4 role is marginal at best. The league is becoming crowded with big wings who can provide 75 to 80 percent of what Anderson gives on the offensive end. Finally, consider this nugget from Anderson's ESPN Insider profile:

Quote:

Last season, New Orleans was 7.3 points per 100 possessions worse on defense with him on the floor.

Bleah.

However, the Rockets have no replacement for Asik's ability to give the Rockets 48 minutes of elite rim protection, and he gives them the option of a bruising twin-towers frontcourt with which to exploit certain matchups or hang with big teams like the Grizzlies.  His skill set is in high demand, and he is a safety net in the event of a brief injury to Howard.

Unless he's getting a verified All-Star like Kevin Love or LaMarcus Aldridge, I don't see Daryl Morey sending Asik anywhere.

Tweet That - James Harden gets the drop on Dwight Howard on the flight back from Taipei.

GotEm!!!!!! dwighthoward http://t.co/61O5PJNGYH

— James Harden (@JHarden13) October 13, 2013

I love the NBA.

Got any sweet links or suggestions? Email them to jeby901@gmail.com or message @EbyNews on Twitter.

[rockets best fan]

that D-12 picture is classic  as for Anderson I totally agree with you his skills would be a duplication on our team. besides giving Asik to N.O. is a none starter for me. I do not believe in helping division rivals build teams we will have to contend with later

[2016Champions]

Ryan Anderson's defensive shortcomings wouldn't stand out as much when paired with Dwight. New Orleans were 7.3 points worse defensively with Ryan on the floor, but in 2009 Orlando were only 1.1 points worse with Ryan on the floor. 

 

Don't get me wrong, I love the thought of having 48 minutes of elite rim protection, I just wanted to provide some context to those on/off court numbers.

[NorEastern]

There are not enough shots to go around on the Rockets team. Who would you take shots away from to provide Anderson with 14 shots a game? Why would they ever extend a contract to a player who has to take shots to be effective, because he is a net negative in every other aspect of the game?

[Stephen]

Everybody loves their team right now,the panic among GMs(and Owners) doesn't start til deep into Dec.
That's when the good offers will start.
I wouldn't expect an Asik trade til near the Feb deadline.

The bigger question for the theoretical PF the Rockets bring in is...can he stay on the court when Dwight is on the bench?
Ryan Anderson cannot,unless TJones or Motie prove they can be a solid C in the NBA.
Whereas an Aldridge can slide over to the C if necessary and be effective.
If Morey trades Asik for a PF,that PF has to be able to play w/out Dwight.

[Cooper]

Or get a serviceable backup C in the trade/through another small trade.

[rockets best fan]

Stephen/Cooper

totally agree. if and when we move Asik we will have this problem. based on the inability of Camby to resemble anything approaching a reliable backup center we must look at how that role will be handled post trade. I don't think the Rockets will trust this duty to T-Jones or D-Mo or G-Smith for the long haul.  

[Sir Thursday]

I remember there being speculation about an Asik-Anderson swap back when we signed Dwight. They were quashed pretty conclusively when the NO front office said there was no way they would make that deal. Suspect they are really high on Anderson (and why wouldn't they be? That skill set is pretty awesome, as the shooting chart in the Grantland preview shows) and don't want to let him go before they have to. Maybe the Pelicans will have changed their mind by the trade deadline, but I'm guessing they have some internal metrics that make him untouchable or something like that.

 

ST

[rockets best fan]

I remember there being speculation about an Asik-Anderson swap back when we signed Dwight. They were quashed pretty conclusively when the NO front office said there was no way they would make that deal. Suspect they are really high on Anderson (and why wouldn't they be? That skill set is pretty awesome, as the shooting chart in the Grantland preview shows) and don't want to let him go before they have to. Maybe the Pelicans will have changed their mind by the trade deadline, but I'm guessing they have some internal metrics that make him untouchable or something like that.

 

ST

Houston shot that deal down. looking at this present team I now know why...............Casspi is a player in the mold of Anderson on a cheaper contract. there are quite a few players in the league who can do what Anderson does........not a lot that can do what Asik does. Asik is worth more than Anderson. considering Anderson has no..........I repeat NO ability to play center in a pinch he would not be an improvement to our team. we have plenty of shooters, on the other hand we don't have a bunch of players who can play Center effectively. based on the no show of Camby and inability of any other player to anchor our defense, if we trade Asik we must also address the backup center position at the same time. because acquiring Anderson doesn't address that problem Houston would never go for the deal. besides you must remember the Pelicans play in our division. we don't want to be in a situation like OKC in trading a player then watching that player making a team in our conference a threat to our overall goals. I like Anderson as a player, but not in a Rocket's jersey and I for sure don't want to allow Asik to go to any team in our conference let alone our division. if we move Asik we will only have peace if he goes east

[timetodienow1234567]

Casspi is not Anderson. Nowhere close.

[thejohnnygold]

Has anyone noted Casspi's defense?  I haven't seen any games yet, but the box scores have been amazing for him (obviously he won't maintain that).  It's my feeling that if he is our 5th option at PF we are going to be quite formidable on offense.  Even if his defense is only average I'd say he will earn quite a few minutes on the court.

 

Imagine Harden running PnR's with Howard while Line, Parsons, and Casspi spread the floor.  Bonus is Parsons and/or Casspi can cut and give an added dimension to the play.  If Harden dumps the ball off to Dwight, he will have cutters to pass the ball to if the defense rotates quickly enough to contain him (which usually leaves the backside open).

 

Also, Judgement on Greg Smith needs to be withheld until we see him on the floor.  Surely he spent some time working on his jumper this Summer--something he can do despite opinions to the contrary.  Besides that, Patrick Beverley said earlier in the Summer that Smith was "in incredible shape and a beast".  Bev doesn't strike me as one to blow smoke.  If nothing else, we can teach him the ways of Charles Oakley and he can be our "enforcer"--nobody wants to mess with a guy that big.

[Sir Thursday]

Has anyone noted Casspi's defense?  I haven't seen any games yet, but the box scores have been amazing for him (obviously he won't maintain that).  It's my feeling that if he is our 5th option at PF we are going to be quite formidable on offense.  Even if his defense is only average I'd say he will earn quite a few minutes on the court.

 

Imagine Harden running PnR's with Howard while Line, Parsons, and Casspi spread the floor.  Bonus is Parsons and/or Casspi can cut and give an added dimension to the play.  If Harden dumps the ball off to Dwight, he will have cutters to pass the ball to if the defense rotates quickly enough to contain him (which usually leaves the backside open).

 

Also, Judgement on Greg Smith needs to be withheld until we see him on the floor.  Surely he spent some time working on his jumper this Summer--something he can do despite opinions to the contrary.  Besides that, Patrick Beverley said earlier in the Summer that Smith was "in incredible shape and a beast".  Bev doesn't strike me as one to blow smoke.  If nothing else, we can teach him the ways of Charles Oakley and he can be our "enforcer"--nobody wants to mess with a guy that big.

 

I was planning on keeping an eye on Casspi tonight when he's playing. I'm doing the recap, so I'll put something about it in there .

 

On Greg Smith, I think I agree with you. He's got to get some more time on the floor and I don't believe that the FO is going to give up on him so easily after two years of development. On the other hand, McHale gave him a VERY short leash in the game in Taiwan. He was out on the floor for three minutes in the first half, got yanked and then never saw the court again for the rest of the game. I haven't heard anything about an injury, so I assume that the coaching staff reckoned he wasn't ready to be back on the court after his rehab (2 TOs and 3 fouls in three minutes would indicate they may have a point).

 

The reason I feel that has to be the explanation is that the dearth of available big men means that you'd have thought McHale would have wanted him to play, if only to get Jones and D-Mo more time at their natural positions. Instead he went for D-Mo at centre when Howard sat, which I can't imagine is going to see a whole lot of time come the regular season. I'd have thought if he had the option he would have preferred to have put D-Mo and Smith out so that Motiejunas could play his natural position.

 

ST