NLL | NBA | WNBA | NBA 2k19 | NLSC
Username :
Password:

Roster - Houston Rockets

News · Roster · Patch · Statistics · Units · Ratings · Schedule · Transactions · NBA Stats · TbT


Trade Deadline

“I just trade for players that I like.” That is a quote a veteran GM once told me. Something that has influenced the way I think about trades. I've been in trade talks where I knew I would be getting value, but held simply because I wasn't interested in the player. That being said, as the trade deadline approaches, I only went for the players that I was interested in. I got into trade talks for Denzel Valentine, Terry Rozier, and Jerian Grant. Some players I thought about going for were Delon Wright, Fred VanVleet, and Malik Beasley. Most of these players are not on sale, and the ones that were I couldn't break budget to acquire the player. We still have a little over two weeks left before the trade deadline. College ball is really ramping up and the draft hype is getting real. The eagerness to trade a pick has disappeared. I guess you can say Houston is not interested in making any more major moves.  

Youth Over Older Proven Players


I heard someone mention a current trend going on in the NLL. GMs are valuing youth and picks over older proven players. I thought about why is this so. I remember back in 2009, I was heavily into Fantasy Football. I began to notice an ongoing trend. Runningbacks like Steven Jackson, Rashard Mendenhall, and Chris Johnson were all breaking down at age 28. Why was this? I use to see my childhood hero, Emmitt Smith play until he was age 35. My thinking was that players were realizing they were getting more popularity and more endorsement offers as their fantasy production went up. This increased the demand for more carries. Every runningback wanted to be a 30 carry back. Runningback by committee and timeshares were highly frowned upon. This caused early wear and tear and reduced shelf lives for runningbacks. Rules were even changed to promote more offense.

I see the same trend happening in basketball. Players understand that when they produce, they get more Fantasy adds, more Twitter follows, and access to money endorsements. Because of this, every player wants to be a 30+ minute player. When they don't get minutes, they are unhappy. When coaches like Greg Popovich or Eric Spoelstra plays one player over another, they are frowned upon. Even if they are doing it in favor of the  matchup. Getting minutes has become more important to players than getting the win. I won't say more about this, but I do believe this is a trend as to why NLL GMs favor youth and picks over older proven players. 

Playoffs

Before injuries, the Rockets were a 0.500 team featuring players like Whiteside, Chandler, Waiters, and Hardaway Jr. Waiting for the return of IT. But when Whiteside, Waiters, and Hardaway Jr all got hurt, we fell into a deep hole. The Rockets fell as low as 2nd to last place in the Western Conference. Whiteside finally came back in Week 9, and we slowly climbed out. Week 10, we traded Isaiah Thomas for Tobias Harris. And Week 11, Tim Hardaway Jr finally returned. This was the first time in a long time that we had at least 3 80 rated players on court. Houston is now approaching full strength and standing at 7th place in the Western Conference. We won't see the return of Waiters this year, but feel very confident that we can win games. And that's all I want. I don't care too much about championships. If the opportunity shows itself, then I'll shoot for it. But I'm not going to make “win-now” moves. I'm in it for the long haul.




Previous ArticlePage 33/81 2018-02-09 20:43:07 Next Article

 

 

 

© 2001-2019 nbaliveleague.com | All Rights Reserved | About Us | FAQ | Sign Up | Contact Us | Site Statistics