Houston Moves Looney, Adds Chriss and Batum

[KW]

After a few days of rumors, news finally broke that Kevon Looney is indeed headed out of Houston. After a 4 year $50M contract with Atlanta was matched by the Rockets two offseasons ago, Looney and the Hawks got their wish. In just more than two full seasons with Rockets, Looney made a name for himself as a defensive glue guy who could hit the boards and pass at a substantially above average level for a big man. He goes to Atlanta as a young but polished talent to provide stability and toughness to a solid Hawks team.

Along with Looney, Houston sent a 2nd round pick to Atlanta, a 2nd round pick to the Clippers, and Leron Black and Sean Kilpatrick to the Lakers. In the four team trade, Houston received two valuable talents, the steady 3&D journeyman veteran Nic Batum, and the young mercurial forward Marquese Chriss.

Batum has played with the beginnings of this core two seasons ago, so he has experience with Monk, KAT, and Bender. Houston knows what to expect, solid defense, a healthy amount of 3s, and little to nothing else. Which is exactly what they need next to all these stars.

Chriss on the other hand has received criticism over the years, for not playing up to his potential on both ends. He gets jumpy on defense, leading to fouls and blown rotations, despite his natural gifts at forcing turnovers and blocking shots, and on the other side, Chriss is an aggressive scorer, but settled for jumpers too often. Houston believes both of these issues are correctable, and have faith in him to be either a sixth man or starter in future seasons. His potential as a two way player is tremendous and Houston believes in him.

Houston now has 5 players with a 70+ SCR rating, and a 69 SCR in Michael Porter. How will everyone share the ball? It might be tough, but new head coach Dirk Nowitzki isn't fazed. "This is a good problem to have."

[KW]

Marquese Chriss since the trade: 17.4ppg, 6.2rpg, 1.0apg, 1.8spg, 1.9bpg, in 30.8mpg. 51.7/70.5/58.1 shooting splits, 100% drive stop. We're 7-2 in the games he's played.

The 12-17 shooting from deep isn't any kind of sustainable, but Marquese Chriss has exceeded my expectations drastically. He's primarily played the SF position, but has seen time at PF and C as well. He's kind of a supermassive black hole offensively, but he's been scoring at an outstanding level, hoping he keeps it up with the same efficiency now that he's more or less fixed (~70 post, ~10 jumpers, ~20 threes). Will get his threes down further if I have some left over at the end of the season.

[KW]

on the flip side Batum is washed

[WillyJakkz]

Marquese Chriss since the trade: 17.4ppg, 6.2rpg, 1.0apg, 1.8spg, 1.9bpg, in 30.8mpg. 51.7/70.5/58.1 shooting splits, 100% drive stop. We're 7-2 in the games he's played.

The 12-17 shooting from deep isn't any kind of sustainable, but Marquese Chriss has exceeded my expectations drastically. He's primarily played the SF position, but has seen time at PF and C as well. He's kind of a supermassive black hole offensively, but he's been scoring at an outstanding level, hoping he keeps it up with the same efficiency now that he's more or less fixed (~70 post, ~10 jumpers, ~20 threes). Will get his threes down further if I have some left over at the end of the season.

Good you are figuring him out. He was scouted as having the skill (and ratings) to play SF but I didn't want to use him there. Also yeah his SCR is high so he will definitely take shots away from your key guys which was what my issue was with him and trying to solve that along with his impending contract status.

[hardenwithnod]

I have always felt Chriss can be an intriguing versatile guy who can be used at SF/PF, just needed preference work.

[KW]

Marquese Chriss since the trade: 17.4ppg, 6.2rpg, 1.0apg, 1.8spg, 1.9bpg, in 30.8mpg. 51.7/70.5/58.1 shooting splits, 100% drive stop. We're 7-2 in the games he's played.

The 12-17 shooting from deep isn't any kind of sustainable, but Marquese Chriss has exceeded my expectations drastically. He's primarily played the SF position, but has seen time at PF and C as well. He's kind of a supermassive black hole offensively, but he's been scoring at an outstanding level, hoping he keeps it up with the same efficiency now that he's more or less fixed (~70 post, ~10 jumpers, ~20 threes). Will get his threes down further if I have some left over at the end of the season.

Good you are figuring him out. He was scouted as having the skill (and ratings) to play SF but I didn't want to use him there. Also yeah his SCR is high so he will definitely take shots away from your key guys which was what my issue was with him and trying to solve that along with his impending contract status.

Once the pref work is totally done, he's efficient enough to not be "taking shots away from key guys", but rather, he actually is one of the key guys. He's getting to the point where i feel comfortable plugging him into KAT's role as a post scorer if KAT gets hurt.