Rockets Acquires Spacing, Perimeter Defense In Trade W/ Pels

[KW]

Teammates once again: Ryan Anderson is Dwight Howard's frontcourtmate again, this time in Houston

After weeks of tireless trade rumors of Omer Asik and Jeremy Lin being traded as a package for a third star to put next to James Harden and Dwight Howard, news broke of a trade that would send only one of them out. Rockets' backup center Omer Asik to was traded to New Orleans for stretch forward Ryan Anderson. Also in the deal, Houston sent away their own 2014 1st round pick and reserves Greg Smith and Aaron Brooks. In return, New Orleans gave Houston a 2015 1st round pick, backup point guard Brian Roberts and defensive forward Al-Farouq Aminu.



This was new Rockets GM BizGilwalker's first big move, after a few low-key moves to bolster the bench. When asked about the move in a press conference, BizGilwalker had this to say:

Well, Asik played very nicely in limited minutes for us, but he was redundant with Dwight on the roster. To operate most smoothly, Dwight needs the floor spacing that Ryan Anderson brings to the team. We've also had our eyes on Aminu for a while, he's a great defender and rebounder, and now he looks like he's finally coming around on offense too. Brian Roberts is looking like a nice fit behind Jeremy Lin too so that we can slide Beverley to the SG position. We're very excited for the new additions. Of course, now we've got to find a backup center, but I think Tolliver, Barron, and Motiejunas can hold down the backup minutes for now.

Ryan Anderson was Dwight Howard's teammate and fellow frontcourt starter in Orlando when Howard requested a trade from the Magic, but Anderson maintains that he holds no hard feelings and is thrilled to play with Dwight Howard again. The Rockets starting five is expected to include Howard, Anderson, Parsons, Harden, and Lin- a well-balanced starting five with plenty of offensive firepower, along with a great defense helped along by head coach Phil Jackson. The bench includes four excellent defensive players in Al-Farouq Aminu, Patrick Beverley, Terrence Jones, and Marquis Daniels.

BizGilwalker was asked about how he felt about the trade for the Pelicans:

It's one of those trades where you feel you may have helped out a division rival a little too much, because Asik is the perfect fit for their roster. They have a ton of guys that need the ball- Holiday, Davis, Evans- they're all scorers and they need someone in the middle to defend and crash the boards and Asik is the perfect fit for them. It's a win-win and just made too much sense all-around. Props to the Pelicans for suggesting it.

The Pelicans and Rockets currently sit 5th and 6th in the Western Conference (3rd and 4th in the extremely tough SW division) and look to move up in the rankings as the season progresses.

[Myles]

This is definitely great in terms of bringing out the best in Dwight and your roster. I also think that with the versatility you have on your roster you can do a lot of different lineups and strategies for different teams.

[Rob]

That looks deadly...

[Marcos_Beck]

Well it's almost what I had back in oCSL With Howard and Anderson down low. They're great fit, though I thought having Anderson and his lack of Def. boards and defense hurt my team more than his offensive firepower was helping.
But that may be because Nene was vastly outplaying him.

This have all the potential tools to work beautifully as it can open more space to Lin and Harden's drives. I just think you need more defense from the perimeter. Parsons, to me, is not the ideal fit to harden if you want to win the championship. He kind of brings the playmaking and scoring Harden brings too, of course much worse, but he can't cover Harden's defensive flaws.
But I know you like Parsons and will stick to him. Anyway that'd be the move I'd make, trade Parsons for a defensive SF.

[Dennis]

Was thinking about trading for RA, but didnt liked his shooting (except for his 3pointshot obviously) and his PA/SF. Prefer starting guys like Faverasome.

[Myles]

This have all the potential tools to work beautifully as it can open more space to Lin and Harden's drives. I just think you need more defense from the perimeter. Parsons, to me, is not the ideal fit to harden if you want to win the championship. He kind of brings the playmaking and scoring Harden brings too, of course much worse, but he can't cover Harden's defensive flaws.
But I know you like Parsons and will stick to him. Anyway that'd be the move I'd make, trade Parsons for a defensive SF.

Well he got Aminu too. Currently posting an 81% STOP and 0.8 PA/SF which is pretty damn good.

[Marcos_Beck]

This have all the potential tools to work beautifully as it can open more space to Lin and Harden's drives. I just think you need more defense from the perimeter. Parsons, to me, is not the ideal fit to harden if you want to win the championship. He kind of brings the playmaking and scoring Harden brings too, of course much worse, but he can't cover Harden's defensive flaws.
But I know you like Parsons and will stick to him. Anyway that'd be the move I'd make, trade Parsons for a defensive SF.

Well he got Aminu too. Currently posting an 81% STOP and 0.8 PA/SF which is pretty damn good.

Yeah you're right. But would you limit Parsons minutes to around 24 a game? I mean, he's too big to play SG, too weak to play PF.. He's an SF only, and by starting Aminu it means you're reducing Parsons minutes to below 30 for sure, otherwise it isn't even worth to start Aminu.

Anyway it's Biz decisions, not mine, and it's a pretty damn good problem to have LOL

[Myles]

Really? I've definitely had many situations where I start a player but only play him 18-20 minutes, and all alongside the star SG. Personally, I'd make sure that every single minute Aminu is in the game, Harden is in the game for sure, and every minute Parsons is in the game but Harden is not, Howard is in the game. So that way he's got a couple of combinations but every lineup played is strong no matter what.

[Dennis]

This have all the potential tools to work beautifully as it can open more space to Lin and Harden's drives. I just think you need more defense from the perimeter. Parsons, to me, is not the ideal fit to harden if you want to win the championship. He kind of brings the playmaking and scoring Harden brings too, of course much worse, but he can't cover Harden's defensive flaws.
But I know you like Parsons and will stick to him. Anyway that'd be the move I'd make, trade Parsons for a defensive SF.

Well he got Aminu too. Currently posting an 81% STOP and 0.8 PA/SF which is pretty damn good.

Yeah you're right. But would you limit Parsons minutes to around 24 a game? I mean, he's too big to play SG, too weak to play PF.. He's an SF only, and by starting Aminu it means you're reducing Parsons minutes to below 30 for sure, otherwise it isn't even worth to start Aminu.

Anyway it's Biz decisions, not mine, and it's a pretty damn good problem to have LOL

Easy call, Biz should have traded Parsons for Vitor Faverasome, Bostons Superhero.

lol, am I able to change the size somehow like it was possible on the old forum?

[Sun Scorched]

Really? I've definitely had many situations where I start a player but only play him 18-20 minutes, and all alongside the star SG. Personally, I'd make sure that every single minute Aminu is in the game, Harden is in the game for sure, and every minute Parsons is in the game but Harden is not, Howard is in the game. So that way he's got a couple of combinations but every lineup played is strong no matter what.

Yeah - this would be a pretty savvy rotation and one that, at first blush, seems like it would lead to success.

[Marcos_Beck]

Really? I've definitely had many situations where I start a player but only play him 18-20 minutes, and all alongside the star SG. Personally, I'd make sure that every single minute Aminu is in the game, Harden is in the game for sure, and every minute Parsons is in the game but Harden is not, Howard is in the game. So that way he's got a couple of combinations but every lineup played is strong no matter what.

In this scenario, Parsons and Harden would still play close to 20 minutes (or more) together. I'm not saying this is bad, but they may end up playing the same amount of minutes together as Aminu and Harden. That's not what you want when you're starting Aminu to upgrade defensively.

Imagine Aminu plays the first 6 minutes in 1st and 3rd qt. That leaves him 6 minutes to play in 2nd and 4th quarter together. That means Parsons is closing games with Harden and Anderson for more offense, which is not ideal in my opinion.
Starting Aminu also hurts floor spacing.

I still think moving Parsons is the best option, if it was my team, of course, but the Rockets are clearly poised to succeed. Same for the Pelicans. That was a great trade.

[Myles]

Marcos, I assume you haven't seen Parsons defensive stats. 92.9% STOP, 0.8 PA/SF. I'd be fine with him closing out games at SF, with Terrence (0.7 PA/SF) Jones at PF.

Lin (who's also pretty good defensively), Harden (offense), Parsons (two way player), Jones (defense) and Howard (two way player) ending games? If anything right now the Rockets issues stem from Lin and Harden's offensive slump to start the season than their top 10 defense. Houston's defense is elite right now (7th in PPG allowed, 4th in fg% allowed, 8th in opponents turnovers).

[Dennis]

What I just noticed. It seems PA/SF changed a lot compared to oCSL. 0.8 now is like 1.0 during oCSL Times.

[Myles]

Might have to study it, but I think it is at least partially due to the overall league drop in FG%. Top team is shooting 46% right now, worst team is shooting 37.9%.

[Marcos_Beck]

Yeah, I ;don't have game access right now, so I'm basing my analysis on player's Ratinfs, which I shouldn't do hahaha
But yeah Dennis is right. Defenses for a whole lot better so PA/SF are better now too.

If Houston's defense is that good, than forget what I said.
Anyway, I have lots of problems to take care with my Bulls. Biz can handle that great problem pretty well.

[Dennis]

Yeah FG% might be the reason for it. Guys who are actually gooddefender are for example faverani with 0.6 or Curry with 0.5.
1.0 as PA/SF could be considered bad since the stats update. What is Crazy that guys like iggy (1.1) or Butler (1.0) are "bad" (or not Elite) defenders. (1.0, 1.1 where their PA/SF before last Nights SIM)
Defense ratings are really not worth much. Everything depends on the height/weight combination

Ps: best example fat lowry compared to for example dragic

=> I should write an artice about it

[Marcos_Beck]

Yeah FG% might be the reason for it. Guys who are actually gooddefender are for example faverani with 0.6 or Curry with 0.5.
1.0 as PA/SF could be considered bad since the stats update. What is Crazy that guys like iggy (1.1) or Butler (1.0) are "bad" defenders. (1.0, 1.1 where their PA/SF before last Nights SIM)
Defense ratings are really not worth much. Everything depends on the height/weight combination

Ps: best example fat lowry compared to for example dragic

=> I should write an artice about it

Man it feels so bad to not have access to advanced stats. Now I can see how much difference having DDS makes.

[dapralbe]

or shall I say houston exact rotation but with those players should be champion, is a tactic and a rotation that would come perfect them. has the potential to make two highly competitive teams see how much talent biz mix together.

[orangeparka]

Good move theoretically, though I always preferred having two old-school big men in this engine.

[Jestor]

Good move theoretically, though I always preferred having two old-school big men in this engine.

I think that's one of the things that's changed about 3, TBH. In 1 and 2, having two classic post-oriented big men racked up wins. 3 seems to be trending towards the NBA and favoring having a stretch 4 at the PF spot (which irritates me because of how much I hate stretch 4s but still)