The Rockets & Nuggets Crushed Free Agency | Open Floor

The Rockets & Nuggets Crushed Free Agency | Open Floor

Let’s look at some winners and losers uh from the first couple of days of free agency. And I’ll start here because the big winner for me is the Houston Rockets. Um you know, the Rockets, they’ve been transparent over the last few months. I was down there um in the early part of the year working on a story on Amed Thompson and I talked to Rockets officials about kind of what they they they were looking for out of this season and really the big thing was information. Like they were looking for data. uh they wanted to see what worked with this young group and what didn’t. Who played well together and who didn’t, what this team needed and what it didn’t. Um they were the number two seed in the Western Conference last year, but that was kind of house money they were playing with at that time. It was like, wow, we went from a team that was in what the playin last year to a team uh you know, now the second seed in the Western Conference. get beat in the first round, but you know, whatever that it wasn’t the year that they were hoping to contend for a championship. They weren’t ready for that yet. What they’ve done with that information that they gathered over the last uh couple of months is made moves that have made them measurably better. I mean, they go out and they get Kevin Durant. That that is exactly what they need. Kevin Durant pushing 37 years old is still
at a low price.
Yeah. Yeah. at a very low price. You know, just giving up the 10th overall pick in the draft, the Suns draft. Uh Malawatch, who I I just I don’t see it. I don’t see it with Malawatch. But that Phoenix is a conversation for another day. Um they get Kevin Durant, who even pushing 37 is still an elite scorer in the NBA. And I’m of the belief that if they had Kevin Durant on that team instead of Jaylen Green, they beat Golden State in the first round. Maybe they go even further. Like I think Kevin Durant is still that big a differencemaker. Um, they lose Dylan Brooks, but they replace him with Dorian Finny Smith on a four-year deal, about $53 million. We’ll see how much of that is is fully guaranteed. I’m not entirely sure. Um, he he’s kind of to me a less versatile uh but less volatile version of Dylan Brooks, if we can call him that. Uh, good player, still a good player. Used to be able to guard like one through four, now he’s kind of guarding like threes and fours, I think, at this stage, but still a legit three and D guy in this league. Uh, good signing. They signed Clint Capella, I guess, in case Stephen Adams goes down again. They bring Fred Van Vleet back on what was a team friendly deal. U, they have hit on hit right on everything, I think, with this team. They now have a team that looks like it should be at worst the third best team in the Western Conference next year, at least in terms of the playoff field, in terms of contenders. Oklahoma City’s at number one. We’re going to get to Denver. I think they’re right there at number two. But the Houston Rockets with the the additions they made, I I’m really impressed by what Raphael Stone that front office did in down Houston. What do you think?
100%. I I think I have them right now as the biggest challenger to the Thunder in the West.
You mentioned,
which is saying something because you are a a a Denver
and and we’re going to get we’re going to get to we’re going to get to my nuggets, I think, next here. But first of all, I don’t know what, you know, Fred Van Vet did did this team an incredible solid. I mean, obviously, he gets a little flexibility and and maybe an opportunity to make that some of the money he’s turning down and, you know, was it a great market from free agents this year, but for him to take that deal, I mean, they’re they’re well positioned. And beyond that, like you mentioned gathering data, they now have until February to gather more data. I think Clint Capella is someone who could be a trade chip for them down the line. Same with Stephen Adams. All the young guys that they had that they theoretically are saving for a potential Giannis pursuit, which is still in play. They still have, you know, Reed Shepard, Cam Whitmore, Tari E, a bunch of guys who are intriguing. A lot of picks. It’s just been a just a fantastic off seasonason for them top to bottom. I I agree. Huge winner. Um
Ray Shepard, by the way, uh who if you talk to people in Houston, they still believe that he’s a he’s an excellent player. He only played like what, like I think, look, 52 games last year, averaged four points. Like they believe there’s a a potential star in Reed Shepard. He was in the G- League a lot, but they believe that his year two, year three of Reed Shepard is going to be a lot better. Fred Vanvvel, like
I get it. He he did them a favor in a way, but was there really a market for Fred Vanble at $25 million per year after the year that he had? like Fred Van Vleet was never getting the third year of that uh of that team option. Like maybe there was some consideration of it if everything didn’t kind of go their way, but he was very unlikely to get the the full 40 million. Now he was guaranteed 50 over two to, you know, play as a starting point guard for a contender. So he’s getting a lot out of that deal as well. I I just think their depth is is really it’s really impressive now. And if Reed Shepard can step in, if Taren can take another step forward, they’ve got room for organic growth here. Like Jabari Smith is going to be better. Amen Thompson’s going to be better.
Durant’s going to make all those guys lives so much easier, too. I mean, Van Vleet now is not going to be forced to play bailout offense half the game. I I mean, Ammon Thompson’s life just got way easier. Uh it really is, I think, a home run off season for them clearly. But to that point, let’s let’s talk about the Denver Nuggets because I think they were my
they were my huge winner.
And you know, Chris, I think there were some people, you know, not necessarily in the organization, but I’d say people around the team who are a little bit nervous is maybe too strong, but curious to see how things would work out because they go for this big shakeup right before the end of the season, right? They fire Calvin Bu. They fire Michael Malone. And it looks like they recognize we need a major overall here. And then they kind of go internal for these hires. They promote David Adelman after he did a great job in the playoffs. They promote David Adam to the head job. Uh they hire from within for the front office. And I think some people may be worried, is this going to be more of the same? And the fact that their first move out of the gate is to trade Michael Porter Jr. someone who Josh Kroni kind of gave a vote of confidence to when he had that Michael Malone press conference. I thought that was a bold move. I thought that was a smart move. I think some people are looking at it like they gave up that first round pick to get off MPJ salary. I think Cam Johnson is an upgrade over Michael Porter Jr. in terms of what he can do as a movement shooter coming around handoffs. I think his basketball IQ is better. His defense is not great, but it’s definitely an improvement over Michael Porter Jr. Combine that with Bruce Brown, the institutional knowledge, he might not have the highs that Russell Westbrook gave them at times last year. He definitely will not have the lows. The Jonas Valentunis trade is like sneakily one of the most consequential moves of the offseason. I mean, their backup center in the playoffs last year was DeAndre Jordan. Like, he was getting minutes against the Clippers in the first round. That’s a huge upgrade over there. You add in Tim Hardway Jr. on the minimum. He is again, he’s a flawed player, but a knockdown three-point shooter, he is going to get the best looks of his life playing with Nicole Joic. And what’s funny about Denver is like every signing they make, those players just get a multiplier because they get to play with Joic and what he can do for them offensively. So I considering where they started, the salary position they were in, they had one tradable first, bumping up against the second apron to get themselves this level of flexibility, that alone is remarkable. But with how close they were to the Thunder last year, I mean, they played the Thunder last year. Michael Porter Jr.’s shoulders falling off.
Aaron Aaron Gordon didn’t have a hamstring by game seven. Uh they’re an incredible spot and I think they still have room. I I’m pulling up Bobby Marks here who’s doing yman’s work posting every team salary situation. They still have some of their tax mid level left. They still have some of the bananual exception left. They have another move to make if they’re willing to pay the tax. So
which really really
which they may not be. They they are not uh lavish spenders in Denver. Never had been which is a little weird given how much money the Kroni family has. But they um I I agree with everything you said there. Um I I am not going to slander Michael Porter Jr. I am not here for any Michael Porter Jr. slander. I mean the guy
champion a champion. No.
The guy helped him win a champion championship. Um and you know for all the talk about his back issues early in his career, dude played 77 games last year. He played 81 games the year before that. He can obviously play opposite Nicole Joic. I I think there there are reasons to believe that Cam Johnson could be a better fit. He’s not. Look, Michael Porter Jr. is not a good defender. In fact, he’s a bad defender. I have not yet seen anything from Cam Johnson to make me believe he’s a highlevel defender. So maybe he’s a little bit better, but I don’t know that he’s some kind of dramatic improvement on that end. He is a better playmaker. I think he averaged a careerhigh in assists last year in Brooklyn, like four something per game. So, you know, that adds another ingredient, but we have to see how Cam Johnson fits opposite Joic and Murray and Gordon, right? We know Porter Jr. could do it. We’re assuming that uh Cam Johnson could do it. But more importantly, like the biggest problem with the Nuggets last year was that they didn’t have anybody that Michael Malone trusted and to a lesser degree David Adelman trusted. like they were a fiveman unit with a bunch of other guys that occasionally got tossed into the mix like Russell Westbrook when he was playing well, Payton Watson when he was playing well. They didn’t have, you know, veterans that you can count on, you know, now they do. I mean, Bruce Brown just took his like what $40 million that he got in that new deal for winning a championship with Denver, disappeared into the basketball wilderness over the last couple of years, playing on three teams, getting moved around, renting apartments in Indiana, Toronto, and New Orleans. Uh now he goes back making minimum level money but he’s going to a team that he understands a coaching staff that with David Adam who was there under Michael Malone knows how to utilize him a star in Joic is comfortable playing off of like a locker room that he obviously fits into. I think that’s a great great pickup for the Denver Nuggets and a guy that will immediately
place some of the minutes that went to some of the young guys when Christian Brown was was out of the lineup. Tim Hardaway Jr. on a minimum contract. Phenomenal signing for Denver. I saw the Synergy Sports stats. Tim Hardway Jr. made 63% of his open spot up three-pointer attempts last season. You think he’s going to get a few of those right in Denver?
He’s going from a team with awful spacing to, you know, if he’s playing alongside Cam Johnson and Jamal Murray now all of a sudden the court is is just way more wide open for him than it’s ever been. Well, this is the thing. This is like contavius Cwell Pope when he went to Orlando was not the same shooter,
right? Because he didn’t have the same kind of room. Like you know, you play with Joic Murray and Porter Jr. all of a sudden like you’re getting wide open looks from the corner. Like Tim Hardaway Jr. I think is going to have a banner year uh playing for Denver and sliding right into that role. Like Valenunis good fit um kind of Jokic light in in a way like you know he’ll give you a little bit offensively. Doesn’t really do anything defensively. Can’t switch on anybody but like really need a good yoke. So you you just kind of it kind of is what it is there. But he gives you a big physical durable body that can play minutes and give Joic a break. Like he Joic had a lot played a lot of minutes last season. Um had a lot of stress on him offensively and defensively. Maybe Valenunis can take some of that stress away. I I love everything uh Denver has done. And look, maybe cross your fingers, one of these young guys that has not lived up to expectations, Payton Watson, Julian Straw,
I do wonder if Watson and Strawther, they each had like a moment in that Thunder series where it looked like it was coming together for them. They weren’t great for the whole series, but I wonder if you have to hope if you’re a Nuggets fan that unlocked something for them moving forward.
Yeah. All right. Well, Denver was my my other winner as well. The third winner I’ve got is the Atlanta Hawks. And u I mean what an outstanding, you know, few months on the job for Anie Salah and his front office in Atlanta who has I mean they have just won it feels like every trade and every transaction that they’ve been involved in. They trade for Christo Porzingis. They they benefit greatly from Boston waving the white flag and saying next season is
is over with. They signed Nquille Alexander Walker benefiting from Minnesota not having enough money and cap flexibility to go and sign him. They get Luke Canard, elite three-point shooter, should play really well opposite Trey Young. And they do that draft day deal with New Orleans where all right, they don’t they don’t have the opportunity to draft Derek Queen, who I am not big on. I’m just and I said this on the last show, I’m not a huge Derek Queen guy. And in exchange, they get a pick which could be a top five pick in next uh summer’s NBA draft. So, a a a phenomenal run for this Atlanta front office. And look, this really is, you know, a one-year experiment where it’s like, let’s see what Trey Young can do with real talent around him. We’re going to load up. We got Porzingis on an expiring contract. Um, Alexander Walker, good deal. We could always trade him if if it doesn’t go well this year. Luke Canard on a one-year deal as well. This is really I I look at it as sending a message to Trey Young that you know we haven’t put the right talent around you up until this point. Some of it’s worked, some of it hasn’t worked. You know, the some of the pieces we’ve we’ve acquired have been a mixed bag. Uh this is a group of players that Trey Young should thrive with. Like I love the fit of Jaylen Johnson and Chris Esporzingis. I love the fit of Chris Esporingis and Trey Young. I I think guys like Alexander Walker bring a defensive identity to that team. He can also make shots. Luke Canard, he can make shots. Like I just think they they’re pushing their chips in on Trey Young and saying, “Trey, you got one year in a crappy Eastern Conference to show us that you can be the leader of a conference winning team. How do you look at it?”
I man, I want to ask you a question at the end of this book because like can they win the East? Like I think that’s very much in play. You think about when they had the run to the conference finals and you know that was a weird season for of you know a variety of factors but what did they have? They had a great pick and roll partner for Trey Young and Clint Capella and they had a bunch of just like capable wings around him. Jaylen Johnson I thought was going to most improved last year before he got hurt. He was having a fantastic season.
He’s going to be an all-star next year. He’s going to be an all-star next year.
He’s really really good. I mean they have an opportunity to play Dyson Daniels. Nquille Alexander Walker, Jaylen Johnson all together like that I think is probably gonna be the best defense that they’ve had around
as a ball hawking defense all all game long.
It is going to be so good. I mean watching these last two postseasons Alexander Walker picking up guys full court. I I thought he was going to get more money this offseason. I thought he was going to be a guy that someone’s paying 20 million a year and I think he would have deserved it. That’s a great deal for them. Now that Porzingis has not been the same player since you coughed on him or like whatever it is that happened to him. So I need to ask you um you know I I am genuinely curious what your expectation is for him this year. I think you had the tweet that was like contractor Borzingis is going to ball out which I think I agree with that.
Um so that’s the one wild card here but even with that they have on Okongu coming off the bench presumably now. I think he’s always been a good young piece. They drafted a big new right. He’s a more of a forward tight. So, they have a lot of interesting pieces here. And to your point, like expiring deals, they have some movement. I’m more curious, where do you stack them in the East right now? Like better or worse than the Magic because I think I’m also really high on the Magic. Yeah, the Magic because the Magic’s backbone is their defense and because I believe even without any the addition that they made with Desmond Bane, they would have been better because the injuries killed the Magic last year. Like they were off to a great start the season before
uh before their guys got hurt, their front court got hurt.
Um I’d probably slot them behind the Magic. I’d slot them behind the Knicks. I’d slot them behind the Cavaliers for now till we see exactly what the Cavaliers are going to do
if there’s another move to to be made in Cleveland. But I I think they’re a top four team in the Eastern Conference. And I think that once you get into the playoffs,
they’re capable of beating all those teams. It’s not like there’s a team above them that’s like, well, you can’t touch them. You want to avoid them in the first round. Like they get,
you know, Cleveland in the first round or the second round that could beat them. Same thing with New York. Same thing with uh with Orlando. So, uh, you know, fully healthy, I’d probably slot them in at four right now in the Eastern Conference. Porzingis is is interesting. I I do think contract year Porzingis is real. Um, I saw it with my own eyes in in Washington. Washington, uh, brief stint down there. Uh, what do he averaged with the Wizards? 22.1 points, shot 37.
Kind of unreal that year.
Yeah, he had he had a good run. That was his first year there. second year he plays 65 games, averages 23 points, shoots 39% from three, almost 50% from the floor, goes to Boston, immediately gets a contract extension. It’s it’s worth noting that like, you know, he was reasonably healthy. You know, 57 games isn’t great in that first year in Boston, but I mean, he was pretty healthy during the year and helped the Celtics turn into what they were in the regular season. And his contributions, albeit, you know, in they were small, they were vital to the Celtics success. game one of the finals. He was unbelievable. And he is still at his best. Just a complete mismatch at the elbow. Right.
He’s he’s an ultimate matchup problem for almost every team in the league when he’s at his best. I mean, you can’t if you switch a smaller guy, to your point, he’ll shoot right over him at the elbow. Uh the pick and pop threes, I don’t know how you’re going to guard him and Trey Young if Forzingis is really firing with the the level of three-point shooting you’ll have between them. And who else is on floor? And we haven’t me mentioned Risach who I thought the second half of last year. He was like so anonymous the first half that I think a lot of people just stopped watching the hots and stopped paying attention to him and there was all this hype around you know Stefan Castle and all these people. He was really good the second half of the year. He’s a guy who can take I think a leap in his second season.
Yeah, I’m looking at his splits in the second half of the year. Post all-star he was up was about 15 points per game. that’s up about four. Uh shot 41% from three in the second half of the season. Shot almost 50% from the floor. So, if that is a sign of things to come, there’s no reason to believe it it isn’t. Like the biggest leap or one of the biggest leaps guys take is between that first and second year when they get all the information that comes with being a rookie a full season in the weight room working with coaches to figure out what you need to work on. I look, he’s he’s going to take a leap forward. So, there’s room for organic growth there as well. like Porzingis. I’m going to assume that a full off seasonason he’s going to get over whatever the hell he was dealing with. I have no idea what what was the root cause of whatever like I don’t even want to speculate on what some of the things that it could have been, but like whatever the the illness was that prevented him from being 100% during Boston’s playoff run, it was a huge problem for him for the Celtics. U I’m going to guess a full off season will probably resolve that. And if he’s healthy and you can get 65 games out of him and you can get a full playoff run, they’re a problem. They’re a team that’s going to compete for a top three spot probably in the Eastern Conference. And you know, who knows if how the chemistry comes together for there. And I love I love everything that Atlanta’s

Chris Mannix & Rohan Nadkarni break down the big winners of free agency including the Houston Rockets, Atlanta Hawks, Denver Nuggets, and Milwaukee Bucks