Rockets Complete Big 3 With DMC, Say Harden Will Play PG

[KW]

Cousins Trade Sparks Optimism In Rockets Nation

It had been rumored for weeks that the Rockets were looking to make a splash, somewhere, somehow, sometime, with someone. Rumors swirled about a package deal involving starters Chandler Parsons and Jeremy Lin, backup Patrick Beverley, and several picks being shopped around to a good portion of the league over the last few weeks. This is how Cousins became a Rocket. Sacramento Kings GM bt and Houston Rockets GM BizGilwalker agreed to a trade late last night, sending the Kings star center Demarcus Cousins, along with reserves Ray McCallum, Reggie Evans, and Travis Outlaw, to the Rockets for Parsons, Lin, and Beverley, along with five picks: a 2014 1st from Denver, a 2014 2nd from NY, a 2015 1st from New Orleans, a 2015 2nd from New York, and Houston's own 2016 1st.

It's true, we gave up an awful lot, but the talent Demarcus has is truly special. We've got two of the top big men in the CSL and get to pair them with an all-star scoring guard, while still having a bench that can take some pressure off of them. We're looking to win a title, and Sacramento now has a ton of assets that should set up a beautiful rebuilding situation. It was a win-win both ways.

Gilwalker was not in the least bit worried about the downtick in Cousins' numbers this season, stating that Cousins has the ability to play off of Howard on both ends of the floor, lessening the pressure both ways, and truly making the paint a formidable place for an opponent.

Gilwalker also revealed that head coach Phil Jackson had made up his mind that he was going to start All-Star shooting guard James Harden at the point guard position. Jackson stated that Harden's passing ability is by far the best on the roster and that he wanted to utilize the size of Granger and Aminu on the wings together.

Harden is having the highest scoring season of his career at 26.0 points per game, and is also averaging over 5 assists and nearly 5 rebounds a game. It remains to be seen how much his already high amount of turnovers (3.5 per game) increases, but putting Harden, a lethal scorer, and a terrific passer (the only non-point guard with a higher pass rating is Lebron James) at the point guard position, poses a ton of threats. He's bigger and stronger than just about any other point guard which will prove helpful on both ends of the floor, drives relentlessly to the basket, and lives for drawing fouls, getting himself to the line, and attempting to limit the impact of opposing floor generals.

Harden will not play full-time point guard, according to BizGilwalker, who noted that trade acquisitions Brian Roberts, Darren Collison, and Ray McCallum are all solid point guards that deserve minutes. Collison currently boasts a ridiculous 8.5:1 assist to turnover ratio on the season and figures to be the main backup at the point guard position.

Phil Jackson also informed BizGilwalker that he did not want any member of the main rotation traded any time soon, stating that the star trio would need time to gel. The young Rockets GM nodded immediately and declared, "The only way anybody's getting traded is if Kevin Durant is walking through that door." Phil Jackson expressed his pleasure with GM, saying, "I've coached lesser teams to titles, let's do this shit."

[Marcos_Beck]

Well..

That article should be named "James Harden set to break league record in turnovers"

He's 6'5 which is not the ideal height for PGs, plus he's 218 and isn't a good defender overall. His Stop% should be atrocious against quicker PGs. I just don't know about this move.

I want to see a small sample of what can happen to your team to see if that deal was good for you.

[orangeparka]

Why not start Collison? Harden at PG will not work IMO.

That Terrence Jones trade is looking like a godsend right now BTW. Collison is good enough to start.

IMO great move despite what some peeps are saying. For me, you always consolidate if you can, especially when you have the luxury of starting with a ton of depth/talent. No-brainer for me.

Guys like Lin and Parsons are good but replaceable. Even if Cousins doesn't work out that's a HUGE trade chip down the line.

[dapralbe]

With a pg with steal and defense and for example zona 10 you are dead, IMO

[lakeshowak7]

I think you may have had been better off adding a wing scorer to your roster. You're bringing back the "twin towers" mantra, to a lesser degree of course, but hopefully it works out and it becomes a story line lol. We're missing those here right now.

[WillyJakkz]

Yeah I agree wholeheartedly you make the trade to get Cousins considering the cost which is mainly Parsons late picks pretty much for Boogie, just saying Houston had a great looking team once they got Ryno.

That said their outlook is way better and I could even see Howard being moved for a star PG (which I would think is the logc behind this move eventually since he's the oldest core player) so the Rockets'll look like star PG Harden Aminu Ryno Cousins, but I could be wrong, really wrong.

Great trade for Houston.

[Dennis]

Cant see the Cousins - Howard - Harden PG fit yet.. Like Willy said the Lin, Harden, Parson, Ryno, Howard core was a really great one. Maybe an upgrade at PG and this team would have been fantastic.
But maybe Im wrong. We will see.

[HiGrade]

I would have to agree with OP a bit on this one...out of the gate, I would run Collison-Harden-Aminu-Cousins-Dwight. Otherwise you say you're putting Granger as a starter and that is a huge mistake. If you want to make the most of your Big 3's scoring, then Collison needs to be your point guard.

[Jake0890]

The rebounding of DMC and Dwight is just going to be unstoppable, but I'm not entirely sure how they'll work together.

As lakeshow said, if I was you, I might have gone after another wing and let Dwight do his thing down low when you already have a perfect fit in Ryno next to him.

[GreenBear]

Harden has very similar Passing/Handling ratings to Bledsoe, so expect ~4.5 TOs/game (which is what Bledsoe is averaging). But it sounds like you're already expecting that. The rest of his offense should be fine. He'll score a ton of points just fine, and he'll have a good amount of assists (especially with Howard and Cousins to dish to). I'd be more worried about the defense though, to be honest. He's only mediocre defensively, and add in that he's oversized for PG, and he'll have serious problems against good PGs.

That being said, it's definitely worth experimenting. Plenty of time to tinker with the lineup and try Collison as a starter or make a trade if necessary.

[Jestor]

Yeah, Harden at PG is going to be a disaster. 59 handling is mediocre even by SG standards. At PG? Hello rapey time.

[Dennis]

Trade me Howard for Rondo, np. Will be done quick man

[WillyJakkz]

Put some more thought into it after reading the reasoning for the trade, the lineup you have left, and my intial fervor over the trade and logically I get it moving forward with a younger core and all but I've done a complete 180 on this deal and I don't like what happened to this Rockets team.

The overall reason for playing in a sim league and being the GM of a team is to win a championship (I would hope), that's the ultimate overall goal and if one can build a dynasty then kudos to the GM, you had a team playing very excellent with basically one key move which was adding Ryno, then the Clippers trade was pretty decent as well but overall you had just gained ground and have now overtaken the Mavs for the Division lead and don't see any team taking it from you, you looked like the favorites coming outta the West and highly likely eventual champs (though obviously arguable) and gaining Cousins who is good with potential to be great with a low IQ for what you got him for was a steal but not worth a chance at a title from my perspective.

I guess you didn't like your team as much and want to build it how you like (which is also the purpose of GM'ing a team) but I think you also may have backed yourself into a corner as your only real trade chip left are 2 huge ones in Howard and Harden you obviously wanna upgrade your PG spot OR get a game changing SF if you keep Collison as the starter and the trade off now of Howard or Harden is gonna be huge cause as dapralbe stated teams are gonna zone you like crazy and it's gonna be difficult to spread the floor now with Parsons and Lin gone as Ryno is the only remaining shooting threat and the 2 of them combined may have made for a better team than adding Cousins to the mix.

[KW]

Put some more thought into it after reading the reasoning for the trade, the lineup you have left, and my intial fervor over the trade and logically I get it moving forward with a younger core and all but I've done a complete 180 on this deal and I don't like what happened to this Rockets team.

The overall reason for playing in a sim league and being the GM of a team is to win a championship (I would hope), that's the ultimate overall goal and if one can build a dynasty then kudos to the GM, you had a team playing very excellent with basically one key move which was adding Ryno, then the Clippers trade was pretty decent as well but overall you had just gained ground and have now overtaken the Mavs for the Division lead and don't see any team taking it from you, you looked like the favorites coming outta the West and highly likely eventual champs (though obviously arguable) and gaining Cousins who is good with potential to be great with a low IQ for what you got him for was a steal but not worth a chance at a title from my perspective.

I guess you didn't like your team as much and want to build it how you like (which is also the purpose of GM'ing a team) but I think you also may have backed yourself into a corner as your only real trade chip left are 2 huge ones in Howard and Harden you obviously wanna upgrade your PG spot OR get a game changing SF if you keep Collison as the starter and the trade off now of Howard or Harden is gonna be huge cause as dapralbe stated teams are gonna zone you like crazy and it's gonna be difficult to spread the floor now with Parsons and Lin gone as Ryno is the only remaining shooting threat and the 2 of them combined may have made for a better team than adding Cousins to the mix.

By the trade deadline, I will have the following pieces to use in trades: Granger, Anderson, Collison, Aminu, McCallum, and a slew of role players and 2nd round picks (and of course Harden, Cousins, and Howard if something is absurd enough to make me trade one). Until these pieces are unrestricted, there isn't much I can trade- Motiejunas is the only trade-able non-star left on the roster- and it's just fine right now, since I'm going to sit back and watch this team play for a while.

[KW]

Yeah, Harden at PG is going to be a disaster. 59 handling is mediocre even by SG standards. At PG? Hello rapey time.

We'll see how it goes. I'll be monitoring it closely, and if this doesn't appear to work, then I'll probably insert Collison or Roberts as the starter and then try to make a move for a better PG closer to the deadline.

[WillyJakkz]

Put some more thought into it after reading the reasoning for the trade, the lineup you have left, and my intial fervor over the trade and logically I get it moving forward with a younger core and all but I've done a complete 180 on this deal and I don't like what happened to this Rockets team.

The overall reason for playing in a sim league and being the GM of a team is to win a championship (I would hope), that's the ultimate overall goal and if one can build a dynasty then kudos to the GM, you had a team playing very excellent with basically one key move which was adding Ryno, then the Clippers trade was pretty decent as well but overall you had just gained ground and have now overtaken the Mavs for the Division lead and don't see any team taking it from you, you looked like the favorites coming outta the West and highly likely eventual champs (though obviously arguable) and gaining Cousins who is good with potential to be great with a low IQ for what you got him for was a steal but not worth a chance at a title from my perspective.

I guess you didn't like your team as much and want to build it how you like (which is also the purpose of GM'ing a team) but I think you also may have backed yourself into a corner as your only real trade chip left are 2 huge ones in Howard and Harden you obviously wanna upgrade your PG spot OR get a game changing SF if you keep Collison as the starter and the trade off now of Howard or Harden is gonna be huge cause as dapralbe stated teams are gonna zone you like crazy and it's gonna be difficult to spread the floor now with Parsons and Lin gone as Ryno is the only remaining shooting threat and the 2 of them combined may have made for a better team than adding Cousins to the mix.

By the trade deadline, I will have the following pieces to use in trades: Granger, Anderson, Collison, Aminu, McCallum, and a slew of role players and 2nd round picks (and of course Harden, Cousins, and Howard if something is absurd enough to make me trade one). Until these pieces are unrestricted, there isn't much I can trade- Motiejunas is the only trade-able non-star left on the roster- and it's just fine right now, since I'm going to sit back and watch this team play for a while.

Well I'm definitely pulling for you, it just may be my attachment to the ballclub as I worked feverishly without having Howard on the roster when oCSL first started to build them into a true contender and seeing you get Ryno in one move instantly legitimized them to what I thought was a winner and perennial powerhouse.

They may actually be better with Cousins as I truly don't know, just going by my initial love for the team you built.

[WillyJakkz]

This trade led to the experiment of Harden playing PG (among other positions) which soon after created a monster of a player.

Took alot of heat for the change (from myself included in the following seasons) but the persistance paid off and led to a title...funny how things work out.

I womder how things play out if you would've just started Collison at PG amd kept Harden SG as suggested?

Collison Harden Aminu Cousins Howard...

[KW]

This trade led to the experiment of Harden playing PG (among other positions) which soon after created a monster of a player.

Took alot of heat for the change (from myself included in the following seasons) but the persistance paid off and led to a title...funny how things work out.

I womder how things play out if you would've just started Collison at PG amd kept Harden SG as suggested?

Collison Harden Aminu Cousins Howard...

eh, maybe we make the playoffs (we were only 1 game back) maybe we don't. Cousins/Dwight was a disastrous pairing. Two heavy high-usage bigs that don't do much of anything well outside the paint.

I regret nothing about this trade, because I was able to trade Cousins for Iguodala and Oladipo after the season ended, Iguodala has been critical to our success, and Oladipo (along with David Lee who had been acquired for peanuts) was traded for Kenneth Faried.

[emplep7]

Its pretty cool looking at these articles from a couple seasons ago and seeing how things played out.

[Dennis]

It's crazy that this article was posted two reallife years ago, lol. Was this before or after the downtime? I think before, right?