Free agency starts / reported signings (merged)

[Who]

F - Amen Thompson, Cam Whitmore
F - Jabari Smith Jr, Jae'Sean Tate
G - Jalen Green, Kenyon Martin Jr
G - Fred VanVleet, Kevin Porter Jr
C - Alpert Sengun, Jock Landale

I do not understand where Dillon Brooks is going to play. With that much money, they must be thinking of him starting at SF. So the Thompson twin goes to the bench. So Cam Whitmore is probably the odd man out there.

Even Kenyon Martin Jr is more of a small SF than a real SG. He doesn't have the skill-level of a SG. He has been better at SF. They basically have 5 small forwards (D Brooks, Thompson twin, Kenyon, Tate, Whitmore). Why spend $20mil a year locked down for 4 full years when you already have too many players at that exact position? And most of them are young guys who need to play in order to develop.

G - Fred VanVleet, Kevin Porter Jr, Patty Mills
G - Jalen Green, Kenyon Martin Jr
F - Dillon Brooks, Amen Thompson, Cam Whitmore
F - Jabari Smith Jr, Jae'Sean Tate
C - Alpert Sengun, Jock Landale

[Who]

Shams Charania
@ShamsCharania
Rockets are finalizing a deal to acquire Brooklyn’s Patty Mills via trade, sources tell me and @KellyIko
.

I think Mills is kaput. Just too small and vulnerable defensively. No longer able to add enough offensively to make up for his defensive limitations.

[CelticSooner]

Rocket fans are p---ed.

[Who]

Rocket fans are p---ed.

They must be crying out for the return of Daryl Morey right about now. This new GM is out of his mind. Just like their owner.

[gouki88]

What the heck are the Rockets doing?? Insane amount of $ tied up in VanVleet and Brooks. 4/80 for Brooks is worse than Strus’ deal by a long margin!!

Someone should get his agent in the HOF though. Next level hoodwink

[Roy H.]

Had this been posted?

After three seasons that were simultaneously exciting and underwhelming, Toppin, the eighth overall pick in 2020, will be traded to the Pacers for two second-round picks, the New York Daily News confirmed.

Toppin’s $6.8 million salary will be absorbed into Indiana’s cap space, giving the Knicks a trade exception and financial flexibility as they still try to sign Donte DiVincenzo in free agency.

[Who]

Indiana are sneaky good. Starting lineup still leaves some to be desired but their bench is awesome.

G - Haliburton, McConnell
G - Nembhard, Mathurin
F - Hield, Bruce Brown
F - J Walker, Obi Toppin
C - M Turner

I don't know who their backup center will be. Isaiah Jackson, Jalen Smith, Daniel Theis all candidates. I Jackson looks the favourite.

Indy got strong 3rd stringers as well with their draft picks Ben Sheppard and Julian Strawther. They also have Nesmith. Jordan Nwora. Lots of backup wings.

I don't know whether they will start Hield or Bruce Brown. Brown and Mathurin might be the best bench players at SG and at SF next season. Big advantage for Indy off the bench.

They could challenge for the 4th/5th seed next year with that depth. Hard to catch Philly or Milwaukee for the 3rd seed.

[scaryjerry]

What the heck are the Rockets doing?? Insane amount of $ tied up in VanVleet and Brooks. 4/80 for Brooks is worse than Strus’ deal by a long margin!!

Someone should get his agent in the HOF though. Next level hoodwink

Haha yeah, so much for this dude ending up in china…he’s laughing all the way to the bank making more in a year then everyone posting here combined will make in a lifetime

[Moranis]

Haha, that is a ridiculous contract for D Brooks. I am not sure any other team in the league would have given him the MLE. I was expecting him to get the minimum or close to it. Rockets vastly overpaid for a player who had little to no market for his services.

$20mil a year and for 4 years! Awful.

Not even 1-2yrs but 4 full years. Terrible.

Its a lot, but they desperately need any sort of defense on that team.

Brooks is clearly overpaid, but he is a very good defender, has been a net positive every year in Memphis, and was a starter playing big minutes on the 2nd best team in the West.  He doesn't turn it over eiether.  Shoots too much and definitely runs his mouth more than he should, but it isn't a  terrible deal or signing

[Who]

Knicks looking weak

Josh Hart is a weak starting wing player. He is a middle of the pack bench guy who got on a hot streak last year. Along with a hole in their starting lineup, their depth looks problematic.

G - Brunson, McBride
G - J Hart, Quickley
F - RJ Barrett
F - Randle
C - M Robinson, Hartenstein

Good backup center and guard in Quickley. Not sold on McBride. So they got 7 guys.

[Birdman]

F - Amen Thompson, Cam Whitmore
F - Jabari Smith Jr, Jae'Sean Tate
G - Jalen Green, Kenyon Martin Jr
G - Fred VanVleet, Kevin Porter Jr
C - Alpert Sengun, Jock Landale

I do not understand where Dillon Brooks is going to play. With that much money, they must be thinking of him starting at SF. So the Thompson twin goes to the bench. So Cam Whitmore is probably the odd man out there.

Even Kenyon Martin Jr is more of a small SF than a real SG. He doesn't have the skill-level of a SG. He has been better at SF. They basically have 5 small forwards (D Brooks, Thompson twin, Kenyon, Tate, Whitmore). Why spend $20mil a year locked down for 4 full years when you already have too many players at that exact position? And most of them are young guys who need to play in order to develop.

G - Fred VanVleet, Kevin Porter Jr, Patty Mills
G - Jalen Green, Kenyon Martin Jr
F - Dillon Brooks, Amen Thompson, Cam Whitmore
F - Jabari Smith Jr, Jae'Sean Tate
C - Alpert Sengun, Jock Landale

I like when you put new roster on teams that made moves..thanks

[scaryjerry]

Haha, that is a ridiculous contract for D Brooks. I am not sure any other team in the league would have given him the MLE. I was expecting him to get the minimum or close to it. Rockets vastly overpaid for a player who had little to no market for his services.

$20mil a year and for 4 years! Awful.

Not even 1-2yrs but 4 full years. Terrible.

Its a lot, but they desperately need any sort of defense on that team.

Brooks is clearly overpaid, but he is a very good defender, has been a net positive every year in Memphis, and was a starter playing big minutes on the 2nd best team in the West.  He doesn't turn it over eiether.  Shoots too much and definitely runs his mouth more than he should, but it isn't a  terrible deal or signing

Agreed. He’s drastically underrated by fans now because he dared try and talk to lebron and proceeded to choke but besides that I actually see Memphis adding smart and losing brooks as a lateral move or maybe a slight decline

[obnoxiousmime]

I don't really mind what Houston is doing at all. They want to change the culture and adding veteran PGs like VanVleet and Mills will go a long way towards that. It's not like Mills is going to be playing a huge on-court role or anything like that. Say what you want about Brooks, but he's the kind of tough guy they need to bring a focus back on defense. Maybe he's a knucklehead, but I'm sure they think Udoka has the ability to get him to stick with the program. The Landale deal is only guaranteed for the first year and it's not even for much annually, so there's some flexibility there. VanVleet's deal has a high AAV, but it's the years that are more important in terms of maintaining flexibility.

If you preferred they continue tanking, there may have been an argument there. I don't think the young players they've collected are necessarily that great compared to other young cores. However, the ownership clearly doesn't want to tank anymore and hiring Udoka/signing veteran leaders was the logical way to move forward. I'm not sure what moves people were expecting otherwise.

EDIT: Also, I'd like to add that prioritizing the signing of a guy with championship experience like VanVleet or getting a tough-ass defender like Brooks and not worrying about his 3 pt. pct or something like that is, quite frankly, characteristics you wish the Celtics would value more often with their acquisitions.

[PAOBoston]

I have no idea what the Rockets are doing. With FVV and Brooks, they gonna go after Harden? Like, are they rebuilding or what?

[Roy H.]

ESPN Sources: The Los Angeles Clippers are acquiring Houston Rockets forward K.J. Martin in a trade for two future second-round draft picks.

I wish we'd done that one.

Also, Westbrook back to the Clips.