[Sledge187]

Daryl Morey is a genius. Gave basically a young Nick Johnson away for Lawson.

[BigDeem5]

First round pick

[Big Bear]

Get your Rockets futures in!!!!

[jjgold]

He is in rehab men

[TwoWays]

First and cap flex, for a guy that won't be their future pg anyways

[The Giant]

I would say this puts Houston in the four or five spot.

Let's not get ahead of ourselves. The guy is still a drunk.

[jjgold]

After Lawson's second DUI arrest in six months, market interest for him had been severely curbed, league sources said. Nevertheless, the Rockets have had a strong interest with him and were willing to take the risk of working to get Lawson the assistance he needs to become a top-level NBA point guard again. For the Nuggets, the 2016 first-round pick, Papanikolaou and Johnson deliver them back legitimate value on a deal for a player in a rehabilitation facility.
Lawson, 27, entered treatment for alcohol abuse last week after he was arrested on DUI charges in Los Angeles.

[rm18]

Houston is the favorite do not forget they played the playoffs without Montejeunas and Beverly two starters.

[jjgold]

Lawson is good

Houston going to be scoring machine

[seaborneq]

Who is Nick Johnson?

[jjgold]

Never heard of Nick Johnson

[jsdjason]

Rockets at 25/1 were already a ridiculous value. Then Morey goes and completely fleeces Denver for an elite scoring PG. The Rockets really gave up nothing of value. That 1st round pick will be 25th or lower. Those picks are worth less than say the first few picks of the 2nd round in most drafts because of the team friendly contracts you can offer to second round picks.

Think about this for a second. The Rockets have added Lawson, Beverley and Motiejunas to a team that was a few plays away from making the WCF a close series, and only lost Josh Smith from the rotation of players active in that series. The Rockets simply won't miss Smith's off the bench playmaking ability now that Lawson has arrived as the second play maker. They could use Lawson in a variety of ways, including bringing him off the bench as a 6th man to run the second unit and provide scoring when Harden is on the bench. The nosedive that the Houston offense took when Harden rested last year was their biggest problem.

On top of that they added Marcus Thornton to provide bench scoring and talented rookies Sam Dekker and Montrezl Harrell (possibly the steal of the draft) via the draft. Now it looks like they'll add Alan Williams (the steal of the undrafteds) and resign Jason Terry as 3rd PG and veteran leader to fill out the 15 man roster.

This team is stacked and takes a back seat to no one as far as contenders go. It's a 60+ win team as constructed. The ONLY real weakness I could see is rebounding at the 4, but both Dmo and Jones are young and improving year to year.

This team has DEPTH.

PG Lawson/Beverley/Terry
SG Harden/Brewer/Thornton
SF Ariza/Dekker/McDaniels
PF Motiejunas/Jones/Harrell/Alan Williams
C Howard/Capela

[rm18]

Who is Nick Johnson?

Dennis Johnson's son played at Arizona. Huge vertical not a ton of game though

[jsmithj88]

good pickup for sure
wonder what this will mean for beverly

[Ralphie Halves]

good pickup for sure
wonder what this will mean for beverly

Might still be starting if Lawson doesn't get his act together. Nuggets wanted him to wear an alcohol monitoring band. He said no.

Adding a scoring PG to a team that already has a good amount of scoring isn't always a great thing. Gotta let this one play out and see. I don't hate what the Nuggets did.

[Big Bear]

Who is Nick Johnson?

swaggy p?

[BigDeem5]

Lol at elite PG...

Guy isn't a top 12 pg

[Sledge187]

Lol at elite PG...

Guy isn't a top 12 pg

Which 12 pgs are better?

[Ralphie Halves]

Which 12 pgs are better?

IMO

Curry
Paul
Westbrook
Wall
Parker
Kyrie
Lowry
Lillard
Conley
Rose (when healthy)
Dragic
Teague

All 12 of those are easily better. I like Kemba Walker better too, but that one's debatable.

[unusialsusp5]

lawson better. ridiculously easy to quit drinking as opposed to other addictions> (gambling, drugs, etc.)

[jjgold]

Lawson way better than Rose and maybe more explosive than Teague

[IBetYou]

Nice steal by Morey, though I wouldn't call it genius. If someone offered you a millions bucks for a loaf of bread would you be a genius for accepting it?

As for Lawson, it's a bad sign when Vin Baker is offering you life advice. But he is a top 15 pg and that's no minor accomplishment. He played well last season so the talk of him being damaged is nonsense.

[jtoler]

Rockets at 25/1 were already a ridiculous value. Then Morey goes and completely fleeces Denver for an elite scoring PG. The Rockets really gave up nothing of value. That 1st round pick will be 25th or lower. Those picks are worth less than say the first few picks of the 2nd round in most drafts because of the team friendly contracts you can offer to second round picks.

Think about this for a second. The Rockets have added Lawson, Beverley and Motiejunas to a team that was a few plays away from making the WCF a close series, and only lost Josh Smith from the rotation of players active in that series. The Rockets simply won't miss Smith's off the bench playmaking ability now that Lawson has arrived as the second play maker. They could use Lawson in a variety of ways, including bringing him off the bench as a 6th man to run the second unit and provide scoring when Harden is on the bench. The nosedive that the Houston offense took when Harden rested last year was their biggest problem.

On top of that they added Marcus Thornton to provide bench scoring and talented rookies Sam Dekker and Montrezl Harrell (possibly the steal of the draft) via the draft. Now it looks like they'll add Alan Williams (the steal of the undrafteds) and resign Jason Terry as 3rd PG and veteran leader to fill out the 15 man roster.

This team is stacked and takes a back seat to no one as far as contenders go. It's a 60+ win team as constructed. The ONLY real weakness I could see is rebounding at the 4, but both Dmo and Jones are young and improving year to year.

This team has DEPTH.

PG Lawson/Beverley/Terry
SG Harden/Brewer/Thornton
SF Ariza/Dekker/McDaniels
PF Motiejunas/Jones/Harrell/Alan Williams
C Howard/Capela

You sound overly optimistic, why wouldn't the Nuggs pick be higher than 25? I think the Rockets will not get as far as they did this year.

[jtoler]

Lawson way better than Rose and maybe more explosive than Teague

lol

[jtoler]

Dennis Johnson's son played at Arizona. Huge vertical not a ton of game though

Nephew.

[CanuckG]

Rockets at 25/1 were already a ridiculous value. Then Morey goes and completely fleeces Denver for an elite scoring PG. The Rockets really gave up nothing of value. That 1st round pick will be 25th or lower. Those picks are worth less than say the first few picks of the 2nd round in most drafts because of the team friendly contracts you can offer to second round picks.

Think about this for a second. The Rockets have added Lawson, Beverley and Motiejunas to a team that was a few plays away from making the WCF a close series, and only lost Josh Smith from the rotation of players active in that series. The Rockets simply won't miss Smith's off the bench playmaking ability now that Lawson has arrived as the second play maker. They could use Lawson in a variety of ways, including bringing him off the bench as a 6th man to run the second unit and provide scoring when Harden is on the bench. The nosedive that the Houston offense took when Harden rested last year was their biggest problem.

On top of that they added Marcus Thornton to provide bench scoring and talented rookies Sam Dekker and Montrezl Harrell (possibly the steal of the draft) via the draft. Now it looks like they'll add Alan Williams (the steal of the undrafteds) and resign Jason Terry as 3rd PG and veteran leader to fill out the 15 man roster.

This team is stacked and takes a back seat to no one as far as contenders go. It's a 60+ win team as constructed. The ONLY real weakness I could see is rebounding at the 4, but both Dmo and Jones are young and improving year to year.

This team has DEPTH.

PG Lawson/Beverley/Terry
SG Harden/Brewer/Thornton
SF Ariza/Dekker/McDaniels
PF Motiejunas/Jones/Harrell/Alan Williams
C Howard/Capela

They're still poorly coached and can't play D. All I see are a bunch of chuckers.

[jsdjason]

They're still poorly coached and can't play D. All I see are a bunch of chuckers.

If they're a bunch of chuckers how did they finish Top 10 in offensive efficiency? And you don't think Lawson improves their offense?

Lawson is an elite SCORING PG; I'll say it again. Beverley is an elite defensive PG. I struggle to find a better 1-2 combo, maybe only Curry/Livingston. And if they want to go small ball you can play Beverley/Lawson/Harden together.

If you don't see how the Rockets have vastly improved this summer; I just don't get that. I mean, really Jason Terry was starting at PG in the WCF. They added two very good PGs and Motiejunas, who had developed into a very good stretch 4 when he got hurt, to that team. It's a 60+ win team and will challenge for #1 overall seed.

[jsdjason]

You sound overly optimistic, why wouldn't the Nuggs pick be higher than 25? I think the Rockets will not get as far as they did this year.

Why wouldn't they? 2nd best record last year with a mountain of injuries and you look at what they've added this summer. I struggle to find anymore than 5 teams that could possibly have a better record. GS, SAS, Cle, LAC. OKC is not a better overall team as constructed and Durant may not be the same. I honestly don't think San Antonio will be any better. They lost some good pieces to add Aldridge and their big 3 all got a year older. Don't think they have enough left in the tank for an 82 game schedule and then playoffs.

Next year it will again be between Golden State and Houston for the championship. Cleveland will still be good, but top to bottom Houston and GS are better teams.

[DiggityDaggityDo]

2 DUIs in the last 6 months. Why isn't this asshole in jail? They are waiting until he actually kills somebody while driving drunk?

[Ralphie Halves]

Houston doesn't chuck nearly as much as people think they do. Getting rid of Parsons was a good move too.

Nuggets had NO problem letting Lawson go for what some of you don't think was that much. That should tell you a lot right there.

And a shooting PG that isn't going to get as many scoring chances doesn't bode well either.

I can easily see this falling apart for Lawson and the Rockets.

[Ralphie Halves]

2 DUIs in the last 6 months. Why isn't this asshole in jail? They are waiting until he actually kills somebody while driving drunk?

As a Rams fan, I remember when Leonard Little DID kill somebody while driving drunk, then got another DUI soon after. Still had a few good years int he NFL after that. Pro sports just doesn't look at it the same way we do.

[RonPaul2008]

Houston is the favorite do not forget they played the playoffs without Montejeunas and Beverly two starters.

How could Golden State not be the favorite? Did they lose someone? I'm guessing you are a Rockets fan.

[jsdjason]

New tidbit: the 2nd year on Lawson is now non-guaranteed as a condition of the trade. So Lawson is now in a contract year essentially. He should be super motivated to produce. Worst case Houston now has a valuable expiring contract to use at the trade deadline. Morey absolutely fleeced Denver. None of the assets they got will amount to much and they actually helped the Rockets clear off Dorsey's guaranteed contract. Denver just wanted to be rid of this guy at any cost, so Houston swooped in for very little risk on their end.

[jsdjason]

Really good article on just how badly Denver got fleeced. http://grantland.com/the-triangle/ty...ch-in-houston/

[slacker00]

How could Golden State not be the favorite? Did they lose someone? I'm guessing you are a Rockets fan.

CLE & SA are the top 2 favs. HOU is the #6 fav @16-1, not bad odds if one thinks they are "the" favorite.