Why the Rockets have a decision to make this week on Ben McLemore
Last week, the Houston Rockets waived Ryan Anderson just days before his salary was set to pass his partial guarantee of $500,000.
In addition to freeing up a roster spot, the transaction limited the amount of future money and potential luxury tax payments that might have had to be made for a player who did not figure into the team’s longer-term plans. Payments up to the $500,000 guarantee were essentially a sunk cost once Anderson made the opening-day roster, but anything beyond that total needed to make sense on the merits of his on-court play.
By Sunday, they could have a similar decision to make with regards to 26-year-old swingman Ben McLemore, who is poised to exceed the $500,000 partial guarantee in his contract on Dec. 1, 2019.
It’s certainly not as easy of a decision with the younger McLemore as it was with Anderson. After all, the veteran forward never cracked the team’s rotation and only played in two games this season.
McLemore, on the other hand, has played in all 17 games for the Rockets (11-6) this year, and his minutes per game jumped from 7.3 in October to 24.2 in November. He even started four games at small forward when usual starter Danuel House Jr. was out due to injury. Both head coach Mike D’Antoni and superstar guard James Harden have praised McLemore at various points this season.
The issue for McLemore, however, is that his primary role — at least in theory — is a fairly replaceable one. In effect, he’s supposed to be the bench shooter for Houston in place of Gerald Green, who is lost for the 2019-20 season with a broken foot.
But despite getting numerous open looks off the attention drawn by Harden and Russell Westbrook, McLemore is shooting just 29.6% from three-point range on the season on 5.8 three-pointers per game. With 98 total attempts, that’s not an insignificant sample size, and it’s hard to justify significant minutes at that level for a team as dependent on three-pointers as D’Antoni’s Rockets. In his last four games, McLemore has had two games of 0-of-5 and 0-of-6 from three-point range.
By contrast, Green connected on 36.0% of his three-pointers over the last two seasons with the Rockets.
Internally, D’Antoni could consider giving some of McLemore’s time to young prospects Chris Clemons or Gary Clark — though neither would be a drop-in replacement for McLemore’s usual wing minutes. At 5-foot-9, Clemons is a half-foot shorter, while the 6-foot-6 Clark has primarily played in the NBA at power forward and even as a stretch center.
The simplest change could be an external signing, where several proven veteran wings are available. Keep in mind, there is precedent for D’Antoni’s Rockets to make such a change on the fly, given the in-season signings of Green two years ago and House and Austin Rivers last season.
After last Friday’s loss in Los Angeles, The Athletic‘s Kelly Iko wrote that the Rockets were not yet considering such a move.
But things can change quickly in the NBA. McLemore went 0-for-6 from long range in Sunday’s loss to the Mavs, which puts the Rockets on their longest losing streak of the year at three games.
Since Gordon isn’t expected back until late December, there could be a sense of urgency to do something sooner. With Harden on a historic scoring binge, teams are double-teaming him more frequently than ever, which makes it imperative that other players on the court with him take advantage of the resulting open shots and four-on-three situations.
Moreover, from a logistics perspective, this week could be an ideal opportunity to consider changes. In addition to Sunday being a key inflection point with McLemore’s contract, the Rockets are in Houston all week and have just one game (Wednesday versus Miami) between Sunday’s loss to Dallas and Saturday’s game versus Atlanta.
That means ample practice time for the Rockets, and an easier path for D’Antoni to tweak his rotation, should he and the team deem it necessary.
To be clear, the Rockets wouldn’t have to release McLemore to change their rotation. They already have an open roster spot after waiving Anderson, and there’s also the option of replacing his minutes internally with the likes of Clemons or Clark. But if Houston deems McLemore unworthy of rotation minutes, it may not be not worth having him occupy a roster spot and the potential luxury-tax payments on it down the line.
After all, the Rockets already have the NBA’s third-highest payroll for the 2019-20 season, and owner Tilman Fertitta hasn’t yet shown a willingness in his tenure to spend deep into the luxury tax.
The one exception could be if the Rockets felt they needed McLemore as salary filler for a potential in-season trade, since any new signing — unlike McLemore, who was signed in the offseason — could not be aggregated for trade purposes for 60 days.
There’s also the option, of course, that they continue using McLemore in the same role they have for weeks. It’s not as if there isn’t a case for it. Even with the losing streak, Houston’s current stretch of eight wins in 11 games (8-3, .727) would be good for a 60-win pace over a full season. In that run, McLemore has averaged nearly 25 minutes per game.
Despite his shooting struggles and occasional defensive issues — at 6-foot-3, he’s quite undersized relative to most small forwards — McLemore still grades out favorably by many metrics. For example, though he shot 0-of-6 in Sunday’s loss, his +4 in the plus/minus category during his 21 minutes was the only positive of any player in D’Antoni’s rotation.
For the season as a whole, McLemore’s defensive rating of 103.9 and overall net rating of 10.9 are both the best of any Rockets rotation player. However, those numbers would appear to fly in the face of both the percentages and the eye test. That’s the dilemma for D’Antoni and GM Daryl Morey as they try and assess his true value to the team.
As of Monday, it’s unclear what the final verdict will be. But the Rockets are home in Houston all week, with a stretch of four off days in five days. There’s a clear sense of urgency to turn things around after three straight losses, and they’re well aware that Sunday is a critical inflection point, as it pertains to McLemore’s contract. That makes this subject one to monitor closely as the week progresses.
上周,火箭在安德森超过50w保障之前裁掉他。
在腾出名额之外,这个操作限制了减少了未来的钱和潜在要付的奢侈税,这些钱本来可能要付给不在球队长期计划的球员。50w的保障部分在开赛后已经是沉没成本,但是他没有上场做出贡献,就没必要复出更多的钱。
到周日,球队需要给26岁的侧翼麦克勒莫做类似的决定。他会在2019.12.1超过50w的保障额度。
对于年轻的的麦克勒莫来说,做决定不像安德森那么容易。毕竟这名老将前锋没进入轮换而且只打了两场比赛。
另一方面来说,麦克勒莫打了球队今年全部17场比赛(11-6),他从10月场均7.3分钟提升到了11月场均24.2分钟。在豪斯因伤缺阵的时候作为首发打了四场。主教练德安东尼和超巨后卫哈登都对麦克勒莫这赛季的表现赞赏有加。
然而,麦克勒莫的主要问题是,至少在理论上他的角色是可替代的。实际上,他应该替代因脚伤缺阵19-20赛季的格林的替补射手角色。
尽管哈登和威少吸引了给常多的防守,麦克勒莫每场只能以29.6%的命中率有5.8个三分。总共98次出手,是一个不大的样本,对于德安东尼这样大量出手三分的体系来说样本太小。但是在过去四场中,有两场麦克勒莫投出了0-5和0-6。
相比之下,过去两个火箭赛季,格林投出了36.0%的三分命中率。
球队内部来说,德安东尼可能会考虑把麦克勒莫的时间给年轻的克莱蒙斯和克拉克,尽管他们都不能替代麦克勒莫通常的侧翼轮换时间。克莱蒙斯是一个只有175的射手。198的克拉克在NBA主要打四号位甚至是小球中锋。
最简单的改变可能是外部签约,市场上有不少证明过自己的老兵侧翼,请记住,德安东尼的火箭队有这种做改变的先例,两年前中期签下了格林,去年签下了小李和豪斯。
在周五洛杉矶的输球后,IKO说火箭没有考虑过签约自由球员。
但是在NBA一切变化都很快。周日输给独行侠的比赛中,麦克勒莫三分0-6,球队获得了赛季最长的三连败。
由于戈登要带12月末才会回来,球队会更有紧迫感来做点什么。随着哈登历史级的得分狂潮,各支球队比过去更多的包夹哈登,因此在场的其他球队需要更好的利用因此造成的空位投篮和4打3机会。
此外,从日程上看,这周也是做改变的合适机会。除了周日是麦克勒莫合同的时间点外,球队这周都在休斯顿,周日输给达拉斯到下周六打老鹰之间,只有周三打热火一场比赛。
这意味着球队有更多训练时间,如果有必要的话德安东尼可以更方便的调整轮换。
需要澄清的是,球队不一定要裁掉麦克勒莫来改变阵容,在裁掉安德森之后已经有空缺名额了。而且他们还可以在球队内部用克莱蒙斯或者克拉克来替代时间。但是如果球队认为麦克勒莫不值得一个轮换位置,他们可能会裁掉了他来腾出名额,以及节省潜在的奢侈税。
毕竟,球队现在有全联盟第三高的工资表,而且老板费尔蒂塔还没有明确表现出交税的意愿。
有一个例外可能是,球队可能把他当做季中交易的潜在薪金配平这,与休赛期签约的麦克勒莫不用,新签约的球员60天内不能被交易。
当然还有一个选择是球队仍然让麦克勒莫在数周中担任一样的角色。这并不急着做决定,即使最近连败,最近11场比赛之前也有8连胜(8-3.727),维持这样的胜率整个赛季也有60胜,这期间麦克勒莫场均接近25分钟。
尽管他的投射挣扎,而且在他191的身高下偶尔会出现防守问题,他的身材对于大多数小前锋来说还是偏小。麦克勒莫在许多指标上仍然不错,比如,在周日的失利中他0-6,但是21分钟内+4的正负值是轮换球员中最高的。
整个赛季来说,麦克勒莫在场防守效率是103.9,净胜10.9,这是轮换球员中是最好的。但是这和观感完全不一致,对于德安东尼和莫雷来说,评估他对团队的真正价值是一个两难选择。
截止周一,最终会怎么决定还不清楚,但是火箭整个星期都在休斯顿,五天内会休息四天。三连败后迫切扭转局面。因为麦克勒莫的合同他们很青州周日是个关键节点。这使得这一周都会密切关注这一主题。
Last week, the Houston Rockets waived Ryan Anderson just days before his salary was set to pass his partial guarantee of $500,000.
In addition to freeing up a roster spot, the transaction limited the amount of future money and potential luxury tax payments that might have had to be made for a player who did not figure into the team’s longer-term plans. Payments up to the $500,000 guarantee were essentially a sunk cost once Anderson made the opening-day roster, but anything beyond that total needed to make sense on the merits of his on-court play.
By Sunday, they could have a similar decision to make with regards to 26-year-old swingman Ben McLemore, who is poised to exceed the $500,000 partial guarantee in his contract on Dec. 1, 2019.
It’s certainly not as easy of a decision with the younger McLemore as it was with Anderson. After all, the veteran forward never cracked the team’s rotation and only played in two games this season.
McLemore, on the other hand, has played in all 17 games for the Rockets (11-6) this year, and his minutes per game jumped from 7.3 in October to 24.2 in November. He even started four games at small forward when usual starter Danuel House Jr. was out due to injury. Both head coach Mike D’Antoni and superstar guard James Harden have praised McLemore at various points this season.
The issue for McLemore, however, is that his primary role — at least in theory — is a fairly replaceable one. In effect, he’s supposed to be the bench shooter for Houston in place of Gerald Green, who is lost for the 2019-20 season with a broken foot.
But despite getting numerous open looks off the attention drawn by Harden and Russell Westbrook, McLemore is shooting just 29.6% from three-point range on the season on 5.8 three-pointers per game. With 98 total attempts, that’s not an insignificant sample size, and it’s hard to justify significant minutes at that level for a team as dependent on three-pointers as D’Antoni’s Rockets. In his last four games, McLemore has had two games of 0-of-5 and 0-of-6 from three-point range.
By contrast, Green connected on 36.0% of his three-pointers over the last two seasons with the Rockets.
Internally, D’Antoni could consider giving some of McLemore’s time to young prospects Chris Clemons or Gary Clark — though neither would be a drop-in replacement for McLemore’s usual wing minutes. At 5-foot-9, Clemons is a half-foot shorter, while the 6-foot-6 Clark has primarily played in the NBA at power forward and even as a stretch center.
The simplest change could be an external signing, where several proven veteran wings are available. Keep in mind, there is precedent for D’Antoni’s Rockets to make such a change on the fly, given the in-season signings of Green two years ago and House and Austin Rivers last season.
After last Friday’s loss in Los Angeles, The Athletic‘s Kelly Iko wrote that the Rockets were not yet considering such a move.
But things can change quickly in the NBA. McLemore went 0-for-6 from long range in Sunday’s loss to the Mavs, which puts the Rockets on their longest losing streak of the year at three games.
Since Gordon isn’t expected back until late December, there could be a sense of urgency to do something sooner. With Harden on a historic scoring binge, teams are double-teaming him more frequently than ever, which makes it imperative that other players on the court with him take advantage of the resulting open shots and four-on-three situations.
Moreover, from a logistics perspective, this week could be an ideal opportunity to consider changes. In addition to Sunday being a key inflection point with McLemore’s contract, the Rockets are in Houston all week and have just one game (Wednesday versus Miami) between Sunday’s loss to Dallas and Saturday’s game versus Atlanta.
That means ample practice time for the Rockets, and an easier path for D’Antoni to tweak his rotation, should he and the team deem it necessary.
To be clear, the Rockets wouldn’t have to release McLemore to change their rotation. They already have an open roster spot after waiving Anderson, and there’s also the option of replacing his minutes internally with the likes of Clemons or Clark. But if Houston deems McLemore unworthy of rotation minutes, it may not be not worth having him occupy a roster spot and the potential luxury-tax payments on it down the line.
After all, the Rockets already have the NBA’s third-highest payroll for the 2019-20 season, and owner Tilman Fertitta hasn’t yet shown a willingness in his tenure to spend deep into the luxury tax.
The one exception could be if the Rockets felt they needed McLemore as salary filler for a potential in-season trade, since any new signing — unlike McLemore, who was signed in the offseason — could not be aggregated for trade purposes for 60 days.
There’s also the option, of course, that they continue using McLemore in the same role they have for weeks. It’s not as if there isn’t a case for it. Even with the losing streak, Houston’s current stretch of eight wins in 11 games (8-3, .727) would be good for a 60-win pace over a full season. In that run, McLemore has averaged nearly 25 minutes per game.
Despite his shooting struggles and occasional defensive issues — at 6-foot-3, he’s quite undersized relative to most small forwards — McLemore still grades out favorably by many metrics. For example, though he shot 0-of-6 in Sunday’s loss, his +4 in the plus/minus category during his 21 minutes was the only positive of any player in D’Antoni’s rotation.
For the season as a whole, McLemore’s defensive rating of 103.9 and overall net rating of 10.9 are both the best of any Rockets rotation player. However, those numbers would appear to fly in the face of both the percentages and the eye test. That’s the dilemma for D’Antoni and GM Daryl Morey as they try and assess his true value to the team.
As of Monday, it’s unclear what the final verdict will be. But the Rockets are home in Houston all week, with a stretch of four off days in five days. There’s a clear sense of urgency to turn things around after three straight losses, and they’re well aware that Sunday is a critical inflection point, as it pertains to McLemore’s contract. That makes this subject one to monitor closely as the week progresses.
上周,火箭在安德森超过50w保障之前裁掉他。
在腾出名额之外,这个操作限制了减少了未来的钱和潜在要付的奢侈税,这些钱本来可能要付给不在球队长期计划的球员。50w的保障部分在开赛后已经是沉没成本,但是他没有上场做出贡献,就没必要复出更多的钱。
到周日,球队需要给26岁的侧翼麦克勒莫做类似的决定。他会在2019.12.1超过50w的保障额度。
对于年轻的的麦克勒莫来说,做决定不像安德森那么容易。毕竟这名老将前锋没进入轮换而且只打了两场比赛。
另一方面来说,麦克勒莫打了球队今年全部17场比赛(11-6),他从10月场均7.3分钟提升到了11月场均24.2分钟。在豪斯因伤缺阵的时候作为首发打了四场。主教练德安东尼和超巨后卫哈登都对麦克勒莫这赛季的表现赞赏有加。
然而,麦克勒莫的主要问题是,至少在理论上他的角色是可替代的。实际上,他应该替代因脚伤缺阵19-20赛季的格林的替补射手角色。
尽管哈登和威少吸引了给常多的防守,麦克勒莫每场只能以29.6%的命中率有5.8个三分。总共98次出手,是一个不大的样本,对于德安东尼这样大量出手三分的体系来说样本太小。但是在过去四场中,有两场麦克勒莫投出了0-5和0-6。
相比之下,过去两个火箭赛季,格林投出了36.0%的三分命中率。
球队内部来说,德安东尼可能会考虑把麦克勒莫的时间给年轻的克莱蒙斯和克拉克,尽管他们都不能替代麦克勒莫通常的侧翼轮换时间。克莱蒙斯是一个只有175的射手。198的克拉克在NBA主要打四号位甚至是小球中锋。
最简单的改变可能是外部签约,市场上有不少证明过自己的老兵侧翼,请记住,德安东尼的火箭队有这种做改变的先例,两年前中期签下了格林,去年签下了小李和豪斯。
在周五洛杉矶的输球后,IKO说火箭没有考虑过签约自由球员。
但是在NBA一切变化都很快。周日输给独行侠的比赛中,麦克勒莫三分0-6,球队获得了赛季最长的三连败。
由于戈登要带12月末才会回来,球队会更有紧迫感来做点什么。随着哈登历史级的得分狂潮,各支球队比过去更多的包夹哈登,因此在场的其他球队需要更好的利用因此造成的空位投篮和4打3机会。
此外,从日程上看,这周也是做改变的合适机会。除了周日是麦克勒莫合同的时间点外,球队这周都在休斯顿,周日输给达拉斯到下周六打老鹰之间,只有周三打热火一场比赛。
这意味着球队有更多训练时间,如果有必要的话德安东尼可以更方便的调整轮换。
需要澄清的是,球队不一定要裁掉麦克勒莫来改变阵容,在裁掉安德森之后已经有空缺名额了。而且他们还可以在球队内部用克莱蒙斯或者克拉克来替代时间。但是如果球队认为麦克勒莫不值得一个轮换位置,他们可能会裁掉了他来腾出名额,以及节省潜在的奢侈税。
毕竟,球队现在有全联盟第三高的工资表,而且老板费尔蒂塔还没有明确表现出交税的意愿。
有一个例外可能是,球队可能把他当做季中交易的潜在薪金配平这,与休赛期签约的麦克勒莫不用,新签约的球员60天内不能被交易。
当然还有一个选择是球队仍然让麦克勒莫在数周中担任一样的角色。这并不急着做决定,即使最近连败,最近11场比赛之前也有8连胜(8-3.727),维持这样的胜率整个赛季也有60胜,这期间麦克勒莫场均接近25分钟。
尽管他的投射挣扎,而且在他191的身高下偶尔会出现防守问题,他的身材对于大多数小前锋来说还是偏小。麦克勒莫在许多指标上仍然不错,比如,在周日的失利中他0-6,但是21分钟内+4的正负值是轮换球员中最高的。
整个赛季来说,麦克勒莫在场防守效率是103.9,净胜10.9,这是轮换球员中是最好的。但是这和观感完全不一致,对于德安东尼和莫雷来说,评估他对团队的真正价值是一个两难选择。
截止周一,最终会怎么决定还不清楚,但是火箭整个星期都在休斯顿,五天内会休息四天。三连败后迫切扭转局面。因为麦克勒莫的合同他们很青州周日是个关键节点。这使得这一周都会密切关注这一主题。