Rockets introduce Brown Holiday? The media complains that the 4-for-2 plan is stupid: the price is far higher than the return

On May 20, NBA celebrity Bill Simmons mentioned a deal plan for the Rockets and the Celtics on the show. He suggested that the Rockets send VanVleet, Jabarry Smith Jr., Ethan and the 10th pick in the first round of 2025 in exchange for the Celtics' Jaylen Brown and Ju Holiday. In order to get rid of financial difficulties, the Celtics are indeed likely to trade Holiday in the offseason, or even send Brown away. This plan quickly caused heated discussion. The well-known retirement media Space City Scoop published an article to complain that the plan was stupid and gave the transaction rating: C-.

Space City Scoop said that any trade by the Rockets should be designed to improve the team's competitiveness. After a 52-win season, the team's goal must be to go further. Can this deal achieve this?

is theoretically OK, although it may not bring about a qualitative leap. The first thing to note is that in the 2024-25 season, Holiday's plus-negative data (0.7) is lower than VanVleet (0.9). Although Holiday is one of the best defensive guards in NBA history, he may not be as good as VanVleet on the offensive end - the latter himself is not an ordinary person on the defensive end.

Brown is the core bargaining chip in this deal, but is he worthy of these assets?

The advanced data never defines him as a player at the "top level in the league". Brown is an excellent shooting creator, but his three-point efficiency has been poor for many years and his ball-handling ability has been criticized. To get him, the Rockets are consuming their wing depth. If Zhu Holiday is just VanVleet's "substitution", then this price doesn't seem to be cost-effective.

More importantly, the Rockets cannot afford Brown's salary. Brown's annual salary is about $57 million, ranking fifth on the NBA salary list, and his contract will not expire in five years. If he is left in the lineup with Shin Kyung, Amen Thompson (and possibly Jaylen Green), and Ju Holiday at the same time, the salary space will soon be under tremendous pressure. The Rockets will have to break up the depth of the lineup that has been dependent on in recent years - this approach is only reasonable when introducing "superstars", and Brown obviously does not belong to this level.

He is certainly a very talented player, but the Celtics renewed his contract because they wanted to retain the core lineup for the championship, and in the Rockets' lineup, this contract is more like a burden.

Space City Scoop said the proposal was not completely absurd, but it was not far from each other. The reason why it barely passes is that it can indeed improve the Rockets' strength, but the price it pays is far higher than the reward. The Rockets shouldn't have considered such a deal at all - if the rumors were true, they could have had a better choice.

How do you evaluate such a transaction plan? Welcome to leave a message and express your opinions.