Another deadline move? Or is Morey done until summer?

That would be a great trade season for Morey!

 

You're foolish if you think that we're going to trade Nene, and doubly so if you think that he's getting paid market value. Al Jefferson got 3 years/$30M, and they're putting up very similar season averages. Now, I definitely think that Jefferson is getting overpaid, and he's also two years younger than Nene. But, I think it's a similar enough comparison of age and ability to suggest that Nene could have gotten more than the $2.98M we're paying him.

And it's not like Nene came into this season looking washed up -- this isn't an Elton Brand/Anderson Varejao situation. Hell, Drew Gooden resigned with the Wizards for $3.3M two seasons ago, coming off of a much less productive season. Nene definitely took a pay cut to come here, and it would look very bad on Morey to abuse that by flipping him mid-season. Especially with how well Nene has been playing lately.

 

I would expect something like KJ and a 2nd rounder for Kosta Kufos.

 

Rockets are most likely done unless someone is knocking on his Door for ariza

 

Harden /Noel p n r would be nasty af!

Noel is explosive!

 

If we could ship the remaining scrubs KJ, Anus and someone else or a pick for a big who can rebound the ball, that would be a great end to the deadline

 

I'd be SO down for that but his salary will prevent this trade.

 

It'd be crazy to see Anderson moved with a 2nd and other fillers to get Chandler and Galinari or Barton in return. Go big or go home.

 

You'd have to include Ennis and another player like WIltjer to make the money work.

Koufos is a good fit for the Rockets style, but at this point I'm not sure adding him is worth it unless you are dealing another center.

Capela, Nene and Harrell all play minutes at center. Koufos would upgrade some of those minutes, but how much? And is it worth the price plus the issue of having him on your books next year?

To me Koufos makes sense really only if you are dealing out Capela or maybe Harrell.

With the roster the way it is, there might actually be more value in KJ playing 5 minutes here or there than adding a fourth center.

 

The fundamentals of that trade would be good obviously as we upgrade, but there's a lot of issues with it.

1) Why would Denver want that deal?
2) There is definitely a hit to your credibility with agents if you deal a guy you just signed that picked you over higher offers. We are building a situation that guys "want to come to" because of the offense. It would be nice to go into the offseason with none of the "ASSETS!!!!1" nonsense that the media likes to throw at Morey (that somehow never gets slapped on other teams. Hmmmmm)

 

We addressed one glaring weakness with Sweet Lou. A legit playmaker outside of Harden and an improving Bev. Gordon does not create much for others off the dribble, but he does drive and score.

The other weakness is the length/strength combo in the front court. We either have length but no strength (Capela) or strength but no length (Nene and Montrezl). Nene is the closest we have, but he is flat-footed at his age. He relies on his veteran savvy to make plays.

If we can land one of the following without giving up a primary rotation piece, I'd feel a lot better than I already do about the Rockets in the playoffs.

Robin Lopez
His demeanor reminds me so much of Tim Duncan. Same with the aesthetics of his game. Boring, yet effective due to his BBIQ. He's improved enough on offense to not be Asik. His defense is pesky.

Tyson Chandler
Dwight Howard Lite. We know he can play pick and roll. Chris Paul made him a lot of money. I'm sure James Harden can help him out a little, too. Good defender in the post and blocking ability. Veteran leader as well.

Brook Lopez
All offense. He can't rebound. But he is really good on offense. Has a big body. Nets are reportedly asking for a 1st and a 2nd.

Larry Sanders
So risky since he's been away from the game for medicinal purposes. Or was it recreational? Whatever the case, he hasn't played in a long time. And who's to say he won't find disharmony with the game again? When he did play, he was very similar to capela. Good shot blocking instincts. Raw on offense, but he could catch, dunk, and putback. He has surprisingly decent handles for a center, but I'd rather have him wait and catch versus drive and dish. Insightful ... I know.

These are the quality bigs that would turn the Rockets into contenders. There are other bigs like ajinca and koufos that would not cost nearly as much. But I'm not so sure the asking price of the guys above are unfeasible.

 

Playing with the trade machine this morning to see what we could get for KJ/Ennis. Here's the best trade from each team considered to be"sellers" at the deadline:

EAST
ATL: hardaway or sefolosha - i wouldn't want to give hardaway the raise he'll command, and neither would i want to give up assets to get a rental. sefalosha might also be unhappy without any minutes in a contract year.
BOS: not selling talent for picks.
BKN: bogdanovic - rumors that money wanted him before.
CHA: i don't think they're selling, but if they were it'd be lamb or belineli.
CHI: mitotic or MCW - i don't want to pay mitotic this summer or give up assets for a rental. more was interested in MCW before. he'd be brewer with more dribble/passing skills.
DET: baynes or boban - they're more likely to part with baynes. do we want to do a deal with them after last year's dmo fiasco?
IND: not sellers
MIA: not sellers
MIL: hibbert or hawes - neither are great fits. hibbert helps on D but would hurt on O. hawes is a decent shooter and passer but doesn't address our need for interior D.
NYK: o'quinn - we might not have enough to get him.
ORL: nothing there.
PHI: holmes - good fit and cheap to get. forget okafor and noel, we don't have enough since spending our pick.
TOR: not sellers
WAS: not sellers.

WEST
DAL: they'd never help us.
DEN: nothing we can afford for KJ/ennis/2nd rounder.
GSW: not sellers
LAC: not sellers
LAL: already made our trade with them. i doubt we do a second trade for young.
MEM: not sure if they're sellers, if they are allen is the best option for us. not sure if i want to pay him this summer since he's so old. not worth renting either.
MIN: aldrich - would fill a need and is on a good contract for 2 more years. not sure if they'd want to trade him or if our package is enough.
NOP: ajinca - fills a need and comes cheap.
OKC: not sellers
PHX: tucker, but we'd have to pay him this summer and he would only have limited minutes here. not worth it. forget chandler, he's too expensive and we're not giving up one of our starters.
POR: nothing but bad contracts.
SAC: koufos, macklemore, WCS - we don't have enough for WCS, we don't want to pay macklemore this summer with limited minutes to be had on the perimeter now, koufos makes sense since he fills a need and we know more likes him.
SAS: not sellers
UTA: not sellers


MOST LIKELY TRADES

1) KJ/Ennis/2nd for Koufos
2) KJ/2nd for Ajinca
3) KJ for bogdanovic or sefolosha straight up.
4) Ennis/2nd for Holmes

 

Very good points. I didn't think about that 2nd factor you mentioned. I know Galinari WITH Chandler is a dream and more wishful thinking than anything else but I don't think Barton is expensive. If Nurkic wasn't traded to Portland, I'd say we should be all over him buttttt....he was dealt lol. However, Chandler wants out of Denver badly, so packaging picks, overseas player rights and/or low end players as fillers wouldn't be too out of the question. Plus, it seems that Denver is in full rebuild mode, so we might be able to grab him cheaper than his actual market value?

 

You guys really think Okafor is reachable when Philli was asking New Orleans for Jrue Holiday for him? Lol.

 

It's hard to make a deal work for Chandler. 7-8 million is about the ceiling of what we can acquire without including a starter. I just don't see Morey blowing this team up by dealing starters.

Even the 7-8 million number is tricky because you have to do a 3-1 trade.

 

NYK have two centers that are intriguing:
Kyle O'Quinn - 4.29 Blocks Per 48
Willy Hernangomez - Top 10 in Rebounds Per 48
Not that Per 48 means a lot, but it's interesting.

A few other players that might be on the radar: PJ Tucker, Kosta Koufos (salaries will be hard to match), Jahlil Okafor, & Nerlens Noel (Okafor and Noel will be hard due to lack of assets).

 

True, unless we did something like this and added a 2nd rd pick with Barton taking over SF/SG duties. I honestly wouldn't mind something like this either.

http://www.espn.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=z9auf7u

 

I actually like O'Quinn. He might even be able to shoot the 3 in the right setting. But he's still a project. Doubt he'd crack the rotation.

 

Must get a big man, please!

 

Noel could be the big play here. It means we commit to paying him $20m+ a year in the summer. I think he is worth it, but I am not sure we have enough to entice Philly (KJ + two 2nd rounders). If he verbally agrees to a contract now, that puts Capela in play. Capela should fetch an interesting piece at normal times, but hard to make salaries match for two moves, and, given the centre glut, it will be difficult to get good value for him. Maybe Capela + Ennis for Thon Maker? Bucks probably pass.

Move 1: KJ + 2 2nd rounds for Noel (assuming there is a verbal agreement for a reasonable contract in the summer)
Move 2: Capela + Ennis for Thon Maker

Starters: Bev/Harden/Ariza/Anderson/Noel
Bench: Lou/Gordon/Dekker/Maker/Harrell