I really feel like people over rate how highly gms and owners rate this factor when deciding to trade players. Quality of the deal HAS to be the top priority for whatever direction you are choosing to go. Taking a lesser deal to keep the player you are trading away anyway out of your conference would be a mistake. Losing the player, no matter how you look at it, is going to hurt and not getting the most out of the deal would only hurt your team more. The ONLY instance I can see this coming into play is if you have what you view as two nearly equal offers, then yes you would send your guy out of conference. This isn't football where division rankings mean almost everything. We nearly made the playoffs as the last place team in our division.
I'll agree that Dalembert and Chandler can definitely help the Rockets lack of height and Jordan is an interesting prospect. Unfortunately, due to the unknowns of the future CBA, no one fully knows what kind of cap room Morey and the Rockets are going to be working with. In fact, if the CBA stays the course (I highly doubt) and the Rockets ends up with the projected caproom without any changes, Houston would have about $8 million in cap room that's BEFORE -picking up the team options on Dragic and Budinger -re-signing Chuck Hayes I'm no capologist like BimaThug but that doesn't leave a lot left on the table to sign a legitimate big man unless either Dalembert or Chandler wants to play for MLE-type of money. As for the tradeable players we have (and all of them are considered tradeable IMO), we can all agree that Morey won't part with any of the current roster for a center unless it's Dwight Howard. Even in that scenario, one would think that the Magic would hold Howard's services hostage much like how the Carmelo story played out. Scola, Hill, Budinger, and Williams is far from an attractive package to land a player of Howard's caliber. Ironically, the lack of attractive players other than Lowry and Martin is one of the reasons why I think the Rockets should not be considered as a "win now nucleus".
Funny, I thought about this the other day as well, after listening to the Simmons baseball podcast, where Buster Olney brought up that some GM told him they were/are afraid to deal with the Rays, because the Rays always seem to get the best of their trades. Some people want to criticize Morey for not drafting Batum, trading Gay for Battier or even the Thabeet trade, but - and this might sound dumb - getting the short end of a deal here and there might be a blessing in disguise. Otherwise other, future trades, that may have a bigger effect on the improvement of the team may not happen, because other GM's simply don't want to deal with you anymore. It's kinda like playing poker, taking an unnecessary risk, that if it doesn' turn out, has the potential to give your counterpart a wrong read on you and may set you up for a move that you otherwise couldn't have pulled of. So, let me ask this - and understand it's a completely hypothetical question and I'm in no way trying to imply that Morey is that guy - if you're a GM that has figured the game and market out, do you make a lateral move from time to time just to keep your competitors guessing? I think you kinda have to.
I agree. While I think you might be giving Morey TOO much credit in "figuring out the market", I think Morey offsets his ability to find productive players by taking risks on projects like Jordan Hill, Thabeet, and Williams. For every "diamond in the rough" player he brings in (like a Landry, Brooks, Lowry, Budinger, etc.) Morey likes to gamble when given the chance on a project player in hopes that said player will pay off. Of course, from the looks of things, those players might not pay off so well and, while many on here wants to criticize Morey for acquiring failed projects, it shows that Morey will, in fact, take on some calculated risks.
Are other general manager intimidated by Morey? I seriously doubt it, but some of them might be jealous of his high profile. What's more likely is that other teams have invested in stat gurus, which makes sneaking up on them more difficult.
Many seem to refuse this point but I agree, and I think Adelman feels same. Give him a defensive center and small forward and the team can be a contender. You have to remember Kevin Martin is all star player, just never get picked because team don’t win enough. Lowry is on track for becoming all star level player. Posters here seem to not like Scola so much, probably because injury slow him down. But he can really be beast especially next to shot blocker. Our bench is VERY strong with Dragon, Lee, Budinger, Patterson, Hayes. With Adelman’s coaching this can absolutely be like 2004 Pistons team. And their title was not fluke, they were dominant team for many times. Anyway, this is pointless because Morey seem to give up and tear down team to tank. Take away coach that believed in team and team loved. What a shame. I agree no one want to do business with man with reputation to steal. And no free agent want to come to city where you become asset. Tank for star is best way to go. Hope to Morey that it work.
What small forward should we get that will make us a contender? How do we get this small forward? What center should we get that will make us a contender? How do we get that center? It sounds great in theory and Im sure Morey has considered this approach, but it's just not that easy. Sure, if we just simply ADD Danny Granger and DeAndre Jordan to this roster we have a chance to contend. The problem is, we don't have the means to just add players like that. We have a very limited amount of cap room available and any trade for an impact player would require us to package a few or our core players, which would likely leave us as a still flawed team.
Rockets fans are a little spoiled. Hell we been looking for the SPLASH since the TMac trade Rocket River
no, he is not what we are talking about superstar. he belongs to the 2nd tie star. alot players did very well with a bad team. did you remember james? of coz, i am not saying km is same as james. he is much better than james for sure. remember morey brought him here to help yao. morey believed km is the best sidekicker based on what yao's skill sets. yao is much better player than chandler and other legitment center ppl listed on this board. if you add one of those centers, you're not getting what is the best from km.
Sign center in off season. Make enough room to pay for it by trading worthless asset like Thabeet, Williams, or Miller. Draft small forward with #14 pick. Maybe won’t be NBA ready to start, but can play behind Budinger until ready. If Morey is Wizard he can work magic again. Team will win much more, and likelyhood of superstar trade gets better because assets increase in value. Like I say, this plan is no longer possible with direction Morey seems to take. But like Old Man Rock say, this is probably closer to working than tanking which is big risk.
Let's theoretically assume we sign Tyson Chandler. Which we won't, because Cuban will almost certainly drop 12 million over 6 years for him. Do you think the replacing of Hayes with Chandler will really vault us from a team to 43 to 52 wins, which is the minimum amount that pretty much all the teams seriously fighting for a ring have? Or to contender status? I don't think so. At all. I'm certain it would vault to playoff status, but I won't make guarantees beyond that.
Good take. I always enjoy OMR's posts. His over the board way of making the point is just too funny, that is, if you agree with his general point. In this case, I'd been thinking about this long before this Adelman thing surfaced. I think Pritchard ran into that mode too. But of course, Pritchard turned out to be overrated. And Morey has a more down to earth demeanor to disguise how cunning he is when he makes deals.
Nothing personal, just business. I had the Godfather theme song playing in my head, as I read the entire entry. Completely agree with you Old Rock.
If only it were that easy. Even if we had kept Adelman and stayed the course, why would one of those top three available centers that everyone mentions come here. The Mavs are gonna wanna keep Chandler and the Clippers are gonna wanna keep Jordan. If Mark Cuban wants to keep someone, he couldn't care less about dropping extra money for it, so that pretty much rules out Chandler. The Clippers have the right to match DeAndre Jordan so there's a very small likelihood that we can get him. The leaves just Dalembert on the open market. Miami and New York will both be in the market for a defensive center in the offseason and are both far better choices for a defensive center. Chances are, we will not get a difference maker at center through free agency this offseason. That leaves us with the 14th pick to use to upgrade. It's not a very good pick in a pretty weak draft, but Morey and the Rockets' scouting department are pretty damn good so Ill just assume they find a guy that can develop into a starter at the 3. We're still in need of a quality 5 and will likely have to wait until the next offseason. So to be a contender two years from now, we would have to find a center NEXT offseason AND hit pretty big on our mid-first round pick in a weak draft this year. All of that just isn't likely and we're almost definitely atleast 3 years away from competing.
