Random Houston Rockets Trade Ideas - 2012-13

You would make that deal because of pure assets robbery. And you would be a better team (assuming Rondo's health). But I agree that if you can choose a 3rd star, Rondo's not the best fit for this team.

 

It's a nice idea.

They are trying Oladipo at PG though and it's looking nice. So unless they change their minds, their pg rotation after that deal would be 1. Oladipo, 2. Lin, 3. Jameer Nelson. It's an overkill for a team that's not going anywhere yet.

 

I base my opinions on Green before and after the missed year. Good offensive player, worse defensive player. Granted, I don't see much Celtics ball so I guess it is possible he learned how to become a better defender. It does look like he did have a great second half last season, offensively. Better than I would have expected from him as he shot more 3s, hit at a higher rate, and drew more fouls than he had ever before. Granted, shooting is a skill that can improve drastically over time unlike defense.

If you are going to say Green is better than Parsons based on his second half last season, you have to look at Parsons's second half last season. Parsons was fantastic last season after the all star break as he jumped into the Top 30 in scoring and was more efficient than Green while playing in the harder conference. I suspect even with Parsons defense falling apart last year to average level, it was still probably better than anything Green can do. I think Parsons will be a very good starter, but never a star.

Lin also had a really good second half. Not quite as efficient a scorer, but made up for it with passing. Lin is an average defender. It is still obvious Lin has not meshed well with Rockets, but hopefully the offense can be executed better with Howard. If you are going to compare small spurts of play, I would look at Linsanity. I don't think Lin will ever play as well as Linsanity again. I don't think Green will be the guy he was offensively in the last half of the year.

 

That's a fair point. My goal wasn't to break down Parsons numbers month by month, just to give an example of how well Green looked in that 50-ish game span.

That said, looking at Parsons' same 50 games and considering pace / role, Green's numbers still look slightly better.

Anyway, it's not that important which one was better by a whisker, the main point is that Green was very good. It's not that short of a span either. 50 games isn't a month. Who knows. He had his consistency issues in the past. If he undergoes a significant regression, it won't stun me, but it will surprise and disappoint me.

His defense was good too. Not perfect, he makes mistakes especially as far as rotations, sometimes he's too aggressive and tunnel visions his man too much. His help defense is probably around mediocre. His man defense though, borderline elite.

Re Lin, I don't want to get into that, I remember a few months after I joined this board I said that Rubio's passing was better than Lin's, and I got called all kind of names for it, I'm trying to avoid the topic since, haha.

Re Motiejunas, my expectation for him (before last season) was that he'd eventually develop into a Jason Smith type backup with ability to score in different ways, maybe slightly better offensively. Right now he seems right on that path. I'm definitely not expecting him to be better than Jeff Green next year. If that happened, it would be because Jeff Green totally collapses for some reason, in my opinion.

 

Three way trade

Gsw in asik and jones or Dmo
Hou in LMA
Por in Barnes or Thompson and draft picks from houston

 

What about teams that can provide us with either an upgrade at PF or a solid bench depth player (probably SG)? One where we can trade Terrence Jones or Donatas + pick(s) without having to use Asik or Lin in the trade. Obviously balancing the salaries would be tough so it'd probably need to be another young guy. The first one I thought of was John Henson who has really impressed when given time, but the Bucks seem reluctant to give him that time and might be willing to part if they were enticed by another PF prospect + a pick. And I thought of a few other random ones, but I'm bad at understanding pick value sometimes so let me know if you think the trades are unfair one way or the other. What do you think? Any ideas in this line of thinking to add? (Note: consider Donatas and Jones as interchangeable in the trade scenarios)

Bucks In: Terrence Jones, 2014 2nd Round Pick
Rockets In: John Henson

John Henson can flat out play. I'm not sure how much Milwaukee values him so it might take a 1st rounder, which could be a risk not worth taking. I think he's worth it, but luckily for everyone, I'm not the GM.

Nuggets In: Terrence Jones, 2014 2nd Round Pick
Rockets In: Evan Fournier

Fournier gives us depth across the guard/SF positions. He's versatile, young, and has loads of potential.

Hawks In: Terrence Jones
Rockets In: John Jenkins (and possibly a 2nd Rounder)

John Jenkins gives us a sharpshooter to bring off the bench. He's always had a great stroke and could really come into his own in Houston with the amount of open shots he'll see. It also makes sense for ATL who have no real depth to backup Millsap, and they already have a 3's guy in Korver.

Magic In: Terrence Jones, HOU 2015 1st Round Pick
Rockets In: Tobias Harris

Tobias Harris is probably out of our reach. He put up some pretty nice numbers in his 27 games with the Magic after being traded. 17 ppg 8.5 rpg 2.1 apg. He is an ideal run-and-gun, stretch 4. The Magic would see interest though as they are trying to stockpile picks and hit the jackpot in the draft so first round picks are hard to pass up. I'd even throw in another pick maybe, but in a real world it might take Parsons, though, which we would never do. (Would make sense as Chandler is an Orlando guy, and would be a nice face to lead the young core there). Harris is that good. Mo Harkless might be gettable, but I'm not too high on him personally.

Boston In: Terrence Jones, 2014 2nd Round Pick
Houston In: Jared Sullinger

Sully eats rebounds for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. He does the dirty work, which will take a lot of pressure off of Howard, and he seems to have a lot of potential for development. Boston is really high on him, so they might want a first round pick for him which would be too much. In that case, we'd just run with the guys we have now I'd assume, but if we could get him, I could see him becoming a really solid player for us at PF.

Like any of these? Have any to add?

PS: Before people freak out and all that. I'm definitely not opposed to standing pat to see what opens up. These are more for fun/speculation.

 

You won't get John Henson for Jones and a pick, even a late first rounder. I think he's the most valuable (and will be the best player) of all the pieces mentioned in that post.

The Bucks need to clear some minutes and might be willing to part with Ekpe Udoh, though.

They might trade Henson or Sanders for a legit bulky big man who's a better fit, like Pekovic. But I don't see them giving up Henson for small parts.

 

I teally don't get the lol. Would u like to explain.

Anyway, I think that can be a good second unit. U have your rim protector (Asik), scorer (Brooks, yes he can still score), and your perimeter defense and shooting (Affalo, Garcia). And if Dmo comes around as many expect, that is a pretty nice bench. Plus most of them will be playing with the starters anyway.

 

Probably right, but I could see them budging with a first rounder involved. Especially with how terrible their front office is. They're pretty unpredictable.

I don't see them moving Sanders though, unless they know he's going to command too much next year to be worth re-signing. (somewhere around $11m+)

Personally, I'd desperately want Tobias Harris out of that group. People don't seem to know how good he is since Orlando doesn't get a lot of coverage, but that move would probably be a pipe dream. He's a star in the making. He does it all.

 

Well to be fair, a GM would have to be more blind than bad not to see that Henson is a talent. :grin: And the Rockets 1st rounder will be mid 20s. Of course, who knows. I for example thought that Presti would never ever trade Harden for Martin + picks + one of the Rockets prospects, but it happened.

I don't think that Hammond is a bad GM btw. I think he's one of the better GMs. His drafting has overall been very good. His moves were overall ok. He just operates in a very unfavorable situation. Small market, a politician owner whose goals is to stay competitive and financially viable so the team could stay in Milwaukee. If Les was their owner and they were in a decent market, I think Hammond would shine.

It's surprising that he didn't know what he had with Harris, especially considering that Harris had his moments in the previous summer league and in Milwaukee. But then even the good GMs miss on some things, like Morey with Lin.

Or maybe he just had an order to make the playoffs (from their owner), and in that case a Redick rental was indeed much more valuable to them than another young forward. I wouldn't be surprised at all if that's the case. All their moves the last several years pretty much say "lets win some games, lets get to the playoffs, lets sell tickets, Fear The Deer."

If Hammond's order is to be competitive on a small budget, he's made a good job of it with his picks, also trading Bogut at the right time and finding solid veterans on the cheap in free agency.

It's a shame that they can't afford to just tank for one year. If they got a good player high in the next draft, then you add him to all the young players they have, and you have a very promising team. But, not all markets and owners are equal.

 

I'm not saying he's the worst GM in the league or something. I just really dislike the way he's put together the team by bringing in two chuckers for the back-court (and now another one in OJ Mayo to replace Ellis). The free agent signing of Zaza seems to be a poor one as well. Way too much money for not much of a player especially when they already have plenty of bigs. Of course, trading away Harris, which we've already discussed. It may have a lot to do with the philosophy of the owner, but I still don't respect the way he builds his teams.

 

Well, if their goal was to win in the regular season, Ellis helped them. i don't think the market for Bogut was that huge and they had a lot of choices. They got a solid healthy player and they saved a lot of money in the process. I wasn't sure about that deal at the time, but in hindsight it was a great deal for them.

Their current moves, yeah, it's all lateral. It seems they just didn't want to tank and signed who they could. Zaza is a nice fit, they need a big with meat on his bones in the rotation, and Mayo's shooting a better fit in that lineup compared to Monta. Same goes for Delfino and Ridnour. The real problem is that these moves don't get them anywhere other than mediocrity. But if that's the goal, then what can you do.

 

Yeah we definitely agree. Just not a fan of that philosophy, but if it keeps the franchise bringing in money, I can understand it.

 

I'm not sure how we would structure it - probably via some 3 way trade, but Al Harrington in Houston makes too much sense. Orlando wants to get worse this year and Houston would gladly insert Harrington in a stretch 4 spot off the bench for 2 years. I imagine Houston sends cash, a future pick, and one of their young 4s in that deal.

...I would rather a guy like Ilyasova but if the Wizards were willing to offer a high lotto pick for him recently, it makes me think he would be too costly for Houston to acquire him unless I use "homer" rules where every other team is obligated to help make Houston better at the expense of their own rosters.


All of this also assumes we keep our 6 or 7 best guys right now(which I think would be wise).

 

Al Harrington is about to be bought out of his contract like Camby was. No need to trade for him. Just sign him in free agency when his buyout is complete.

 

Getting Harrington is excessive.

 

I dont see any of these teams doing the suggested trade with us. Especially the Harris and Henson ones. Those two were actually getting recognized around the league as young up and comers who could be studs.

 

How so? I don't see another veteran stretch 4 on the roster. He would just be a situational player here chasing a ring in the twighlight of his career - likely not a big minute rotation guy except on nights where the matchup is particularly favorable.

 

All the better.

 

Not sure if I'd do this but it would make me think... Bulls cut some much needed salary and pick up a young starter. Pacers get some revenue for a small market to pay to go up against the big boys and they actually cut salary. Portland gets good pieces...great up front D... for someone who's leaving in a year.

Portland out...LMA
Portland in...Asik, Taj Gibson, Kirk Hinrich

Bulls out...Taj, Hinrich
Bulls in...Parsons

Pacers out...Granger
Pacers in...Lin

Rockets out...Asik, Lin, Parsons
Rockets in...LMA, Granger