Random Houston Rockets Trade Ideas - 2014-15

I value your opinion a lot. Is Rubio seriously as good as you have described? I envision him as a scrub, and from what I have seen do not want him on our team.

 

Rubio is absolutely a stud defender. The thing about Rubio is that he is as smart on the defensive end of the court as he is on the offensive end of the court. Couple that with above average length and quickness.

Rubio has not emerged yet on the NBA scene. I do believe he will over the next 2-3 seasons.

 

Does Dalembart have enough in the tank for another season or two? If so, we could probably get him for cheap. Send out some NGtds and a 2nd rounder or Capela.

http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=p7fxgay

 

Jones, Gee, Capela and Pelicans 1st for Dragic

Canaan, Powell, Hopson and Rockets 2017 1st for Ilyasova(TPE)

Dragic/Beverley/Smith
Harden/Daniels/Johnson
Ariza/Papanikolaou/Covington
Ilyasova/Motiejunas/Adrian
Howard/Okafor/Dorsey

Sign a backup center with BAE (Blatche, O'Neal, Okafor). Would be the perfect team, bench would be great.

 

Hmmm...

Then why are they trading for Thaddeus Young?

T_Man

 

Damn it, I want Rubio. I just need to know how he'd look on a playoff team. Especially one that needs playmaking and defense to take pressure off of Harden.

I'm sure we could absorb a bad contract (Martin or Barea) with the TPE to make it a more plausible trade.

The big thing that scares me and makes me think it won't happen in a million years is that his contract is up after this year and his agent is Dan Fegan...

 

With all the Rubio talk maybe Kahn was just ahead of his time; Flinn now Rubio.

The T-Wolves are going to keep Rubio (Young over Bennett --> win sooner then later) PLUS we have nothing in the cupboard to get him.

 

I want Rubio so we can get Llull over here.
Our ten man rotation would be sick if we got a back up center like Okafor

Rubio
Harden
Ariza
Jones
Howard
Beverley
Llull
Papi
DMo
Okafor

 

You're right. If they end up getting Young, they won't trade Rubio, but they're also massive idiots.

They weren't good enough to make the playoffs WITH Love. I don't see how they have any chance without him. Way too much inexperience.

 

I'm having serious doubts about Flip Saunders right now, as a GM. Not in regards to the Love trade. I think he got decent value for Love. (Although at different times before now I think he could have done better by getting picks and players, etc.) But depending on what he does next.....I think he could be a very bad GM.

Minnesota should be tanking with the trade of Love and the acquisition of a young player like Wiggins. They have no chance to reach the playoffs as currently constructed. But instead they appear to be trying to compete for the playoffs simultaneously with trading Love away. That makes no sense to me. They've got 2 guys on the wings (Wiggins and Lavine) who are green as beans. Those guys should start and developed. But they are nowhere close to being ready to play well enough to help Minny get in the top 8. And Thad Young or Bennett, whichever one they have at the 4....is nowhere close to being as good as Love. And the problem is Rubio is going into his 4th season of his rookie deal. If they fail to make the playoffs....Rubio isn't going to want to stay. It's going to be a hellacious 2015 off season for them once again with the Rubio/Fegan drama. And Fegan will exert enormous pressure on Flip to trade Rubio or they're gonna sign the QO and walk.

So....either Flip has a couple playoff acquisition talent moves up his sleeve or he finally shows his cards and breaks it all down ala Philly, goes to the lottery, and acquires as many draft picks as possible while finding a taker for Martin.......which would almost necessitate him trading away Rubio for the highest king's ransom he can get.

Because if he does nothing after the Love trade.....they won't make the playoffs...but they'll be good enough to be stuck in the back end of the lottery with their best player wanting out.....the worst possible spot for a franchise.

 

I think (1) you are right & (2) Flip know he is in a bad place right now.

First, IIRC Minny would actually lose its pick if it is 13 - 30 this year. So it would actually encourage me to avoid a 12 - 15 draft slot.

Second, as soon as I decided to trade Love, I would be acquiring a boat load of talented rookies and picks - mainly b/c I don't think Minny will ever be a hot bed for free agents (sorry if I offend). Rubio & Budinger to PHO for Bledsoe. Bennett & Martin's contract to Philly for Embiid. Brewer & Barea to DET for Monroe.

You then have the makings of a talented young squad for next year & years after (not sure if they could play together tho!)

Bledsoe // LaVine
Muhammad /// GR3
Wiggins // ???
Monroe // Embiid
Pekovic // Dieng

Just hypotheticals and not sure if the trades would work financially. Suffice it to say, I'm not sure I would run with the squad Minny has constructed now and feel good about it at all.

 

Rubio, Bennett and bad salary for Bledsoe, Monroe and Joel Embiid... A little unfair.

 

Teams looking to win now vs. tanking.

Bledsoe & Monroe want out of their current situations and other teams are not beating down their doors to sign them.

Plus, there would likely be other pieces involved. I was giving a shell of a deal.

My overall point was that I wouldn't be acquiring a short PF to make my team "competitive" for the 8th seed in the West where (1) my team would lose in the 1st round and (2) I would lose my 1st round pick. I would be thinking longer term and focusing on younger players in long term contracts.

 

I think Flip Saunders got fantastic value in this trade, not just 'decent value'. It's much better than previous superstar firesales. The funny thing is that unlike with Melo or D-Will, there was no Knicks-Nets bidding war that drove the price up. Flip Saunders just made the Cavs bid against themselves.

As to tanking, that's definitely a tough decision. They have a lot of talented players, even if some of them have injury question marks. If you truly want to tank, you have to move at least Pekovic and Martin, likely Rubio too.

You don't tank for a no.8 pick, you have to be bad enough to end up bottom 3 or so, depending on how good the draft is that year. And they are far from being that bad. So it's not easy for them to tank, it would require a lot of moves.

And ultimately, the NBA is looking to change its draft rules. The initial proposal suggests that the worst team in the league will only be guaranteed a no.7 pick. And vice versa, current "treadmill" teams will have decent lottery odds to get a top 6 pick.

Maybe that happens this season, I think next season is more likely, but either way the idea of dropping so much talent - Rubio, Pekovic, Martin - is far less tempting with these changes on the horizon. The Wolves would set themselves up to be terrible for several years, and there's a chance that they wouldn't get a great prospect out of it.

 

Philly isn't trying to win now by trading Embiid for Kevin Martin and Bennett, and Phoenix and Detroit get worse in those trades. Minnesota becomes probably the most talented team in the NBA. So it's pretty lopsided.

Anyway, I too would rather take a chance at Bennett than get Thad Young. But it's a close call, Thad Young is a good young proven starter, and Bennett may or may not become better. I'd take that risk, I'd bet on Bennett, but I would be very aware that I might lose that bet.

 

Seeing as Embiid is NOT playing this year + there are still debates about his feet & knees, getting the former #1 pick (who supposedly has his own health issues under control) and a quality offensive player would signal that you are more concerned about winning games this year (or at least being competitive)... remember this is the LEastern Conference. If you barely get over .500, you have a shot at the playoffs.

Detroit may get worse initially, but it couldn't be worse than having a player who has supposedly said trade that guy or trade me back on the team crowding out your "foundational" front court player. Phoenix is in a somewhat similar situation where you have a player who is bitter about their situation and could become a lockerroom cancer.

Once again, just supposition, but I was saying break up the team and focus on getting younger, more talented players who are tied into contracts rather than trying to be competitive with a toothpick and everybody else has automatic weapons. I was throwing out the shell of the deal and not all the minituae.

But we are all entitled to our thoughts / opinions. What better place for them than the Random Trade Ideas thread.

 

Ilyasova into the TPE is interesting if we can get Dragic. However, we can't give up Jones and the NOP pick for Dragic. Just one of those.

Dragic for Jones+Gee+Covington+

 

Frankly, to get Dragic/Bledsoe and Ilyasova, I'd pretty much give up anything that is not a core piece.

Trade all of:
Canaan, Covington, Gee, Hopson, Papanikalaou, Tjones/DMo, Capela, NO first, 2017 first. Maybe if you're fortunate you could hold onto Capela or the 2017 first.

FOR

Dragic/Bledsoe, Ilyasova, and Delfino

I'd go to battle with this lineup for the next 3 years (improving bench at SF/C with MLE and 2016 1st):

PG: Bledsoe/Dragic, Beverly, Ish
SG: Harden, Daniels, Johnson
SF: Ariza, Delfino, Garcia
PF: Ilyasova, Tjones/DMo, Adrien
C: Howard, Dorsey

 

This won't happen, but wow, how amazing would this be? We could compete with anyone.

 

Jones+Capela+Cov+Canaan to PHO for Dragic
NOP Pick+rights to Sergio Llull to Utah for Kanter (into the TPE)

Howard/Motiejunas/Dorsey
Kanter/Adrien
Ariza/Pap
Harden/Daniels
Dragic/Bev


I believe that is the best starting lineup in the league.