How's this for clear: I disagree with you that most of the players you mentioned are better than Al Jefferson, or are better targets for the Rockets than Al Jefferson, save Harden. Is that "clear" enough for you?
We all know that Houston's first preference is to trade for that cornerstone piece, but here are some names to keep an eye out for that make sense for the REBUILDING Houston Rockets if they choose to go after free agents. Mind you that this is not the list of the players they want the MOST, its players they will probably look at first and foremost to target with key deals or free agent signings- All Star Targets #1 - James Harden- RFA coming up next Summer(2013). Is he worth the max???... I dont really know. Is he worth the max for the Rockets.... Yes. Would the Rockets look at creating a package to trade for Harden before next Summer?? I think that might be the only way to obtain him. Coming up next Summer, you dont know what team Harden will choose to sign with despite if he really thinks that OKC will match or if they wont. If you can trade for him at the Feb. deadline for a low-risk package then he just might be worth snagging for low risk. If it costs any more than a 1st round draft pick, and another player then they might be better off trying to woo him over in the Summer and "hoping" OKC cannot match at that time. #2 - Chris Paul- UFA Next Summer (2013). Its worth a phone call right???... This is the longshot of all long shots, but complementary phone call never really hurt anyone. Maybe Sterling comes into rare form and makes things so bad for CP3 that he just can't stand being in the same stadium as Sterling, and goes to best team with Capspace to sign him to a max deal. Unlikely as can be, and you still have the Mavericks to compete with for the max contract, but just keep it out there for SH%&s and giggles. #3- TRADE- Demarcus Cousins- Sentenced till 2015 Cousins is #3 on my list just because of the degree of difficulty its going to take to pry Cousins away from Sacramento before the Summer of 2015. Still if Cousins is able to force a trade, I dont think there is a better team with a better haul of talent/assets to give back in a trade than the Rockets. He would be the young foundation piece they covet more than anyone else even though they might not even realize it yet how good this guy is. #4 - Andrew Bynum/Dwight Howard- UFA Summer of 2013 Super, super longshot with Bynum. Its obvious that Bynum is the type of guy that wants to maximize his dollar amount going into next season despite the team. Right now he seems almost ready to sign the paperwork and I see no reason why he would leave all that guaranteed money on the table to sign in Houston instead. Especially with his health issues, his agent will be on him like white on rice to make things work in Philly and stay healthy in the meanwhile so they can swim in a sea of Benjamins for the next 5 years. Like alot of things in life.... this one comes down to $. For Dwight Howard, its more of the same, but even more difficult to see due to the ability to win multiple titles, be in Hollywood movies, blah, blah, blah. Not gonna happen with either of these guys. Role player Targets- #5. Tiago Splitter- RFA Summer of 2013 Solid backup big man. Works well in the Pick and Roll. With no true backup to Asik on the roster, I see Splitter as being good value on a MLE type of deal. Even though he was widely over-hyped his rookie season coming into the NBA, he had a productive year last year and continues to improve as he gets more used to the NBA system. 6. Marreese Speights- UFA Summer of 2013 Could be had in a trade by February if the Rockets wanted to give up a few assets in return. The Grizzlies will need to shed major cap space to resign Speights. With 3 max contracts on the books going into 2013/14 I see no way they can re-sign him to anything more than the lower mid level exception. On the court Speights could be a nice rotation big next to someone like Motiejunas if he turns out to be a stud. Would be a solid pickup and valuable asset going forward at the right price. 7. Eric Maynor- RFA- Summer of 2013 One of the best backup PG's in the NBA that people are forgetting is also going to be a RFA soon to be for OKC. They will let him go most likely or try and trade him for a less expensive option. Kinda like the Rockets did with Brooks when they traded him for Dragic when Brooks about to command big bucks in free agency. Funny how things turned out on that one. Maynor could turn out to be a top flight PG if he recovers and improves upon last years injury.
Big Al is superior to Bynum. Since Ibaka is gone, I am going to have to add him to my Morey player acquisition list, reluctantly.
No offense to big Al, but I just dont see how he fits what Houston is now trying to do. Same can be said with Josh Smith who is also a very nice/borderline all-star player, but not at a place to where he is going to take Houston to the next level.
dobro, with all due respect, the opportunity to acquire Howard and Bynum has passed. As much as some of us do not want to admit it, we probably have the best chance of acquiring Big Al at this point. And I don't see a better 4/5 combination that we could put together over the next year than Al, Asik, Donuts, and Royce unless Patterson has significantly improved his offensive game this offseason or unless Cousins becomes available through trade.
I agree with that list/strategy overall. i'd add Pekovic right at the top of the list, next to Harden. Pek could very well get too expensive for 'Sota to match if he maintains his recent game. I see him as a fairly realistic option to get an upper tier center. if not, then Splitter makes a lot of sense. you could give him nearly half the minutes at 5, he's comparable to Asik. And he could play some minutes at 4. He'd cost more than midlevel though.
It seems like common sense that the Rockets won't pursue Paul because that would tie up half our money into two PG's.
at that point just shop Lin. but i agree, it's very unlikely that Morey puts much (any?) effort in that direction. The chance to succeed is miniscule, while you'd be upsetting your incumbent starting point guard.
Cmon man, you know this isn't true. I'm with dobro on this, I just don't see how Al Jefferson or Josh Smith does anything for this team. Morey's "targets" are -- or at least should be -- draft picks and players with high upside. Harden, Cousins and whatever players will emerge as top draft picks. From what I've seen so far, I don't think too much of Shabazz myself (relatively speaking), but we'll get a better picture once he starts playing in college and I don't see the point in speculation whether or not he's a guy the Rockets are high on as of right now. Maybe, maybe no.
Oh I know. I put Bynum/Howard on my list as targets in a far distant planet. Some major stuff would have to happen for that to take place. Still, they are both that great of players that just like CP3 that they must be on the list just in case something drastic happened. If Morey can build a team overnight in the 07 Celtics mode then I agree Big Al and maybe even Josh Smith can work in a big 3 or big 4 mold of a team. Right now the focus has to be on aquiring a piece that is either young and has potential to be an all-star calliber player, or a player that makes this team a contender overnight. Still, I really shouldn't rule out the 3 player/Celtics aquisition model if the option is out there to do so. For instance- Lets say for some reason the week before Training camp Morey can hypothetically trade for- -Dallas 1st rounder,two 2nd round picks, and Kevin Martin for Danny Grainger -Toronto pick and non-guaranteed contracts for Josh Smith then you find a way to trade for, or bring in Al Jefferson Then a team with those three players and nice surrounding pieces looks very interesting in the Western Conference Thats the way that I see players like Jefferson/Grainer/Smith really making sense for the Rockets. You put just one of those guys in the mix with all the young guys, and it sets the Rockets back in position to make future deals for either a 3 all star approach, an all in on a cornerstone player aquisition, or developing through the draft.
If you can get Paul, you can trade Lin for Hasheem Thabeet and a bag of rocks if you want. CP3 is just as much of a long shot as Bynum/Howard at this point, but he's still on the list if the moon's align for some odd reason just because he's that good, and makes your team a contender overnight.
We're talking about Donald Sterling here; he'll spend money sometimes (Griffin), if Rockets throw a HUGE offer to CP3, Sterling might balk...
Offer's dont get any bigger than the Max. If it was just a matter of $ then every team in the NBA would offer the max to Chris Paul. It doesn't work like that. Even Sterling and the Clippers are smart enough to offer CP3 the moon to stay with the Clippers, and they have the ability to offer an additional year of guaranteed dollars. Something that Chris Paul will want to take advantage of knowing that this likely will be his last major contract in the NBA. Chris Paul will be a Clipper next year unless he asks to be traded again or they severely under-achieve this year and he decides he has a better shot at a title elsewhere.
Count me as one who isnt on the Harden bandwagon .... He's a good player but I dont think he's an elite player. He's been a good 3rd wheel in OKC and I believe thats what he is .... a capable player , just not a superstar. Looking at the FA list for the coming offseason , I just dont know who if any of them I would target at the top of the payscale .... Im just not overwhelmed by any of them and think it would be a bad idea to offer max money to a "second rate" star (not top 1-2 at his position in the league) just to have a "star." I really like the idea of dealing for Cousins from Sacramento. All he has to do is find some consistency and he'll be an allstar in the middle ....Then again , this depends upon how the young bigs currently on the roster develop.
