I agree. I love Dragic but with Beverly's defense and improved 3 point shooting, I think we are fine at PG. I love this team as is right now. The additions of Smith and Brewer is exactly what this team needed. Their addition will allow our core guys to not get wore down later in the year. McHale really has a diverse unit to throw out specific lineups to cause miss matches in our favor. It's going to be really hard for opposing coaches to find lineups that exploit weaknesses against us.
The problem is no matter what line up the Rockets put on the floor they struggle when Harden is sitting. It's only going to get harder for Harden in the playoffs. Got to take some load off the guy now and then.
He is 26 and pretty much a finished product. Shved is what he is a tall pg that can create and shoot.
I cant believe people are ready to add DMo to a trade to get a guard. It makes absolutely no sense. Right now we have Howard , DMo , Dorsey , Black and KPap getting minutes at the 5/4 before adding Smith. Adding Smith upgrades your big man rotation kicking one or both of Dorsey & Black out of the rotation. Going with Howard , Smith , Dorsey , Black is a significant downgrade because rather than having DMo get the minutes at the 5 behind Howard , you are now giving those minutes to Dorsey. Even if Smith is the better player (and that's debatable) that's a downgrade to your overall rotation. The New Orleans pick & Motiejunas is too much when you are going to have to add at least one other player out of KPap , Terry & Brewer just to make the $$$ match. Also PHX isn't going to give you Plumlee in exchange .... They want to have a nice three big rotation with DMo , Len & Plumlee if that's who they are asking for in exchange for Dragic. I'd be willing to give the NO Pick , Shved and KPap (reluctantly) for Dragic & Dragic ... You might be able to twist my arm & get me to throw in T.Jones but that's it. No to trading Motiejunas. It makes absolutely no sense.
I would be pretty upset to trade D-Mo after he's finally blossomed even if we get Dragic in return. Rather ride out this season with the current squad and if anything Dragic will always be there in the summer of '15.
Capela + Johnson + NY pick for John Henson we got a decent back up center and this creates a roster spot for Smith. at the deadline: Papa+Shved+DMo+NOP pick for Dragic+Green Howard, Henson, Dorsey Smith, Jones, Black Ariza, Brewer Harden, Green, Terry Dragic, Beverley, Canaan
Everyone is clamoring to trade for Dragic. Would be hilarious if Morey is encouraging this chatter because he is after another player.
That's what low post scoring will do. We have two guys that can consistently score down low. When harden needs to rest the offense will run inside out. It will work out fine.
Someone else apart from Harden will need to get them the ball. Can Shved or Canaan do it? We shall see.
Agree with others here.... I think our only hope at getting Dragic without hurting the team is if Pheonix starts losing, Dragic makes some more comments, Jones starts playing very soon and picks back up where he left off AND Pheonix decides the NOP + Jones + Kpap is the best they can get. All kind of a long shot. So in the mean time, let's see what we have.
This latest move by PHX sending out Tolliver's $3 million for Mitchell's minimum salary deal feels like they are setting up to try to make a big move possibly involving one of the salary dumping teams. I'm considering both Denver and Brooklyn right now as possible salary dumps. Denver didn't want to trade Wilson Chandler earlier because they hope to use him to help get Galinari or Javale out of town. Chandler would basically fit into PHX's cap space if they traded out Mitchell for him. And then the second part of the deal would be something like Goran going out (to a third team) and Javale coming in. Something like: Denver out: Wilson Chandler Denver in: Tony Mitchell then Denver out: Javale McGee, Tony Mitchell Denver in: Shved, Jones PHX out: Tony Mitchell, Goran Dragic, Zoran Dragic PHX in: Wilson Chandler, Javale McGee, Clint Capella, Rox 2016 first rounder with partial lottery protection, Rox second rounder Houston out: Jones, Shved, Capella Houston in: Goran, Zoran, Mitchell Denver dumps Javale and gets to check out Jones for a year. PHX gets 2 project bigs in Javale and McGee, plus a spread 4 in Chandler, plus a couple picks Houston gets Goran for the price of Shved, Jones, Capela and a future lottery protected first ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Brooklyn salary dump would involve Jarrett Jack and Brooks Lopez Jack would be the player traded for Mitchell. This would fit into PHX's cap space. And then PHX would need $10.7 million of outgoing salary to nab Lopez. There's several combination that would work with Goran's outgoing salary. But same principle as the above Denver trade. Goran/Zoran/player to Houston. Houston sends out accomodating salaries to BRK and PHX and sends PHX a future first lottery protected and a future second.
Woj already reported talks between the Sacramento Kings and Brooklyn have stalled over Plumlee, so I can't see Phoenix getting Mason either in a Deron Williams trade: I still like Corrosion's idea though: How about the Charlotte Hornets sending out Lance Stephenson to Phoenix? Is Stephenson someone McDonough would want? Charlotte in: Kostas Papanikolaou, Shavlik Randolph Phoenix in: Lance Stephenson, Clint Capela Houston in: Goran Dragic
Right, but Sacramento lacks cap space, which means they cannot deliver the massive payroll/luxury tax relief that Brooklyn is seeking, and has already received via two earlier deals, both with Philly, a team with cap space galore. Phoenix now has a whopping $6.2 mil in cap space, so they can give Brooklyn something that Sacramento could not. I am now projecting the following three team deal, although it might take 4-5 days to put together: Jason Terry, Kostas Papanikolaou, and Gerald Green ($13.8 mil in expiring contracts) to Brooklyn Deron Williams, Mason Plumlee, Clint Capela, Nick Johnson, and the Pelicans first round pick to Phoenix Goran Dragic, P.J. Tucker, and filler (either Markel Brown or Cory Jefferson) to Houston. Brooklyn unloads the 2015-16 and 2016-17 guaranteed salaries owed to Deron Williams ($43.4 mil total, which is massive) plus reduces 2014-15 team payroll by $7.8 mil. This also drastically reduces their 2014-15 luxury tax bill. Total savings is huge, over $60 mil, and Mason Plumlee is NOT worth $60+ mil. And no, Brooklyn cannot get more than this, Williams' contract is awful. Phoenix may or may not revive Deron Williams' career, but they get a ton of value here, and not only did they not want to risk losing Dragic for nothing this offseason, when he will be an unrestricted free agent, they are also likely nervous about paying Dragic the amount of money he will want. He is no spring chicken. Great, great haul for Phoenix here. Houston gives up zero essential pieces, drastically upgrades its backcourt (Dragic inherits all of Terry's, Johnson's, and the retained Isaiah Canaan's minutes, plus a chunk of Patrick Beverley's), drastically upgrades their backup wing (Tucker is a huge upgrade over Corey Brewer), and is able to keep both of their nice young bigs (Terrence Jones and Donatas Motiejunas), who, when Jones returns, gives Houston the best second string frontcourt in the league, easily. The newly created roster spot is used to sign Josh Smith. Look for Daryl Morey to waive the filler player (Brown or Jefferson) and to sign someone promising who can be stashed in the developmental league. Houston emerges as the strong favorite to win it all this season. Revised roster Starting lineup PG Patrick Beverley (24 minutes/game) SG James Harden (36 minutes/game) SF Trevor Ariza (32 minutes/game) PF Josh Smith (32 minutes/game) C Dwight Howard (32 minutes/game) Key reserves Goran Dragic (36 minutes/game) P.J. Tucker (16 minutes/game) Terrence Jones (16 minutes/game) Donatas Motiejunas (16 minutes/game) End of the bench Isaiah Canaan Corey Brewer Alexey Shved Joey Dorsey Stashed in the developmental league Tarik Black Mystery free agent (signed after Brown/Jefferson is waived) Until Jones returns, Black and/or Dorsey gets his minutes.
