I have a hard time seeing how we keep both. I have an even harder time seeing how we do not lose Dragic for nothing. Please give me your thoughts.
Lowry is under contract through the 2013/2014 season; with all of our budding cap space, i say we make Dragic the same or less than offer we gave Lowry when he was backing up Brooks. Worked out pretty well the first time around.
Probably need to either ship put Martin or let Lee go to clear up minutes for both of them playing together. Also need to pay market for the guy, maybe MLE money like Kyle got in 2010.
Lowry was restricted and signed an offer sheet with Cleveland, a team which gave him a starting opportunity. We matched it. Dragic can EASILY bolt for a team which will offer him a starting opportunity and I would not blame him one bit. IMO to re-sign Dragic, we have to trade Lowry.
I think it comes down to how well we do in the playoffs. If we make it to at least the conference finals, or a game 7 in the semifinals, I could see Dragic staying as a back up.
Lowry was an restricted free agent. He wanted to leave. He said as much. We blocked it. Dragic is an unrestricted free agent. There are al lot more teams with cap space this time around. Dragic calls the shots if he stays or goes not us. There is nothing to stop him from leaving and we will probably have to overpay to keep him. Even if we offer the most money which will be definitely be more than Kyle got, a lot more, he will probably leave for an opportunity to start on another team.
Is GD golderned UFA? If he's RFA then he signs here or SnT. What teams NEED him with how much available cap space to pay for said need?
Dragic's stats as a starter are mind blowing. 55% shooting, 43% 3pt, 8 assists - just amazing production. Honestly, I would hope they keep the player with the most upside - if Dragic keeps it up, it just might be him, he is a much better athlete than Lowry.
Kyle wanted to leave because he was back up to Brooks and wanted a chance to shine as a starter. But that didn't last long after the season started and he got the starting job. Brooks didn't handle it too well.
The Rockets can offer him an extension. I reckon they should try to work one out now. Lock him up before he hits free agency.
What would that say to all the guys like Lee, Scola and Lowry that did not get one, though? Dragic should be kept, IMO he has the most upside of any guard in the Rockets organization.
Start by asking who has cap space and who needs a starting point guard. PG is a talent saturated position and only a handful of teams need PGs. I think since he wasn't traded, we end up keeping him.
He's much more effective as a starter. He seems to know that role better. Id trade Lowry if we can re-sign him seeing as he has more upside and Lowry can net us a major cog
Yeah, I agree completely. There is no way Dragic will stay to be a backup. I like Lowry, but if his trade value is still high in the offseason, we should trade him and sign Dragic.
While not on the "Trade Lowry" train before (at least not driving it), it seems that Dragic can more than hold his own, and stay in front of quicker PG's like Westbrook far more easily than Kyle. So if Kyle nets us a first round pick or another strong player, then do it. Dragic makes some boneheaded mistakes but he hustles more than anyone else on the Rockets, even Scola - and he constantly attacks off the dribble. IMO, he is the best the Rockets have had at the point in years, I wonder if Dragic continues to play well that Lowry gets bumped like Brooks did when he was injured? Lowry would make a great backup PG again. Either way, I hope we can keep him. DD
I agree with what you said about Dragic. However, Lowry would not be happy playing backup. His trade value is too high to make him a backup anyway. The best option would be to trade him.
They can't offer him a market level extension, though. Assuming nothing significant has been changed in the new CBA, teams which do not have space under the salary cap are limited when offering extensions of non-rookie scale deals to a maximum of a 10.5% (assuming this is now 7.5%) increase off of the final year of the old deal. So unless you think Dragic is willing to sign for a starting salary of $2.26M, an extension was never even a possibility. This is why people b****ing at the Rockets' "no-extensions" policy make themselves look so foolish; outside of perhaps Rajon Rondo, can you name a single non-max rookie extension that a team hasn't regretted almost immediately? As for veterans, who exactly has been deserving of an extension during Morey's tenure? Scola wasn't eligible for an extension, Battier didn't fit, and Hayes has the exact same problem that Dragic does in that his last year salary is too far below market value.
