No, they wouldn't be able to move Nash to Toronto unless the Lakers send out picks and young prospects (which the Lakers wouldn't want to do if they're rebuilding following the retirement of Kobe and losing Dwight Howard). Nash has a huge salary, is near retirement, and threat of injuries away from the Phoenix Medical Staff. Further, there's a new GM in Toronto. The new GM, Masai Ujiri, is the one that rebuilt the Nuggets with young guns following the departure of Melo. He just won the Exec of the Year award this past season. It's not that idiot Bryan Colangelo at the helm in Toronto anymore. So don't look for him to run after Nash the way Colangelo did as a last ditched effort to save his job. Ancient Nash would go against the Denver Nuggets young prospects and draft picks movement that Masai Ujiri used to rebuild in Denver.
Blake Griffin is not a star. He is an almost star which simply isn't good enough for true title contention. If CP3 + Griffin + Jordan didn't work then I don't see how Harden + Griffin + Jordan would work. Howard > Griffin and that's a definite fact
He's not a franchise player. He doesn't really effect winning much. All flash, no substance because he does not command a double team. Plus there is the DD curse in full effect on him.
I never said he was a franchise player. I was disputing the crazy notion that Blake Griffin is "not a star".
Agree. Something about CP3 just annoys me, even though he is one of the all-time greats. I still think that Nash is underrated by many. Sure, CP3 is better on defense, but prime Nash could pass better than CP3 and shoot a whole lot better, being one of the best shooters in history. Plus, great attitude at all times, no matter who his teammates were (even when Nash was stuck with awful teammates). The ultimate test for a PG is how he is able to elevate his teammates' performance (not only by maximizing their strengths but also by pushing them to play hard and with the right attitude), and Nash definitely wins here.
I like the guy, I really do. I think he has the potential to be a top 3 PF in the league. But, I don't think he is agressive nor tough enough to be a franchise cornerstone, much less an NBA star. Dude got straight up played by Zach Randolph this year. I'd take Dwight Howard, a completely proven star in the league, over Griffin. Howard took his team to the Finals by himself and with an unselfish team like the Rockets, I don't see why he can't be successful here. He is a walking double-double that can control a team's defense. We need a great defensive big right now. Asik is great, but he is not nearly athletic enough to move around the paint like Dwight. Dwight is a perennial contender for DPOY, unlike Griffin. I think accusations of Howard's negative effect on chemistry are overblown and in the right situation with the right set of guys around him, Howard can be a great asset, not just on the court, but off of it as well.
I don't understand your continuing lack of confidence in Lin. Don't you think Lin would be great on the pick & roll with Griffin and Jordan, plus them all being young would be great chemistry? Honestly who else other than CP3 would you rather have, Beverly running the offense?
I am interested in making the Rockets becoming contenders. Right now Lin and his salary is the biggest obstacle in the Rockets having the ability to add two superstars this offseason.
No he's not, the biggest obstacle is getting those two superstars to want to come to Houston. Once that happens the Rockets can make moves to clear the cap, even trading Lin. Dwight from some reports express some interest, but Paul has not express any interest in coming, he wants Clippers to try to get Howard
Agree to disagree. I think moving Lin is much harder than convincing CP3 and Dwight to come here. For example, if Lin did not exist (and we had that extra cap room), trust me, Rockets would be in a VERY good position of landing CP3/Dwight and both would be discussing coming here to play w/ Harden and Parsons. Now it'd require us to do a SnT (hard to convince others) or do a bunch of trades (hard), w/ Lin who is not that easy to move.
Well. if it's all just having cap space to convince them, then why don't they just go to Atlanta who can more easily get the cap space? I don't think Lin is as hard to move as people think, if Rockets add a few picks.
I suppose at the end of the day, what I really want to see happen is Dwight to come here alone. The idea of Howard and CP3 and Harden...sounds great...but realistically it's gonna cost us so much and I'm not for sure it makes us that much better to lose so much of our future trade flexibility to make it happen. You guys that think Jeremy is soooo bad that he can't be traded that think he's just a boat anchor, you aren't watching dude play very well. Lin is a baller's baller. He' super smart, and yes, I mean basketball smart. He is super fast. He's a demon to deal with in the pick and roll. And he played most of the year last year coming off major surgery and adjusting to a role playing off the ball alongside James Harden. I'm not a LOF but I do think Lin has tremendous value in our system. And I am convinced he's gonna come back next season as a 40% spot-up 3-pt shooter to go along with the other facets of his game, his already dominant playmaking off the pick and his ability to create contact, finish and get to the line, and his ability to find guys for wide-open shots and his blinding end-to-end speed. Those are all things Paul does very well also...except possibly the blinding end to end speed nowadays. And Paul may do many of those things better than Lin. But at what expense? Taking Harden off the ball?? We bring Paul in here....it costs us another $10 million of extra cap space over Lin and it puts Harden off the ball alongside Paul. And it costs us some of our other assets, either Asik leaves with Lin or several of our youngsters are gone with Lin or possibly even both if we have to sign Paul outright to get him here. Paul is a great player, no doubt about it. And if it come down to Dwight/Paul or nothing...I supposed I'd unload everybody to get them here. I just hope it doesn't come down to that. It's obvious the Clippers are panicking. It's obvious they know they gotta get it right or Paul's walking on them. They're gonna have to gamble giving up Bledsoe to have a chance to bring Paul back. I'm kinda hoping that deal goes down so it puts a clear end to the Dwight/Paul combo. On the other hand if we could get Paul and Dwight for Lin, TRob, Royce, and one of DMO/TJones or anything less then I'd probably do it. I just do not want to deplete all of our future trade flexibility to bring in Paul.
Even without Lin, you still need to find takers for Robinson, Asik, White and maybe others in order to make getting CP and Dwight workable salary-wise. Lin's contract by itself makes little difference in cap room. The free agency's choice is almost always more important than most of the other salary and trade mechinations. The Miami Heat didnt have room to accommodate their 3 stars in 2010, either, but managed to shed salaries like Beasley to make the math work.
2010, teams were more willing to take on bad K's than today. But even setting that aside, we'd only have to find takers for TRob and Asik. Lin's contract is the lynch pin in all of this. If you think moving his contract FOR FREE is just as easy or almost just as easy as moving TRob's or Asik's FOR FREE, then we really can only agree to disagree. We don't need to move White to get CP3 and Dwight into a workable salary range. We can waive and stretch him. I'm saying that any notable step that brings us closer to being a viable option to Dwight and CP3, who want to team up (assumed)...is worth more than them wanting Houston or not. We already have Harden. We're already attractive. If they still preferred LA over us, that'd just be them saying they prefer the city of LA over Harden + Parsons. If so, then I guess we're screwed, but really?
Teams didnt want to take "bad contracts" in 2010, either. Remember what Morey charged for Jeffries? I think Asik is easy to move-- a top level defensive center is hard to find. Lin may or may not be viewed as worth $8.3M/yr for 2 years, but I doubt that he's that hard to move. He is actually a useful player-- a starter for a playoff team-- and is still young enough and has actually shown enough improvement to have "upside." At the very worst, he should be movable if the Rockets include another asset like a 1st round pick or DMo or Jones. It's not that big a deal, certainly not as big a challenge as convincing both CP and Dwight to sign in Houston (and take less guaranteed money, a big deal for guys with a lot of miles on their body and substantial injury risk) in the 1st place. Robinson, btw, is objectively crap. But at least at $3.5 M guaranteed you should be able to dump him if you pay another team a decent draft pick. Things outside of HOU's control, like Clips getting Doc Rivers and Garnett thus making itself a more desirable situation for CP to stay and maybe for Dwight to join, is much more a matter of concern.
