[ClutchFans] Morey: Asik trade fell apart at high level

Mchale is never going to make use of Lin to his potential. Therefore Lin is not worth his contract on this team, it's best to trade him for what value we can get. The problem is his trade value is even less than Asik's right now.

 

I'm sorry but I think the trade Lin talk is downright stupid. The guy can flat out play, it's only his 2nd real season, or 2 1/3rd really, has a great work ethic and improves, plays better defense than most offensive point guards, gives effort out there, is a team guy, can put up crazy numbers some nights, is fairly consistent, what else do you want? Just because Rondo is out there doesn't mean you should get him. Plus he's surly. Lin can and will improve if allowed to make mistakes on the court the way Parker and Nash did in their 2nd season. Lin's production matches his contract of an average of 8 mil a season this year. He's banged up now but he played all 82 last year so with luck once he's back and in a rhythm, he'll be good to go and put in productive minutes for the team.

 

The problem isn't the point guard situation. Typical the think the solution to every problem is to start Lin.

There are fundamental flaws in this team that exist regardless of the personnel.

 

i don't like the idea of us having to keep the poison pill contracts, but hey... it was a calculated risk. asik and lin are good players. not 15 million good, but at least they are NBA quality rotation players. the rockets are still have good depth - and this season is about growth anyways. the market could easily still open up.

after lebron went to miami and immediately started winning rings, i imagine other GMs are less likely to let morey sit back and build a super team with harden and howard. that's probably our biggest challenge in making another play to land a talented player. every GM is wondering: 'if i give them player XX, do we look bad by making the rockets that good?'

either way i like the message morey is sending: deal equitably or no deal at all.

 

Disagree. The fundamental problems are almost entirely personnel.

Our offensive talent is very limited, especially on the bench with Lin out. Our goal in half court sets is to either shoot the 3, drive the lane, or pass the ball into Howard.

1) 3s: our 4-out-1-in offense depends on all 4 guard/forward positions hitting the 3 at a reliable clip. Obviously Harden is in a slump, but teams still seem to respect him from distance. I believe he started the year cold, but it has continued due to his multiple leg/foot injuries. Parsons has found his stroke again....no issues there. The real problem is Beverley and TJones are both below average shooters at their respective positions, and I don't think that is going to change significantly over their careers.

2) driving the lane: if possible, Harden has actually improved here. Amazing given his slump from downtown. Parsons is above average as a driving SF, but not significantly above. TJones is also above average, but is very inconsistent. Beverley is below, and will likely stay below. Overall, I think we are good enough at driving the lane. The only way we could improve is to get someone like Tony Parker at PG, which obviously isn't going to happen.

3) Howard: the guy has made a huge leap forward throughout the early season. He still needs to recognize when it's not there, and get better at passing out to our shooters. His effort has been huge for this team. We needed another piece to this offense, and Howard is giving it to us in the post. It's humorous to me that people think that we're losing games because of our focus on the post. When Howard gets the ball, the other 4 players get to rest, which the desperately need given the minutes we are playing Harden and Parsons.

Regarding transition offense, we aren't running as much because we are tired, which is entirely related to our weak bench.

Our defensive problems are less personnel related and more caused by youth and lack of playing together for a long time. Still:
1) Bev - Above average defender
2) Harden - Below average (has the potential to be above)
3) Parsons - average
4) TJones - Below average (will become above someday).
5) Howard - Elite.
Most of our defensive woes are related to the bench....not the starting unit. Lin, Brooks, Garcia, Casspi, Smith is a TERRIBLE defensive group. Asik helps, but even he would struggle to makeup for how bad we are in the 2nd unit.

We need better shooters at the 1 and 4, and a better bench. This isn't anyone's fault, as we needed cap room to sign Howard this summer. It is something I expect Morey to resolve over the next 1-3 years, depending on whether we make a run for Love/Aldridge.

 

Disagree. Our offense is very predictable and easy to defend against. Even if you have a better personnel you won't go deep in the playoffs with this style of play.

 

Maybe asik will be traded sooner than we thought since brook Lopez is probably out for the season

 

Have you watched the Rockets this season? Lin was killing it until he got hurt and was in talks for 6th man of the year early on.

Don't miss the forest for the trees bruh

 

Brook Lopez injury would definitely up Asik's value..

 

Doubt it. Not unless something else happens here.

Nets are gonna go on and plug KG into the middle and let Blatche/Teletovic spread the floor. They're not gonna move JJ, DW, or AK-47. That leaves Pierce/Garnett and junk as possible trade pieces. Before last night KG may have been a possible trade target but not now, not without the ability to flip him to the Clippers after 2 months.

Only thing Lopez injury does is drive up the value of the pick swaps ATL owns, making it virtually impossible to do a trade with them and get one of those pick swaps.

 

I think the team did that to themselves by having him come off the bench. As someone else pointed out earlier, NY/LA/Bulls, and a few other teams are actually in need of a good PG but other than Lowry, there aren't many available. Not sure how desperate those teams are but having Lin come off the bench definitely did not help given his contract.

 

This Morey Ball "Threes and Layups" scheme is not going to work against elite teams in the playoffs. It's basically like saying, "We're only going to score from the right side of the court ... so the defense need not worry about defending the left side."

That's limiting our options on offense.

 

Please if possible do thad young for omer asik. Thad young gets you steals dunks jumpers rebounds blocks defense and less than 2 turnovers with 49 percent fg. All around great player.

 

I'm okay keeping Asik for the rest of the year, and then including him in a draft day deal to get an extra pick or move up in the draft. Asik can give us 20 quality minutes a night and that's a very fine thing. Size does matter and one of the things that's become increasingly clear is how vulnerable our front court is on the defensive end when Howard's on the bench. We need a good backup center and Asik more than fills that role. We should concentrate on moving a guy like Greg Smith (who's a free agent) for some perimeter D instead.

Brooklyn needs a big and Alan Anderson is a good perimeter defender on a 1-yr $900,000 contract.

 

Did you watch the NBA Finals last season? Did you notice what sorts of shots Miami and San Antonio were taking?

 

I agree with all this, mchale will get him mins, he will be very important in the playoffs when Howard gets into foul trouble or we need to play then together. Not only do we have smith to move, we have Canaan, Covington, brewer, dmo that could get us a back up that can play the 2-3

 

The one opportunity that the injury opens up, I think, is some sort of Lin+Asik for Pierce deal.

For Houston, Pierce's expiring contract opens up the likelihood of 2014 max or near max cap room. So, if there is someone on the market that Morey wants and is interested in joining forces with Harden and Dwight, trading Lin and Asik's contracts, both goes through the 2015 season, opens up the ability to pursue such a player-- assuming, of course, that he exists.

For Brooklyn, they get reinforcement at positions of need. Getting Lin would also be a good way to say "FU" to the Knicks. My guess is that their owner is one of the few in the NBA who don't care about the balloon payment. Also, the Nets are projected to have possible cap room no sooner than 2015. So, having 2 2015-expiring contracts instead of the 2014 expiring Pierce is actually convenient for them. Specifically, with Pierce they would have to make a decision on losing him or having to sign him for long term this summer. With Lin and Asik, the decision time comes at exactly the right time-- 2015.

 

But performance wise what is motivation behind this?
Pierce is washed up right now. His production is behind Lin's and we are giving him Asik.

 

Did you see how many total assists the Rockets had as a team against the Pacers? That's clearly indicative that we do have a problem at the PG spot and starting Lin May not solve all of our problems but would definitely help us. Our offense is predictable and stagnant when Lin isn't playing PG. Bev dribbles the ball up, passes to Harden. Harden dribbles, stutter steps, moves to the right, and then either drives to the goal and scores or is fouled, or decides to shoot the three or passes to a teammate with less than 5 sec left. Sound familiar? That's the play we run half the time.

 

The best way Asik helps himself is to play his heart out, continue to improve and show people he can be a great starter in this league.