[ClutchFans] Podcast - The Dwight Howard Trade Aftermath

Rockets offered Goran the same amount of money and years that he got from Suns as far as I can remember. The only difference is that Morey did not want to make the 4th year as player option. If Goran really wanted to stay in Houston, he'd sign the contract. Instead he went to Phoenix with the basically same contract. As discussed early in the off-season, he would not pack everything up if he really wanted to stay.

 

If the Rockets would have offered Dragic the 4th year he would still be playing in Houston. Attempted trades had ZERO to do with it. I guess you forgot the only team that actually traded him was who???

Oh yeah Phoenix.

 

The Rockets would only offer a 4th year if it was a team option. Phoenix offered him a 4th year player option. That is an absolutely huge difference in case you are not aware of that.

 

Clutch & Bima,
Thanks for another great podcast. I really enjoy these. You just don't get that depth of dialouge on the Rockets anywhere else outside of the BBS. For real Rockets junkies, this is crack.

I also enjoy the healthy disagreement between the two on issues like our record next season, and Kevin Martin. Personally, i think we win between 31-35 games this year with the current roster. I also share Clutch's frustration with losing Dragic, but i agree that if we are rebuilding, it's not the end of the world. One thing's for sure, Jermey Lin will do whatever he has to do in order to reach his potential. You can't say that with confidence about a great many players in the NBA today.

 

When Phoenix was trying to trade him? Phoenix wanted the Rockets to waive the physical.

 

Thanks for the kind words, Aruba. As fellow Rockets junkies, Clutch and I can appreciate the need for this type of discussion. (The closest thing you can get to good Rockets talk nowadays is either on 790 AM or sometimes on 1560 AM. It's not like 610 AM knows jack squat about the Rockets, nor do they care to inform themselves now that the Rockets have left them for greener pastures at 790.)

Yeah, after the first podcast, Clutch and I were worried that we agreed on too much for it to be very entertaining or insightful. Hence, we made it a point to try to find areas on which we did not necessarily agree. It just makes for a better discussion that way. Still, we tend to agree on a lot of things, for good reason.


Speaking of things on which Clutch and I disagree, I'll take this opportunity to give my abbreviated thoughts on the reported signing of Carlos Delfino:

I think it was a very positive move for this young Rockets team. You cannot have a team with ALL youth that is going to develop well. There need to be SOME quality veterans on the roster. Delfino is a tough-nosed defender and fearless (probably a little TOO fearless) on the offensive end.

As far as the cap implications of the signing, a lot depends on the amount of his deal. If it was a cheap deal, then I'm even happier about the move. If it was for a significant amount (remember, the Rockets can have up to ~$6.9M in cap room without waiving any guaranteed salary), I'll be less enthused.

Either way, reports are that it is only one year guaranteed, with either a team option or a non-guaranteed second year. (Btw, reporters tend to report non-guaranteed years as "team options", but they're in fact very different things. I'll be curious to find out which of the two things it actually is.)

Also, John Hollinger openly wondered on Twitter if Milwaukee might possibly entertain doing a Delfino sign-and-trade in order to generate a moderately sized trade exception for the Bucks. He even thought they should give the Rockets back their unprotected 2014 second rounder (which Houston gave up in the Dalembert trade last June) in order to get that TPE. Personally, I doubt that either (a) Delfino and his agent would agree to the minimum THREE-year deal (with TWO non-guaranteed years) that would be necessary in order to effectuate a sign-and-trade deal or (b) Milwaukee would give up what should be a pretty decent pick for just a trade exception. Now, if Milwaukee were interested in a guy like JuJuan Johnson or Gary Forbes, that might be another way to go and might actually net the Rockets that pick back. Still, I'm not holding my breath on any sign-and-trade actually getting done.

 

an absolutely good point. let's see whether he can take this different group to another level. i am not saying rox will be good but if lin can make them play better than what they can. lin definitely deserves this contract or even more.

 

well that may be true , his 3 yr deal because of the cap, but the real reason he was signed it to fill the seats because a 500 team or below 500 team wouldn't do that ... let's face it , Goran is / was a better pg and HOU let him go for almost the same money HOU signed Lin for. I like Lin , but I LOVED GORAN!!!!!

if it were about winning, Goran would of been resigned, that just makes no sense, that people are gonna say this team wants the best players available yet let Goran walk out the door for the same price you bring Lin thru

 

The Rockets were only offering three guaranteed years (fourth was a team option). The Suns offered him four guaranteed years, since the fourth was a player option. That is a big difference. Players pack up all the time over additional guaranteed years.

 

Team policy is no player options and he didn't agree

 

Four years vs. three is a big difference.

 

The Mavs were also interested in Lin as well. The raptors were as well.

 

Morey wants to leave year 4 empty so he can chomp on some team that has had to bite the bullet on luxury tax and wants out from underneath it. The way he is structuring deals, we'll be able to pick up an All-Star for basically nothing. Of course, that's 3 years down the road.....so who really cares right now?

 

Suggestion for the podcast:

Figure out how to host it live (live webcast) and open the chat room so you can read and answer questions from us while you all are chatting it up.

 

yes. questions like:

1) do you think Dwight Howard wears boxers or briefs?
2) if Dwight Howard could be an animal, what animal would he be?
3) what's Dwight Howard's favorite color?
4) do you have Dwight Howard's address, and what are the stalking laws like in California?
5) do you think Dwight Howard has ever thought about what it would be like to have sex with another man ...

just breaking your balls jopatmc

 

Who is Dwight Howard?

 

Clutch and I actually discussed this issue. We were thinking of having a future podcast involve some questions submitted ahead of time by ClutchFans posters on the BBS. We could perhaps have a thread dedicated to submitting questions, and we would cull through them to find a handful of questions to address on the podcast.

No promises (this is all a TON of work for Clutch), but we'll try to do something like that in the not-too-distant future.

 

if that's what you want to believe then so be it...

If Dragic really wanted to be here, he could have worked things out...

But you can't treat players like assets and then make believe that they have forgotten what you have done. Look at the last interview Dragic did with Lowery looking over his shoulder... He knew then he was playing for a contract somewhere else. If all that was in the balance was one year then things could have been worked out.

T_Man

 

Curious. If that is a fact then why did Dragic re-sign in Phoenix after they treated him like an asset?

And it's not a matter of what I want to believe, Daryl Morey was not going to give him the player option in the 4th year.

 

Nothing wrong with that. It can allow Les/Rockets to be able to buy a free agent, pay luxury tax, buy a draft pick, or pay somebody to take a bad contract off of our hands. Money helps a team (ask LA) and it has to come from somewhere. Money can be an asset for the future, just like a draft pick.