David West testing FA could be huge for Rockets! Chris Paul?l!

I think CP3 proved he was more than capable in his series against the Lakers. You collect "assets" for these moments and the big 3 2012 free agents are gonna be the last attainable game changers for the time being.

 

I hate to post again, but these are cities I see as legitimate contenders with us for the big 2012 free agents. I think the two bolded cities are clearly more desirable to free agents than Houston.


Boston
New Jersey
Golden State
LA Clippers
Sacramento Kings (if they move)
Phoenix
Dallas (if they can move Marion and/or Haywood)

All we have to do is finish second to one of those teams (if Dwight and CP team up) and we come away empty-handed again.

 

I don't see why Paul wants to play for Rockets. What we learned form Bosh and Melo stories is Rockets isn't a hot destination for superstar level talents at this moment.

 

I am not saying Houston is a sure thing. Of course it will be a fight. But you are ignoring many facts.

Dallas has no cap space. They have $41 million committed past 2012, and that is without signing Chandler, Barea, Butler, or Beaubois. Boston is a team that will have one good player in 2012: Rondo. That is a very poor situation for a FA to go into. Did any free agents sign with Boston when they were horrible for 10 years in a row? No.

Golden State has one of the most bloated, underachieving rosters in the league. Sac is a bad team with bad management that is in a poor market, in addition to not being in LA (which itself is very unlikely). Phx has cheapskates for owners. Of all the competition, NJ and Washington are the toughest.

Houston has several advantages: it is one of the larger cities; for ethnic reasons it tends to be popular with NBA players; it has a very favorable cap situation; and it is a young team with upside.

 

I will give you that if they are moving to Brooklyn. Still that leaves one option as attractive as Houston with a team that is not known to have the success that we have. I still think Houston is just as attractive as any destination besides the Lakers and Knicks and those two have no money.

 

Is anyone here arguing for a non-active approach? You're putting words into people's mouths.

 

If the Rockets based target FAs chances of signing in Houston off of glam stories in the NBA, then they should never try to sign a star. I don't know about you, but I'd be pretty upset if my GM did not even try to sign a free agent superstar.

Even then, I still consider the Rockets a franchise with great tradition. Not as great as the lakers or celtics or even bulls franchises, but a good solid tradition waiting for the next player to take this franchise to the next level. Hakeem did great. I wish he learned how to dominate and trust his teammates earlier in his career. We would have been champs for a long time.

I'm saying that I don't want the person who desires to add to a page in a huge book of championships. I want the player that wants to separate his own legacy from a convoluted list of names and write his own story about taking a glamourless franchise to the lime light.

 

Maybe i missed it, but i'm surprised no one has mentioned Okafor...wouldnt they want to unload Okafor's contract in any Paul trade?

 

Yeah, I really do know where this went wrong, since we both want the same approach. lol

I guess it all started with Golden State, but I really see them as a good situation. West has more cred as a GM, with the players, than Morey, it's all about showing off the rings. The city is arguably better than Houston. The past 10 years neither of us has done enough in the playoffs to have a legacy. Their payroll is not that bloated, they are set to pay $36M in 2012, but they have Ellis $11M, Biedrins $9M and Lee (who chose GS) $12.7M who should be able to be moved easily in a S&T or for expirings at the least.

I think Boston is by far the toughest competition. If players want championships, that team's trophy case, that FO's track record and that coaching staff dwarf all other possibilities. They are only committed to Pierce and Rondo ($27M) in 2012, which IMO is a great situation for two superstar free agents. They can trade Rondo and build the roster from scratch. I think that's almost as enticing as Martin, Lowry and Scola ($28M), especially considering Dwight Howard wants to leave Orlando in part because of poor defense by his teammates.

Obviously I hope Houston is the front-runner, but realistically I don't see it. That is why I love your plan of trading for one of them first and trying to impress them with our city, roster, legacy and fans.:grin:

 

so, you are in support of the Rockets tanking, yes?

 

I made a thread recently that talked about clutch performance. CP3 and the Hornets have consistently been the most clutch, or among the most clutch teams for the duration of CP3's tenure there. Even beyond his obvious benefits, he would also make this team a much better team down the stretch. Imagine how Kevin Martin would look if CP3 is the one passing to him. So I'm a huge proponent of giving NO everything they want and without any guarantee from CP3 that he'll stay. This is something I did not want with Amare(agreed with the non-trade) and Melo(glad he didn't come without an extension).

As for NO, given their tenuous situation with the city and fans, I believe they'd prefer to keep competing ala Denver rather than full tanking. In which case, they'd likely take the best deal. IMO, the Rockets and the Thunder have the best chances in terms of stuff they can give. Also both teams are capable of taking on extra salary.

But the Rockets can give them a PG, so I think we have a shot if they do want to trade CP3. Lowry + Patterson would give them replacement for CP3 and West. Then we'd throw in some picks and expirings to match. If they want to get rid of Okafor, Scola would cancel his contract out.

 

The NBA is in charge and they absolutely will not firesale the only marketable star. Priority one is keeping the team viable in NO. Priority2 is bringing in a new ownership group.

If Paul leaves, I strongly suspect it will be as a free agent.

 

To get Paul you take on Okafor who has a terrible contract but is an ideal player a double/double machine who plays defense.

Honestly an offer beginning with Lowry and taking back Okafor should at least interest NO, especially if CP3 makes it known he will bail.

 

Okafor would definitely play in Houston, that's for sure. If we had to take him to get CP3, then I do it in a heartbeat. Plus he'd fill another need. I like Deron Williams more than Chris Paul though. He'd be the point guard I'd want. With that said, I want to see what Lowry does this year, if he improves yet again, then we've got an all-star point guard and wouldn't need either of them.

 

Okafor has more value than Biedrins, whose bad contract we can't even seem to get with expirings. So I'm not sure taking Okafor's contract off New Orleans' hands is a selling point to them. Now if we could somehow come up with a package to take Arenas off Orlando's hands as part of a Superman trade, maybe they wouldn't hang up the phone on us right away.

 

Okafor has 3 years/40m remaining

Biedrins has 3 years/27m remaining

New Orleans is also obviously in deep financial straits and with West leaving and IF CP3 wants out it's full on rebuild time. In that situation Okafor's contract is a huge albatross. No point in having a center in his 30s with that contract for a rebuilding team. I think they would at least listen, Lowry is young with a good contract, offer them their pick of the 09 busts, Bud, etc.

 

Ok peace is achieved Yes, I think we are arguing for the same thing.

The main issue is how strongly FAs weigh a team's legacy, city lifestyle, and short-term opportunity to win. I'm of the opinion that short-term opportunity is the dominant factor, with lifestyle being 2nd, and team history a distant 3rd.

You're right that West will help Golden State. But David Lee and Monta's contracts are starting to look like team killers, now that their flaws are so evident. Already, Ellis is barely worth OJ Mayo. I wouldn't be surprised if West has to throw in draft picks to dump his contract after next season.

 

I like your approach because if that spans out, we have a cp3 caliber pg at a discount.

Allows us to use the money elsewhere.