ESPN Insider: Rockets are considering offering a "monster deal" to James Harden?

Don't think OKC would even consider amnestying Perkins esp now that their Western conference rival has a Dwight-Gasol frontline.

OKC will only consider 2 options.. Either spend on Harden and endure losing millions to luxury tax (highly unlikely for a small market team) or trade Harden and acquirr players that would still make them contenders.

Enter Houston.. Kevin Martin would replace Harden as their source of scoring/offense off te bench plus they would add depth to their frontline by also acquiring Patrick Patterson. Morey could also throw in a future pick to sweeteb the pot.

Why i'm all for this deal? We'd eventually trade Martin before or right at this season's trade deadline anyway and acquiring a player like Harden in return would be the bet case scenario on any Martin deal. I also don't mind losing Patterson in a Harden deal of course. Terrence Jones will be our starting PF sooner or later with or without him.

 

Kevin Martin's contract would put them in luxury tax this season. Highly doubt he would be involved in a deal with OKC unless there was a third team to accept salary.

 

They wouldn't have to amnesty Perkins now. They could do so next Summer, and if Perkins ends up having a bounce back year, or improves they might be able to trade him anyways.

Eventually Serge Ibaka will be the starting center for this team moving forward. You can take that to the bank. In the future I completely expect them to look for other options in the post to match Ibaka up with moving forward.

I also dont think they are going to keep one player on their roster at 8 or so mil a season for the next 3 years just to match up with one team out of 30. Even with Dwight/Gasol, the Lakers are still very beatable if you have enough talent.

-As for the Martin trade bait situation. Im not sure thats the best "one year rental" situation they can get in all honesty. I mentioned this earlier, but I would much rather take care of two birds with one stone with a deal with Atlanta-

Perkins, Harden for J. Smith, L. Williams

Seems to make much more sense in the short term and long term for OKC.

If Houston is going to base a package around Martin and take back Perkins(which they must in order to make salaries match), they are probably going to have to offer much more than just Martin, and a big.

 

Perkins would almost certainly be coming back to Houston in this trade, or the combination of Tabo S. & D. Cook. So basically Perkins will be attached to Harden.

 

Paging bimathug. We would love your take on a possible Hou-Okc deal cap wise.

 

I would be pretty damn happy to have Perkins on the team with Harden.

 

What an incredibly misleading threat title.. I have insider and the article barely mentions us.

 

I have a real hard time seeing the Rockets taking Perkins. I could see the Rockets trading Martin if they got back minimal salary allocated to future years. The Rockets would need a third team to send any non-expiring contracts with significant guaranteed money. Harden would only be one piece.

 

Enticing offer indeed but were the Hawks even mentioned in this article? Because there could be a few other teams who could also throw better offers but afaik, it's between the Rockets and the Mavs. Lets throw in Atlanta or any other nba team once their interest in Harden become public.

 

JUST TANK ...... WHY WASTE THE MONEY????

 

@ZachLowe_NBA: As @tomhaberstroh writes today, HOU and DAL are basically locks to offer Harden max if he gets to free agency: http://t.co/uR2KbJOE

Also, this is not the first time Houston's name was linked to Harden. Knowing Morey, he'd most certainly have his sights on a player of this caliber and potential.

 

It's not a loser mentality. It's REALITY. We aren't going to be good, why pretend we are?

 

we discussed this before, but i'm not sure you understand it.
your trade doesn't work unless they get rid of Perkins in the deal.
But you are arguing that they'd take your trade because they want to keep Perkins. It doesn't work that way. They'll have to choose, (1) Perkins, (2) Harden, (3) your deal. Clearly, anyone with any sense would choose Harden.

 

The team is still too good to tank. It just won't happen.

 

So we should become a dleague team full of rookies? I guess unlike me you dont want this team to get better period, just trade away everyone and become the Astros, newd flash the rebuild is complete, cap space is there and rockets are primed to upgrade this roster next season. Remember Morey preaching " flexibility"? Thats to aquire better players next year btw

 

I'm talking about a Harden S&T.

 

As good as Harden will be, he would not be successful or a good fit here on this team. Harden doesn't like to be the main guy and constantly have all the pressure on his back all the time. He prefers to be the 2nd or 3rd option rather than 1st. That's why he wanted to be in OKC so bad.

The night before he was drafted, he emailed Sam Presti to let him know how much he wanted to play for the OKC. He knew that Westbrook and Durant was the main players and he wanted play alongside them and be the 3rd option instead of going to a bad team and be the 1st option. He did not like all the pressure that was on him and the expectation when he was in Arizona State. He didn't want the attention but rather play under the radar. After the finals of 2012, the person that got the most attention was the 6th best player and he did not want that at all...

That's why if he comes to Houston, it wouldn't be a good fit here. I would love to have him as the 2nd option but not the 1st option....

 

I was reading an article from Grantland I believe that said Harden didn't want to be the big dog on a team. He wanted to be in a supporting role and convinced OKC to draft him so he can play 3rd option to Durant and Westbrook. If we do somehow get Harden, we're really going to need to get a 1st option to go along with him. Is there even any targets that fit that bill?

 

No need to literally tank. A roster this young and inexperienced and who most certainly is gonna lose their only consistent veteran (Martin) during the course of the season almost assures a ton of L's.

 

I hate you MambaJoe, just a few secs faster=(