I believe it. A Josh Smith doubter/hater not too long ago, I've grown to become a Josh Smith apologist. Very good defender, can play and defend multiple positions, tremendous in the open court, would fit in very well. Not a max-player by any means, but certainly the best PF on the market. I do understand people having their doubts or being opposed to Josh Smith, but I think a lot of Josh Smith weaknesses or shortcomings (shot selection, FT shooting, fit in the half-court) can be worked around or improved upon.
So, plain and simple there is a way in hell DM the GM does go after Smith, no joshing? Just curious - - who is Vecsey's 'source'? Might it be the hawkish agent for the player in question?
Agreed. Not to mention the best PF fit for this Rockets team. People do not realize that his role in Houston would be very different from what he is asked to do in Atlanta. Plus the Rockets are a running and passing team, which are Smith's strengths. Smith's weakness, jump shooting and posting up, would not be encouraged here. Smith may not be option A, but he would fit this existing team to a "T". His strengths are what this team is missing at PF spot (versatility (defend multiple positions), defense, shock blocking, rebounding, pick & roll, running & passing).
CP3 is clearly the best point guard in the league. If your telling me you'd rather keep Jeremy Lin over getting CP3 because he's a so called" diva" then you have absolutely no credibility
I think you should read my comment again. I said he is probably the best PG of this generation. And I said of course I want him for the Rockets. I´d be ecstatic if he came here. I simply listed two reasons why perhaps not everyone would want him. Those reasons don`t mean, that I don`t want him - I simply would prefer Howard because I think he fits this team better. But again, I WANT CP3! Everytime you can get the best player at a position you go for it. CP3 is special and he makes every team better and probably every player better. If there is a chance for us to grab him, do it and never look back.
I have far too much faith in Daryl Morey to believe that he'd actually spend money on a guy like Josh Smith.
Joe Johnson was and IS a second, or third option player. He is not a max guy and definitely NOT a 1st option franchise player to build around. Crazy how the Hawks paid that ass the max deal he didn't deserved. He didn't even send the Hawks to the East finals.
The Rockets are just indirectly letting Dwight and Josh know that the organization is interested in signing both of them. It shoots down the competition for Dwight since the only way Atlanta, Dallas, or even the Lakers trump us is if Dwight and Josh want to play together and those teams are able to work out a way to sign both and we're not willing to do so. Publicly putting that information out there greatly increases the likelihood that Dwight signs with us and let's Josh know to be patient and wait until the Dwight deal is done. Goodbye Asik (and probably Lin), Hello Championship!
Good call. How would you rate Morey's media savvy? Has he played the media in the past to turn opinion the Rocket's way? I would not be happy if we traded Asik + Lin (16.6m) for Josh Smith. It would mean we'd be paying him max and he's not worth that. I'd be happy with a straight up S&T for Asik that means we'd be paying J.Smith 11m at the most. He can take a pay cut if he wants to come to HTown to join his mate D12 and be on a contending team. Otherwise let's just keep Asik and try the Twin Towers.
JSmoove would be great for us, if Deeright doesn't do the right thing. #5 is a very underrated passer and the best shot blocker at SF in the NBA. In the current state of the Rockets running offense, he would be a perfect fit. With a better than average defense and a capable rebounder, it is part of a piece we need, if Superman two-times us. I definitely would not overpay JSmith because he is part, not the whole. Buy JSmith!!!!!!!
Plan B..... sure. (Assuming Dwight and CP3 are 1A and 1B) But at what price.... that's the big question. Could be that plan be is Josh Smith on a bargain contract or stand pat and wait for 2014 and upcoming trades. In that case sure the Rockets would like to have him, but it still might not be likely at all that he accepts such a low offer.
I think most teams are pretty savvy when it comes to playing the media but feel Morey is one of the best at strategic team building. He's like Bobby Fisher in chess, always 12 moves ahead of the competition. If this is a media leak, it's brilliant because it's insurance against probably the only way we could lose out on Howard and I think makes it a done deal. No other team can offer such a good package and chance to win a championship. I personally think that if Josh does sign with the Rockets, it will be a four year deal for between $10 to $14M a year. So if it's closer to $10M, we may still be able to keep Lin and still have solid bench which would be awesome. I could see Asik plus a young PF going to Atlanta but not Lin because he doesn't fit with Teague already there. if Lin were dealt, it would be to somewhere else. And I still think that it's very possible that Lin and Asik go to the Lakers in a sign and trade for Howard, then they will sign Smith outright for say $12M, leaving plenty of cap room to sign a solid, inexpensive veteran PG and back up center, plus maybe Garcia and/or Delfino. Or we may just keep Lin, but either way we're going to be a really scary team.
Also, once it's public knowledge that Smith and Howard want to play together in Houston, it's over. The Lakers and Hawks will concede and become desperate to get some assets back and be willing to take on our contracts on pretty much our terms.
Interesting theory, but you are over thinking things. I don't believe Morey played Woj to communicate through the media that we are interested in both Howard and Smith. I believe Morey never intended the T-Rob trade to be public. I believe Woj has good sources at the teams Morey was shopping T-Rob to. The GMs and everyone can figure out just as Woj and we did that it was to free space to sign Dwight Howard. The Josh Smith stuff is just twitter speculation perpetuated by cyberx. It was always on the cards since Atlanta tried to trade Smith for Asik and Parsons at the deadline. I don't think Morey is trying to do this as a simultaneous thing at all. Morey just wants to free up enough cap room to sign Dwight outright. He shopped T-Rob out as an opening piece. The final pieces may include one of the other PFs as well. Once he signs Dwight then he can turn to other trades like J.Smith. Atlanta are not as much of a threat now that the projected salary cap is only 58.5m. Before the only attractive thing about Atlanta was that they could sign both CP3 and Howard outright. Now, both of them will have to take at least 2 million dollar pay cuts each for that to happen. Also Atlanta does not have the tax savings that Houston has making the money differential quite different. I think the plan is not complicated. Free room to sign Dwight to the max. Convince Dwight to come to Houston and sign him outright. Once that is done, maybe think about making a play for Josh Smith or whoever else. Finally, fill out the roster.
