Dear Morey, give up your Dwight Howard fetish and focus on drafting Meyers and Perry. Or Drummond. Or Henson.
Dear Morey, Do not trade for Dwight Howard. He'll get us on TV for a year. That's it. Don't go on with your, "That 5th year of big money is hard for a player to turn down," and your, "Texas has no state tax," and your, "Kevin McHale knows how to coach bigs" (although, "Olajuwon can coach you up during the summers" is a good selling point). A year from now, it'll go like this: You, Dwight, Courtney Lee, Fegan playing poker. McHale looking on. You: "So, wanna stay with the Rockets?" (puts down cards) "Flush. To the jack! Ha ha!" Dwight: (puts down cards) "Flush....to the queen." You, Courtney, McHale: "You da man! You da man!" Fegan: "See, Daryl? I told you you'll always lose at poker." You: "What does that mean?" Dwight: "Uh, I gotta go to the restroom." (points at Fegan as he ducks out of room) You: (yelling at departing Dwight) "No, stay here so we can suck up some more." McHale: "Daryl, I wasn't sucking up." You: (sotto voce) "Then you aren't doing your job!" Fegan: "Daryl, my client has decided to take his talents elsewhere." You: "Well, great. I had to go to the restroom also, but I just **** myself, so....does anyone have a KFC towelette?" Courtney Lee: (yelling in direction of departed Howard) "YOU F***** ME! YOU F***** ME!" I would say, Trade for Dwight if you think you can trade him in a year and net more than you gave away to get him, but we'd probably still be left with Hedo Turkoglu. Signed, DON'T DO IT
Here's another far more likely scenario, Dwight re-signs and then pouts until the Rockets trade him to LA or NY. Which would effectively set the franchise back years. The Dwight kool aid must be poured into the sink. There are players in the draft who are 1. gettable 2. have high ceilings, and 3. address specific team needs. There is no excuse for not making a run at Meyers, Drummond, Perry, Henson, or maybe even Barnes. Hell, Fab Melo would be worth a look, and he's probably going to still be on the board at 14.
The idea of getting Howard, and maybe surrounding him with a couple of pretty good players, and convincing him to say, seems pretty exciting. OTOH, we could probably turn those assets into four 1st-rounders and a 2nd-rounder or two, and I bet a couple of those would be pretty good players. So, I'd forget Howard if he didn't give us an extension.
http://articles.orlandosentinel.com..._1_jameer-nelson-steve-mountain-orlando-magic Jameer Nelson opt out deadline extended by mutual agreement to June 29th (i.e. the day before Orlando trades Dwight).
I'd wonder if this trade would work..... Houston In: Dwight/Turk/Derrick William + 18th 1st rd + 10 2nd rd pick (Salary: 33.7M) Houston out: Kmart/Scola/Dalembert/Patterson/Lowry + 14 & 16 pick (Salary 34.4M) Mini IN Kmart (Salary 11.5M) Mini Out Derek Williams/W.Johnson/Wellington/M.Lee + 18th 1st rd pick (Salary 10.3 + undercap) Portland In Lowry + Wafer +16th 1st rd pick +19th pick 2nd rd (Salary 6.8M) Portland Out W. Mathews + 6th & 11th 1st rd pick & 10th 2nd rd pick (6.1M) Orlando In Scola/Dalembert/W.Matthews/W.Johnson/Patterson/Wellington/M.Lee + 6/11/14 1st rd pick (salary 28.9M) Orlando Out Dwight/Turk/Wafer (salary 30.2M) Orlando does this because they get good players back and tons of picks and cap flexibility . I think the salaries all work out and the picks are good. It might seem like a lopsided trade but Orlando has a bunch of free agents this year and with this trade they will have only 14 players on the roster. Plus they get salary relief and great draft picks to rebuild.. with the trade they can also, keep their amensity who they can use on Big Baby or Richardson a few smaller contracts can get bought out which would allow them roster room to sign their 3 draft picks. Houston does this because they want a star, Dwight. We lose Lowry but we still have Dragic whom I believe we would be able to resign as well as Lee with a few other smaller moves afterwards. We take on Turks contract but we loose martin for a young PF/SF. We still have a great cast with PG: Dragic/Open SG: Lee/Bud SF: Parson/D.William/Turk PF: Morris/William/Smith C: Dwight/Camby/Smith Blazer do this because they want a better PG and lowry is on their radar. They have multiple draft picks which would help us get dwight. They loose a SG whom they got out of no where so they would be selling high on him. For them to get Lowry they don't pay much. Essentially they get Lowry for a second rd pick (matthews) and a 1st rd pick. The trade seems like they give up 2 picks but they get a lower pick back from the rockets and they get back a 2rd pick. All in all they get Lowry for the cost of a second rd pick which basically mathews is. Mini Does this because they want a SG. They really need one to play off of K. Love and Rubio. They 2 are the real foundation so they wont be afraid to trade some of their assets away. Derrick could easily be switch with someone else Ie: Peklovic or Beasly but I think Derrick is the expendable. They need a C to play with Love and Beasley is a restricted Free agent. Seems like a lot but would that make us better ? I dunno
Lay off the homerism bro...Portland gets Lowry for their starting 2 and a couple lottery picks...sounds like a great deal
