I think you are giving Robin WAY TOO much credit. I've watched him often when he played for the Suns (I live in Phoenix). He is incredibly soft, has bad hands and can't shoot well outside 3 feet. Gortat took his starting job without question. Are you thinking of his brother by mistake? Brook is solid. Robin..not so much. I'd take Chuck Hayes over him any day.
We don't want him, but NO definitely would. Here's a decent S&T scenario. Minnesota In: Omer Asik, Terrence Jones (or D-Mo), Austin Rivers New Orleans In: Nikola Pekovic Houston In: Ryan Anderson, Derrick Williams This locks down our PF rotation really nicely. Minnesota gets good value for a guy they don't particularly want to keep for the money he's asking. NO gets their center, and a good fit with a slender Anthony Davis to have a bruiser inside to take some pressure off of him and let him play PF. We run with, more or less, this rotation: Lin/Beverley/Brooks Harden/R. Williams/Garcia Parsons/Garcia/Casspi Anderson/D. Williams/D-Mo Howard/Camby/Smith
Why wouldn't New Orleans just trade for Asik straight up since he is the better player on most likely a better contract? Plus, I doubt the Rockets want Derrick Williams or they probably would have already traded for him. He's not on the worlds greatest contract in the world considering the mediocre to poor production he gives you on the basketball court. Also, if the Rockets wanted Ryan Anderson, you'd have to think that they would have already acquired him back when it was rumoured to have been discussed weeks ago.
Asik is not better than Pekovic. There are two sides of the ball, and Pek is miles ahead of Asik offensively, which NO might need next to Davis who is still developing an offensive game. Derrick Williams is 22, and is actually putting up really nice numbers so far. 13 ppg 5.5 rpg in 24 mpg while shooting at a decent % (33% from 3 and 43% overall). A lot more than we can say about our current two PFs. Trade negotiations are a little more difficult than you're giving credit for. It's not 2K where you just press a few buttons and it happens. There's still time for trades to go down, and maybe it didn't happen because NO wanted a better center and now they have one in Pekovic.
I can tell some of you guys don't watch many other NBA teams play outside of the Rockets. Pekovic is a really solid player.
People DO NOT understand that Portland IS NOT trading Aldridge right now... They're going to see how the team they assembled is going to do. If there is going to be a 3-team deal involving Portland, it won't include LMA and it wouldn't be until mid-season. I see a potential trade going down a little something like this.. http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=mx7mqde Why MIL does it: They need to sell tickets right now since they're in rebuilding mode. Lin can help them with that. Plus they get a future first round pick from Houston and Charlotte. Plus shipping away Ilyasova could help them groom young gun John Henson. Why CHA does it: They aren't getting anywhere with Kemba (who is wasted talent on that team, imo), so they get a nice haul out of him. Its a win-win for both sides (Kemba and Charlotte) because Kemba is now on a contending team. Why PHI does it: They get younger with acquiring MKG. Hinkie was with Morey whom from what I read loved MKG. I would think Hinkie would love the addition of him as well. Plus it helps them in their rebuilding process by having yet another young player. If this trade goes down, they'll be solid in a few years. Why HOU does it: Kemba could be a future all-star in this league, in my opinion. He and Ilyasova would put us on that championship contenders list. We would have what it takes talent wise to win a title. We would have to part with a few picks but for a championship? Eh, I don't think Morey would mind.
I'd be willing to bet that we like Terrence Jones more than you'd think. He showed a lot in the few minutes he played.
IDK, I like Ilyasova but as of this post I don't consider Kemba to be as good as Lin. Not to say he can't or will not be but I like Lin better today. The reasons you give for the Blazers not trading LMA I would say almost the exact same reasons apply for the Rockets not trading Lin and TJones at this time. I think the team would rather 1 stand pat for now 2 evaluate what they have 3 see if someone like LMA becomes available at the trade deadline.
I would trade Asik for Pekovic on the condition that it brought back Williams and saved us some cash. But I can't really see how it would save us cash (unless Pekovic got less than $3m per season - lol). Having said that, Williams is hardly the "answer" at PF for us. He'd simply be another young buck trying to claim the spot.
God, no kidding. I am so bored with the non-stop Lamarcus Aldridge trade proposals. Portland makes the playoffs if they can add Asik or Pekovic while holding on to Aldridge, Nicolas Batum, and Damian Lillard.
