"Some Rockets firmly believe that Ilyasova would nicely complement [Howard and Harden]"

There is zero reason to think Milsap is even available. This is a Rockets pipedream.

 

If you watched last season, both of those things happened anyway.

 

Lmao. We are not getting Lebron. You kids are delusional sometimes

 

That would actually be a great plan B if we strike out on the stars in free agency.

We can trade Asik for the cap space to sign Lowry, then trade Lin either directly to the Pistons, or to a third team facilitating the trade of getting Josh Smith, and then re-sign Parsons with bird rights. We would also be able to keep our draft picks, and keep young prospects like Motiejunas, Casspi, Hammilton and Covington if Morey wanted.

Lowry/Beverley/Canaan
Harden/Daniels
Parsons/Hamilton/
Smith/Motiejunas/Covington
Howard/

Add in vet minimums and draft prospects.

Would still be very happy with a off season like that even if we were to miss out on Love/Melo/Lebron.

 

The "assets" the Bucks have (that I would want) are the #2 pick, the Greek freak, Sanders or Henson, and Mallory Edens.

And unless Parsons wants a shot at Mallory, I don't think we'd have the goods to pry any of those "assets" away from the Bucks.

Maybe you could unite Asik with his fellow Turk and get something of value in return, but even then...

 

It is very unlikely we would be above the apron and almost assuredly would reduce our salary if we were trading a S&T Parsons for Ilyasova who only makes $7.9M.

 

Josh Smith has the 2nd worst contract in the league in terms of value. I doubt he's on our radar.

 

Are you really suggesting we pay $11 mil to Sanders to be a backup and also pay $8 mil to a stretch 4(not known for playing D) coming off the worse 3P shooting year of his career?

 

been a huge fan before...and was hoping to nab him last summer...he may actually thrive here in houston

 

I'm surprised Carl didn't suggest we trade Harden for him.

 

Personally? No. Essentially you're swapping Lin and Asik for Sanders and Ersan. Sanders supposedly is an interior defending beast and you're betting on Ilyasova bouncing back to form. I wouldn't do it but if you strike out on all free agents and begin to feel like Love and LMA would not consider Houston next year what's the plan? Folks keep whining about defense upgrades well Sanders is an upgrade over Asik across the board.

 

why does his name keep coming up on these forums as if he's a future Hall of Famer? Does he have relatives that are active on these forums? His name is brought up more than Harden, Howard, LeBron or Melo.

 

Ilyasova has been mentioned 35 times in the last 6 months in the GARM.

Lebron has been mentioned too many times for the search engine to archive in that same time frame, so it only gives you the last 300 results.

 

That's a very opinionated statement. He had a bad season this year with the Pistons (which is great so we can pick him up for cheap), but if you look at his previous 3 seasons you will see he's good for about 17 points, 8 boards, 4 assist, 1 steal, 1.5 blocks, shooting about 47%. That stat line, with his defense, I'd say he's not too far off from market value at 13.5 mill a year.

You guys scream you want defense on here, you want someone who can produce not only offense, but DEFENSE as well on pick and rolls, Smith is your man. You want someone to guard Dirk, Aldridge, Lebron, Love both in the post and on the perimeter, Josh is your man. You want someone who's in his prime, ready to win, best friends and a perfect match at the 4 with Howard? Again, Josh is your man.

If you add Smith, Lowry, bring back Parsons, we would be in position to win it all.

 

Ilyasova is basically Troy Murphy. He can shoot, put the ball on the floor a little, and rebound really well. Want him to move his feet and play help defense? Not his thing. It would be a pretty disappointing plan D.

 

Josh Smith probably has the lowest BBIQ in the entire league, while he has all the athleticism in the world, his lack of BBIQ is brutal to watch.

 

But you don't spend $44 mil/4 years on your backup to Howard. Same as not paying Asik $8 mil per to be a backup. It's all about asset allocation. If we strike out with free agents then the plan is probably to keep Lin and Asik at least until the trading deadline as expiring contracts.

 

....so he's not a good defender?

It's not like Smith is going to be running our offense like he was in Alanta, he will be the 4th option on offense, his "low bbiw" will hardly matter if his only job is playing defense and catching and finishing on offense. No decisions for him to make just D up and finished when dished the ball.

 

He's had a terrible career. Last season was his worst. He's shot 47% or more exactly 3 out of 10 seasons. His career average is 46%, and he has been getting worse. If we were ok with Asik hitting 46% of his shots, he could probably put up 18ppg and hit more FT's, block as many shots, and play far better defense. But that's not ok. It's not ok for a PF to be such a poor shot maker and shot taker, especially one who has all the technical and physical advantages and 10 years of NBA experience.

Over the past 2 seasons he's barely made more than half his free throws. Can you imagine a starting line up with a PF/C combo that barely hit 50% of their FT's? Offensively he's a wreck, and it's not just the shots he makes/misses. It's the types of shots he takes, and what he does when he doesn't have the ball - he is atrocious at both these things.

As far as providing range, he is just terrible. Absolutely terrible. Takes 2 3pters a game, makes about 28% for his career, his absolute best season he hit 33%. D-Mo and T-Jones are 2 seasons into their NBA careers and they are at least as good at him at making 3's.

So to sum up his offense: he takes terrible shots, hits an average amount within the 2pt line, and is atrocious in every other offensive category. Teams will just back off him and pack the paint to shut down Harden and Howard. That's exactly what we don't want. The only thing he's average at doing (decent within the arc) we don't need, because we are elite in that category.

Further his rebounding is horrendous for a man of his size, athletic ability and experience. He grabbed 6.8 rebounds in 35 minutes last season - granted, he played SF mostly. Michael Carter Williams grabs more rebounds. Career average of 8 rebounds in 34 minutes. A guy who is worthless on offense and has his skills and experience should be grabbing 10 rebounds in that amount of time.

His shotblocking ability is great. His defense is very good. He's not worth $45m when he has never ever showed that he is going to mature and quit his childish habits on and off the court. When he was an FA he had the opportunity to join good teams for slightly less money. He didn't. That's his career, his choice, it's not unusual for a guy to take the most money. But it just goes to show what kind of mindset he's in - he's not the kind of guy who you will find on a championship team especially not at $13.5m (pretty sure it's $14.5m btw). He wants money and he wants shots, and he's willing to go to a below average team with two up and coming starting big men to get it. He still thinks he's a multi talented SF who can get to the hole, hit the J out to the 3, block shots, and carry a team offensively. Watch him a few times, and you will see his game is flawed and Atlanta tried for so long to get him to cut out the 3's, cut out the flashy plays and just focus on his strengths and be a key player.

Dude doesn't care. He's an expensive mistake, and Stan Van Gundy would pay us to take him off their hands. I would much rather pay Jeremy Lin and Omer Asik $30m than have Josh Smith on this team for the same annual cap hit. They would have to throw in unprotected first rounders for me to think "ok, this might work out" and we would have had to strike out on everyone from Lebron to Melo to Love to even Illyasova before considering something ridiculous like going ALL MF'ING IN FOR THREE YEARS on Josh 'eternal disappointment' Smith.

 

You just described Taj Gibson, and Gibson gets paid $8mm/year....

Serge Ibaka can do all that AND shoots a good 3pt %. $12.3mm/year....

Josh Smith at $14mm/year is horrible value....