Source: If Twin Towers don't work, Rockets may look at LaMarcus Aldridge

"Stretch 4" is not a real guy. Please post real names instead of "stretch 4." "Stretch 4" means nothing. A stretch 4 who makes the team worse? "No! A stretch 4 who makes the team better!" So you are saying "Make the team better." I think we can all agree there; in other words, "Stretch 4 who makes the team better" adds nothing to the discussion.

 

Lets face it, if you can get either or, you jump on it. Both guys are all-star caliber PF's who are physical but can space very well out to 18 feet. Both guys are also currently in their prime and should be willing to play alongside 2 stars to try and win a title or two.

Also both guys can have their minutes staggered with Howard to provide 48 minutes of post presence in different lineups. It would be pretty amazing if Morey could snag either guy. Lastly, both guys are known as great teammates, and establish an even better veteran presence in the locker room.

Point is... you really cant go wrong with either.


The ONLY thing to recognize is that LMA's salary comes off the books in the Summer of 2015 where he becomes a free agent. Horford has one more year afterwards on a very reasonable 12 mil.

So the question is.... would Morey have anything else planned in the Summer of 2015 in free agency when conceivably Morey could only have Harden, Howard, and Parson's tiny cap hold on the books going into that Summer. That would be more than enough cap space to sign a super-max contract.

Some notable names in the Summer or 2015-

-Kyrie Irving
-Rondo
-Kevin Love(player option)
-LMA

and potentially (if they pick up their ETO next year ) -
-Bosh
and lastly-
-Lebron

So the question is if you had to pick one, would you pick the guy who gives you options for the Summer of 2015 or will that not matter either way???

IMO, if Horford comes free before LMA does, you jump on it and forget about 2015.

 

Not quite a super max.

With Harden, Howard, Parsons and Bevs cap hold, and a ton of min roster charges, Rockets will have ~15 million. It is a good chunk of change, but not exactly max.

 

im calling it now: rockets will trade for brandon bass...obviously without giving up asik.

bass will be our starting 4, asik will play off the bench.

celtics aren't going anywhere this yr and we will be able to get bass for dmo or jones and maybe a 2nd rounder.

 

I really like the idea, possibly more than LMA. Like all these "possibilities," it comes down to whether Atlanta would want to, and whether Morey wants to. Horford would look great in a Rockets uniform.

 

I have no prob with that... Liked Bass every since he was in Dallas..

Plays with a lot of heart.

T_Man

 

Would either want to do it? I'm not sure. But it seems more likely to me since Atlanta basically has two PF's in Millsap and Horford and we basically have two C's in Asik and Howard.

The main part of the trade would have to be Asik for Horford. A frontline of Millsap and Asik would probably work pretty well and they would help to cover each other's weaknesses. We would obviously need to throw in other players and draft picks as well to get Horford, possibly even getting another team involved because I can't think of what other assets we have that Atlanta would want. They have Korver and Jeff Teague, would they really want Parsons, Lin or Beverley?

 

good call

 

bass is an attainable PF..like it!

 

FYI, I'm using pretty rough guesstimates here.

Was factoring in the potential salary cap increase. With the salaries of Harden, Howard, Parsons, Beverley, I'm seeing 40.88 as the amount of salary on the books. Not sure what the min roster charges would be but I'm under the impression that it is something like 400K if I'm not mistaken. So that's an extra 3 to 4 million.

If the salary increases to say 61 million from 58.8, the Rockets should have somewhere between 17 and 19 million available depending on where the cap is set at in two years. Could be even slightly higher.

So probably the only free agent you could rule out completely unless he takes less is Lebron James.

But yeah.... we are guessing here that Morey wont add salary using the mid-level anytime in the next two years, and wont add young players that blossom and aren't players you kick to the curb to gut the team for free agency. I guess the point is.... if its me I take Horford if I can get him, and forget about 2015... However there is some merit financially to trading for LMA over Horford if you look longterm to 2015.

 

I'll let the Master Morey deal with that part...the complication comes with the fact that KLove is available in 2015 too...hmmm...Master Morey comes to the rescue:grin:

just want Horford, but yeah, you can't go wrong either way. the more the hawks lose, the better leverage. i'm sure other teams would like horford too, but asik has alot of value. centers like him are in demand.

 

They could use a good "starting quality" backup point, which could be filled by Lin or Beverley, and they could also use an upgrade at the 3. Asik would have them set at center for years, and we have the pieces to put together a good deal for them if their GM and our GM are really interested. The balloon payments might put them off, though. I don't know how deep their pockets are. In Portland, the team's owned by one of the richest guys on the planet. What about the Hawks?

 

If Horford is available, I'd rather just deal with ATL to get him. Better fit, IMO, and younger.

 

also, milsap is at a lower salary and cheaper for the hawks to keep. he is also scoring 18pts/game, so likely they will want to keep him over horford. what the hawks lose in rebounding by trading horford will be gained back again with asik's rebounding and low post defense. asik could avg 10pts/game too, so not bad at all for the hawks.

 

I like that call. It would make a lot of sense.

 

I like how that projected trade shaved 23 wins off,

 

Horford could defend Blake Griffin much better down low too than LMA

 

Hawks have at least said they are building around Horford. I don't think they want to trade him any time soon.

 

Sure, they could use some upgrades.

Would Asik, Beverley and one of TJones/D-Mo plus a draft pick be enough to get it done? If so, would that be enough of an upgrade for us to sacrifice some of our depth?

I think so, but only if the Hawks are underperforming this season. Even though that trade makes more sense to me from both team's standpoints than LMA, it would ultimately come down to both teams losing.