The Rockets need Josh Smith By Josh Reese on Jan 25, 2016, 6:00a +[/B] Josh Smith returns to the Rockets, he actually probably never should have left. It wasn't really his choice, much like the Houston Texans and Andre Johnson, Smith left because he wouldn't have much a role with the Rockets, so J-Smoove decided to take less money to take his talents to L.A. Now, a few months in on both sides, the Clippers don't need him — or can't fit him in — and the Rockets desperately need Smith back. And, yes, they do need him desperately. Last season, when the Rockets were at the highest of highs, it was because Smith was a key part for this team. Smith's connection with Dwight Howard on an almost psychic level was amazing to watch. The alley-oops Smith fed Howard were almost too good to be true. Smith has a short and poor-lived run with the starters when he first got to Houston. But that was quickly forgotten when he was moved to the bench and was able to have so much success. Smith became part of the "Headband of Brothers" unit. When the Rockets starters didn't come out with the energy they needed, Kevin McHale would insert Corey Brewer, Jason Terry and Smith and the team's pace, energy and speed would pick up. This year, the Rockets thought they didn't need Smith and he would play less, which in theory was true. With a fully healthy Terrence Jones and a fully healthy Donatas Motiejunas, they would have been right. The problem has been D-Mo's injury setbacks. When he did ultimately come back, he was OK and getting better, but now there is no telling when he will be able to not only return, but return to the Motiejunas level that was supposed to be the starting power forward. Jones also fit into the plan to not keep Smith, but his up and down play has really hurt this year. All-in-all, the Rockets need a stable force at power forward. If Smith returns to the bench, it could be a very dangerous unit, with Ty Lawson, Terry, Brewer, and Smith there would be few teams in the league that would be able to match their pace and offensive punch. It will be interesting to see how new head coach J.B. Bickerstaff decides to use Smith. Josh Reese
I doubt seriously this happens especially with hiss best buddy Smith back. I'd take a Cousins swap but definitely don't see it now. Also, Howard's been a monster lately so might be a good sign moving forward nonetheless. Dwight Howard happy to have Josh Smith back in the fold By Jonathan Feigen on January 23, 2016 at 6:10 PM Happy as he was to have childhood friend and former teammate Josh Smith back on the Rockets after Friday’s trade, Dwight Howard had to make Smith pay for leaving. “We had to rough him up for leaving us,” Howard said. “He’s in a good place now.” Howard would not offer many details about how Smith had to atone for signing with the Clippers as a free agent, other than “We didn’t mess with his face, but he got some body shots. “Just happy to have him back,” Howard said. “I thought that me and him together in the playoffs was key. I thought we really had great chemistry on both ends of the floor. “All of us have a crazy type of relationship, especially me and Josh. He’s happy. We’re happy he’s back. We’ll see how it works. I think it’s going to be great.”
According to this poster on Sacramento's REALGM Board (don't shoot me, I'm only the piano player), these are the names most bandied-about for trades right now (i.e., names that have come through the Kings' FO or that they're aware of availability....again, some people believe he's legit, I'm just copying and pasting, have fun): Dwight Howard - Rockets Harrison Barnes - GSW Rudy Gay - Sactown Ryan Anderson - NOP Mike Conley - Grizzlies Kevin Love - Cavs Pau Gasol - Chitown Marqueef Morris - Suns Lance Stephenson - Clips Kevin Martin - Tpups C. Kaman - Doesn't even know where he is, anyway C. Anderson - Miami Thaddeus Young - Nets Ty Lawson - Rockets Trevor Ariza - Rockets Eric Gordon - NOP Tyreke Evans - NOP #1 draft pick(s) - Boston Courtney Lee - Grizzlies Nick Young - Fakers Tony Allen - Grizzlies Tyson Chandler - Suns Channing Frye - Magic Kenneth Faried - Denver JJ Hickson - Denver Timofey Mosgov - Cavs David Lee - Boston Taj Gibson - Chitown
Kaman is a salary filler from Portland and it's Thaddeous Young from Nets not Raptors. As for those articles they are meaningless. Like how happy Smith was last year, and then he left for less money.
Corrected the Thaddeus Young bit. It wasn't an article. That's what these last two pages have been about, supposedly someone leaking info from Sac FO on RealGM. Those are the names (he? don't want to assume anything, like we did with you, malakas ) says are active in trade talks. Again, I can't vouch for him. Someone else says he(?) called some trade or another before Woj did.
yes I'm well aware. LOL I was the one who posted the info first here..saw it last minute in the morning before work. I meant the articles that Phillyjamma posted about how happy Smith is and Dwight is. That means absolutely nothing whether Dwight will want to change teams esp if another team is willing to offer him 30/4.
The Josh Smith trade signaled that they haven't yet thrown in the towel with this group, and are banking on a late season run going into the playoffs. For that I have to commend Morey & co. for their patience this season. Since the Rockets are playing better, have seen positives from Lawson/Brewer/etc., and there isn't much available that could possibly help more than those two guys, I think this team is what it is for the most part going into the trade deadline. I think we will see a smaller type of deal at the deadline, but it wont be anything massive like Dwight, or even Lawson IMO. All the deals they would need to make to retool & rebuild can be done this summer too (Lawson, Brewer, etc.) with the exception of Dwight which is the one key expiring deal. Jones, D-Mo, and KJ... well I wouldn't be shocked if any of them are move, but at this point I wouldn't really call that a franchise altering deal. But at the same time, given their likely trade value, I wouldn't be shocked if Morey would rather gamble on getting Jones & D-Mo back on a good team friendly deal rather than getting back whatever junk they could in a trade. Not expecting a super active trade deadline, and sure as hell am not expecting a huge trade with someone like Dwight or Harden involved.
If Dwight wants to, or ends up changing teams the cap space he leaves the Rockets with likely is more valuable then what they are looking to get back in most deals to teams like Sacramento who are not going to risk much at all to get a player that could also walk on them this Summer. Clairvoyant Dobro thinks- I think Dwight stays a Rocket this season, and this Summer we start to hear about how the Rockets and Dwight are far apart on a new contract (assuming he opts out as well). He will talk to other teams with the notion out there that Houston is the primary frontrunner as he loves Houston. In the end, he probably accepts much less than the max, and comes back to Houston. If a team like Atlanta, Orlando, or Brooklyn (three teams I would guess right now would have interest) come up with legit max offers, then I think he walks and the Rockets & Dwight shake hands and walk their separate ways. They then take that cap space and go after several key Ariza-type pieces. One other interesting deal would be if Al Horford is dead set on taking the max elsewhere, and the Rockets and Atlanta do a swap of their bigs. Either way, all of that is better than trading Howard now for peanuts. This Summer creates much more fruitful opportunities long term with the cap explosion. I just don't see a Dwight trade before the deadline that makes sense. Sorry.
Trade Harden, never. Well, practically never. Just won't happen. Howard? I'm sure he might have been mentioned in active trade talks (at least, I don't discount it), but I wonder if that still stands, now that we have Josh Smith back in the fold (the lift he brings the team, and, to a much smaller degree, the friendship between the two). Naturally it would all depend on how much a team wants to pay Howard, but it might behoove the team just to ride it out and, if Howard moves on, use the money elsewhere. To me, it would be just a jaw-dropping "say WHAT?" if Howard were dealt. Good to agree with you. I thought about Horford but don't know if it's possible. And how did Horford get along with Josh when they played together in Atlanta? And does Dwight want to stay on in Atlanta (hometowns can be distracting, especially with crazy-ass baby mamas lurking).
er why sorry ? lol I don't think Horford will get traded and I dont' think that Dwight will get a discount when tehre are serious executives saying already that they think the likes of Rhyan Anderson will get a max. You get a max and you get a max and you get a max. I rather pay dwight 30 for 3 than Anderson 25 if I were a GM. As for the opportunities with the cap explosion meh. What opportunities. I dont' like this FA class. I want to see someone make an estimation of our capspace if Dwight and Lawson leave. Also at this point it's ridiculous to count T.Jones or DMO as max or near max or even 15+ contracts. How much capspace if DMO takes his QO and Dwight+ Lawson +Jones leave?
Reg cap space potential (under assumptions listed above)- If you let Dwight walk, and waive Lawson you have right around 45.2 mil in salary against an "estimated" 89 million salary cap. Jones' cap hold, I'm pretty sure, is 4.97 mil, while D-Mo's cap hold should right around 4.57 mil. So assuming the Rockets give up their pick to Denver (assuming they make the playoffs), and assuming they let Dwight walk & waive Lawson, they could have as little as 54.74 mil against a projected 89 million cap. That's almost 34.26 million in cap space to play with by NOT JUST SIGNING FREE AGENTS, but also being able to absorb contracts in trade after next Summer. ............... Reg Horford - He's going to be a free agent, and I'm just throwing out a hypothetical where a team like Atlanta has been made aware their free agent isn't coming back, and both players swap teams maybe even outside of a S&T. Probably more likely both player stay with their current teams, but crazier things have happened. Its a silly hypothetical though so don't take what I said there as some BasketballHollic prediction I'm banking on. Reg Jones & D-Mo contracts- You are right about their estimations. Its ridiculous to think that a big coming off back surgery who already had a setback, and a player as inconsistent as Jones will have half of the league opening their checkbooks to get them. IMO most GM's probably still see D-Mo as a gamble prospect (only showed half a season of significant NBA play even though it was a great half season), and most GM's probably see Jones as versatile bench big who likely isn't consistent enough to count on as your starter. We need to keep an eye out for what Sullinger, Dwight Powell, and Trevor Booker get. Someone like BobbytheGreat probably thinks D-Mo's comp is someone like Harrison Barnes but I'd have to disagree. Its probably that level below. I assume both Jones & D-Mo will be in that group with those guys & will also be lined up as options as opposed to more veteran options such as David Lee, Speights, Josh Smith etc. Alot of teams will be weighing giving a mid-sized deal to a veteran who could overproduce, or take a gamble on a younger guy who could still grow into a better player. Had D-Mo come back healthy and was producing where he was midway during the season last year, yeah he might potentially be in that group of young players looking to get the max, but there is just no way RIGHT NOW a GM thinks it wise to go that hard after him or Jones.... which is why Morey might just keep them both, and try and get a bargain value contract for either or both guys this Summer. Again... this is MY OPINION. I'm not an insider like Hollic, or the czar BobbytheGreat.
I think we should try and convince Howard to take a one year 10 million dollar deal, so we can add another max player, with a wink wink that we will offer him full max the year after. With the cap space, you can chase Durant, Conley, or Horford, all huge upgrades at their respective positions.
Thanx for the calculations. I know it's just your opinion. It's my opinion only too I'm no "fake" insider. Yeah if Horford goes and demands a out then he will be traded..otherwise I dont' see it. Only then. I haven't heard anything about him being unsatisfied in Atlanta for the last two (or is it three) years. His defence has taken a big dip this year, and I think he will go after the most money and where he's the most comfortamble=> Atlanta. The max the year after gets even bigger. It will be at least 35.6 million (most probably more because these estimations are always below what happens in the end). I dont' think that Dwight will risk it because of the fear of the stoppage and negotiations and I dont' think Morrey will pay Dwight 35.6/5. Do you want to pay Dwight until he's 38year old? The only who i believe will get that max is Lebron and Durant.
well..that's less than 30/4 or 30/5. If we don't give him a max now and there is another one team that will he loses money for no reason. (and actually more if there is any stoppage). Let me ask you this..if Dwight has a new back injury *knock on wood* that makes him unable to play or diminishes his athleticism more next season do you think that Morrey will honour this verbal agreement -that btw is illegal and has no law power to enforce him (? don't know the proper expression sorry) and pay Dwight 35/3? Because you are asking for Dwight to assume all the risk while at the same time giving him less money.
Don't know what the numbers look like yet, but the tax advantages of Texas you could atleast make it competitive. Besides, Dwight has continiously harped about winning is the most important thing, so I don't know where he would go that would have cap space and would be better than us. You could give a two year deal with a PO to hedge some of the risk, he could also get a third party insurance policy to hedge the rest. With the Rockets, you have to maintain the momentum of being an attractive place to play and on the verge of championship. Losing Dwight for nothing is a step in the wrong direction.
