New Orleans needs players to fill out their roster, and all those guys are young and on basically expiring contracts. You could give New Orleans who they want (Lee+Dragic+Patterson+Scola) and make the Lakers take on the rest (Hill+either Flynn or Terrence) and we would have enough room. Hell, the Lakers owe us something for working this trade for them.
Where did you get at least 15mil to sign Nene? Lee+Patterson $4.2mil vs Martin's 11.5$ Giving up Scola/Martin/Dragic would give us $11mil in cap space then add Thabeet's $5mil would give you the $16mil to offer Nene. Giving up Scola/Patterson/Lee/Dragic would leave us with only $4mil in cap space. Add Thabeet's $5mil amnesty = $9mil. Good luck convincing Nene signing for $9mil.
Martin has to go. It's his contract that makes him a target for the trade. You have to trade him because he makes the most money on the team and that makes him the centerpiece of a deal that gives us cap space.
Basically, if you give the Hornets what they want (Scola, Dragic, Lee, Patterson) we could just dump a couple more guys on the Lakers, 2 of (Hill, Flynn, Williams).
That's not what we are supposed to shoot for. Cornerstones aren't enough. It is arguable that guys like Patterson and Lowry are good enough to be our cornerstones. If you want good interior players, there are probably cheaper options. What we need is a genuine franchise guy to win it all. Gasol, Nene, Iggy, Granger are good players. But none of them is a first banana on a championship team and they have already peaked. I'd rather develop our young guys and hope at least one of them turns out to be a great player.
I was under the impression that we already had about $8mil to spend prior to whatever we are paying JTaylor. $8+$4+$5 = $17mil. I might be wrong but that was my logic.
This trade blows. The original proposal had us getting raped now we are talking about adding Lee and Patterson? Gasol is only marginally better than Scola at best while we are also trading a 20+ppg, and a first round pick. So the next plan after we get owned on the trade is to offer max money to a guy that averages 15 ppg and 10 rb's? IMO the best thing that could of happened to the Rockets was the NBA rejecting the deal.
Either way folks, there is no doubt in my mind Morey has something planned. If he's giving up half the team, I'm certain he has pieces in place to really vamp this team. They key is not to be attached emotionally to players. It's a hard thing to do, but if Morey has taught us anything, he isn't afraid to make that tough deal. I think come Monday, we'll be seeing a different team period. In Morey I trust, and it's no better time to be a fan right now. Morey had a vision, and i think he's finally getting his wish. Very happy for him without even knowing the deal.
That is not true. If they want younger, cheaper players, we have a bunch that could easily add up to Martin's contract and leave us with more than enough to sign Nene. Kyle Lowry+Kevin Martin+Pau Gasol+Nene= About 50 million... We would still have guys like Chase Budinger/Marcus Morris/Jermaine Taylor. One of Jonny Flynn/Terrence Williams/Jordan Hill... We would be capped from free agency certainly, but we would be nice...
I just think Morey views depth as very important and by giving them 5 young guys you still need to replace 3 of them. If you just get rid of Martin them you would have a ready made replacement in Lee. Morey's style is all about flexibility and if the team is maxed out he has no room to work.
I am absolutely DOWN for this trade. No matter what it takes. Patterson, Lee, anyone, give them up if we have to. With this trade we could possibly have the BEST defense in the NBA. Defense wins championships. And it all starts with interior D. Nene and Gasol in the inside, we've been dreaming of having this type of big men forever. It was always just Yao and some midget at power forward. Now we'll have two powerhouse big men in the inside.
Totally against this deal. Makes me sick to my stomach. Our current team + dalembert would beat the gasol/nene gutted rockets. Unbelievable. Morey has lost it. One of gasol/nene will get injured in the next two seasons and drop off. This is ridiculous. THIS is what were betting the farm on? I swear if the trade doesn't go through, it'll be the biggest victory of this season for the rockets.
If your standard for a basketball team isn't to "compete for a championship" but "likely to win a championship", I can tell you to stop rooting for the Rockets. It won't happen. The Rockets can tank year after year, get super lucky and the next Durant + Westbrook combo, and they still won't meet your standard. You should move to LA where year after year you can lure stars to play for you.
My Possible Trade Scenarios: *The only way to have enough cap room to sign Nene is if we give up both Martin and Scola. Stern said they want younger players... So the package could be Martin,Patterson,Dragic instead of Martin,Scola,Dragic. Do we get to sign Nene? No, because we won't be able to have enough cap space. In comes Dalembert. Our rotation would basically look like this... Lowry/Flynn Lee/Twill Budinger/Morris Scola/Gasol Gasol/Dalembert/Jhill *Nightmare scenario we all are dreading would be giving up Martin/Scola/Dragic + Lee or Patterson. If i had to choose 1, i'd give up Patterson instead of Lee since i don't want T-will starting at SG. Basic Rotation: Lowry Lee Budinger Gasol/Nene Nene/Gasol Jhill and Morris could also play mins at the 4. If we give up Lee with Martin/Scola/Dragic... Basic Rotation: Lowry Twill/Jermaine Taylor (probably why we signed him) Budinger/Morris Gasol/Nene/Patterson Nene/Gasol There are other scenarios where we could still keep Kmart but it's too complicated to even suggest. Try mix and matching and adding Twill/Jhill/Flynn/Thabeet to Scola/Patterson/Lee/Dragic and you'd be able to somehow match Martin's $11.5 mil contract in order to have enough cap to sign Nene. So i won't even bother.
We still need to see what else in in store after the deal. Morey could very well just stash Nene and Gasol and trade them before the deadline for great young players and more picks from a desperate team. Hell, we just don't know.
This must be a joke. Dalambert with our current team would only add nothing. And we won't have a terrible team after we've traded for Gasol, Morey is the master of finding good role players for nothing. Once again, people underestimating Morey's ability to find good players. Everyone on this team is replaceable.
I am so freakin tired of playing small ball. Newsflash people, those types of teams don't win championships. Look at the Spurs and how they got manhandled by the Grizzlies. They were simply overpowered by the interior big men of the Grizzlies.
One thing to note with Morey is that every player on this team he brought in at this point. He is the one with the most emotional connection to the players because they were his moves. If he is willing to move them I trust him. We were just a few games out of the 8th seed after losing our C for the season. We made it past with the 1st round with our star SG and gave the Lakers a run for their money without our star C or SG. I like what he does and it's hard to see players leave that really give it their all but I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt.
