Lin and Adrien had tiny expiring contracts ~$800K which would barely be of any help in matching salaries. The '09 guys each have $2M or more salaries ($5M in the case of Thabust).
And expiring contracts are not so much about basketball value as necessary grease for the trade wheels. If a trade partner says "We do not want Scola or Martin" and we don't have enough expiring contracts we just can't make a deal. On the chance that D-Will or Howard or some other superstar becomes available to us in trade, would you REALLY have Jeff freakin' Adrien that that possibility? Seriously?
Not necessarily. Thabust + Flynn + T-Will + Hill = $13M. It's enough for ONE trade but what if Morey needs to make two trades?
Rockets organization has to do what's best for the organization ... (At the time), Lin had less trade value than the 09rs ... And Lin getting minutes over Lowry and Dragic wouldn't have made any sense (at the time)... He just happened to go to a team that needed a point guard ... If we're going to blame something. Blame the lockout ... With a full training camp and (coaches, gms) having access to players and facilities ... Rockets would have seen him more, and probably would have made room for him ... Players would have vouched for him like they did Parsons. As far as Adrien, I actually believe.Greg Smith has way more upside. As much as Adrien hustles, you can't teach, motivate, or encourage him to have the size Smith has.
Kinda shocked, considering he is a big reason why we won last night. At least that's how I felt watching it. He played hard, grabbed some tough bords, and played great d.
? Basketball transactions? Hill came with a 1st round pick, option for a 1st round swap (bad luck on Rockets part), and getting rid of McGrady. That was a good transaction. Flynn came by getting rid of Brad Miller. That was a good transaction. Thabeet came with a first round draft pick. That was a good transaction. Terrence Williams (Edit can't believe I said Terrence Morris)....well, 3 out of 4 "ain't" bad.
The 09ers weren't acquired to be expiring contracts. If you want expirings, there are much better ones out there. They were acquired to be 'developed', and according to a lot of people here, Rick just wasn't cutting it in that area.
They were acquired as long shots to be developed with the exception of Williams. Hill has produced a lot more than I expected at the time of the deal. I don't think Morey actually expected to play this season. I think Flynn and Thabeet were acquired to be cap space.
Actually, since I joined there has been a kneejerk thread a day. Believe me, I have been here long enough to see that.
