Well, technically speaking, on July 1, Goran Dragic will no longer be a Houston Rocket, since he's an unrestricted free agent. It's up to both Dragic and the Rockets to determine whether he can continue to be a Rocket. Hypothetically speaking, what if the Rockets select Damian Lillard at #14, Sergio Llull decides to come over for next season, and the Rockets are able to pull off a trade for a star player that involves giving up Lowry and requires that the Rockets renounce Dragic's Bird rights in order to make the trade work under the cap? I'm not saying that such a scenario is anywhere near LIKELY. But it is at least conceivable.
Complicated. Unlikely. But like I said my jaw drops at least once a year when I hear of an NBA deal. I just can't prepare for everything ... whimpers. LOL.
The Clippers will regret DJ. He makes major money, and his lack of focus and basketball IQ is a big part of the Clippers woes.
Really the Rockets are fine drafting at any position, even SG and PG, because they are attempting to get stars which will cost a lot of our depth. The Rockets have done very well developing PG's, so if there is someone at #14 or #18, I trust their judgment. Besides, there is no chance Dragic and Lowry are both Rockets in 6 months. All the criticism of the Rockets use of the D-League was just baseless non-sense out of the likes of DD.
Melo has a "defensive upside???!!!" I have never seen him play serious defense. Are we talking about the guy who plays for NY and used to play for Denver? The guy that is known for being a shot happy ball hog?
If he drafts ANOTHER undersized forward, I will stop watching the Rockets for a year (unless they sign a superstar).
Something like that... Or drafting better players than 7footers that wont be worth a damn on the basketball court till they are about to become unrestricted free agents and the Rockets then have to pony up and overpay to keep their investments. Or they could just go out and sign those Dalembert types of bigs on their own, and pay the right amount in the first place.
There's something to be said for trading everything for future first-rounders and a bunch of second-rounders this year. Morey does great with 2nd-rounders, not so great with first rounders. We can develop five of his 2nd-rounders, and come up with ten first-rounders in the next five years... Can't miss.
So if we trade Lowry, that will most likely be on draft day (June 28). Dragic is able to sign starting July 1st. So, what if we mess up and trade Lowry on draft day only to see Dragic leave 3 days later? Maybe perhaps we could get a verbal commitment from Dragic or something before we trade Lowry on draft day.
Actually it's not all that bad. I did the same thing when Morey traded for that POS Artest. Dropped NBA League Pass and saved a bunch of money. I was able to understand the total disconnect between what folks on this BBS believe and what constitutes reality. It was quite refreshing actually.
