[ClutchFans] Rockets trade Lowry, stay focused on Howard

Good guess on Dallas. I wouldn't be surprised to see Cuban move whatever he can to bring in another tier 2 level star. Josh Smith plays Dirk's position though.

But no question Dallas looks like a sinking ship all the sudden. Terry was the first domino.

Cuban in his younger days would wheel and deal anything and everything, but they have never been able to draft a real keeper during his tenure. The only real "bold" draft move I remember them making was the Devin Harris deal.

Jamison, Marion, Vince Carter, Caron Butler, a bunch of foreign talent that never really panned out.

Dallas might be headed out of their renaissance.

 

I love the gift card analogy, but OUCH to making Lowry the $25 Macy's card. LOL.

And PF Chang's is a nice nod to our power forward obsession and our Chinese fan base to boot. (subliminal really.)

 

This is spot on.. Seems like Morey is at least thinking long term with the poison pill contracts that CHI/NYK may choose to swallow. That will potentially eliminate 2 franchises from being players in FA 3 years from now, or at least make life much more difficult for them to compete with us to land a prize during that off season. Is it sexy and something we can immediately hang our hats on? No, but in 3 years, this may be one of the best subtle moves management has made, imo.

 

Ugh, this is an embarassment of a post.

 

Lowry was a flopper anyways. Yes, he had some good game at times, but if this leads to other things (better or worse) than that's fine. We need to stop being average and make a move.

 

This thread feels like a safe zone from the Zombie Apocalypse that is the GARM these days!

Well said.

This trade all but assures us of not selecting 14th in next years draft!

 

Personally I hope they keep the pick. We could use it on draft night 2013, either for ourselves or to trade up. Because, although the Raptors improved this off-season, I doubt they'll make the playoffs right off the bat.

I also think the Rockets should avoid Howard, like the plague. Orlando's asking price is to high (specially for a rental), and the chance's of him staying are less then the Rockets getting the #1 pick being slotted at the 14th spot.

 

Totally agree Clutch.

Lets hope that if we don't get Howard, Morey has a back-up plan that doesn't involve panic buying a second rate name.

 

What if we have to wait a year and that pick turns into the 5th pick in the draft?

 

I hope the Rockets, when trying players out, have a person who will play defender, go for the pump fake and if the player tries to draw the foul rather than making a basketball move, they're asked to leave the workout. I HATE that play more than any non-flopping play in the NBA.

 

Not a fan of it either, but it can be effective.

Sort of like when a soccer player gets nicked and falls on top of the ball. Forces the ref to make a call.

 

PF Changs was started by a white american guy from south Louisiana...Chinese people don't eat at PF Chang's

:grin:

 

Question - Assume for a second we trade for Howard and Hedo in exchange for martin's expiring, young players, and draft picks......where does that put our cap situation next offseason? I ask because if we want any chance to resign Howard we better have enough cap space to offer J. Smith or C. Paul to join him otherwise why in the hell would he stay here?

 

This x1000000.

Go after Howard..that's fine.

Rebuild entirely and play young guys sans veterans. I'm good with that too. Both are reasonable attempts at creating something great instead of settling for good.

 

what good is it to have Howard for one year, especially when you trade all your future draft picks and several of your younger players. Howard does not want to be here and will not be here next year .

 

It might actually be worse if we do get Dwight. I can see it now, we package this pick, our own and some other stuff for Howard. He comes here, there's no supporting cast because the team has been gutted. We're still not that good and before Morey can try to put pieces back in place, Dwight bolts because he didn't want to be here to begin with and we're not good enough to make him want to stay. Now we don't have Howard or any of the picks we traded for him that could've helped us rebuild. Sounds like a plan.

 

To add a couple things regarding Lowry's market:

1. You don't want to trade him to too good a team, whose 1st round picks are crap.
2. If a team is so bad that they probably will still suck badly even after adding Lowry (like CHA, a team that needed to triple its # of wins just to have the 2nd worst record), they probably don't want to give up what's expected to still be a high lotto pick for a veteran.

Toronto is kind of in the "sweet spot" where they are just bad enough to make their pick somewhat valuable (particularly with the "2 way protection") and just good enough to want veteran reinforcement.


Also, as noted by Zach Lowe on SI.com: a big part of Lowry's value is that he's way underpaid but that's only for 2 more years. After that, if he hits the market as an unrestricted FA, he'll have to get paid market value. So, unless you expect to be a contender in the next 2 seasons while keeping Lowry, you may want to trade his contract sooner rather than later.

 

I think I've eaten there 6-9 times, all different locations. Yep, 6-9 PF Changs for me.

 

The one thing I'll add about the fear of Josh Smith types, as a Dwight "fallback":

The more I think about it, I think something really has changed this summer with Les and the organization's philosophy. My initial reaction to not matching a perfectly reasonable Phoenix offer for Dragic was one of outrage. I really believe in Goran as a good starting PG. More than anything, I hated losing such an asset for zero compensation. If I were the GM, I'd have probably matched the offer and kept him.

But with a couple days to mull it over... I really see and respect where Daryl and the organization are coming from, even if I'd have done it differently. They're tightly managing like never before, in the sense of trimming excess fat and being in the best possible position to acquire star players and under-25 talent. If it doesn't fit with that blueprint, it doesn't work for the Rockets.

A year ago, they were so committed to trying to stay afloat while rebuilding that they signed a middling guy like Dalembert. Now? Knowing that Lowry would be gone, they let a legit young starter and fan favorite in Dragic walk, all over a contract that wasn't particularly awful. That takes guts and commitment to the plan that weren't there from the organization as a whole seven months ago. I don't know how well it'll work, but I respect it.

 

Not sure why the Rockets had to go to PF Chang's given the amount of free lunches they underwrote at YAO restaurant the last 5 years...