Rockets involved in trade talk for Dwight Howard or Andrew Bynum

Dwight's cap is an old school Red Rockets cap with a mustard underbill.

 

Karlei Lin? Jeremy Lin's cousin. Dwight is going to the Knicks! You heard it here first!

 

On one hand your wrong - Brooklyn took themselves out of a trade hunt and the ability to sign Howard next year which killed a trade partner and much of the competing offers. Orlando's reluctance to deal caused that.

...on the other hand, your kind of right - if Dwight's preferred destination is gone, in theory that makes him a less risky trade target for another team because his list of one is now no longer applicable. He is less of a "rental" with no preferred FA move in the waiting. That should make him a more desirable trade target....but I think the reality is, there is no better offer that will come of this(not a lot available) and it's a matter of time before Dwight has a new list of teams he only wants to be traded to. Houston is really the only team standing that can offer the picks and salary dump. LA, could match on talent but Bynum could be a rental(irony of ironies) and their roster would be slightly worse(Dwight is still better than Andrew) without much opportunity to make roster changes for a few years since they have so many bad contracts.

The summary - either we are getting Howard or they aren't trading him.

 

Thats why I prefer Howard...however, thats not to say Bynum isnt worth that contract. Big men get paid handsomely in the NBA...and Bynum happens to be the 2nd best in the league. If Asik is worth over 8 million a year after playing 14 min a game, then Bynum is certainly worth the max.

 

This is where The Cat's paranoid thoughts come into play. How much influence does DeVos have on all this?? What if he decides that because they could not make a Brooklyn deal work, maybe HE can convince Dwight to stay? What if he feels like giving Dwight an extra few months will help him decide to re-sign?? It's just one of a LOT of things that can happen the longer this thing plays out. It just sucks as Rockets fans because you get your hopes up only to be rebuffed time and time again.

 

With our luck that probably means they aren't trading him.

 

Is this a clutchfans record for the number of threads on the exact same subject

 

From the LA Times:

 

But Asik isn't worth 8 million. The Rockets overpaid. Asik is worth about 2-3. Bynum is only worth about 7 million a year honestly. My point is, just because Bynum has the "2nd best center in the game" title, doesnt mean he deserves to be overpaid.

Why overpay Bynum and end up being an average team again, if that, when the Rockets should completely rebuild.

Bring on Howard and some vets, or get some 20-62 seasons and high lotto picks. Use OKC has a blueprint and hope we hit.

 

Why do some of you keep saying Orlando wants Howard to re-up? If he does that they will still be in the EXACT same situation they are in now. NO FUTURE. They will still be stuck with the other 4 bad contracts they need to find something to do with. They want those guys gone even more than they want to keep Howard.

 

I think both Orlando and Dwight are doing some serious thinking about their futures.

From Orlando's perspective you would hate to lose Dwight of course. On the other hand they're not good enough to be championship contenders with him and like you said the bad contracts are holding them back. The biggest element is that Dwight does not seem committed to their organization at ALL. The combination of elements could push them to trade him even if he grudgingly says he will re-sign... maybe.

For Dwight he's basically come down to a situation where it's Houston or ask to re-sign with Orlando. I'm sure it will take some serious thinking for him to decide which he thinks is the "lesser evil".

 

Getting out of the contract leaves him only with 3 options: (a) re-signing with the Magic for max money, (b) working out a S&T with the Magic and a team of his choice, or (c) signing outright with a team that has cap space.

There is no point to fighting the legality of the contract then subsequently going with (a) so that doesn't make any sense, but who knows, weirder things have probably happened.

We know he can't walk and sign outright with the Nets, Knicks, Lakers, Clippers or even Chicago. This probably leaves Dallas and Atlanta as possible targets but that scenario seems (c) fairly unlikely (smaller NBA contract AND no shoe deal incentives?).

From what I understand, choice (b) and (c) would offer him equal but less money relative to choice (a). However, option (b) seems to be the most likely option he would be pushing for since it's the only way to feasibly get to a NYC/LA team this season although we find ourselves hitting the same snags the current negotiations have hit. Orlando would still have to agree, and they aren't high on Lopez, or anything else the Nets have. As some people mentioned, Lopez is more liability than asset on a max contract.

I think this whole legal thing is a scare tactic to pressure the Magic into trading Howard, because I honestly don't see much benefit to becoming a free agent right now unless that shoe deal incentive is absolutely massive. However, nothing says they have to trade him to the Nets so I think it works out in Houston's favor. In my humble opinion, the big losers in the fallout from a potential legal scuffle are both Howard and the Magic, who would probably lose leverage in any future trade negotiations.

 

My guess is that Orlando will wait until they get a new coach. That way he can put his influence into what "assets" he would prefer from the Rockets. Maybe he would rather have more draft picks. Maybe he sees something he really likes in White or Jones. The bottom line is that they want to make an intelligent decision that should most likely involve the person that will have one of the greatest impacts on the team...the coach.

Dwight will still be a Rocket but it will be AFTER the new coach has his say.

 

Do you really think Houston would just let him become an UFA if he doesn't commit? Worst case scenario, Morey will trade him.

With all of the Big market teams being capped out, there's no point in choosing to become a free agent. If he gets traded to Houston, most likely, he would sign an extension to Houston since he will get around 20mil more re-signing with us.

Right now as it stands, the Magic are holding out on trade talks for 2 reasons..

1. They do need to find and hire a coach asap

2. They are waiting for Dwight to name La or Hou as his new preferred destination. This way they would get the best possible deal in return and cash in.
Forget about Brooklyn once and for all since the Magic doesn't want any part of that $61mil contract that Lopez just signed.

 

There's a reason why teams like the Rockets, Lakers and Nets are willing to do whatever it takes to get a superstar like Dwight on their team.....even it means bringing on a boatload of terrible contracts. You get or KEEP (in Orlando's case) the superstar on your team, and figure out the rest later. The ultimate goal is to ALWAYS have star power on your team. Guys like Dwight don't grow on trees, so you do what it takes to keep him when you do have him.

 

Lulz

Bynum worth only $7M/year? According to that logic, 95% of the NBA is overpaid.

You have to understand, that true Superstars are worth more than the max, but can't get their worth. That 2nd tier is worth the max and get the max.

 

Here's what I've been thinking the last couple of days... I think Houston and Orlando already have a framework in place for a trade( I don't what that framework is). That Lowry trade brought me to that conclusion because Morey wouldn't trade his only point guard for a future pick, which he doesnt even know exactly when he'll receive it, unless it was something he KNEW Orlando would want. I think that Orlando will use the Rocket's summer league games to assess what rookies they want to take back. Those who perform the best, Orlando will take back in the trade.

 

That makes sense. And at this point all we can do is wait until they're ready to make a move.

 

LOL. Stopped reading here.

 

That is true, however how do they know Dwight isn't just going to keep demanding a trade and being a general pain in the ass who isn't committed to their team?