Dwight update: Not close to a trade with Rockets

The problem with Hennigan (sp?) being a rookie is that, given his lineage, he is very predictable. With every move he makes he'll be thinking to himself, "is this what Presti would do?" Which is a natural response of course. But now we know; established stars like Bynum don't matter a hill of beans to him. That article from Pingalore is ludicrous. What Hennigan wants are draft picks, young players with upside, ways to get rid of deadweight contracts. He wants a clean slate like Presti had.

No one can give him more of what he wants than us. Morey's got him in checkmate now. We spent years building up these exact types of assets, and now we're going to take our time in negotiating to give him the minimum we could possibly give. One thing I've never doubted with Morey was his ability not to agree to a bad deal when it came to negotiating.

 

Rep. This. Man.

 

Morey is very smart... never let them seem your desperate...

Always have plan B and C which is what Asik/rookies is for.

now nets are out of picture... no other team will offer more then rockets... for a 1yr howard

 

Who the hell would play SG for us?

 

so true... after nets sign Lopez..... we are the only team with decent offer...

His a rookie... so Morey will eat him up....

There is no way he keeps Howard for start of the season... as fans and players will be unhappy....pressure is building on him....

the longer it goes rockets have more power

 

^ courtney lee

 

Hogwash. The NBA and the owners collectively agreed to develop a new CBA that's goal was to create more parody amongst the teams in the league. If thats the case then how in the world did the NBA allow OKC to become what they are or the Spurs to win how many championships???

ESPN /ABC DESPERATELY wants Dwight in NY or LA for financial reasons, but their power in player moves is limited to just heresay. The NBA collectively just wants a league that now can compare to the NFL as far as parody goes. At least thats what the owners agreed on.

The big markets are already capped out for the next 3 to 5 years. Their are two teams in larger markets that have smart enough management to have put themselves in a situation to have big moves now fall to them. Thats Dallas and Houston. Houston has all the rebuilding assets you could ever want, and Dallas has Dirk to offer to rebuild. Lets see what happens with these two players.

The LA and NY markets have already played their chips and are stuck with the hand they have already been delt.

 

I agree that Dallas is our chief rival in this next upcoming offseason, but it's our job to continue to discount what they have to offer. Dirk will be 35 by next offseason, and they'll still have Marion and Vince Carter under contract. They used their amnesty on Haywood. If you ask me that whole situation is not as friendly a rebuilding one as ours. The only way to change the complexion of their franchise would be for Dirk to rebound from his off-year last year and put up another top 10 MVP type year next year. So it's our job to root against him doing that.

 

I agree. Their main trade piece they have to offer would be Dirk to a team that is in win-now mode to try and rebuild. I do not think Cuban would do that and will try to get one more run out of the Dirk era, but they still have flexibility to make moves going forward. That doesn't necessarily mean they have assets right now. Especially in comparison to Houstons haul.

 

I agree in principle with th 'where has the fun gone?' argument but the Spurs case is VERY different than what the Rockets have had to endure. Remember, the Rockets are STILL SEARCHING for their corner stone player(s) the Spurs have theirs. If the Rockets had a star player/anchor in place, you would see far LESS turnover and way more stability like the Spurs (who've had their core in place for over 5 years).

It all comes down to have the right pieces in place. I guarantee you that Morey does not enjoy trading assets for the heck of it. He knows it creates some internal problems and probably loyalty issues. The Spurs are lucky but don't doubt for a minute that when their core is broken up they will be in flux without a star player in hand and will be doing the same dance we are now.

 

While I disagree with much of your post, you're certainly entitled to feel that way and I won't dispute. This, however, is the exception. Can you identify one superstar in the history of the NBA that hasn't taken max money? All I'm asking for is one example.

Moreover, with Dwight Howard in particular, how is it not abundantly clear that he values money above all else? Why do you think he opted in at the deadline? If it were just about "being happy", he had a whopping six weeks left in Orlando, after which he'd have been completely free and able to sign with the Nets or anyone else. He turned it down because he wanted to have his cake and eat it too - i.e., get to Brooklyn via trade so they could give him not just the max, but the Bird rights max. Dwight knew the risk that it might not work out, but he did it anyway. That's how much he wants every last cent. (That's also what drove him to fixate on Brooklyn - maximum market share for endorsement deals.)

I understand where you're coming from about not liking the process. But the idea that Dwight Howard isn't about the money is bizarre and flies in the face of every bit of evidence we have about him.

 

Didn't Lebron James, Bosh and Wade all take less than max money to allow for them to play together?

 

Thanks for a measured, thoughtful response instead of a childish comeback which is becoming so common on the board. Very adult! Refreshing. Repped.

 

If watching sports is just about numbers, number of points, number of wins, number of championships, then you might as well just play fantasy league. I have a feeling that Morey is playing fantasy league.

Maybe it's just me and a few. I as a fan want to cheer for the players I like. You know, it's human nature to want to root for the good guys. Part of the fun is seeing people you like beating up the bad guys, or at least seeing them swinging going down.

I never have any interest in fantasy leagues because I have no interest in rooting for numbers.

 

By roughly 300K, yes. That's absolute pennies in the grand scheme of things. Nothing remotely comparable to the premise that Howard could choose "whichever team he wants" if's he's willing to play at a discount. Obviously that's not an applicable scenario to what Batman was hinting at.

 

In the end, mostly no. Yes in that the money they could have gotten from being the ONLY max player on their old teams would have been higher by about 1-2 million per year, if I recall correctly. But it wasn't nearly the kind of hit you would expect from someone signing with a new team.

What Miami had that none of the current big market teams have is leverage. They had the cap space to sign Lebron and Bosh outright without any cooperation from their original teams to pull off a sign-and-trade. Because of that, they were able to make their "decisions" irrespective of their old team's wishes. They announced they were going to Miami, and the whole time Cleveland and Toronto said they wouldn't have any part with getting screwed out of their superstars. They refused to cooperate by doing the SnT.

At the last second, however, both sides caved. They agreed to SnT's because faced with the decision of getting nothing at all and something minor in return, they chose something minor (late 1st's and perhaps some young, cheap contracts, again if I recall correctly). What resulted was a total coup for Miami. They were able to sign Wade and Lebron at the exact same salary, and ironically Bosh got just a slight bit above that. But in terms of what we would understand as "max" dollars, they all basically got it.

 

Ah so it was 300k. Yeah that really is nothing. They all got maxes.

 

Increase "parody"?

 

Also, Dirk has a no-trade clause.