Well, based on talent, not trading Parsons for Gay.....don't know about that. But Parsons is invaluable as a player and as a teammate. Harden said the first Rocket he heard from post-trade was Parsons. In the real world, let's just say Rudy G. makes too much money for what he brings, so let's not consider him, unless someone wants to put a 3-way trade in the trade thread involving Houston, Memphis, and Another Team.
Interesting. I think that Gay is exactly the kind of player we should be targting. He's a 20/6/2.5 guy who just turned 26 and is should be entering a 5 year stretch of his best basketball. He's making 16MM, 17MM, and 19MM oiver the next three years. That is certainly a lot of money but is LESS than other small forwards like Carmelo and Lebron and Durant made (or will make) at the same age. Yes, those are better players but I was using it as an example to show that Gay may be paid a lot, but he isn't paid too much.
Gay plays nearly 40 minute per game to get those stats, hasn't grown as a player, and isn't very efficient at scoring. Gay is a solid player, but he doesn't fit here.
#1 - Luis Scola isn't as good defensively as either of those guys #2 - Luis Scola can't rebound #3 - Luis Scola is 32. Not that I want to pay Milsap or JSmith the max.
The Bynum talk really needs to stop. If his knee even comes CLOSE to checking out, the Sixers will sign him to a max extension, hands down. Bynum isn't going to take a $30 million paycut to leave his hometown team and sign with the Rockets. Hell, James Harden wouldn't take a paycut that might be as small as $5 million to play for a loaded Thunder squad! Money matters. The only way Bynum wouldn't be taking a $30 million paycut to join the Rockets is if the Sixers are unwilling to offer the max... which only happens if there's major concern with his knee. If that's the case, why would the Rockets get involved?
Well written and thought out. I wasn't sure about the trade value of a young, 8-10 mil a year player but that makes sense. I was overestimating the impact of the positional issue as I didn't realize that NO had acquired Anderson after getting Davis, so you're definitely right, they clearly have a plan for him. I assume a similar package would be required to get Ilyasova. That being said, I think a trade for an Anderson/Ilyasova/Millsap player is far more likely with the assets we have than a trade for a superstar. I just don't think we have enough to get a Love/Aldridge type player. And I'd rather have Anderson/Ilyasova/Millsap at 8 mil than Josh Smith/Al Jefferson at 15 mil. Separate issue, how much does Millsap make on his next contract? 10-12 mil?
One of the more fascinating things is how this team has been built. We've proven (and I think it's seen around the league), that a good point guard can be acquired relatively easily. Hopefully Lin plays up to his potential and stays healthy. We've got our star at the 2. We found solid player at the 3 who is able to help all over the court. Previously, we has Budinger for cheap. And we also pulled out a 5 in free agency who can hopefully be solid. The mystery position is the 4. Interestingly, we jettisoned Scola, but look at what we have left in Patterson, Jones, Motiejunas, and White. It seems like the strategy here (after Patterson, who theoretically was still part of the Yao Ming era) is to make a number of high risk, high reward bets. Patterson is a bit more of a solid, but unspectacular type, imo. All 3 of Jones, Motiejunas, and White have flashed at times. It's curious, but seemingly intentional to me that Morey placed all of the bets at one position, with flexibility in case multiple players "hit" as Motiejunas could slide up to the 5, and Jones down to the 3 in a pinch. I'm curious to see how Morey uses the cap flexibility. I would bet we pick up a spare piece or two in exchange for a first round pick to make up for the ones we lost, much like we did last year for Fisher. While Josh Smith and Jefferson are nice players, they aren't transformative to me. I would probably wait to see what becomes of the rookies before filling those slots. If a much younger guy came available (ie, Demarcus Cousins), I might have a different opinion.
Trying to sneak in some Rocketscast Live during my lunch break. These guys just ramble without providing ANY insight. They have no insightful answer on who the next trade target is, even though given their proximity to the team, you would think they would have a better sense than the random Rockets fan. They couldn't even pretend to prepare for this by knowing the cap structure of Rockets and other teams? Disappointment.
And another reason would be both of these guys contract is only for 1 year. so if we dont want to sign Pachulia next year we have that much more to sign someone else from FA.
DeMarcus Cousins please. I love him. He works hard on the court. He cares about being good and winning. So motivation in that sense is not a problem at all.
Never underestimate the ignorance of media analysts. The number of analysts that got the Asik/Lin contract cap implications completely wrong was truly astounding. There are some very good analysts out there, but most of them are generalists. General sports reporters that play to a very broad population.
I was gowanns to cut down your original post a little but I like so many of the points that I decided to go ahead and leave most of it. Parsons is that guy who does a lot for us at the 3. Morris was showing flashes of improvement at the 3/4 before his injury kept him from the lineup. If the right player came along, Morey'd get an All Star 3; but who would that be? The Other Potential All Star spot would probably have to be the 4, and as you say, we have several dudes who can show whether they're going to develop into That Player. Morey and the coaches need to see how these guys develop. Will Dmo be able to play at the 5 as well as the 4? Will Ppat be anything more than solid-not-great? Will Royce be Mr. Second Unit, leading the fast break? I'd say Tjones looks the best of the bunch, and would hate to see him blow up for another team.
I'm with him. Gay will just keep us mediocre with his contract. Maybe if he had a change of scenery, he could show the world he's on Durants level?
Yeah Cousins is the ideal guy to go after, he and Harden would be arguably one of the best young duo in the league. But to the Kings, Cousins is untouchable. But then again there's always a possibility of Cousins demanding a trade. Specially given his competitive nature, and the Kings having a bad season after season.
For me, the guy to watch is Aldridge. Portland is an interesting situation, especially if Batum ends up not being worth his big contract (which I suspect). If that happens, you've got roughly $18 mil/year invested in two players - Batum and Wesley Matthews - that are league average guys. Perhaps below average, in the case of Matthews. Lillard is a bright spot, but he's only 22 and probably needs a couple years to reach his peak. If Portland ends up sucking this year, the dynamics next summer could be intriguing. Aldridge isn't old, but he'll be 28 and in his prime years. He might want out. He isn't a free agent until 2015, but if they wait until the summer of 2014 to deal him, he might be seen as a rental, compromising his value. Likewise, for Portland, if it doesn't look like they can contend in the next 2-3 years... it might make sense to deal Aldridge at his highest value. That way, they grab a few picks, shed one of the aforementioned bad contracts, pick up a younger prospect around Lillard's age (Jones, Motiejunas, White?) at PF and start a true rebuild. Lot of if statements there... but it's possible. Aldridge, to me, is easily the most intriguing player that could move over the next year. The biggest help from a Rockets perspective would be at least one of the young guns at PF showing enough promise for a team like Portland to see them as a building block.
If you look at Morey's methodology the past few years, he prefers "very good" players at multiple positions rather than going for a bonafide superstar. It's why we haven't been tanking year after year despite knowing the Lebrons of the world would never sign here. So I think rather than looking for that home run(Cousins, Aldridge) that have very little chance of happening, it's much more likely Morey will try to achieve mid-2000s Detroit formula of multiple 2nd tier stars. In which case Josh Smith could very well be a good get. Then you just have to hope one of our forwards to develop into a near-star. Or trade for some overpaid guy like Granger.
Talking about the King's though, do you think we would go for somone like Tyreke Evans? I know this whole time we have been mostly talking Power Forwards and Centers but Rockets may infact feel like Power Forward and Center is not issue with some of there pieces and growing pieces. Plus there is free agency next year. I wonder if they will go after someone like Tyreke Evans and move him around he would start at SF but can be moved around everywhere. Only reason I say this is because I know there were so many rumors on Evans and Cousins going to houston. I just wonder if Houston will go for a Small Forward or someone in that likes considering they have a power forward that can hold his own and next season will have free agency.
