He can opt out as a UFA after the 14-15 season, and he's already given the 'we need to improve or I might be outa here' interview.
The bad news about the Minny situation is that they look very talented. If everything meshes well, they will see A LOT of success.
We already freaking have Josh Smith. His name is Terrence Jones and he makes a 10th of what Josh Smith makes. PLAY THE FREAKING ROOKIES DAMNIT!
I'm from Minnesota and there is a 0% chance Love gets traded anywhere unless Minnesota is terrible for 3 straight years and never makes the playoffs. LMA is also untouchable. The Rockets (currently) only realistically have a few options in regards to picking up a relatively good PF, and those options are Josh Smith, (TRADE/FA) Al Jefferson, (TRADE) Paul Milsap, (TRADE) Zach Randolph, (FA) Pau Gasol (TRADE?) and POSSIBLY DeMarcus Cousins. (TRADE) Randolph is aging and is still pretty good but he has injury issues. Not a good fit for your Rockets imo due to age and injuries. Jefferson is in his prime and is a good post player but is a TERRIBLE passer and EVEN WORSE on defense. Not a good fit for Rockets due to his blackhole nature/terrible D. Houston Rockets are young, active on defense and FAST on offense. They don't need a slow plodding PF who doesn't play defense. Milsap is still relatively young and does a lot of things well but does nothing great. Milsap would be a pretty solid piece in Houston I think... the problem here is that he would come expensive and Houston's option to sign other impact players would drastically reduce with him on board, and he just doesn't bring enough to the team to make them a contender. So good fit as a player, but terrible fit in regards to the salary cap. Gasol is in his prime... has been healthy and durable his whole career, would command the MAX deal. He's a great player on offense and has tremendous size and good defense. Paired with Asik... that'd be a monster front court. Those are the good parts... Bad parts are that Gasol is getting older and you don't know how much he has left in him long term (If he wants to sign a 4-5 year deal.) Also his MAX deal would cause the Rockets to depend on building their bench and overall team from within through the draft. The Rockets would be a guarenteed 4-6th seed playoff team with Gasol but they'd never be contenders unless their young guys developed, and they'd have no other option but to have that happen. Josh Smith is the most interesting choice because you guys can get him without trading for him in the off-season. He's young, hasn't hit his prime yet, can play REALLY good defense and is a competent offensive player. He'd come expensive at a MAX or Near-MAX deal but if you got him through FA, you guys would still have assets to trade for picks/other players and build your team around Lin/Harden/Asik/Smith. REALLY interesting choice imo, as this is a realistic option (Unlike trade for Love, etc) and a good option (Unlike trade for Al Jefferson.) The darkhorse is DeMarcus Cousins, who might become available if the Kings suck and move to Seattle and want to implode themselves. He's young, talented, has the most upside out of all the players listed before now, and WILL COME CHEAP. (You'd have to trade your 1st rounders for him, because of that.) Because he'd come cheap (on his Rookie deal), you'd have the chance to still sign other impact players with your capspace. This is the best option you guys could possibly have. Not sure if the odds of this happening are above 30% though. In my opinion, you guys should sign Josh Smith in FA or do nothing. All the other options really would only put a stranglehold over your financial situation over players who are good, but wouldn't make the Rockets contenders. Not worth it. Josh Smith in FA, do nothing and wait for a better option or hope for DeMarcus Cousins through a minor miracle.
Great post I don't know how we can get Kevin Love and Lamarcus unless their respective teams for some reason decide to tank again. Portland is pretty set in their rebuilding process, lillard looks great, so does batum, they also have mathews and another good maybe top 10 pick year. There's absolutely no reason for them to trade away Lamarcus at this point.
Maybe not now, but I can see Love being traded in two years if Minnesota is terrible. He'll opt out in 2015 if the team stinks, and brass will probably trade him like Harden if that might happen.
Why dont we trade Josh Smith for 1 year rental... we can get him for cheap from Hawks as his not staying. If hawks are out of playoffs he will be east to trade morris, patteson and expirings should do it.
No way they would do that. We would possibly include D-MO or asik and future draft pick considerations. Otherwise, he would be traded elsewhere.
why don't we see what T-Jones, D-Mo, and White can do before we go all ga ga for a "the grass is always greener" free agent. We have some talent on the bench, lets develop it and see what we got before we fork over max money for a Josh Smith or milsap.. I think Jones and D-Mo have a lot of promise with some major upside. I mean, this is what we draft for--we might have some gems at home!
If smith decides to go to free agency atlanta has no choice to trade for cheap as his only a 1 year rental....e.g howard
I think Josh Smith will improve his all-around game and shot selection as he ages. I dont think many realize that for all his league experience, he is still not 26 years old yet. I think as he loses some of that ridiculous hyper-athleticism, his game will continue to become more well-rounded. I think that now is an ideal time to lock him up for 4-5 years, he is getting into his prime now.
I hope we get Milsap. Most Atlanta Hawks fans don't want to trade Smith. I don't think he has the talent to be a number one guy on a team.
He needs 3 things: 1. Post game 2. Rebounding 3. Defense. LaMarcus Aldridge is the closest to fulfilling all 3 requirements. Love is a horrible defender, plus I'm not sure about his character (Scola head stomp) will mesh with this team. Maybe Cody Zeller?
