for Pau/Blake/Duhon. Seems that Sampson prefers TD over Lin, so that he can start TD as PG and get the PF Morey wants in Pau? Lakers has a back PG to Nash where Lin can run MDA's system. And a stretch 4 in Morris/Patterson. win/win?
I suspect the Lakers wouldn't want Lin that much. He's pricy, he can't shoot. I suspect MDA prefers Steve Blake.
I like Pau Gasol, but he is likely in the decline phase of his career. I am just now seeing a team like Houston, which is clearly focused on building a core of players either in their prime right now or whose prime years are ahead of them, trading for him, especially at that price tag. Houston was obviously interested in him in the past, but he was obviously younger at that time, and circumstances for the Rockets have changed. And they have better options (e.g., Paul Millsap, well, especially Paul Millsap, I should say). The Lakers absolutely are going to want to reduce payroll this summer, but it's going to be difficult for them to pull that off this season, as they will need their trade partner to have unused cap space, and there aren't very many teams that fit this description. I think what the Lakers would like to do here is to execute a trade wherein Gasol gets shipped out and the Lakers receive a much cheaper "stretch four" type guy who can play the Shawn Marion role in the Mike D'Antoni offense, along with expiring contracts (which represent a reduction in the 2013-14 payroll, obviously). Josh Smith is presumably L.A.'s target. Atlanta presumably is not thrilled about giving Smith a near-max contract extension this summer, as he is a pretty flawed, overrated player. However, Atlanta presumably is not thrilled about trading for the extremely expensive and declining Gasol. Would Atlanta be interested in Anderson Varejao, who is well on his way to making the All-Star Game this season and who provides outstanding bang for one's buck at his price? I think so. Would the poorly managed Cavs believe that Gasol represents an upgrade over the grossly undervalued Varejao? Maybe. In which case this trade works for all parties: Pau Gasol to Cleveland Josh Smith and Daniel Gibson (expiring contract) to L.A. Anderson Varejao and Luke Walton (expiring contract) to Atlanta Atlanta gets value for the unrestricted free agent-to-be Smith; Cleveland gets what it believes to be a marquee, big name player in Gasol; and L.A. gets its Shawn Marion-type PF.
Lin was the reason D'Antoni wasn't fired much sooner in NY last season and D'Antoni wanted to build the team around Lin and ship out Carmelo. D'Antoni would love to get Lin back but I don't know why people are even throwing that out there. There is zero chance the Rockets would trade Lin to LA.
Well, Lin was a major offensive upgrade over Iman Shumpert and Tony Douglas at PG, and D'Antoni ball was a major upgrade over Melo and Amare taking turns and ball hogging. I don't think the Lakers would want him much, though. His 8 mil + salary negates a lot of the savings that a Pau trade would bring and his shot isn't pretty right now. D'Antoni has endorsed Steve Blake very strongly when he got there, and it makes sense. The Lakers should be obsessed with spacing right now.
Rockets may not want to do it despite getting Gasol, I can understand that. But the LOHs may love it.
DMO is everything on Offense that Gasol is what he is figuring out is how to defend on an NBA level What is more obvious, Marc is getting better and better, eclipsing Pau's play by the minute Whatever we do, we don't need Gasol. I hope they don't impede the growth of our young PFs so the only spot I see him playing is sharing the Center spot with Asik
Blake, Duhon and Douglas would be by far the worst PG rotation in the NBA. Duhon and Douglas shouldn't be in the NBA, and Blake can only get away with playing PG on teams like LAL and Miami, where they just need to get out of the way and hit the open 3 when the balls arrives I their lap.
I don't think Lin can be traded in the first year of his contract anyway -- someone confirm that pls. If that's the case, it's pointless to think about trading him this early in the season.
theres almost no way we get gasol unless its a weird 3-4 team trade we dont have contracts to match besides lin/harden/asik and they arent gona be traded , but id love to have pau hes not performing because hes like the 3rd option , hed be second option for us imagine a pick n roll with gasol and harden and hes not on the decline , hes european they usually dont rely on athleticism anyways hes a great passer rebounder post player very high iq player plus if we get him we get him for 2 years so its not that bad id roll the dice on him lin/harden/parsons/gasol/asik an allwhite frontcourt lol but it does sound good
I haven't heard of such rule. Maybe you are thinking about amnesty? (for instance, the Suns can't trade Scola this year) Lin / Asik should fall under general rules, i.e. you'd have to wait till December 15.
A bit off topic -- I agree with what you said, but Houston is looking like one of those teams going forward. He's a backup level guy, but he'd be nice on the Rockets. (btw, if Steve Blake and Avery Bradley had a baby, he'd be perfect next to Harden -- someone who can shoot and lock down either guard)
I would be on board with Pau if we also could get Nene as per the plan via last offseason. I tried playing around in the trade machine, which seemed impossible to make happen, but I am not the most cap savy guy. Bima might have to fact check me on this one, but here is how I see a possible trade going down: Since both the Wizards and the Rockets are non tax paying teams under the cap, I think we can dump a little salary (Delfino for TPE?) and get close enough to just absorb Nene straight up. Then offer Lin, Patterson, Cook, and Aldrich for Gasol. Douglas/ Machado Harden / (Redd??) Parsons / Morris Gasol / Nene Asik / Nene would be pretty solid
