That's not what I said. The Bulls' pick will likely be around #20 overall. I had suggested that the Rockets could package that pick with either Terrence Jones or Marcus Morris (or Donatas Motiejunas, or Royce White) to trade up into the late lottery to select C.J. McCullom, or some other guard who Daryl Morey believes will be an excellent guy to pair with James Harden. And you can believe that a backup center whose contract expires at the end of the 2013-14 season is worth more than a player under team control for four years who you'd draft with that Bulls pick but there is most likely not a single team in the league who agrees with your assessment.
Yes, I believe that a young NBA ready back up center + TJones or Marcus is worth more than a lottery pick. Just how sure are you that McCullom guy won't be a bust? Jordan sure wished Kwame wasn't.
Tl:dr Don't assume that the Patrick Beverley signing means that Scott Machado is going to get cut. Just listen to my hypothetical scenario instead. I wouldn't be apposed to this direction.
Me, too; therefore, I tweaked these two trades. I am substituting Cole Aldrich for Scott Machado in the deal with Sacramento, and substituting Machado for Greg Smith in the deal with Chicago. Trade Idea #1: DeMarcus Cousins and Francisco Garcia to Houston; Jeremy Lin, Patrick Patterson, and Cole Aldrich (expiring contract) to Sacramento Trade Idea #2: Richard Hamilton and the Bulls' 2013 first round pick (lottery protected) to Houston; Scott Machado to Chicago And, with the signing of Patrick Beverly, here's my revised 2012-13 Houston roster: Starting lineup PG Toney Douglas (for 2012-13 only) SG James Harden SF Chandler Parsons PF DeMarcus Cousins C Omer Asik Key reserves Marcus Morris Carlos Delfino Greg Smith Patrick Beverly End of the bench Francisco Garcia Richard Hamilton Daequan Cook Developmental league Donatas Motiejunas Terrence Jones Royce White Draft Day trade: Donatas Motiejunas and the Bulls' 2013 first round pick (let's say that it's around #20 overall) for a late lottery pick; C.J. McCullom (or whichever ideal backcourt mate that Daryl Morey settles on) drafted with the late lottery pick After letting Toney Douglas, Richard Hamilton, and Daequan Cook all walk (let's say they exercise the team option on Carlos Delfino and keep him), here's your 2013-14 roster: Starting lineup PG C.J. McCullom (or whoever they draft with that late lottery pick) SG James Harden SF Chandler Parsons PF DeMarcus Cousins C Omer Asik Key reserves Marcus Morris Carlos Delfino Greg Smith Patrick Beverly End of the bench Terrence Jones Royce White Francisco Garcia (contract expires at the end of the 2013-14 season) Continuity is obviously helpful, and the only change in the rotation would be the upgrade from Toney Douglas to C.J. McCullom (or, again, whoever). Note that the Rockets will have surplus assets (in the form of Terrence Jones and Royce White) to play around with, along with a significant amount of cap space. Let's say Cousins plays well in Houston after a change of scenery and his stock recovers. Let's also say that Minnesota misses the playoffs and Kevin Love is disgusted. A package of Cousins, Jones, White, and one or two future first round picks would maybe get it done, as Houston would be able to absorb the large difference in salaries quite easily as a result of all of that cap space. Or maybe some other superstar becomes available, whatever; the point is that Houston would have all sorts of assets as well as cap space, so they would be in a ridiculously strong position to acquire a disgruntled superstar whose team is undergoing a makeover. Houston would also (I think) have so much cap space (even with what appears to be a stacked roster) that they could afford to sign a max salary free agent.
They would never give up a 1st round pick for just dumping Hamilton whose contract is alright and only $1 million dollar guaranteed for the final year. You need to give up at least a Greg Smith level prospect.
You don't seem to understand how the luxury tax works. You also don't seem to be aware of how frequently exactly this sort of trade happens (i.e., a team gives up something valuable, often a first round pick, in order to convince a team with cap space to absorb a $5 mil-ish salary expiring contract player). I will be very surprised if Chicago does not execute this exact trade with somebody who has cap space.
Dude, you obviously spent a lot of time and thoughts on your post. But have you listened Morey's recent Rocketscast? Morey is not in any rush to make a big trade and he mentioned before that he would most likely to use our cap space (we still have enough) to sign a max contract star in stead of trading away our main pieces. BTW, even if Sacramento wants to trade DeMarcus Cousins, why would they want JLin? They most likely would want much more than what you suggested in your trade idea 1. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/ugUePRi7eew" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
the chance that the convoluted trade fantasized about here actually happens is close to nil. morey is not trying to blow up this team right now. our young players are still improving and have the potential to be worth much more later in the season or next year. no reason to cash in those chips right now.
Morey's trade moves always end up surprising everyone. Just sit tight, and enough with the speculations. Jeremy is not going anywhere.
