How are we helping the Lakers. They WILL amnesty him if they resign Howard unless they can get a team with cap space to eat his entire contract. It doesn't matter what the rocket's plans are. If and when they do, we could get him for a little more than the MLE. So the only question for the rockets is if we don't get Howard, is Gasol worth 5-6 million dollars for a one year rental. I say he is because I don't want any other available free agent at the price they are asking for. It will allow us to be a player in next years free agent bonanza or have an additional bargaining chip with Gasol's expiring to get someone like Love or Aldridge if crap hits the fan..
Pretty much what I am thinking about the situation (except I don't think we could trade Pau if we picked him up off waivers for 1 year).
Yes im pretty sure the Rockets would not be able to trade him if picked up off amnesty waivers. He could very well get expensive if a team like Atlanta gets in the mix too on the amnesty wire. The Rox are better off, and more star trade flexible trading( able to take more salary) for Gasol rather than hoping they can pull him off of waivers.
Why Why just look at one year rentals? If all anyone see is getting a one year rental so we can make a run at the following years FA's then looks at personnel that complement what we have. Not a big slow former great PF who will probably sit on the bench a lot because of injuries. There is a dearth of quality players that many teams will take a chance on aging former stars like Gasol. These teams will be glad to sign him at a multiple years contract. I can see if the only options open to the Rockets are to bring in former but declining stars but we are in the drivers seat here. The Rockets have needs like bringing in some bench help. Role players that can come in and help hold leads and maybe even increase the score. Bringing in old and lumbering players means they will sit a lot and then Harden and all starters have to play more minutes. We need to try and find relief for the starters not increase their work load.
Pau, believe it or not is still a 20/10 center in the NBA. If we did not surrender Asik the Rockets would have the #1 center rotation in the league. We would probably have the strongest bench in all of the NBA if either Pau or Asik was there. I cannot see a downside if the money is not going to be spent. However, as I have noted before, Pau playing PF is a waste. http://www.silverscreenandroll.com/2013/2/7/3963196/nba-lakers-pau-gasol-nightmare-season "So, Gasol found himself the starting center with no Howard in sight for three games, all on the road. The Lakers won each game (Minnesota, Detroit, and Brooklyn). In that stretch, Pau Gasol averaged 20 points per game (48.9% fg), 16.3 field goal attempts per game (8 field goals made), and 8.6 rebounds per game."
There aren't very many choices out there as large expirings next year. -As wings, Granger, and Igoudala could be interesting players on this team, but those two guys are very, very important to what their teams are doing and the Rockets would have to give up quite a bit to get them, even on one year deals. -At the big spot, Kris Humphries and Emeka Okafor give you some toughness and rebounding in the paint, but not much beyond that. Andrew Bogut is also expiring, and could give you minutes backing up Asik, but if you want to talk about reliability and injuries and COMPLAIN ABOUT GASOL.... please... spare me. On a one year deal, its not even close who gives you the most upside to be inserted on this team. Gasol is very low risk IMO, and has the highest impact of any of these aforementioned players. People talk about how he has injuries issues, and how he's somehow over the hill. Its just ridiculous. Hakeem was the exact same age when he led the Rockets to their 2nd championship at 32, and played years afterwards even in a lesser role. Shaq was 33 when he played a lesser role to help Miami win its first title and played 4 seasons afterwards. Just last year(being underutilized in Mike Brown's system) he still averaged 17PPG & 10 Reb per game. Then last Summer he almost single handily gave team USA a run for their money in the olympics enough to where they had to double, and even triple team him at times. The injury issues dont concern me too much because none of them have been chronic or related up to this point. Did his production drop earlier this year?... Absolutely. Did it have anything to do with his health.... mostly no up until the foot injury. -Another thing to think about is that the Rockets are most likely going to be diversifying their offensive sets now going into this Summer to feature D-Mo & T-Robinson in the post more. Pau would fit in great in that rotation in both Asik's roll(pick and roll big), and could also play the 4 in the post to initiate the offense. Even AS A MENTOR to D-Mo to go against him in practice, I see value in bringing him in. On a one year deal, he gives the Rockets a great weapon to use, and very little risk.
I think it just depends on how well D Mo plays the rest of the year. If he shows promise, I'm not sure that you pay Pau big bucks (he will still command 8 figures from an amnesty auction) to either: A) Take D Mo's starting spot or B) Come off the bench in a more limited role. Now, if D Mo doesn't perform all that well throughout the rest of the year, it would be understandable to get an upgrade at the starting 4 spot like we have all talked about for a while.
Thats sort of the role I see for him. Also would be great center to finish games with. Could play with Asik at times, but would thrive at the center position late in games with the Harden/Lin pick and roll as the center rolling to the basket. Also its the second pass that the roller makes in the offense that is very important in this offensive system that leads to wide open 3's.... just think about that one.
If you got him from amnesty, his contract size is the price you bid on him. Not sure if it enough to match any star though.
There are trade restrictions for picking a player up off of the amnesty wire. To keep flexibility in making a mega trade next season, they might be better off just trading for him. -Also, Gasol could go for much higher than people assume as an amnesty victim. Since he's on a one year deal, and many teams like Atlanta, Cleveland, and Phoenix will have max cap space to burn, it wouldn't be hard to imagine his dollar amount on a one year basis getting up to around the same amount anyways. I mean, Chris Kaman got 8 million this year on a one year deal for crying out loud. More importantly - Keep in mind that next Summer could very well be another "Summer of Lebron" where teams look to shed salary to pursue max free agents. Go take a look at the max salary players potentially hitting free agency next Summer. Remember the T-Mac contract and how it was the most heavily sought after nugget going into the trade deadline before the "Summer of Lebron?" Gasol as a large expiring hitting the trade deadline in 2014 could be a huge reason why the Rockets land a long term stud to pair with Harden long term.
Time will tell. And D-Mo starts tonight. His play over the next 20 games will have a large influence on Morey's strategy going into the draft and the summer.
I don't want either of these guys. Gasol has too much mileage and Howard has a questionable attitude. Let's roll with what we've got. Just say NO to Howard.
