LMAO @ LOFs trashing CP3 for having good teammates and trying to act as if Lin and Paul are even remotely comparable. I would love having CP3; as much as I love Harden, **** him if we manage to land Paul; Paul gets to dominate the ball and he can learn to be a spot-up shooter. Almost definitely a pipe dream though. If we had an opportunity to get CP3, I would take it easily over Dwight or any other meh star we could get elsewhere. I do agree that the best case scenario would be a great big man though if we can't get a transcendental offensive force like CP3. I hate Dwight though, and there's no big men these days that particularly stand out. I don't know; if nothing amazing comes up I like the idea of just standing mostly pat this summer and seeing how our players develop.
As much as I like Paul, I don't want another 2 or 3 years of watching San antonio treat us like play things, but not because we lack the talent but because CP3 has Parker's b**** tattooed to his ass, Dwight please.
Whichever one you get, you don't trade away Lin/Asik. You just move them to 6th man. Sign Dwight Howard, Asik 6th man: our half-court defense becomes amazingly good all the time. Our rebounding becomes untouchable all the time. This would completely transform our team into a contender. Sign CP3, Lin 6th man: Very little changes. CP3 production plummets due to sharing the ball with Harden. Our bench improves, but since our bench guards are already pretty good it does not have nearly the drastic affect as the above. Defense remains a problem with Asik off the floor. Frankly there is no discussion here. Funny how threads like these make the "trade Lin at all costs" "fans" come crawling out, falling over themselves to show their irrational hatred of our starting PG.
odds of Paul happening seem to be nil. Howard, slightly better than nil, but not really either. Most people that think we can sign them don't seem to know what bird rights is. unless you think playing in Houston > 30 million bucks, that ain't happening. Andrew Bynum might happen because his injury is scary, but really, do we want to be the team that gamble on his knee? even then, the sixers are kinda forced to comitte to him most likely. Realistically, Pau Gasol might actually be the most doable in terms of guys that you may realistically get without completely gutting your team or some other miracle happening and also screams HOF talent. You can try Josh Smith I guess. he would be good, but really much of an upgrade? i suppose short term defensively yes. but it's rather meh one to commit multiple year and near max contract to.
All I have to say is don't let Chris Paul use Houston as leverage because he is 99% going to stay Clippers. Why would he leave one of the best team in the NBA? Why would he come to Houston and share glory? I would take Paul over Lin in talent, but I'd take Lin over Paul for building a contender. Being a contender, you need all the parts and money for those parts. Lin is pretty reasonable at the price we are paying, if we take Paul, we will likely have no room to buy other assets. If forced, I'd take Dwight, but I rather have J.Smith which will solve the current state of the Rockets.
Again, the Lakers and Clippers can offer 1 more year of max money then anyone else due to Bird Rights. Unless 1. for some reason the LA teams don't feel like they want to offer that money to those players or 2. the Players hate the LA teams so much that they'er willing to screw 20+ million to sign with someone else. Chances are thsoe 2 aren't going to move. 1 is super unlikely, an 2 .. despite all the talk, is just talk.
Lebron-Dwade? Chris paul is a pass first point guard and Harden can play off the ball, I don't really see this as a problem...
It's not really 30 mil he'd be giving up though, it's actually like 5 mil over 4 years, factor in the taxes he'd no longer have to pay and that's pretty close to a wash where the money is concerned over the course of the 4 year deal in Houston, if he gets a max extension after that he could end up making even more money in Houston than he would have in LA, not to mention he'd be on a championship contender every single year of his contract in Houston, and he'd probably never be on one on the second best team in LA
I can't see any reason why Howard WOULDN'T leave if the Rockets offered him a deal. The Lakers don't have a very bright future.
Power forward is a bigger need than point guard.... but you dont know what the hell you are getting with Dwight Howard. So, if I have to pick one, I take CP3.... and fill the power forward void through trade. Either CP3 or Harden would be on the floor all 48 minutes and Parsons would flourish as well. The decision has nothing to do with Lin, it all comes down to the fact that Paul > Lin and Howard is a wuss, and CP3 is a warrior..... give me the sure thing.
