Agreed. Lin and Asik count $8M against the Rocket's cap for each year of their contract. If they were traded then they would continue to count $8M against their new team's cap. Basically, if you trade a player the cap hit is the same as it was for the team that is trading the player. If Chicago had matched Asik, then their cap hit for him would have been $5M,$5M, $15M and if they traded him the new team would have had the same cap hit ($5,$5,$15). That's a huge difference and it's the reason that the new Arenas FA rules that we exploited is so effective.
If he can't get Dwight Howard or CP3, then I would agree. I could see something out of left field like Rajon Rondo or Dirk Nowitzki.
RickyNewport, My thought was to replace Lin with Asik, not both. Too much to give up anyway in my humble opinion!
I doubt if LAL will use the amnesty on him. If they do, a 1 year rental is enough. Anything more would be unwise.
I hate to pull this old gem out but Cousins has never been a winner in the NBA. He puts up above average numbers on a terrible team. If he came here and had to compete for touches with Harden and Lin his numbers would probably be diminished. I don't think he's as comfortable running the pick and roll as he is catching the ball on the block. His attitude aside (and the fact that he is the only valuable piece that Sac has) I just don't think he's a good fit here.
Huh? Gasol would be the most IDEAL PF for Asik. Great passer, nice touch on his shot, and back to the basket threat. No doubt a great player. An All Star. Just not a $20M player.
lol, idc about the raw stats. what i know is that cousins may score more points but he's a high volume inefficient player. up till this point of his career, he hasn't provided the kings with efficient offensive production. you want a post player b/c he can get you easy buckets. cousins doesn't do that. he forces up shots, he has poor shot selection at times, and has always been very inefficient. he isn't as good a rebounder as asik. and he isn't a good defender. so you're telling me an inefficient offensive volume player will make this team better than our defensive anchor that covers up for our entire team? have you seen our #'s with/without asik on the floor this season? and plus, a big reason cousins doesn't play big mins is b/c he's foul prone too. that's his problem then. im not denying cousins has WAY more talent than asik. but he hasn't shown any improvement. and at this point his deficiencies make him a low impact player. asik is a high impact player. would i take cousins? depending on price, certainly. but asik, parsons, lin and more? no frickin way.
No move if he fails with DH12. We have enough talent to polish right now. And next summer a lot of free agents open wide.
Not once have I suggested Lin, Asik and Parsons as trade pieces. To your argument about Cousins being a volume shooter, take a look at the shooting percentages for both players. Asik will never take and should never take as many shots as Cousins because he doesn't have the ability to make the shots. Yes you do want a low post presence who can catch a pass thrown right to him and finish. You'd also like to have a player who can outplay his opponent offensively and give you a bucket. Right not the trade off for more offense and even less defense is palatable to me. The Rox don't try to defend. They try and outscore their opponent. It would be nice to have both but they don't. Thus the need for a POST Presence offensively as Mchale has stated.
You're right you probably shouldn't pull out that old gem. There are numerous players who haven't been on winning teams who are legit stars. I don't think anyone would have a problem with Kyrie Irving or Kevin Love or Lamarcus Alridge coming to Houston. The fact that he plays with a terrible team would also indicate that he has no help. I don't believe there'd be any competition for shots with Cousins and Lin because Lin currently doesn't take a lot of shots and he shouldn't be the number 2 option currently. Cousins would become that person and probably fits there alot better due to his skill level. Come on, the guy's only 22. You can see the skills. He needs the right envronment. I betcha a gold ginnie, Morey will take him in a heartbeat and Mchale would be elated.
BTW, if you don't look at stats (raw or otherwise) how do you determine his offensive effeciency or lack thereof? I'm curious.
Jonathan Feigen: Spoiler <iframe width="658" height="371" scrolling="no" src="http://www.sports790.com/player/embed.html?autoStart=false&useFullScreen=true&mid=23270011&osu=null&startButtonColor=0xffffff" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true" ></iframe> ...... Is the Milwaukee job Sampson's? It's close. He's a finalist. ... He might get it but I don't think he is the leader in the clubhouse. He's definitely a finalist. He's been a hot name and he may not get one. ... Plan B if Dwight stays or could it be any number of players? They have plan 1 and plan 1A. Even though I don't think he is leaving LA, until there is no way to, they'll make the same run at Chris Paul. It's Howard/Paul - that's plan A. He's not going anywhere. Lets assume that's clear by July 1 or quickly becomes so. The next step, the usual suspects, but they aren't going all in on Smith or Millsap. They'll test the water, see if they can get a guy like that who maybe he hangs around longer, doesn't like the offers, see if they can get a guy like that at their price. They would give the guy a good contract at first but be in real control after that. An exaggerated Carlos Delfino contract. I don't think they go all in for someone except for the two big ones. You aren't winning a championship because you landed Paul Millsap. It would keep you from doing things you could maybe do in the future. Plus, (as we know with Dwight Howard) they're gonna have to clear cap room to make those sort of moves. If you do it for Smith, how much of a step forward are you taking if you had to take a step back just to do that? ......
Thanks for posting the above. Sounds like that, other than Dwight or CP, the team does not want to add players with big guaranteed money beyond one year-- thus the "Delfino contract" mention. The question is whether guys like Josh Smith, Millsap or maybe Al Jefferson will fail to land a big long term deal (like 4 years at $10M+ per year). If so, then maybe a one year guaranteed larger deal, with 2nd yr being at the team's option, at a larger per year number may be attractive. Would Millsap do one year at, say, $14M or even $16M as opposed to 4 years at $9M per year? Failing the above, I would think that "Plan C" is to give some trade assets in exchange for a guy with one season left on his contract-- Pau Gasol, Danny Granger, Luol Deng, etc. The issue there is what the other team wants. Morey won't want to overpay for a possible one year rental.
Go big or go home. If we strike out on Dwight, Gasol would definitely help us contend till we can bid for the next availabe superstar. I really don't think we should settle overpaying for a 2nd tier player.
Good to hear that it's all or nothing. No desperate max offer to josh smith forthcoming. Got to believe plan B is someone on a large one year deal to maximize cap room. Morey knows damn well you need at least two stars to make a run and Millsap, Jefferson, and Smith are not stars.
I think it's more likely to be a 3 year contract with a team option on the third year. Millsap's next contract isn't likely to be over $40mil across four years so he might, for example, take a 3/45 contract with the third year unguaranteed. None of those guys will take a one year contract though.
Forgt to add that the FA crop in 2015 is more appealing than the one in 2014 and the Rockets will actually have more cap space in 2015 with the Asik and Lin contracts ending.
