[CBS Sports] Howard no lock for Lakers; interested in Rockets

I think it was the "outplayed" term that made people react. If you're saying Bev is great value, hey I can agree. If you told me we had to ship Lin out as part of a good deal, and Bev was now taking over PG duties, I wouldn't shed a tear or worry much. But dropping Lin for nothing just because some people think he's "so bad he's worth nothing"??? (not saying you're in the this group)

Also, note the comment another poster after you made: backup players' per 48 minutes tend to be over-inflated, for obvious reasons.

Is Lin really making 'too much' for a team full of stars? I don't think so. Case in point, we can add Dwight and keep everyone on our current team except for TRob and White and REMAIN AT THE CAP. Very few teams can field that sort of talent for that sort of limited cash. All teams have hefty contracts that aren't stars. Heck, even the Heat have multiple players making $4-5M each (Mike Miller almost $6M, Haslem, Chalmers) and a ton making around $3M (Joel Anthony, Battier, Ray Allen). Yet they have 3 stars, or people making star money at least (and not on rookie contracts). We already have a way cheaper supporting cast; I am skeptical that we somehow 'need' to move out Lin to maintain a good team around a Harden/Parsons/Howard core. This is with us keeping Asik, or else replace that core with Harden/Parsons/Smith/Howard.

If you were talking about adding CP3...well then yeah, obviously Lin and Asik both have to go. But that is a whole 'nother bag of improbable tricks.

 

three ideas
1. sign D12 and send Lin, T Rob, Royce White and a future first and second to ATL for J Smith or
2. keep the roster as intact as possible while adding D12
3.all this talk about salary caps doesnt really matter bc Les will pay the tax to win championships

 

Fixed

 

This is something he's never done.

 

Eh, I think Les would be willing if it seems like we have a really good shot. But that is more for future seasons. Issue is...it isn't like we can just say, "Yeah I want to go above the cap and into the tax!" and then magically do so hahaha.

 

He's never had the opportunity.

 

Each time the Rockets were a playoff team under his ownership was an opportunity.

 

There was perhaps a chance to pay the tax, but not really the second part "to win championships".

 

If we land Dwight, we will have a 3 year window to which he and Harden are both locked in. Based on recent projections, it's possible that this theory that he will pay tax to win championships will be tested. It may take 2-3 years to get to the luxury tax line but it will certainly be interesting to see whether the Rockets are willing to go over that line with the harsh penalties from the new CBA.

It is possible that due to most teams looking to not pay the new harsh luxury tax that it will become the norm to not pay the tax even when competing for a title (exceptions being those teams that have owners that are ridiculously rich [Nets/Knicks?/Trailblazers?] or are ridiculously competitive [Mavs]).

 

Seems that the Rockets have trouble dumping their two busts, Robinson and White, and will look to trade Lin instead. Makes sense since Lin may actually have trade value and Beverley is a capable replacement.

 

I can understand where Howard is coming from with wanting to have a good backup player. I don't blame him. The last thing we should want is another stress fracture in our big man's feet. I would never salary dump Asik in any scenario. He is just too damn good to dump.

Lin has always been the odd man out, at his salary, ever since the Harden acquisition, and especially with the emergence of Beverly. I wouldn't be surprised if he is the one moved to clear the cap room, if a Trob deal is't made.

I disagree with Rockets 2k, I don't think he is a valuable trade asset. The back loaded aspect of his contract payments makes him a depreciating asset (yes I know the cap hits are same). Although, I have no real idea of his economic impact, which could make him attractive to smaller markets. I think the Jazz are a prime landing spot for him. He fits there demographic and they could absorb him straight up, as they have tons of cap space.

Keeping Beverly and Brooks , but giving away Lin to a team with cap space gives us the required amount of room for Dwight. That would be one avenue to achieve our goal and maintain a serviceable PG rotation. Llull could be an option as well next year.

I love the idea of Garcia coming back for vet minimum as well. That guy was great for us and frankly he deserves to be on a good team for once in his career. The one guy I think gets lost in the shuffle of all this is Greg Smith. He is an okay player, but he might end up being one of the casualties of this whole Howard ordeal.

One thing is for sure. This is going to be a wild summer.

 

prob might have to be plan b in terms of ridding of capspace if we can't get rid of them. which sucks, because i think lin would improve greatly with a finisher of dwight's caliber in the pnr. and lol at beverley outplaying lin after the as-break..it's sad how an injury in the playoffs can all of sudden erase pretty much the entire 2nd half of the season. lin was 17/7 per36 on 55-56 ts. thats prob as good as u'd get from a non all-star caliber guard next to harden, who ran the offense a lot too. this aint knockin beverley, who i love, but in 33 mpg in the playoffs, 11 ppg on 52 ts with like 3 assists (only 1 tov tho) isn't all that impressive. we won with him, cuz our spacing improved having garcia. garcia was the bigger diff maker imo. so that's good news that he'd take less to resign with us.

i do wonder what we could actually get for lin though. i don't think teams would be lining up with value plus instant savings. granted we wouldn't have to get rid of his entire salary to open up space, we'd ideally like something positive back. and in a scenario where you are getting dwight, i feel like it'd be even better to trade asik for a cheap but good sort 4 that allows us to sign dwight...because i think asik has WAY more value than lin. note: im not suggesting dump asik (at all), but rather the opposite. im pretty sure we could get a better player/asset back that's cheaper plus better fitting since we'd already have dwight...than what lin could fetch us. im not even sure a team with cap would allow us to dump him. but if the reports are true that dwight really wants to play with asik, that kind of handicaps us in terms of improving elsewhere.

 

Absurd, as has been pointed out by other posters.

On the other hand, would Lin be expendable if that was necessary to get Dwight? Yeah, he would. Not because Beverley outplayed Lin, but because Houston may need the cap space to land Howard. And teams may not be very interested in Robinson and White. And this would be particularly true if Howard is indicating through intermediaries that he would like to keep Asik around.

I hope Lin stays, but if the team feels they have to move Lin to get Howard, then that's probably going to happen. And if it does happen, then it will happen, in my opinion, because Howard let it be known he was ok with it happening. Meaning he sent out feelers that it's more important to him to keep Asik, for example, than Lin.

 

That's true. Big Money always moves the betting line. Who has the big money and what do they know? Hmmmm

 

If we are going as far as putting Lin on the market, then why not 1) dump Robinson and White for nothing, sending cash out if necessary; 2) sign Dwight; and then 3) trade Lin and TRob or DMo to Atlanta for Josh Smith in a sign and trade. A front line of Dwight, Smith and Asik would be none too shabby.

 

I agree with your core assumptions.

If the insider is correct (highly doubtful) then Lin would only be traded because other ways to create room for Howard have failed. I went through the numbers again and here are the options.

Working with a cap projection of $58.5m.

The situation after waiving all non-guaranteed contracts (Anderson, Brooks, Garcia, Delfino, Ohlbrect) except G.Smith, Parsons and Beverley and including all cap holds is:

01) Harden 13,668,750
02) Asik 8,374,646
03) Lin 8,374,646
04) Robinson 3,526,440
05) White 1,719,480
06) Jones 1,551,840
07) Montiejunas 1,422,720
08) Parsons 926,500
09) G.Smith 884,293
10) Beverley 788,872
11) Howard 20,513,178
12) 2nd Rounder 490,180
*Honeycut 100,000

Total = 62,427,884

62,427,884 - 58,500,000 = 3,927,884 (short)

As you can see, the original plan to trade T-Rob + White (or stretch) would have easily accounted for the $3,927,884 we are short.

What are the options if we cannot trade T-Rob + White?

1) Package T-Rob + T-Jones or D-Mo

2) Trade Lin

Conclusion:
T-Rob is an essential piece in combination with White, T-Jones, D-Mo or waiving Smith to free the $4m necessary to give Howard the max. In the unlikely event that Carl Harrera is correct and T-Rob cannot be traded, then Jeremy Lin is the logical choice to trade. This is the only scenario I can think of to justify the insider comments that if Howard comes, Lin will be in jeopardy. In any case I'm glad the HOWARD2HOUSTON campaign is gaining traction.

Questions:
1) Can T-Rob + T-Jones or D-Mo be traded for future draft picks? To whom?
2) Can Jeremy be traded for future picks? To whom?
3) What is the time-frame for trades to free cap room for Dwight? When will the trade be announced?

 

Package TRob and second round pick for a future first.

 

Thanks, Dinkum. I have not had the chance to follow or break down all of the salary cap angles, so I appreciate the guidance. Repped.

I hope both Lin and Howard are in Houston next year. That pick-and-roll combination could be devastating.

 

Well, I tried to rep you Dinkum. It told me I have to spread around the reps before I can rep you again. Sorry about that!

 

So it shouldnt be too hard to find a taker for T-Rob.

I hope the Rockets give Lin a chance to show if he has improved his shot and ballhandling. He has the work ethics
but if he stays the same or regresses, trading him may be for the best.