I love Asik, but trading him makes too much sense IF we land Dwight

Keyword is "can" when Dwight should not. 35-38 mins tops, even in the playoffs. Too much can easily wear him down. Rockets' offense is a very high-paced one so you can't compare it to Howard's previous teams except maybe the Lakers which proved to be too stressful for him. If you really want to run, players should average about 70-80% of the minutes on another team to preserve him and to keep him efficient both offensively and defensively.

 

I agree that the decision to trade Asik depends on who is coming back in return. If there's a quality 4 out there who can space the floor, then go for it. However, you can't trade a player of Asik's value for a mediocre 4 with range just because it sounds good on paper.

I'm confident that Morey would run some sort of simulations to gauge how well Asik and Howard playing together would benefit the team, and use that information to help make his decision. If the Rockets roll with both Howard and Asik on the roster, I'll be pretty happy regardless because that means something special happened this offseason. If things aren't working out with those two in the rotation, changes can be made mid-season.

Everyone has their eyes on Josh Smith because he's a free agent and is rumored to be close to Howard. This is a pipe dream, but I wonder if there's anyway the Rockets could move Asik in exchange for Al Horford instead of Smith. Atlanta is kind of mired in mediocrity right now, and they might be willing to blow things up if they get off to a rough start this year. If they're rebuilding, I doubt it is with Asik, but there might be a contending team with some young talent and/or lottery picks (OKC has Lamb and Toronto's pick) that would be willing to make a three way deal happen in order to get Asik.

 

Dwight averaged that many minutes because they didn't have good depth surrounding him! Do you really think if he had a good backup that he would be playing 40+ minutes?

And what free agents are you talking about? Besides Dwight there is no free-agent worth trading asik for. You could construct an argument for Josh Smith but if we were to sign him then we'd probably have to dump Lin too.

 

Listen if we only land Howard keeping Asik is a nice backup and sometimes PF option. I mean can you imagine the twin towers. If we go for another superstar like Paul or Josh Smith then I think it's situational. If we land Paul then trading Lin seems more ideal then getting rid of Asik. Althoguh we might just trade Asik. If we land Josh Smith I think getting rid of Asik is more ideal.

 

In no way should we EVER facilitate an Asik trade to OKC...ever.

 

Also I'm not quite understanding why everyone here keeps saying Asik would play PF... Dwight would play PF.

 

In the finals, yes.

He had a good backup too, probably the best in the league that season.

 

Only trade asik if we are getting cp3 too. Doesnt look like it with Doc in LAC.

 

Sure, but Morey will be patient. That patience could be the difference between a player like Anderson/Smith/Gallinari and a player like Aldridge/Love starting for the Rockets.

 

One of the biggest reasons why I want to trade up in this draft and get Cody Zeller is because Zeller is a 4-5, capable of starting at the 4 and moving inside to the 5 to give backup minutes there when the starting C is off the floor.

I see the value in trading Asik and maximizing the return we get for him. I just feel like we've got to get a legit backup 5 before we do that. I think we should sign Dwight and make whatever andaid moves we are going to make at the 4 and then go sign a guy like Hassan Whiteside to a multi-year non-guaranteed deal at the minimum. Trade for a guy like Zeller using DMO if necessary and then go to camp with Dwight/Asik/Whiteside/Zeller/TJones at the power spots and see how things shake out. If we can see that Zeller is all that and more then sit him on the bench and cultivate TJones some more in the rotation. Then package Asik/TJones for your big time 4 man at the trade deadline if that 4 man becomes available for trade. Perhaps Chris Bosh comes available. That's the type of player I'd give up Asik and parts for to upgrade the 4.

Lin/harden/parsons/dwight/bosh with Zeller and Ohlbrecht backing up the big man spots is a championship team in my opinion.

However I wouldn't trade Asik for just any old PF. Probably only a select few. Perhaps Love and Bosh being the only ones.

 

If you replace DMo with Zeller, basically sending out TRob, DMo together to move up...it accomplishes basically the same thing with the cap space. That's my point. Could be that Adetokunbo is gone before he falls to us.

 

I think OP is stuck on the idea that Dwight and Asik do not overlap with each other. It doesn't have to be Dwight's 36 min and Asik only gets 12 min. Where is the flexibility of playing them together?

History will also show that as long as there was a twin tower on the court, the offense was all about scoring in the paint. Asik or Dwight is NOT Lee. They can bulldoze Anderson or any PF in the paint. Who wouldn't like the idea of having Dwight and Asik muscle their way on the paint for positions and rebounds? It can cause nightmares for opposing teams.

The way I see it, if we land Dwight, Asik will remain a Rocket on opening game. Until they are actually PLAYING, not OP, not you, me, nor Morey will know how they will perform together. Here's are the stars we can trade for Asik before the regular season:
Love
LMA
(possibly) JSmoove/KG

Here are borderline stars which Rockets can trade Asik easily:
Millsap
RAnderson
Illysova

IMO, trade Asik for Millsap is not a guaranteed improvement. At least, not until we make sure Asik and Dwight together is more detrimental than beneficial.

 

Asik is still a bargain coming off the bench. Morey will always have a market for this guy. No need to rush this.

 

We could trade him for a Millsap, smith, or west...

 

Normally I would of dropped a sarcastic 1 line reply BUT you put a lot of work into this post soooo IMO I have heard (whether its true or not) that Dwight actually wants to play alongside Asik. I think it could work actually. HOU may not be the fastest team in the league anymore but so what if they get more wins and go deeper in the playoffs right? + there will still be plenty of fast break opportunities when Asik or D12 grab a board and outlet it to a streaking Harden, Lin or Parsons. Main thing - Defense will be MUCH improved with both of them defending the paint. I hope Asik stays.. He worked & busted his ass for HOU this past year and deserves to remain with HOU

 

People forget how rare quality big men are. I couldn't stand those years when we had Chuck Hayes as our starting center (no offense to the Chuckwagon).

Dwight is guaranteed to get into foul trouble. So unless we can land an upgrade at the pf position AND a decent back up center, I think it would be wise to keep Asik.