That stands to reason since Asik is more attainable than Howard for most teams. All they need to do is trade for Asik. With Dwight, they needed to clear a ton of cap space, and then have to woo him with contender/potential contender status, marketing possibilities, etc. and fight off LA. With Asik, they don't need to do any of that, just trade with Morey since Asik is still under contract. Even rebuilding bottom dweller teams with no possibility of appealing to Dwight can still get in the game for Asik. So it stands to reason that there's a larger pool of GMs interested in Asik since the cost of admission is lower to enter the discussion.
Is there no way my dream of twin towers 2.0 happening? Neither of these guys can play a few minutes at the 4 if the right matchup presented it?
My opinion on what might have happened here- -When the Lakers realized finally that Dwight was not coming back, I think Kupcheck contacted Asik's agent, and asked him to formally ask for a trade in order to be a piece to come back to the Lakers in a S&T. For both parties it makes perfect sense- For Asik, he can make the move to the Lakers and be their center for the future moving forward, and would be guaranteed to start & be a featured piece. With Houston, he knows he's most likely going to be playing less minutes and possibly not even starting. -for the Lakers, although they are keeping their books open for the Summer of 2014, getting Asik back even as an asset is a no-brainer. He's also a young piece that can help attract a free agent (as we saw with Dwight). Having a young top 5 defensive center in their nucleus would actually make them a more desired free agent destination next Summer, and they would still have the capspace to sign a max free agent. -For Morey, its a no-brainer to try by any means to NOT offer up a S&T to the Lakers with Asik going back to LA. Asik's mass appeal on the market in trades will come after Pekovic and Bynum are officially off the market, and Gortat is either traded or kept for the long term in Phoenix. Right now would be the worst time to trade Asik because of the amount of pursuers that are looking at Pekovic & Bynum to just be added into their capspace and not trading major pieces to acquire. Asik should be held onto until at the very least, the start of the season, and optimally his value should be at its max in February at the trade deadline when teams try to unload a large contract to either tank for the draft, or free agency the upcoming year. That's when the Rockets have their best shot at putting together a very, very good package for a player like LaMarcus Aldridge or someone similar.
I think management wants to see how the team performs with two rim protectors for at least half the season.
I really doubt the Lakers tampered and talked to Asik's agent to get him to demand anything. People need to let go of the Lakers S&T idea. Seems like every thread has someone creating a scenario or some bizarre hypothetical where the Lakers end up S&T with the Rockets. Get over it. The Rockets have nothing to gain as currently constructed to S&T Asik for Dwight and Asik can't force anything.
Sign and trade scenarios for Dwight were very feasible until Josh Smith and Paul Millsap went off the market along with the other big name free agents. Now I agree, we'll sign him outright with the small possibility of sign-and-trading for him using Lin and the other outgoing deals already agreed upon. But that's still using cap space so the only way it happens is if the Lakers send us an asset. Otherwise, outright signing. Time to move on to the next move: That is to say, the trade of Lin. Lin is going to be traded IF Morey can get the right deal...and then Morey will hold with Asik and whatever assets he gets for Lin until the trade deadline.....UNLESS something whacky happens and one of these guys [Love, Lamarcus, Melo, Bosh] becomes available sooner. We should be considering trades for Danny Granger or Luol Deng sending out Lin and possibly another asset or two. They have expiring contracts and are valuable players when healthy. That is the type of contract that keeps us walking the edge of under/over the cap scenarios for next season. IF we can acquire one of those 2 guys, we can simply plug them into the rotation and play them at the F spots along with Chandler, Garcia and one of TJones/DMo and then see what develops at the trade deadline and further what develops at the end of the season.
If the Rockets do trade Asik for a stretch 4 at some point this offseason, should they bring back the Chuckwagon to be a backup defensive big off the bench? He hasn't had a great couple seasons with Sacramento, but nobody plays well when they put on that jersey these days.
Makes too much sense. if carlitos delfine-o can attempt to guard eddie winslow, then I don't see how matching dwight against zbo would be troublesome. Against love, dirk, ersan, lebron, ryan anderson, andrea barnagni (in that one game where he gets hot) we would have issues. that's six teams. I didn't count Lamarcus since he will drop 50 points as long as he sees the rockets logo. twin towers should be given serious considerations against 20 teams.
Also, I like the idea of getting Danny Granger, and our forwards being him and Parsons. Small ball should work well alongside Dwight, and Granger isn't a terrible defender, just a mediocre one.
They were never on the table. Morey said in an interview that the Lakers had ZERO interest in a sign and trade. That's why he had to do the cap clearing moves. I know that before all the moves to clear space there was the MLE advantage to a sign and trade, but the Lakers were never interested in helping with that. They don't want to take on Lin for two seasons and pay the luxury tax. He's not good enough. We don't have anything they'd want outside of young players like Parsons that are cheap, but we'd have no incentive to offer that up.
Perfect timing on the picture that was taken. Looks like they were going for a loose ball. Just happened to catch it as the ball was probably bouncing around.
Why dont you read the entire statement before calling it bizarre, and stop thinking that everyone on this forum is coming from Lakersforum to terrorize Rockets fans who had one too many cups of coffee this morning. I clearly stated the reasons why Morey would NOT want to S&T with the Lakers and just give away a prized asset like Asik. However for the Lakers and Asik & Agent it makes perfect sense for them to try and pursuade the Rockets to move Asik. Whether the league calls it tampering or not is besides the point. There is alot of ways "people around the league" could have put a bird in Asik's agent ear, or maybe there is an agents playbook for these types of scenarios they are acting upon. All I know is there were reasons why Asik's agent put this statement out there for the world to see. I doubt it has anything to do with Omer the person being upset about the Rockets acquiring Howard. AGAIN- Im not saying I want Asik to go to the Lakers by any stretch. I think its a terrible situation to oblige, and thankful that Morey isn't even considering it. That being said, I understand how the business side works, and just offering my 2 cents on why the statement was released out into the media at this specific timing.
(Houston will continue to declare its love for the always-sweaty Asik, but let’s just say I’ll be surprised if he finishes the season there.) - Zach Lowe
