I honestly think we should keep Asik. As much as we don't want to think about it, D12 is injury prone and his back could go out on him. If he does, we do not want to be stuck with Greg Smith and Timmy the tooth Olbrecht at the helm. Also, one of the best benches in the league: Asik Tjones Beverly Casspi Parsons as 6th man
A $7M Dalembert on the Rockets couldn't do it. For a guy touted as a good defender he was terrible on that end too. It took the Rockets years to find a rim protector after Yao went down. Centers like Asik are rare commodities.
Everyone stop talking about trading Asik for picks. We are in win now mode and we have a limited window. If this doesn't work out then who thinks Howard (or even Harden) is going to stick around when it comes time for to opt out of his last year? The way I see it we have a 3 year window to get to the finals. If - IF - we trade Asik it needs to be for someone who can help us win now. I see no reason to move him at this point.
Asik's defense isn't good enough to make up for his bad offense. It's not as if he just doesn't have an offensive game. He is bad at even basic things like catching and finishing. And Dwight and Chandler are the only other centers in the league that can play good interior defense? Noah...Hibbert? McGee? Even bird man plays good defense inside deterring shots. There are quite a few teams with big men capable of playing good interior defense. Lets not act like you either have Asik, Dwight or Chandler or your interior defense is no good.
It doesn't matter though, when he expires we'll have about $18m in space whilst keeping Harden, Howard, Beverley and Parsons on the books. In other words, enough to sign either Love or Aldridge. And for that reason, he's not going anywhere except for those guys.
Picks are universal currency. If a team that needs Asik but has no players we want is willing to give us a high draft pick, we take it, as that pick can easily be flipped to another team that actually does have players we want. See what happened with Kyle Lowry, Toronto, and James Harden.
Dalembert is 32 years old. Back in the '07-'08 season Dalembert averaged a dbl/dbl too for the 6'ers. I like Asik, but I'm not going to inflate him beyond what he is. If he was THAT good, we'd be able to trade him for almost anything we wanted too outside of superstars. Lets see what we get for Asik if he's even moved.
You just aren't getting it are you? You don't sacrifice the now for the future when you have Dwight Howard and James Harden. Trade Asik for a pick other than move it as part of a 3 way trade for an upgrade? try not to be so special.
So this post is intended for the people suggesting we trade for Aldridge or Love. That sounds great and would make our team way better, but that isn't how the negotiation process of these trades work. Let's look at some key facts. 1. Asik's Contract is backloaded because Morey didn't want Chicago to match it making him unattractive in the long term. I will say that Asik may actually live up to the money he will make later on. This season, Asik makes 5 million dollars and then makes 15 million NEXT season. This is the same with Lin 2. The signing of Howard automatically reduces Asik's value because teams know we don't need him and will thus not break the bank to get him. You guys are talking about how teams are desperate to trade him. They will just wait us out because we will also have needs to fill come trade deadline. 3. Those of you combining Lin and Asik in trades, Teams that receive these players are getting a combined 30 million dollar hit on two players that are not even superstar level next season. 4. Even if we didn't get Howard, Minny and Portland will not trade away the best PF in the game in Love or the second best PF in the game in LMA for a guy who is a backup C as the main piece of the package.
Lamarcus Aldridge nor Love will be traded for Asik unless those teams are convinced those guys aren't staying and there is absolutely no other offer on the table for those guys. Asik isn't even close to that kind of value. Asik has more value for us coming off the bench and eventually becoming and expiring deal.
Noah is a shot blocker and the best in the league with sanders at that, but he dosent shut the lane like Asik does. Asik has size and good speed for a giant. He is like a faster version of yao on defense.Hibbert is another shotblocker but he isn't a lockdown interior defender. McGee?. oh common dude. Actual;ly compare Asik from the start of the season to the end of the season and you will see a pretty big contrast in his low post footwork and finishing. He is a evolving player and will get better.
The only thing is, the teams panicking at the trade deadline may not be the teams that have the pieces we want.
You're letting perceived value affect your thinking too much. I agree we aren't getting Love or LMA, but signing Howard doesn't make Asik less valuable. We don't have to trade him, and he will contribute to our team. That means until a team makes a competent offer, we're not gonna trade him for 50 cents on the dollar. He signed a contract, there's no reason for the Rockets to give him away because he's upset. All it takes is two teams to make offers and the Rockets can pit them against each other. He's still a starter quality C.
this might sound stupid...but what if we traded Lin and Asik (2014 first rounder) and maybe terrance jones to celtics for Green and Rondo and either wilcox or fab melo (for back up big) Throw in our first round pick next year and Terrance jones only if we HAVE to... Seems like a haul for boston and we can deal with losing that...and I think we get significantly better. I know rondo is not the type of guy that you want next to harden but his defense would make a pretty hard to deal with team. Jeff Green can nail the 3. Or if thats just not a good fit we can always expand to a 3 team deal and nab a more compatible PG maybe? I dunno maybe its not that great.
Whose going to offer them anything, whilst also being convinced they would stay? The Clippers and Nets were both confident they could keep the guys they traded for, but who is left that has anything worth trading? Love and Aldridge aren't going to stay in Detroit, Orlando, or anyone like that any more than they'd stay in Minny or Portland. The market for shortly expiring star players is pretty small because only the people confident in retaining them will offer anything.
That would be incredible Beverley Harden Parsons Green Howard. Howard and Green are athletic freaks and Green has range to stretch the floor as well.
A good shot blocker will affect how teams attack the rim on a regular basis. I agree that Asik has good feet and quickness on defense. I agree that he is a good defender. I'm not arguing against that. What I'm saying is that there are other centers in the league that are good interior defenders as well and alter how teams attack the rim. Asik is not special in that regard. As far as his catching and finishing. I couldn't disagree with that more. He's awful at that. Any improvement he might have had maybe took him from awful to just bad.
