Blazers edge mailbag - "Asik and Aldridge"

Im a diehard Rockets fan, I watch the Rockets as well as other teams. Jrue is much better than Asik. I honestly didn't see why the debate was necessary

 

You never replied to my comment. If he's so good then why did Jrue get traded for Nerlens Noel, (a big who just came off an ACL injury, high bust, high risk) who we all know is not better than Asik.

You think last season the rockets would be better if they had Holiday instead of Asik? Answer me this, based on last season's team, a team composed of Holiday, Harden, Parsons, Jones/D-mo, Greg Smith (not including Howard) is better?

Your answer will determine your basketball knowledge or lack there of...

 

I'm not saying Jrue is better than Asik, but your argument is flawed.

Just because Jrue got traded for Noel, doesn't mean he isn't good. GMs make stupid mistakes sometimes.. the Grizzlies traded Gasol for peanuts.. hell we traded Kevin Martin for James Harden

And asking how our team would do with Jrue instead of Asik is a HORRIBLE argument as well. It doesn't mean Asik is the better player just because he was a better fit on our team

 

Thank You for clearing that up so I didn't have to explain that aspect to him. @Mario If you could get Jrue Holiday right now for Asik you make that deal.

 

I guess we're gonna have to agree to disagree. There's no way I would do that trade, neither would Morey. Jrue Holiday is nice player, but a player like him is a dime a dozen, especially at the PG position.

Asik on the other hand, will help get us a nice asset in return. Perhaps, LMA?

 

That's how you feel. You cannot speak for Morey because you have no insight on any Rockets related moves. it will take a lot more than Asik to get Aldridge, you have to give a lot to receive a lot.

 

Ty Lawson is undersized and he disappeared often last year for the Nuggets he doesn't play defense. Lowry is not debatable he cant stay healthy enough to compete. Even a healthy Lowry is not better than Jrue. Omer does not have substantially more value than a up and coming young All Star PG

 

That's called improving and boosting value. Asik is not a top 5 center.

 

Like Megastahr said, Morey called Asik a top five center. If you believe trading a top five center for a run of the mill pg in Holiday, then so be it.

Also, did not say Asik alone would be enough to get Aldridge. Salaries don't match. Rockets would have to include other tradeable assets such as D-mo, Jones, maybe Lin.

 

LMA won't make Dwight's job easier, he'll make his job harder. One concept you can't seem to wrap your head around is that getting LMA will automatically make the team worse, because we'll be replacing every single player outside of Harden/Dwight with a vet min guy/dleaguer/rookie scale guy.What will actually happen when we got LMA? Not just Dwight, but Harden and LMA will all have to play 38 mins a game at the minimum, because two out of the 3 of them have to be on the court at all times or the team won't have enough talent on the floor. Think about it, if two of those 3 guys sit, who's gonna remain on the floor? DwightGarcia+Cassipi+Beverly+Reggie Jackson? LOL yeah, that'll win a ton of games.

It's the same with your "varied attack" argument, the offense won't become more dynamic, it'll actually get concentrated on Dwight, Harden and LMA because the rest of the team will be spot up shooters/defenders, we won't be able to afford guys like Lin or Parsons who could become that "X factor" other teams couldn't guard. You keep comparing Rox with Miami but Miami's big 3 all took less than the max so that they'll all fit and still have some money for role players. In our case we gave Harden the max, and we gave Dwight the max as well, that's already 35M out of a 55-60 capspace. You give 14M to LMA and what's left for the 12 other spots on the team?

You also don't get my point about under utilization, I'm not talking about points but rather the skillset. LMA is paid the max because offensively he can do just about anything, from scoring in the post to shooting mid-range. However how much of his skillset can he actually utilize with Howard already clogging the paint? At the very least, LMA's usage rating will go down because he'll be the 3rd option while still being paid like a first option, and to be quite honest, there's very little dropoff between LMA as a 3rd option and somebody like Scola or Morris or Patterson as a 3rd option. If you expect your guy to only score 12-16 pts and grab just 5 boards a game, then there's no need to pay the max, you can get bigs much cheaper who can do that much.

 

It doesn't matter whether Asik is a top 5 center or not, Jrue Holiday isn't a top 5 pg either, and he actually makes more than Asik per year.

Fact is almost every team already has a good pg, why the heck would you need a pg who isn't a superstar but makes 10M a year? I can name you a ton of average to good pgs who are also pretty young: Lin, Mike Conley, Lowry, Lillard, Rondo, Rubio etc.

I mean, guys like Tony Douglas, Beverly and Canaan were signed for peanuts yet they'll give you at least 60% of what Jrue Holiday can give you....at like 10% of the price.

Asik is definitely more valuable.

 

Its not a matter of being better, as a 7foot center Asik who can walk and chew gum is more valuable than Holiday, who makes 10m a year. You keep saying hes an allstar, but that was a one and done selection. Is holiday better than Deron, Rondo and Irving in the east? How about parker, lilliard and cp3 in the west? I dunno how he got his seat but holiday isnt a top 2 pg in the east or west.

 

So Toney Bev and Canaan can give 60% production of Jrue Holiday lol stop.

17.7pts 8.0ast he was the only player in the league last year to do that.

Ranked tied for 21st in the league in scoring, fourth in assists, 18th in steals and tied for 11th in minutes played.

Scored 20+ points 29 times this past season (Sixers 17-12 mark), including
30+ points five times, scored 20+ points 10 times in 2011-12, scored 29+ points in three straight games from 1/12-1/18/13, the longest streak by a Sixer since a 5-game span by Allen Iverson from 11/18-12/2/06.

He also had a triple double this year and flirted with it on occasions. I would love to get 60% of that from our bench. Ill wait and see since you know so much.

 

http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=k4pyrpa

Rockets receive LaMarcus Aldridge
Blazers receive Omer Asik, Greg Monroe
Pistons receive Jeremy Lin + picks

Who says no to this deal? The Rockets solidify themselves as title contenders with the addition of Aldridge. The Blazers fortify their frontcourt by adding an elite defensive center in Asik as well as a talented young replacement for Aldridge in Greg Monroe. The Pistons clearly upgrade their point guard situation by adding Lin and not having to rely on Stuckey/Brandon Knight for minutes. I'm sure we'd send some picks Detroit's way to sweeten the pot. It also allows them to play Josh Smith at his more natural position of PF.

Before you say Monroe is untouchable, consider this excerpt from Zach Lowe's piece on Grantland today:

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/9480183/josh-smith-future-detroit-pistons

 

Maybe you missed it but my point was Jrue Holiday is a better than Asik. That's what I'm arguing.

 

Monroe for Lin?

 

It's not that far fetched. Lin's pick and roll skillset would be an ideal fit for a frontcourt of Josh Smith and Andre Drummond.