I'm okay with Green, if we could add one of our superfluous PF's; Green would fit this team well (minus his lack of D), but Boston has no decent backup 5 to send us. I know plenty of teams could use Asik. You'd have to find a team that isn't cash-poor. Washington could use Asik, but Emeka Okafor's expiring isn't so sexy (a) while he's injured and (b) I'd want more than cap relief for Asik. Maybe Morey really is waiting to sing "Saving All my Love for Yoooooooooou" to LMA and, barring that, will make another on his "Best Possible Deals" list. If those deals include a good backup 5. Millsap is still my preference, given that Atlanta has coveted Asik, Millsap is underrated (can even shoot from outside), and maybe we can finagle a swap of, say, Tjones or Dmo while we get draft rights to Lucas Nogueira, who isn't ready for prime time but could be brought over. And we'd save Atlanta money on Nogueira's buyout. Not to derail a thread or anything.
Very true. Although I'm not sure Durant is the LeBron type to bolt without advising OKC ownership well in advance. In which case, the Durant sweepstakes would likely begin the summer of 2015.
I think you misunderstood me. I meant that Morey would spread a cover rumor to everyone else in his own front office if it helped him maintain covertness in regards to a potential trade of this magnitude. That's why I won't buy that Portland isn't interested in any of our guys quite yet. May be true. But it may be a misdirection. Morey knows the front office is going to leak on some level. Although the Rox are probably as good as anyone in not leaking, we know there are still little leaks, little peaks inside the war room so to speak, that manage to escape from there. Most of them show up here. Some of them don't show up here becase some of us are covering for our buds inside the team. I suspect at the highest level Morey misdirects people to cover the depth of the trade talks as much as possible if the trade talks do indeed get serious. It's just smart business to preserve the integrity of the trades and the players involved.
Too much interior defense will be lost for our marginal offensive improve. Do not trade for Anderson unless another big can fill Asik's role.
I don't want Andersen, I think Asik's defense is way more valuable than Andersen's offense. But I want to point out, NOs traded their pick unprotected this year for Jrue. So they can't get lucky this year.
I don't think they need a star PF to succeed. The team is fine as is. Give this team 3 years together, they'll bring 2 championships to Houston. If Asik stays they could win this season.
Seems like they wanted to see what they had first. Asik's value won't drop in half a season and NO won't get a better center for Anderson, so they'd wait too. With Anderson's GF taking her life, it also gives Houston a chance to see how he reacts to it.
Is this to suggest that there is (again) tension between the front office and the coach on this topic? Hope not.
You saw it last night. Greg smith / Dmo combo is a highway to the basket. After what I saw last night, I'm convinced they'll keep Asik. He allows you to do so much lineup wise. You can go twin towers, stagger him with Dwight and always have defense on the floor, or some combination of the two depending on the other team's rotation and matchup. You trade him for Ryan Anderson and what did you do? Raise your 3 point percentage at one spot in your rotation. Whoopity Doo!
Nice to know that Les is on board with re-branding. Makes me wonder what changes they had in mind if Adidas is blocking them. Maybe they were planning on changing major colors?
I guess the only reason we were able to beat the pacers twice was because we had twin towers going ?? or was asik out with a calf injury those two games ? isnt the pacers the defintion of a elite team with two bigs ? the asik for anderson trade would have been happened, the camby injury thing just threw everything off. If morey gets a servicable backup ceneter may not have the same DEFENSE as asik but can catch and finish around the rim better, he will do the trade, but he is in no rush at this point knowing that greg smith is the only non injured backup center on the roster. He will be smart and not pull the trigger yet.
Thanks for sticking your neck out a little bit to give us a little tid bit of what the front office's thinking is going into the first half of this season. I had no doubt in my mind that Morey would prepare himself to trade Asik at some point even if its not anytime soon. The fact is, Asik will leave in two years, and his trade value will only decrease after February when teams who have tight wallet owners take themselves out of the mix because of the extra salary he's due above his cap hit. That being said, I'm glad they haven't knee jerk reacted to the Dwight signing by automatically jumping on the first Ryan Anderson type of offer that comes their way. They can do better in due time when teams go through injuries during the season with their bigs, and figure out that their young bigs really aren't that good. And if you can't do better... well look at the Harden situation as an example. If Presti had to go back in time youd think that he'd most likely prefer keeping Harden for another title run, and taking the risk of him leaving in free agency instead of throwing away last year, and taking a couple young prospects that have such a low probability of being great. However, I'd love to gauge the temperature of those in the know with the Paul Millsap situation. If it looks like a fish, and stinks like a fish.... yeah. Something about that signing just seemed odd to me. I'd be interested to see if that's something the front office is keeping an eye out for come Dec 15th. As for LMA- He's about as big of a splash as the Rockets can get with the salary range they can acquire as their 3rd franchise cornerstone, and fits like a glove with this current unit. I have no doubt in my mind that Morey will explore every possible trade scenario possible to satisfy Portland's needs come February, and be ready to throw the kitchen sink at them. Portland might hate the Rockets assets and young talent now, but I wouldn't be shocked if (much like the Lowry trade) Morey can flush out a deal that makes sense.... also dont underestimate the relationships with agents and LaMarcus himself. If it comes time to trade him in January/February, and his agent gets word that the Rockets offer isn't exactly what Portland wants... he might get involved to help broker the deal. No surprise about Manimal. I think Denver will look at the Harden trade & the Dwight/Bynum trade as a reference point in a Faried deal. I think they will want to pick the best of both worlds. I would assume they will want the world for him in a deal, and Faried wont mind going to a lesser team where he can take on a larger role offensively. A team like Toronto comes to mind here as a potential landing spot. The KD situation is getting very interesting and is shaping up to be a HUGE storyline over the next 3 years. I think Presti is the type of GM where if he's feeling like there is a potential for a decision 2.0 and KD could end up in Houston somehow (assuming Morey finds a way to structure their cap situation), I think he trades him to the East somehow beforehand for a kings ransom. Still, a very interesting situation to watch in the coming years.
Agree with what you are saying here. Ryan Anderson is not multi-dimensional enough nor is he such a dead-eye shooter that he makes up for what we lose in Asik. And he's simply not that much better than Casspi, or Parsons, or Garcia playing the 4. Remember we've got 3 guys that we can spin in and out of the 3 and 4 spots when we want to spread the floor. (It's really 4 guys counting Harden.) Parsons works just fine at the 4. Casspi obviously is doing great there. And Garcia is a fit at the 4 when other teams try to downsize and play smaller than we are. All 3 of those guys are comparable shooters to Anderson. With Dwight on board....they're all going to rebound just fine with Dwight drawing so much attention on the rebound boxouts. Frankly, after watching Casspi this preseason, I simply do not see hardly any difference in him and Ryan Anderson. Anderson is bigger, bulkier, probably a little bit stronger, but also a little bit slower. Casspi has been a speed merchant flying up and down the floor. I actually think Casspi has a better handle than Anderson does. Casspi has looked good raking the ball off the glass and charging up the floor with it. Ryan Anderson doesn't bring that. He's just not a good enough player to trade Asik for plain and simple.
Thanks for asking about the Christmas day uniform and the rebranding. That's really interesting. I know i care about that kinda stuff more than most.
RE: Ryan Anderson. I wonder if Morey is taking a slow approach to this potential trade because of what happened to Anderson's girlfriend in the off season. I know it might seem a stretch, but that kind of personal blow has the potential to fundamentally change a person and his job performance. Taking a buyer beware approach at this point seems prudent especially since we don't really know how well our current squad will do.
