The average PG's effectiveness drops by the age of 30. Rondo is 28. Terrific passer, average shooter and above average defender. Harden is 24 and is the league's best shooting guard(who carried this team down the stretch of this season, and just had a very poor postseason showing). Harden is a above average passer, excellent shooter/attacker, and a poor defender. In two years as a starter Harden averages 25.5 PPG, 5.9 assists, 4.8 rebounds, 1.7 steals , and 3.7 TO's. Rondo as a 7 year starter(8 years in the league) averages 11.1 PPG, 8.4 assists, 4.6 rebounds, 1.9 steals, and 2.8 TO's. What makes you think that Rondo and Harden are exchangable??? especially without Houston getting back picks...
The team needs to think in terms of a 2 year horizon-- this how long they have Dwight under contract for and there is no guarantee of his continued health/effectiveness given the miles that he logged. So whole one should care about the future, one must factor the present far more heavily in the Rockets' situation. So this means that if you can deal Harden's youth and future for a present upgrade (like the combo of Love and Rondo for Harden, Jones and Asik) you do it.
Imagine a Steven Adams and Omer Asik swap. I have no doubt Adams could perform on par or better for the foreseeable future.
Start Melo at both the 3 and the 4............... BRILLIANT! GET THIS MAN A JOB ON THE COACHING STAFF IMMEDIATELY!
Thats just such a perfect allround team. It has plenty of defense,Lowry and Howard are hounds, and the offense of course is great. It has great ball handling with Lowry/Harden/Parsons Its tough and strong, Lowry/Harden/Milsap/Howard are all know for being very physical and tremendously strong players. It's young, but with the perfect mix of veteranship, no one over 29. It's got the 3ball, Lowry, Harden, Milsap and Parsons all good 3point shooters. Milsap is a stretch 4, he shot 36% from 3 this season, averaging 1 made 3 a game, perfect to put next to Howard. Its just such a perfect line up lol
As much as I like Harden, and it would be painful to give up a 24 year old superstar, that's a hell of a team. You have to imagine that core would instantly contend for a championship.
I buy this any day of the week. I hope that the "vet addition" is a good defense minded playmaker. DMo need some "Dream time" in the defensive end and there might be some need to have a third center for foul trouble situations in the latter constellation. Couldn't wait to see those guys play!
Last I heard, Dallas was NOT interested, instead wanted to pair Dirk with Gortat or Tyson Chandler etc. They are looking more for a true C.
I think that neither Love or Melo should be Houstons top priorities. If it was up to me, I would look for Bosh or Ibaka. Bosh probably easier to get, but Ibaka more valuable. It looks like the Spurs will sweep OKC. Something is clearly not clicking in the OKC and they might want to restructure their roster (especially if they plan to keep Durant in the future). Maybe that could buy Ibaka from there. That would make Houston a monster team instantly. The Clippers appear to have a real problem as well. Their great lineup on paper does not seem to get it done on the court. Personally I would like to get Jamal Crawford from there.
If Minnesota parts with Love AND adds two quality pieces in Pekovic and Dieng AND takes on Gerald Wallace's bad contract, then surely that return is way too low. Ignore Love for a moment, would Minnesota even trade Pekovic and Dieng for Gerald Wallace and those picks? Mid lottery pick in a good draft, that's nice. But you are far from guaranteed to get a Pekovic caliber player there, and Dieng was beasting at the end of the season too. Now, Houston gets way too much IMO. I don't think Asik is worth Millsap, much less Millsap+Dieng. Also, I'm not sure how Houston would sign Lowry if they do this deal. They'd have no cap space. Sign and trade? It wouldn't be cheap. To get Lowry, you probably have to move Lin and Asik for cap space.
If the Rockets can manage to bring this lineup together, the Rockets will be in good shape cash wise as well. Also, we wouldve addressed 2 huge weakness: consistent starting PG and PF play! (and be left with just one glaring issue:coaching)
I just dont understand the incentive the Wolves have to keep Pekovic without Love and have him become the teams highest paid player(will confirm this after looking at the salary caps for the Timberwolves)... PS. my trade suggestions are solely based on the opportunity to rebuild the team without thinking that a 3rd superstar is the only option. And sending a player like Love to a favorable situation. If the Timberwolves move Love, they really have zero reason to keep Pekovic IMO...
The Phoenix Suns have to realize that they have no chance of resigning Love. My question is would they help facilitate a Kevin Love to Houston trade? And if they would, is Asik or a combo of Ask and Jones be enough for them to send one of their lottery picks to Minnesota? Finally, would that pick and Parsons be enough for Love? My Answer: Yes
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Just filed to <a href="http://t.co/X75SPTIUSC">http://t.co/X75SPTIUSC</a>: Kings put No. 8 on the trade block, wanting veteran instead of next rookie to develop. Link to come.</p>— Scott Howard-Cooper (@SHowardCooper) <a href="https://twitter.com/SHowardCooper/statuses/468913036338925569">May 21, 2014</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
