The Lakers interest is nothing surprising. Do people honestly believe that bidding on Dragic, and pretty much every significant free agent, would not get hot this summer? First, bidding on top free agents almost always get hot. Every summer we hear fans yapping about how teams overpaid for guys. Second, remember the salary cap is going to be $66M this summer, and is expected to jump to $80M the summer after. Teams are going to be especially loose with their money this year because of this expected increase in cap.
I love how you either dont understand the context of what happened or just choose to ignore it to further your stupid narrative. /shrug simple minded fools.
Our assets are better than the Lakers, but we may have to overpay to get him and that is a no, no for me. It hurts me a bit to say this, because I like Goran. The Rockets should look for a 3 way trade. This may give give us a better chance of obtaining Goran, without having to give up too much in return.
Nope, he can and has done wrong. I dont think he is the best GM in the league, but i do think he is one of the better ones. Its easy for you to judge what happened in hindsight and with our current situation. It was a different situation then, we didnt have a true #1 option superstar, and until you do have that it is best to keep flexibilty to be able to jump on that. Dragic as good as he is wasnt and isnt a #1 option. So i dont begrudge Morey for keeping his flexibility.
and that's not even taking into account NY. That's why I think DMO will get a max offer himself next year. These two teams are completely empty of players.
Alexander would pay the money. The real question is whether Morey would agree to hamstring the team for 3-4 years with the Dragic salary.
Lakers aren't going to trade Randle or their lottery pick for Goran. That leaves the Rox pick and Jordan Hill. Could they possibly do that to have a leg up on re-signing Goran? Probably.
So what of the Lakers offer a max deal... I'm pretty sure we would too, and we'd have Bird rights I believe.
Rox pick + Hill >> NOP pick. Why? It almost makes sure that the Suns take a top 10 pick as well. So it is Rox pick + Hill + Lakers pick And that's why the Lakers would NEVER trade for Dragic now.
Morey won't. People have a false view on Morey. Yes, he is always looking for long term flexibility and has been adding pieces for years. However the whole point was to be in a position to win a championship and if Morey believes that Dragic puts them in that position, he will go all in. As it is, the Rockets have been a top 5 team in the NBA this season, without a healthy Howard or Jones. Assuming Howard comes back, and adding Dragic to Smith and Brewer is a legitimate title contender.
This is about winning the title THIS YEAR. My opinion, Dragon puts us over the top as far as competitiveness against playoff teams, hell I could see us even beating golden state or San antonio in 2nd or 3rd round. If it means a half year rental for a soon to be free agent (that will get a max offer from the lakers in the offseason) I say you do it all day long and twice on Sunday's. Being successful in the playoffs only makes us that much more attractive to other free agents.
I too think Morey is going all in on Dragic. If he chooses not to I'm taking that as a sign that Dwight is done for the year so the Rockets will stay flexible and look toward next year. I hope to hell that isn't the case.