[Woj] Rockets finalizing deal to send Omer Asik to New Orleans

LeBron, Wade, and Bosh met today. I'm pretty sure LeBron will not be looking to leave. Those guys have been planning that move to play together for a long time and I don't see them breaking it up after a loss in their 4th consecutive finals. So please, let's stop the LeBron talk.

It's either Melo or a trade for Love. I'm sure Morey has his plans ready to go. Either way, we will be a better team next year. I hope he saves a lil cash to bring in some role players also. Maybe use the MLE to get somebody like Hawes to back up Howard and another PF. Will be a interesting summer.

 

I have thought about the possibility of trading Parsons for Afflalo depending on how the free agency situation works out. I might be wrong on this, but I don't think we could trade them during this offseason. The only reason we would be able to sign Parsons is because we owned his Bird Rights, allowing us to go over the cap to sign him. We could go over the cap in a trade like that. I don't think?

Again, correct me if I am wrong, but I don't think that would be a possibility.

 

Yeah, if that was going to happen, it would have been with an Asik deal.

 

Every GM is out for himself. You would think this trade - or the White trade or the Robinson trade - would indicate how silly the "everyone hates Morey and won't trade with him" narrative is. It's ridiculous.

 

Well said! -

 

I think Lebron's preference is to stay in Miami, but that is a lot different than it actually happening. He could be looking at that roster and just seeing how old it is and how difficult it might be to improve it. He might see a 24 year old Harden, 29 year old Howard and 25 year old Parsons and that might be looking a whole lot better than watching Wade sit on the bench for half the season and still looking tired in the playoffs.

Or he might not. Who knows. That's what makes these next couple of weeks so exciting!

 

Just a few comments here for now with more to come tomorrow.

This is exactly what I expected. Asik traded for a 2015 pick most likely in the 10 to 14 range.

Trade announced but not completed. This means it can be morphed into something greater.

Trade announced in advance of the draft. This means the pick could be flipped to a pick in this draft if another team (Minnesota) wants a player in this draft.

We still have $1,480,160 of cash to spend for the 2013-14 season. That cash is what is going to be used as part of this trade while still leaving the actual swap undone as long as possible so Morey can possibly turn it into a trade of Love or one of LeBron/Melo. How? Well if Morey can't geta trade agreed to for Love tomorrow or before July 1, then Morey can simply give the Pelicans $1,480,160 for Melvin Ely, a player on a non-guaranteed contact that is not in the Pelicans future. That way the cash consideration is taken care of and the swap of Asik for the pick can occur after July 1 without digging into our $3.3 million cash allowance for trades next season. That means we can use the entire $3.3 million to help jettison Lin.

And one final point. The Pelicans with Ryan Anderson may have a perfect role player to send to Minny as part of a Love trade. That's all I'll say on it for now but this fits totally with what I feel Morey is trying to do, secure a trade agreement with Minnesota for Kevin Love either tomorrow or possibly some time before July 1.

 

Even if we dont get LeBron, Melo, or Love I could see us trading lin and dmo for illyasova or thad young and subsequently signing lowry for 10 mil...

lowry/bev/canaan
harden/daniels
parsons/garcia/hamilton
illyasova or young/jones
dwight/vet

And we would sign a veteran backup center and keep this newly acquired pick. Is this possible within the salary cap?

 

Because of the Asik deal, I'm confident Morey can unload Lin's expiring contract + the Pels draft pick to a team with cap room that is targeting the 2015 free agent market.

Maybe this could foster and SnT with the Knicks for Melo.

 

So Houston just gave away a strong, defensive big man to a potential conference rival. With a front line of Davis and Asik (with Davis able to step out and hit shots as well as run the floor), NO definitely improved. I also think Lin could end up there because he is A LOT cheaper than Jrue and frankly a better player. Monty Williams likes Lin too. With a backcourt of Lin and Tyreke Evans/Eric Gordon at the 2 with Ryan Andersen, Davis and Asik, a good coach and a solid bench, that's a team that can make the playoffs.

 

Why is it every major trade breaks when I'm mid flight? I swear.

 

They planned it and they played together for four years with a lot of success. Wade can opt in over the next two years and get $42MM. If they really are boys it is very possible that LeBron is ok with leaving to get more rings while Wade plays out his last years there and cashes those checks. If they were for sure united they could have all opted out at the same time. I still think the most likely scenario is for LeBron to stay but there is a good argument for him leaving.

 

"You fly to much pip" merry brandybuck

 

Yeah a frontcourt of Asik and Davis is going to be really good. Will it be enough to make the playoffs? Hard to say- I hope not since we own their pick but it definitely would have the potential to.

 

http://www.nola.com/pelicans/index.ssf/2014/06/new_orleans_pelicans_patience.html

 

Nah, Gordon is done there and misses to many games. They really want to move him and his contract but can't right now. Evans didn't fit in at all last year. I think they will be better. But they still need time and a couple more years. Asik still has scoring and hand issues on offense. I don't think he will improve much on the offensive end.

 

One important thing to remember is that this trade most likely cannot be executed until AFTER the July moratorium.

This is because that the Pelicans are almost $8M over the cap right now and will only have cap room to take Asik after the 2014-15 season begins and after the Pelicans make some small salary clearing moves themselves.

So, there is plenty of time for the Rockets to get other moving parts in order-- chief among them being the pursuit of high $ free agents-- before executing the trade. Given this, the trade might even get folded into a bigger multi-team packaged deal (sort of like how HOU's trades with SAC and NY in February 2010 got folded into each other).

Right now, what the deal does is exchanging a less liquid commodity for a more liquid one. Omer Asik is valuable to and desired by certain teams (those wanting a big rim protector), but a draft pick is the universal currency of the NBA-- pretty much all teams want them and it can be easily passed on to another team via trade.

 

Pause.

You do know Jrue was just an allstar last season right? He was just injured this year.

 

I think someone will take Rivers. He had a bomb of a rookie season but showed pretty decent improvement last year. He's got potential to be what Lin was for the Rockets the past two years for some team on the cheap. However they aren't going to get much of anything for him. Maybe a 2nd rounder if lucky.

 

J.R., I did right away!