The crux of trading scenes for Houston would have to revolve around Juwan. IF we can make a deal to get something like a pick and Cliff Robinson and Mcginnis ( expiring contract)- we can have some options. Ie- Mcginnis + Sura- for a solid PG Or Mcginnis+Sura + Alston for a PG and PF An intriguing thought is to involve Golden state and get Troy Murphy and Pietrus- and use Pietrus as bait with Alston for a Serious PG upgrade. Yes Novak is on the table too! With Tracy out we need to cover 2 positions PG and PF. If Tracy can come back we can focus on the PF spot.
While I don't disagree with all your points (e.g., I agree Dre isn't the best fit, a Terry/James type is), but I think you miss the big picture. Alston has an extra year on his contract and is he worse player. So you pay more (twice as much) for 2 years for Dre, but you get the better player and shorter contract. Also, 3% shooting is the only thing Alston does better. Even so, it is just marginal for a volume 3 point shooter. Alston is terribly inefficient in all other ways offensively (finishing, midrange, drawing fouls, etc). Yes it is true we would not park Dre at the 3 line. But his FG% shows he is effective in the midrange and close in. It isn't like he wouldn't make you pay for leaving him. Parker (until this year), Kidd, D Harris, D Williams, Paul--lots of PGs can be effective offensively without taking or marking many 3s as long as other elements of their offensive game are strong, Dre fits in this mold. Defensively it is no contest in favor of Dre. So... Do you take Dres... -much more efficient mid range spots -much more efficient drives -much better defense or Alstons ... -better but still marginally adequate 3 point shot. Not to mention it drives me crazy teams can press the Rockets to slow our set up and the Rockets can't make them pay because though Alston can get the ball up safely usually he can't very well take advantage of an overplaying defense and make a disincenive for trying to press us. You press Dre, you have a major risk of him breaking it and converting it is easy buckets. Both of these guys shoot 3s worse than Alston. If you want a 3 shooter you go with Damon Jones or Jasikevicius. But then you wonder if either brings more to the table than just playing Head at the 1, which we could do more if Tmac, Snyder and Bonzi were ready to go full throttle. I realize Dre isn't ideal. But of realistic targets he might be worth mixing it up with. There are too many phases he is better than Alston to compensate for the fact we won't be parking Dre at the 3 line.
Just to reiterate: Andre Miller throws pinpoint passes. Have him getting the ball to Yao. If the big guy is playing so well, imagine how much better he would be with a real PG. He also plays excellent defense. I can't attest for his pick and roll D, but it has to be better than the s*!t we have now. You want 3 pointers, you have Luther and Shane.
the same money would be on the cap anyway. rafer and sura are owed a combined total of roughly 24 million. miller is owed roughly 27 million. it's only a small amout more (compared to nba standards of money). so if the cap is almost the same for this year and next year then why not do it? the year after that we would also have a very LARGE ending contract to trade at the deadline.
Exactly. It would not be like we signed him outright for 10 mil a season or had a 10 mil trade exemption. We have to match 75% in salary, Rafer's contract alone is almost 1/2 of Dre's per season but runs an extra year, and another contract would have to be included.
