If the Rockets were smart, they'd start game planning for 2012 and Chris Paul and Dwight Howard. They wouldn't use their trade exceptions. They'd let Yao, Battier, Jeffries, and Hayes walk away this summer and match any offer for Brooks, but not sign anyone else. Then, when the Hornets are forced to trade Paul a year from now or lose him for nothing, the Rockets would step in and offer Brooks, Brad Miller's partially guaranteed contract, and a few other pieces (Jordan Hill and a pick?). Finally, with Paul and Kevin Martin in place, you sign Dwight Howard as a free agent in 2012 for a lineup that looks something like this: PG: Paul/Lowry SG: Martin/Lee SF: Budinger/Williams PF: Scola/Patterson C: Howard/2011 pick? If there's still a MLE or something like it, you could enhance this roster even further by signing someone like Marcus Camby. Regardless, do you think the Rockets should game plan for 2012? Or should they try to reload this summer?
Anything is possible but I think it is more likely that the end of world happens. You should run a poll... Which Is More Likely to Happen in 2012... 1. The Rockets sign Chris Paul and Dwight Howard or 2. The World as We Know It Ends as Prophesized I think 2 wins
Why? Seriously? He would bring us the defense, shot-blocking, rebounding, and post scoring we're missing. He's the best center in the NBA not named Gasol. And if you already have Chris Paul and Kevin Martin in place, plus the cap space to sign him, he'll want to come here. Paul and Martin are both better than anyone he has on the Magic right now. You could say the same about Scola.
I don't think you can make personnel decisions now based on increasing your future chances of landing a specific player. We all saw how that worked out for the Knicks.
I've thought about this as well. But instead of having a totally empty roster like NY or Miami, we should have some pieces in place to attract them. The roster should be finalised at the end of 2011 ina way which appeals to them more than any other team, so its a no brainer for Paul and Howard to join us. If Morey can create such a roster then land Paul and Howard - man I just woudnt know what to say or how to describe it. I might faint.
The Knicks will probably end up with Melo and Amare, both of whom are better than anyone we currently have.
Well, you can play Williams with Martin and Lee with Budinger to help the offense-defense balance. A team with Paul, Lowry, Lee, Williams, Patterson, and Howard on the roster should be able to get stops.
I was talking about getting spurned by Lebron and Bosh. Even with having so much $$ they were only able to land their 3rd choice in Amare. And if they land Melo it's because he has a hard on for NYC and his wife makes decisions for him, not because they cleared up cap space.
If NY had gotten someone to take Eddy Curry's contract, I promise you that LeBron, Wade, and Bosh would've been there instead of Miami. All three of those guys wanted to play together, and only Miami had the space to make it happen. So I say get Paul, and then another star like Howard will want to come play with him, Kevin Martin, and Scola. Especially when you consider that we don't have an income tax here. If we get Paul, would anyone else in the NBA have the cap space and a more attractive situation for Howard than us? What would be the better destination for him? There is none.
Plus, I think New York had other advantages over us. No offense to Houston, but New York is arguably one of the greatest cities in the world.
I think there were other factors that brought them together in Miami. I agree it would be amazing if that did happen, but you talk about it like it's going to be easy to achieve. I promise we aren't the only team who will be after CP3 since he's the key piece to your puzzle.
I don't think it's reaching to say that New Orleans will have to trade Chris Paul within the next year, and that we're in a good position to acquire him. And if you have Chris Paul, Martin, Scola, and cap space here, why wouldn't Howard want to come here? Where else would he go? It's not like LA is going to trade Gasol for him.
It's one thing to acquire CP3 and another thing to sign him to an extension. As we are seeing with Melo, there are teams with the pieces to trade, but they aren't where Melo wants to be. I think we're unique in that we have the pieces to trade for CP3 and, if we're patient, the cap space to sign Dwight Howard, so those guys can play together. Getting one guy without the ability to get the other is a non-starter, since we know these guys want to play with other all-stars and not just anybody. You say this is an unlikely scenario, but the question is, what other scenario is out there where CP3 and Howard get to play with another all-star in the prime of their careers? What other team has the ability to put these guys together in 2012?
