1. Indicate your preferred trade with another franchise. 2. Change the players if you want to. 3. Give your realistic prediction as to whom the Rockets would pick with the new drafting slot. Not that it really matters, but I made it a public poll.
Cool poll. I think the trade most "likely" to happen is the #8+Luther for #6. However, the trade I selected was #4+Miles for #8+Howard. That translates to Brandon Roy+Miles added to our team while only losing Howard. Even if we have to take 2+ more years of more length to Miles contract (versus Howards) I do this deal. It gives you more assets. And in the Portland deal you arent giving up Luther Head, another asset. You get the star in Roy and you keep your depth with Miles/Head. The Hornets deal is interesting as it would give us more quality depth. Who wouldn't want that? But for me, what sets off these 3 trades is that with the Portland & Minnesota deals you get a chance to get a "star" player (Roy). And right now getting a 3rd star player to me is more desirable than to have a bit more depth. Depth is easier to acquire than stars.
I took the #6. There are 6 top players in this draft, at six you are sure to get one of them. There is a very good chance that Roy will be available at #6 so basically your just trading Head for Roy, but with no net gain in depth. I'm leery of taking on Miles' contract but then again we will never ever be under the cap anyway , so we are just talking about Les's walking around money so who cares.
The poll is missing my favorite trade as an option. Rockets give up #8 and Luther Head for Atlanta's #5. I believe that Atlanta wants a pg or a big man from this draft and at #8 could pick from among Randy Foye, Marcus Williams, Farmar, Rondo etc. or could go for O'Bryant, S. Williams, C. Simons etc. (whomever they want). Can you add this choice as an option?
I'd take the NO trade, except I'd give them Swift instead of Luther. We'd probably have to take another player for the salaries to match (Moochie?). With the picks solve the backcourts problems (Brewer/Carney) and you find a replacment for Stro (Simmons/Johnson). ...Then again, I'd prefer to stand pat and draft Brewer!
I prefer the Minnesota one because: (1) I do not think Miles is a good addition, (2) Gay or Roy could be available after the first four selections, (3) I do not like undersized players, and (4) I do not like guards who cannot dribble. University (Reign Drop) Blue
Darius and the 4 for JH and the 8. Darius is one of the better athletes in the NBA and he is tall enough to play the 4 against guys like Marion. There have been many scenario's where players that were head cases on other teams turned out to be great team players once traded. Nick Van Excel is a perfect example of a player that was the epitomy of team cancer in Denver but was exactly what the Mavs needed in Dallas. I would like to have Darius baking up the 2, 3 and 4 spots on the court. I think he would be good in that role. Then draft best available at with the Portland pick...Morrison, Aldridge, Roy or Bargnani would be the players on my very short draft board.
Obviously the Portland one... I think Miles is an underated player, great size and athleticism, strong... can really help us on both ends. And of course the 4th pick in the draft... great trade if it happens...
There's only one San Antonio Spurs who has everything work out for them perfectly. Everyone else has to take risks. That's why the Bulls traded for Rodman, the Pistons traded for Rasheed, the Heat traded for Walker, the Suns signed an aging injury prone Nash long term, and Dallas stockpiled terrible contracts. We have to stop fooling ourselves into thinking that we have this 6 year window. McGrady is in the twilight of his career. He has 3 years left, max. Management needs to be in panic mode right now trying to acquire some talent. You can't afford to play it safe when there's noone in free agency and you have few trade assets. Miles is a gargantuan risk but is a proven defensive stopper. Roy fits the team's needs like a glove. Could this all blow up in their faces? Very possibly. But I would rather know I took the chance rather then sitting around remaining content with JHo at the '4' and a rookie not nearly as polished as Roy at #8. Besides, I'm curious to see Stro and Hayes split time at the '4'. They could be disastrous, but that's not anything we haven't seen with Juwon.
Nobody is mentioning a trade with Atlanta. Atlanta has everything to gain by drafting at #8 (Shelden Williams or Marcus Williams likely will be there) plus they can pick up a player like Head or the rights to V-Span. I do not believe Portland will trade with us as long as they have a chance for Morrison. If we trade with Atlanta and Portland takes Morrison, we still get Roy or another top-ranked player.
I had to go with the Portland trade. I'm leery of Darius Miles but I also can't help but be intrigued. He's squandered his god given talent for his entire career, and in all likelyhood he'll continue to do so, but what if he doesn't? What if Yao Ming, Tracy McGrady and Jeff Van Gundy are exactly what he needs? I'm intrigued by the idea of him playing power forward for us. I can't imagine he could be worse than Juwan Howard. Knowing we could pick up a guy like Roy or Gay seals the deal for me on this. I also hate the idea of trading away Luther Head. He was one of our very few durable players last season and he's one of our only decent tradable assets. I wouldn't be opposed to including Head in a trade if it was a great deal and it was necessary, but I'll hate to see him used as a throw in. I don't like the Minnesota trade at all because it's a two for one deal and I don't feel like we can afford to do that when our depth is so depleted. The New Orleans deal is interesting but I'd be afraid that our picks wouldn't pan out. Then it's just the #8 pick and Luther Head for J.R. Smith. Ouch.
Purely from a personnel standpoint, I like the Portland trade. But guys, look here: THERE'S A REASON PORTLAND IS THAT DESPERATE TO DITCH MILES' CONTRACT. That thing is HIDEOUS. J.R. is a big, athletic guard, and not only is he a pretty good shooter, he's also a talented scorer. On top of that, with those other picks we could end up with a valuable shooting upgrade (Redick is pretty good value at #12, and that's if we can't get Brewer or Carney there, which would be even better), as well as a tough power forward or a fairly reliable backup point. Getting a guy like Brandon Roy would be nice and all, but I'd rather plug three holes than add one potential star along with one of the biggest chemistry problems in the whole league.
#4+Miles for #8+Howard would be my choice, although the Hornets deal wouldn’t be too bad either. The more I think about it, the more silly the #8+Head for #6 deal sounds. If Roy is still around at #6, there is a very high probability he’ll still be around by #8. Minnesota obviously has no interest in Roy, or else they wouldn’t be looking to trade the pick. So basically it comes down to whether Boston wants him. It makes absolutely no sense for Boston to want him considering they just drafted Gerald Green last year, they still have Pierce and Szczerbiak, and Ainge has made it very clear Delonte West is a shooting guard, not a point. A center (O’Bryant/Aldridge) or a point (Foye/Williams) makes a whole lot more sense. Giving up Luther on the very, very slim chance that Boston shockingly drafts Roy would make the Rockets the biggest suckers of the draft.
Sorry about that but I thought the chatter on that had died. I like the NO deal because of the volume. Something like JR Smith plus maybe Carney/Redick/Brewer (#12) and Rajon Rondo or the Spanish kid (#15) would be pretty satisfactory. Grab Novak at #32 and that would be beautiful. The Portland deal would be fine, though. The Minnesota deal doesn't do much for me. While I recognize that this draft is short on superstars it has a LOT of nice players who look to have promising careers. We need an infusion of youth.
Amen! If the Rockets are fortunate enough to make a deal to move up in this years draft, I'll bet it is with Atlanta not Portland or Minnesota. The ESPN rumor about the deal with Atlanta makes light years more sense for both teams than any of the others I've heard or read.
What if Boston's choice is not Brandon Roy but instead Rudy Gay? Boston would grab him and do some dealing for what the need and maybe more. However, Brewer is not a bad consolation prize.
