Here's the general feeling on this board, allow mcgrady to come back from rehab, if he proves he can't play by the trade deadline, then deal him for "unnamed" superstar ala pau gasol. In this way, we get the best of both worlds, see if mcgrady can play and also get superstar at the same time. This is I believe a falso hope. Let's examine the pau gasol trade and why memphics made it. 1. memphis only made the trade because by doing so, they could get under the salary cap THAT year, this is the most important point, they became a player in Free agency that year, they offered Josh Smith a max deal, but Atlanta matched it. Now imagine if they actually got Josh Smith, it would make the pau Trade look not so bad. The key is that they only made the trade because they could get under the cap immediately and become players. If they were at $70million, there's no way they make that trade. 2. They were rebuilding around Rudy Gay and Mike Conley, they actually had young players that they wanted to turn the franchise over to, so it wasn't like they were left with a vacuum. Remember that Rudy Gay had a breakout season last year, so they were essentially turning the franchise over to him. Now it doesn't matter what he actually become but at the time they thought that Rudy would be the face of the franchise not pau, so they turned the keys over to him. In conclusion, it's not just shedding contracts that is the key for a gasol type trade, but that if teams are going to give a player for nothing, they want 1) immediate cap flexibility 2) young potential franchise player(either home grown or via trade) that they can build around. Let's look at the teams in the NBA that losing money, these teams are the ones most likely to do a pau gasol trade. from thislink They are Dallas, Miami, Denver, Portland, Indiana, Minnesota, OKC, New Jersey, Memphis, Charlotte. For arguments sake, let's include teams that are not many a lot of money, Philly, Sacramento, Orlando, Atlanta, New Orleans and Milwaukee. That is a total of 17 teams, now let's exclude, Atlanta, Miami, Portland, Minnesota, OKC, New jersey, memphis, Scramento, since those teams will be significantly under the cap in 2010 anyway so they don't need any cap relief. Let's also exclude Dallas, Denver, Orlando, Portland since they are playoff teams and their owners have proven they will spend the money. We are left with 5 teams, indiana, New Orleans, Charlotte, pHilly, Milwaukee 1) Indiana - Danny Granger - just by trading granger, they would not become players in FA, they would need to package Granger with dunleavy, murphy and/or tinsley. Still then it makes no sense, because they have got no young talent to build around, so the only way they would deal granger is to package him with dunleavy and murphy AND want a potential young talent in return. I just don't see indiana trading granger. 2)New Orleans - Chris Paul - Even worse situation than indiana, in order to become players in FA, they would need to move Chris Paul AND Peja AND Tyson. The problem is NO ONE has that much in expiring contracts. Without Moving all 3 of them they don't become a player. Again they would want a young franchise talent in return since they have NONE on the team. 3) Charlotte - After hiring larry brown last year, would they blow everything up after half a season? i really doubt it, they would at least give him until trade deadline next year before blowing up their team. 4) Philly - I see them trading brand and Dalambert before igoudala, unfortunately, brand and dalambert are not rocket needs. 5) Milwaukee - Jefferson and Redd are most likely to be traded. So, in conclusion, I don't see any miracle pau gasol trades at next years deadline for the rockets. The trades most likely to happen with tmac's expiring can be made in the summer. Prove me wrong, give me a trade that could happen at the trade deadline that wouldn't happen in the summer.
But it doesn't have to be a Pau Gasol give away type deal. Just getting some solid pieces and SOME production from the 23 million would be pretty huge.
That's my point, if you are going to trade him for solid pieces, then don't wait till the deadline because a) you give other teams a chance to acquire those pieces b) you don't have training camp with your whole core group for the season. basically there is no reason to wait till the deadline.
I would like it most if he was traded in the summer. It would give our players time to really gel on the floor before the season starts....
Can the rockets even trade a cripple during the summer? I don't see McGrady passing a physical whether he's able to or not.
First off, there wasn't a rebuilding plan that couldn't have included a 28 yr old all star 7ft er. I agree that the rox shouldn't wait till the dedline to try to make a deal. I think the rockets are in a bad place with the uncertainty. They first need to make up their mind on whether they will be players this year or go for fools gold in the following summer. I'm the kind of guy that says you should waste years trying to get into 2010. I think if they're serious, there are a couple of teams i would call quickly. GSW,NJ,and Chicago. GSW have wings and bigs we could use, plus they have a new gm. NJ has Carter,Simmons, and boone whom the rox probably could get. Chicago had some playoff success without Deng and might want to get out from his contract to get into 2010 sweeps for wade. I think they should make the 1st good deal and move forward. Chances are that tracy wont be ready for reeal action till february if then and even then he will still bre trying to get confidence in the knee.
I don't see Morey touching Golden state's wings, they are on the wrong side of 30 and have really bad contracts. New jersey with carter is probably the most likely trade IF they want to move him. Chicago is a fantasy, they can get into the 2010 sweepstakes even without dealing Deng, all they have to do is let gordon go and they are in the sweepstakes, even if they do keep gordon, hinrich is the most likely to be dealt not Deng.
Further on New jersey, they made their 2010 trade last summer with the dumping of Jefferson to Milwaukee, right now even with Carter they have enough cap room to offer a max contract in 2010. So that means they are under no pressure to deal Carter, they will only do so if they can get good young talent in return. Otherwise they don't really gain anything by trading him for an expiring.
Totally agree. We need to get our trades out of the way early this year and not wait around like we did last year. I understand that waiting til the last minute is when you can get a steal of a deal but it also screws the team over when they throw in a new guy or take a guy out of the lineup late into training camp or into the season. Besides there's only a few key points the Rockets need to address this season. 1. Resign Artest and possibly Wafer 2. Backup Center for Yao 3. Possible Veteran starting PG 4. Strong SG filler for T-mac's spot if he's traded Other then that our team is pretty solid and will be back next year with a vengeance. Just gotta dump T-mac and Cook and we will be good as gold.
I mentioned this trade in another tread, but I think NO can trade those three (Chris Paul, Chandler, Peja) to us for Tmac, Brooks, Battier, Hayes and Barry. Everyone's contract that they get expires in time for them to be players in 2010, except Battier would have 1 more year; but all teams could use his leadership and defense. They take a chance on Tmac, but if he comes back with a chip on his shoulder after being traded during an injury, plus he still has something to prove in the post season, he and David West could play well together. Maybe they could sign him for less after that if they could pick up another major player in 2010 to make them potential contenders. If not, they just let him go. They get Brooks, he's not Chris Paul by any stretch of the imagination, but they get a pretty good developing PG that they will be able to resign for a good price, that might still be able to average 15+ points and maybe 5 assists for them. He will get better, so for the price they will have upside. They can keep Hayes for cheap to play solid defense against some of the bigs in the west, but we all know what they lose on offence with him. With Battier and Posey still on their team, they would have two solid wing defenders to play against the great wings in the west, kind of like we did with Battier and Artest. Overall, depending on what they can do in 2010, it's the best way for NO to go with a lot of options down the line. We will win of course because we do get the best PG in the league, a great back up center for Yao to reduce his minutes and strengthen our bench even more to contend with LA or anyone else in the west; and maybe Peja will play better off the bench and be a good shooter again to space the floor since he knows RA's system. Overall, if these two teams really ever get to talking about this trade for real, I think it happens even with a couple of tweaks.
Other than that?... Only a few key points?? None of those things individually will be easy to get done. I suppose getting some oaf to back up Yao may be the easiest but Morey has already said he's not going to go out and sign a 7-footer just because he is a 7-footer. This is one offseason we're talking about and we have no cap space. As trugoy pointed out, there aren't likely as many teams as we think that will want McGrady's contract. They will either already have the cap space for the overhyped 2010 sweepstakes or be unwilling to give up the players we want in return. You want a "veteran staring PG" AND to resign Artest AND to get a good backup C AND a good SG if they are able to trade McGrady. What team would give up a good SG to get McGrady's contract and why would they do it? Signing Artest alone may be a big challenge. Where is that veteran starting-caliber PG and where is the money with which to sign him? Who is the backup C that Morey will be willing to sign and where is the money to sign him?
The problem with your thinking is that there are 30 teams in the league, I can think of multiple teams that can put together way better offers than rockets for Chris Paul, if word got out that Chris Paul is available. e.g. Memphis could give them salary relief immediately(not just expiring) and ship them 2nd pick in this draft as the centerpiece, which would blow us out of the water with their offer.
Who is the young franchise talent they get in return? Based on one ESPN rumor, you believe the Hornets are willing to trade Chris Paul and face the guaranteed backlash from fans (however few there are) that will ensue? Now, let's say that for some crazy reason, NO is willing to deal Paul this summer or even by the next trade deadline. I am willing to bet they still won't initiate the trade. They will wait for Paul to force their hand down the line. They aren't willing to totally crap on their fanbase until they are willing to fold the franchise. If they are willing to fold the franchise, they would still probably keep Paul as long as possible. I personally don't believe that this scenario will happen anytime soon if it happens at all. Furthermore, if this one unrealistic scenario doesn't play out, trugoy still has a valid point. There aren't all these awesome possibilities out there if we want to trade McGrady. Even this Chris Paul scenario is ridiculous and based on an ESPN rumor. 99% of these kinds of rumors turn out to be nothing but hype.
Just a second pick is not going to be enough to put that trade together....have you looked at the salaries of Chris Paul, Chandler and Peja? If you think Memphis can put together a better deal, spell out the entire deal and let's analyize its. Also run it through the trade machine just to check the numbers. I ran that deal through the trade machine and it worked.
How much will NO lose in ticket/suite sales and advertising if they trade Paul? The Hornets won't likely be folding their franchise this coming season or even the next. How much will they lose when fans stop buying tickets, stop watching on TV and companies stop trying to advertise in their arena? Will those millions offset whatever they save by trading Paul? Perhaps they will save some but at what cost? There is also a minimum payroll that every team must meet. They would probably make out better holding on to Paul as long as he's willing to stay and finding other ways to save money through multiple, smaller deals. Honestly, I'd be ecstatic to get Paul. I'd give up anything, including Yao to get it done. I just don't want to get excited about something that sounds like nothing more than hype.
I don't know if NO would be willing to entertain this deal or not. But if for some reason they are having financial trouble and won't contend for a few years, maybe Paul pushes for a deal this summer. If NO wants to deal, who else would be able to offer them a better package than what we just did, that would a) work and b) that would make sense for the other team? If money becomes the issue, owners do what they have to do, which is the premise of this thread. Im sure Memphis fans were not happy with the Gasol trade. NO is still a struggling city, so who knows what all is going on there. I don't know about other awesome deals for Tmac, but I am in agreement that I would prefer that if a big deal like this is going to be done, let's get it over in the summer so that we have our whole team in training camp with the expectation that this will be the team that we are going to the playoffs with.
2nd pick is Ricky Rubio, so the deal is Buckner, jaric, Milicic + 2nd Pick(ricky Rubio) = 19m for Chris paul + Peja + Chandler = 40m Note that the 20m difference in salary doesn't matter since Memphis is at 35m in salary so they can absorb the extra 20m to go right up to the cap. new Orleans gets Ricky Rubio, a potential franchise PG to build around, and if they can move ONE of either mopete, posey, buckner or jaric for an expiring, they can get enough under the cap to offer a max deal to someone in 2010.
