I couldn't agree more. He's not good at the NBA level right now, there's no question about that, but he's far from just being a random really tall scrub. He was a dominant force defensively in college and with his height, that usually translates well to the NBA. But it does typically take time. The NBA game is alot faster than college and he's got to learn to adjust, but IMO that will just come with playing time and experience in the NBA. He's gonna have to get thrown to the wolves and have some guys flush on his head, but Hasheem has the skill set and athleticsm to get better and become a true intimidator in the paint if he's allowed to play through his struggles.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/playoffs/2011/columns/story?columnist=stein_marc&page=grizzliesanalysis-110516 Grizzlies would not keep Marc against his will!!! Morey is stupid man for taking Thabeet. If Rockets offered good money to Marc, he might choose Rockets since Houston is more attractive city. Now we have no option since we have no money.
He's not leaving and he never was going to leave. He went to high school in Memphis, his parents still live in Memphis, and by all accounts, he loves Memphis. There's no reason to believe that at any point he would ever pick Houston over Memphis. Who leaves their hometown team to play for a worse team in a mediocre NBA city? We're just not a very attractive destination for big time free agents right now and a few dollar signs won't make a big difference. And for the record, 4 years ago Marc Gasol was the joke center included in a lop-sided trade where he got sent to the city where he grew up...
Marc is from Barcelona. And Pau’s family was living in Memphis and he still demanded trade. You say with such certainty Marc is committed to Memphis, but even general manager himself is obviously not 100% sure. I think you just do not like that I question move of Morey. People here are much too sensitive about this. And I do not need to hear your P.S. "For the record" comment, I know enough about NBA, thanks.
All Im saying is that we're not an attractive free agent destination. The Rockets will not be able to sign any of the top 3 free agents in any given year coming off back-to-back years where we missed the playoffs. This isn't an exciting city along the lines of New York or Miami and we don't have an exciting player that potential free agents would want to leave their current teams to come play with. Our best hopes of acquring talent are through the draft and trades. And we may have to take some risks with those trades. All I meant by the "for the record" comment was that it can be viewed as an identical situation to this one. They were a mediocre team that sold off a popular player for an unproven, project center because they weren't going to win big anytime soon. Neither player was widely considered as anything close to fair value for what they were traded for. Time changes perceptions. I highly doubt that Marc ever planned on leaving Memphis and even if he did, Im pretty sure there are other teams out there that are more attractive that would be able to offer comparable money. Since I don't think we could get him and I don't think we were ever going to get Shane, Im much happier having a 7'3" guy who atleast MIGHT be able to develop and only has 1 year left on his contract than nothing at all.
Battier was never going to be resigned in Houston. I mean, why would he be? So Daryl Morey shoved Battier's contract into a slot machine and now he's pulling a lever called Thabeet. That's how I see it, anyway. Odds are he just can't hack it in the NBA but he's got the athletic tools to be a beastly shot-blocker, so he's getting one last chance to show he can learn and improve in Houston.
I'd rather have the cap space than that 7-3 bust who will never be anything more than a 10 mpg third center on a roster. If the new cap is at $60M and they renounced Chuck and Yao, Rockets could put together an $11M offer for Gasol (unlikely scenario). If Morey gets aggressive and pays someone off to take Miller and/or Thabeet off his hands (pick plus $3M cash), he could carve out just enough space to put in a $12M offer even with Yao and Chuck resigned at ~$4M each. Still a longshot, but plausible. Yao absolutely has to be resigned at a low dollar amount or renounced for them to have any cap space to deal with. Chuck's hold is minimal and may be lower than his actual offer, so that's not as critical. There'll definitely be a market for Gasol out there, but teams like the Knicks and Heat are going to be capped out. I could see the Clippers emerging as a real threat to bid for him, and that would be a very intriguing destination for him. The teams under the cap enough to put in a mega offer ($15M+) to him are: Kings (severe revenue issues though) Pacers (also with money woes) Wolves Nyets (Twin Towers?) Wizards (Nuggets - depending on who they keep)
Marc Gasol is a RESTRICTED free agent. Meaning, it is not his choice to go or stay in Memphis. The Rockets can offer a full max deal and Memphis would most likely match at this point. Memphis locked up their other core players Conley, Randolph, Gay, and Gasol is last on their list. With that core they should be in the playoffs for years. Luckily for the Rockets, they got Thabeet as strickly a project, and didnt cost them more than the salary they would take on for next season and Ish Smith who likely will be replaced with a solid draft pick this year with one of the three picks they have. However it did save them some lux tax money this season, and brought on a conditional draft pick most likely in 2013. I believe the Rockets were taking Thabeet thinking that it was a real possibility that the entire free agent Center class(D'Andre Jordan, Dalembert, Gasol, Nene) could very well all re-sign with their current teams or get competitive offers, and the 2011 draft class was not going to offer that much in the way of NBA ready centers so why not give Thabeet a shot for the 2011/2012 season if all else fails? This gives the Rockets ample time to work with him, and if all else fails and he just cant at least be a space eater in the middle. You also can trade him easily next season as an expiring contract if you do not wish to give him an extension. This and they only have to pay him half of a season next year due to the lockout.
That's a fair argument, but like I said, I just don't see us as a player in free agency this offseason regardless of how much money we have to spend. I think there's only 1 or 2 guys available who are worth more than the MLE and I don't think they'd select us over their alternatives. So since Thabeet only has 1 year left on his contract, we're only deferring that cap space back 1 year and that offseason there should be a significantly better free agent market. That gives us a year to improve enough to make us atleast somewhat attractive to potential free agents. I don't think any really good player will sign with a non-playoff team that doesn't atleast have a rising star on its roster.
Thabeet its' not time to give up on him. Its' just him wanting to work hard and getting coached even harder. I like the trade.
If I were to guess I'd say it's an even split as to why DM specifically chose Thabeet. 50% he realizes he needs an attractive expiring contract, 50% he thinks there's a chance this kid can still develop into something useful. I mean, for a team that's completely devoid of stability at the five and in desperate need for an athletic, shot blocking big....it's hard for me to see us trade for an athletic, shot blocking big and NOT think one of the reasons we acquired him wasn't to fill a need. Best case scenario: the new coaching staff can mold him into something useful Worst case scenario: you have a $5M expiring contract. I think this is all fairly obvious which makes me unable to answer the OP's original question.
i have watched thabeet played basketball for a long time，when he is a freshman in college，people don't believe him will be a good defensive player，thabeet did it and make people stopping laughed at him。so give him some time ，let us see what happen next time，stop laughing at him，just give him some time or some chance。
I understand the cap space, IF, we knew that cap space even mattered this year. With the pending lockout, I think it is more prudent to have guys under contract than cap space, as that is probably going to go down....under the new CBA. DD
