Trust me, Chris Paul will be out a good part of next season due to another injury. That is the last thing we need now especially paying him so much to stick around for one year. Injuries ruined our season yet again. This time i feel we have enough size to combat that.
3 way deal I know this would make some Rocket's fans wet their pants and perhaps I'm just excited cuz I finally got a trade to work in the trade machine on ESPN....and no I don't know what picks would be required to make this go down or if the teams would accept BUT salaries DO match so...here goes... http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine (doubt that works, I don't know how to keep the trade in place) Houston Gets: (SF) Danny Granger (C) Omer Asik Chicago Gets: (PF) Jordan Hill (SG) Courtney Lee Indiana Gets: (PF) Louis Scola (SF) Terrence Williams (SG) Keith Bogans (expiring) Picks would obviously have to be thrown in and I don't know who has what picks to possibly make it happen. Houston: This is obvious - a slam dunk all around. Houston gets a starting SF of good caliber and a young C with defensive potential. What they lose - a veteran at PF that can score and several draft picks, but if Houston's in win-now mode...you go for it. Chicago - Really just a facilitator in this one to aid in making salaries work. They give Houston the C they covet and they acquire Hill who can play spot minutes at C that Asik would have played anyways, and get the starting SG they need that conveniently has an affordable contract as well. Indiana - Scola's scoring next to Hibbert in the paint would be a big upgrade over Hansbrough and McRoberts, however it may go against any rebuilding plan. But hey, if you're going to lose your "veteran" leadership letting Granger go, you're getting it right back. You also pick up athletic potential in T-Will and an expiring contract in Bogans. A line-up of Collins, Hill, George, Scola, and Hibbert gives you just as good a shot at the playoffs in the East as their current lineup does. At worst they stay level and give George room to grow. Pipe dream? Yes. Have to potentially mortgage the future with picks? Maybe. Worth it? You decide... PG - Lowry/Dragic/Flynn SG - Martin/Twill SF - Granger/Bud/Mo PF - PPat/Mo/D. Mo C - Hayes/Asik/Thabeet/Yao? (unlikely I know)
I say we go after Okafor. This dude is extremely underrated. His career averages are 12 and 10 with 1.5 blks. He's also a defensive stalwart in the post, which is something we don't have. He's arguably the 3rd best defensive center in the league behind Bogut and Dwight. The Hornets are also in desperation mode now that Paul is most likely opting out of his contract for the 2012 season. They don't have their solid 18 and 8 guy in West anymore because he opted out of his contract. Landry may look to go to a title contending team. They only have 6 players on the books for the 2011 season, so they need to make moves. The Rockets have too many players on the books and need to package players for upgrades. Rockets get: Okafor Hornets get: Scola, Flynn, Hill Scola fills the offensive void they will miss without West, Hill backs him and whoever they make their center (probably Aaron Gray), and Flynn is a low-risk/ high-reward option with an expiring contract that maybe able to take the reins after Paul's departure. Here's what the Rocket's line-up would look like Lowry/ Dragic Martin/ Lee Morris/Bud/ T-will Patterson/Hayes/Motie Okafor/ Hayes/ Thabeet Getting an actual center would be a great start in potentially getting out of 9th place.
That's a great trade man. Pacers are the only obstacle. I'm not sure if they would want Scola, but if they want talent for talent, this is a pretty good deal for them also.
If you're aiming for Okafor (whom I think can be had for the right price), I think that it is important to keep Scola. A package of Hill + Thabeet + T Will for Okafor + 2 T.E. should work. N.O. gets 3 young talented players that can benefit greatly from Paul and gets out of Emeka's contract. Okafor is the type of player that is a good fit for our team persona as well. Okafor/Hayes Scola/Patterson/DMo Morris/Chase/Parsons Martin/Lee Lowry/Dragic/Flynn
According to the ESPN NBA trade machine this trade works. New Orleans might bite on a trade something like this. They get rid of a bad contract, get 3 2009 lottery picks, get younger, fill their nearly empty roster, and lower their overall salary structure. Too bad they already have a backup PG (Jarrett Jack) under contract, or we could throw in another 2009 lottery pick (Jonny Flynn). That lineup probably wouldn't win a title, but would be easily make the playoffs and could do some damage. I would do that deal in a heartbeat.
Here's one idea: Trade (1) Courtney Lee, (2) Jordan Hill and (3) Jonny Flynn to Orlando in exchange for (1) The draft right of Fran Vazquez, (2) the draft right of DeAndre Liggins, (3) the Magic's 2013 First Round Pick (with the least amount of protection you can negotiate), and (4) the right to switch 2012 pick with the Magic. The salaries work because Orlando has a couple of trade exceptions to take on the salaries. For Orlando, they get a few guys, including D. Howard's friend Courtney Lee, to fill in roles they need for the "Keep Dwight Howard Drive" without giving up anyone expected to help them this year (Vazquez just extended in deal in Spain by another year, Liggins = Rookie). Lee takes J. Richardson's role (or share it with Redick), Jordan Hill fills in some of the minutes vacated by Gortat and gives them an option taller than the 6'8'' Bass, Flynn takes on spare PG duty (both Arenas and Duhon were shakey last year, so you might well add another spare tire). Houston clears $7 million or so off its ledger to pursue a FA center this year. Also, Vazquez is one of the better C in Europe so it's probably worth waiting a year for him. As for the picks: They might turn out to be pretty good if Orlando has to get rid of Dwight. In fact, if Orlando is going to trade Dwight and get into rebuild mode, the Magic probably wants those picks back-- meaning it makes Houston a potential partner.
Tell me if im crazy but i know this has a zero chance of happening, but i had a dream about this. Paul Gasol in a rockets jersey. Rockets Trade : PF Luis Scola PG J.Flynn SF Terrence Willams La Lakers Trade Paul Gasol Cash + A Pick ??? How Gasol will be a Center, opens up Patterson @ Starting PF. We then get Hayes resigned to backup PowerForward and start some nights PG-Kyle Lowry/Dragon SG-Martin/Lee SF-Budinger/Morris/ PF-Patterson/Hayes/D-Mo C-Gasol/J-Hill/Thabeet Yao In and Out/ Parson D-League etc Ok now to get flamed
I like your creativity and it works (I'm taking your word for it on the TE's), but isn't Orlando already in or near the 7th circle of hell as far as their salary cap and the new CBA? Of course, enticing Howard to stick around should cost them some money (even---zoiks! Scooby!---the contract of Gilbert Arenas).
Yep... their salary situation looks pretty bad under pretty much any CBA. But Flynn, Hill and Lee really don't make it that much worse. Won't push them into the 8th Circle at least. And if extra money is that big a deal, I suppose the Rockets can always take back JJ Redick, whose salary pretty much equals the In fact the combined money owed to Lee, Hill and Flynn (substitue Flynn with Thabeet if the Rockets want to save a bit more $).
Trades should be going left and right as soon as the lockout is over. http://www.hoopsworld.com/Story.asp?story_id=20328 On The Block: Who Should Be Ready to Move? There are a lot of interesting trade scenarios in here. At least it will keep us busy with the trade machine for a little while.
If I didn't hate Utah so much and know in my heart that the Rockets will never make a trade with them so long as their current GM is in place, I would say that Okur would be a decent option for us to play center at 11M on an expiring contract. But he doesn't play D, he's probably old and out of shape, and of course he's a "Jazz" (wtf Utah? you make jazz sound like the most awkward word ever) so he's not an option.
Has anybody ever thought about this? How about we just keep stockpiling since Morey is good at getting just below Superstar level players? Fill the whole rsoter with these really good players and in free agency sign what we need to fill the roster. When the roster fills up? Keep the best players and release or trade the worst ones for draft picks or money considerations. Then when the roster is full of good to great players? Then make a move for aSuperstar if we are still not close enough. Obviously Morey is good at stockpiling alot of yougn talent that is good. Lets just fill the entire roster with good players down to the 15th man on the bench. See if we can become the Detroit Pistons? Forget giving away large sums of our young talent. They dont want to be better teams? Lets just keep all of them and keep getting more and more of them. Until we corner the market on decent role players and good players.
I really think with Chris Paul certain to bolt new orleans we have a legit shot of getting him if we take a bad contract off their hands like bringing Ariza back for Lowry Scola Lee Thabeet 1 or 2 future 1sts this of course is contigent on David West leaving this summer and leaving a glaring hole at the 4 for the hornets. Thabeet and Lee are expirings which will free up cap space, Lee fills a void at the 2 which was manned by willie green/bellinelli last year and scola is scola while lowry is young and cheap and most importantly under control for 3 more years. Scola is a nice player who will give you 18/9 like West used to. Honestly, the hornets don't have a million options, CP3 is a goner. Ideally they get back someone like Westbrook but that's doubtful That leaves us with Paul/Dragic/Flynn Martin/Budinger Morris/Parsons Patterson/Hill/D-Mo Chuck/Yao This move is a big gamble bc we're basically praying our 2 rookie SF workout and Yao comes back to be a contributor, both enormous "if's', but we have the next draft to go out and find a backup 2 and move bud back to sf if it doesn't work out,but with Parsons being a long term starter and SEC POY in college, I'm sure he's up for it. We'd be thin at center, but when was the last time we weren't? Paul and Martin quickly become the best backcourt in the league, and I really believe Morris,Patterson,Chuck instantly become better offensive players with CP3 at the helm. Hill gets his shot to show the athleticism that made him the #8 pick and play 20+ min a night. Although ideal, I don't think New Orleans is giving up on CP3 coming back. I think 3 starters like Lowry,Scola, and Lee might even be alot to give up, but we are so deep it really wouldn't hurt us. Thabeet may end up being a defensive force, but that's a gamble you take to land when healthy, the best pg in the game.
