Sam Smith: Rockets "quietly sending out signals they’d trade Omer Asik and Jeremy Lin"

Great point.

When max players in quest of a ring sizes up their future teammates, they also sizes up their future head coach and/or even the FO, just to feel confident that the whole system will work as he expects.

 

Its not that people actually hate Lin, its more of people hating LOF's. I hate the fact that we have a bunch of fans who only care for one player and do not give 2 s**ts about how the team does or anything about the team, including the history, ect.

The ones who argue Lin this and Lin that, are only annoying people on a constant basis with anything to do with Lin. I was pumped when we signed Lin back this offseason, but the criticism on both ends (LOF vs LOH) is a nuisance to a majority on here.

 

I have no doubt that you'd be among the first to start blaming these two PGs when something goes wrong with your dream roster.

 

when heat lost to the MAVS in the finals was it Chalmer's fault?

 

Why not just sign an trade the whole team
with Heat or Clipper?

 

It is proper that you only represent yourself. You can fight all you want with LOF(not LOH though, just a hunch), you don't have to involve others for your syclogical comfort.

IMO, you are one of those people who argue this and that.

 

we have a winner.

 

That could be one hell of a good defensive starting 5. Four good 3pt shooters, a bunch of people that can handle the ball. Yes I think that would be a perennial contending team.

 

18 pages and going strong, just because Sam Smith (I know) of all people, published his ground breaking new discovery, that Dwight Howard and Chris Paul are unrestricted free agents!

That means, and it can only mean they just want to come to Houston.

 

I see it on a daily basis all over this board, therefore I feel inclined to display my discomfort while at the same time speaking for many people on this board.

Its just silly to see such battles take place on here so frequently over one particular player. Ignorance at its finest

Lighten up & enjoy this season. I have not been this excited about the team since the 7 game series against the Lakers back with Artest. This should be a fun time and I hate to see the mood on here ruined

 

If they are willing to trade Asik and Lin, and could convince CP3, Howard, and JSmoove to sign for around 15m each, and the salary cap goes up to $60,000,000 like i keep reading it might then I think there is mathematically a way they could get all 3. Obviously getting all of them to leave that much money on the table is a highly unlikely, but the allure would be an instant championship favorite team.

You could send Lin and Asik respectively to teams under the cap in exchange for draft picks, possibly decent 1st rounders. Then cut brooks, olb,smith, and beverly. Trade Delfino to Chicago for Rip Hamilton which might be enough to get that bobcats pick. Send 3 million cash and Rip to a cash strapped team who could turn a profit waiving him.Trade Terrence Jones for whatever pick you could get. Sign CP3 and Howard outright with capspace. Then do a SnT with the Hawks for Smith sending them Francisco Garcia, Royce White, and Dmo. Youd only have Parsons,Harden, Robinson, whoever they pick in the 2nd round, CP3, Howard, and Josh Smith, but youd have 2 fat $8.4million TPEs from Asik and Lin to use in filling out the rest of the roster. That would also likely be a team who could attract Vets willing to take below market mininum deals.

I tried breaking it out step by step with the dollars, i bolded the running team cap hit as i went along assuming a starting point of 54,027,059 which includes everyone but Anderson. I pulled that off basketball reference. (Jared Jeffries is just a non guaranteed contract who would push them over the cap just enough to be able to get a TPE by trading Lin or Asik. Theoretically they could acquire him just to cut him, im not sure if thats legal though)

Code:

[B]1.[/B]				
 2nd 55+				
for 				[B]59,027,059[/B]
Rip Hamilton	5,000,000			

[B]2.[/B]				
2nd 55+				
for 				[B]$60,568,545[/B] 
Jared Jeffries	1,541,486			
				
[B]3.[/B]				
Jeremy Lin	$8,374,646 			
for				[B]52,193,899[/B]
Asset JL, TPE (8.4)				

[B]4.[/B]				
Carlos Delfino	3,000,000			
for				[B]49,193,899[/B]
Cha 1st 2014				
				
[B]5.[/B]				
Cut				
Aaron Brooks	2,500,000			
Jared Jeffries	1,541,486			[B]45,122,413[/B]

[B]6.[/B]				
Sign 				
Chris Paul	14,877,587			[B]60,000,000[/B]

[B]7.[/B]				
Sign 				
2nd Rounder	$490,180 			[B]60,490,180[/B]

[B]8.[/B]				
Omer Asik	8,374,646			
for				
Asset OA, TPE(8.4)				[B]52,115,534[/B]

[B]9.[/B]				
Rip Hamilton, Cash	5,000,000			
for				            [B]47,115,534[/B]
2nd 55+				

[B]10.[/B]				
Terrence Jones	1,551,840			
for				
Future Pick				[B]45,563,694[/B]
	
[B]11.[/B]			
Cut				
Greg Smith	884,293			
Tim Olbrecht	788,872			
Patrick Beverly	788,872			[B]43,101,657[/B]
		                        [B][I]45,061,657[/I][/B]		
[B]12[/B]
Sign				
Dwight Howard	14,938,343			[B]60,000,000[/B]
				
Francisco Garcia	6,400,000			
Royce White	1,719,480			
Donatas Motiejunas	1,422,720	[I]9,542,200[/I]		
for				
Josh Smith	14,313,300			[B]64,771,100[/B]

Theres obviously a number of different ways you could pull it off but i just wanted to point out that while you cant get 3 more max players, it is possible to add 3 guys in the 15m range.

Also im def. not a CBA or Cap expert, so im partly posting this just so one of the more knowledgable members can let me know if that is indeed possible.

 

After tonight, I don't think Howard's going to leave the Lakers. Kobe's not gonna be around forever, so they need a next big thing. It's not as if the Lakers are going to spend 5 years in rebuild mode, hoping to get lucky in the draft.

 

Never said the team won't be better off with CP3 instead of Lin. They'll be much better. I'm just not a fan of using the cap space inefficiently. I'm not opposed to getting CP3 if it's the only option of getting a superstar in the next 2-3 years.

Except all those examples you listed have reasons why it worked as well as it did.
Manu/Parker - one comes off the bench, stagger minutes (they played about 33-34 min ea), and while Manu is the far superior offensive player, he's fragile.

Wade/LeBron - Wade gave up his alpha dog status on the team after they lost to the Mav. His production decreased as a result. Doesn't impact them much because both are two-ways players.

Durant/Westbrook - Durant has an all around game where he can catch and shoot, go off screen, cut, work the post, be the roll man in a P&R, etc. efficiently. Durant doesn't need the ball to thrive.

Jordan/Pippen - Pippen is the triangle initiator, while Jordan works the post. Pippen also has about the same TS with a higher USG% without Jordan. Oh, and they are two-ways players.

For Harden and CP3, they are both elite P&R ball-handler and ISO'er. The only reason why Lin doesn't work for Harden is because Lin is a piss poor catch and shoot guy. 24% of all Lin's possession are the spot-up variety. Someone is going to have to catch and shoot, which means, for one of them, his skill set will not be maximized. You can referred to the chart if needed.

 

It'll be a mistake if H-town give up JLin7, this kid is something special, but you never know, DMorey did it before, and might do it again. stupidity never change, just like the Nicolas Batum deal....(oops, we never talk about this here).

 

I also didn't say we should go after CP3, I think a legitimate post threat is more important. I just think if for whatever reason CP3 was on this team, this team would still thrive ala Lebron/Wade.

But if for whatever reason CP3 does want to come over to Houston, it presents a nice opportunity to draw in future free agents.

 

I mostly agree with you, but Im pretty sure they also want the team to succeed as well as Lin. There are a lot of Lin fans who are content even if Lin only puts up like 11-12 points as long as he's playing and contributing and the team wins. Although there are others who I agree get really upset if Lin doesnt get minutes even if the team wins such as the magic game where beverley was clearly the better option. But when theres instances like the 2nd mavs game, where Lin was actually playing decent, thats when I agree with the massive criticisms put forward by the "LOFs".

So I think youre over exaggerating a little about how Lin fans dont give a s**t about the team because jeremy is an integral part of this team and when the team loses so does jeremy

 

Nope, not possible. It doesn't work that way. The salary cap rules with TPE's are explicitly set up so that you can't game the system that way.

TPE's (as well as any MLE's or BAE's that may apply) count against the salary cap unless you renounce them. That means even after you trade away Lin or Asik for TPE's, those TPE's count on your salary cap so that you don't have free cap space to sign free agents. And TPE's cannot be used to sign free agents, only to acquire contracts in trade (including sign-and-trades from another team).

In order to sign free agents with the salary cap space freed up from moving Lin or Asik, you must renounce your TPE's so that they won't count against your free salary space. Or use up those TPE's in acquiring players via sign-and-trade contracts from another team.

Either way, by the time you're done building your team, those TPE's have either been renounced or eaten up in sign-and-trades.

Which means you do not have 2 fat $8.4M to fill out the rest of the roster. You'll only be able to fill out the roster with Vet Minimum guys. Which means you'll be forced to use d-leaguers and injury-prone over-the-hill-geriatric ring-chasers like the Knicks.

Morey's been able to find overlooked guys on minimum deals, but this will test even his ability to put together a championship team with only minimum contracts. And while he's been able to find some serviceable overlooked guys on minimum deals like Greg Smith and Patrick Beverly, they're not 6th man of the year A-List talent or guys you want to hang your championship hopes. Bench depth and quality could well be an issue in a long series.

It sure would be a major setback for CP3's championship hopes when he is used to amazing depth over in Lob-city, so even less reason for him to leave LAC for HOU.

 

And when I say count against the salary cap, I mean against the free salary space that you may have from being under the cap.

 

Clippers would never trade CP3 for Rondo. Terrible trade.

 

No one is going to take Royce White unless he proves himself on the court, and by a significant extent. Given what's happened this season with his rhetoric and attitude in the press, he's a potential legal liability, an ADA lawsuit waiting to happen. It's not the mental issues, although that is a concern, but rather his potential for legal action and accompanying PR hornet's nest that will scare teams away. He would have to perform at a very, very high level for teams to take the risk. No one would take him even for free right now.