December 19th is the deadline for a player that was traded to a team, to be traded to another team on February 20th which is the official trade deadline.
Of course there is a chance. If Morey cannot get a decent return for Asik expect the 12/19/13 deadline to slip away. Right now I view the situation as 50/50. The Rockets are good enough to make a serious run for home court advantage even with Asik sitting on the bench. They would be much more deadly with Asik coming off the bench.
I'm starting to think he might stay. Morey won't get anything in return that is remotely close to what you have with Asik, a starting caliber backup center. I say he stays, he ends up playing backup the remainder of the season and the Rockets go pretty far in the playoffs. I know people will scoff at the idea but can you all imagine Dwight going out with an injury for two weeks? Rockets wouldn't be able to defend anything. Teams would destroy the Rockets and in the west, you can't afford to go on long losing streaks.
I say .000000000000000000000000000000001% chance he stays. He's a goner. Regardless, still wish him the best of luck in the Eastern Conference.
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Asik can hold his head up high. He has no need to apologize or be ashamed. He was the 2nd best player for this team last year and without him the Rockets do not make the playoffs for the 4th year in a row. Asik is a top 5 NBA center so he should want to play for a team who will let him play 30 mpg. He chose the Rockets when he was a FA. He played well when he got here. Not Asik's fault the team got Howard.
He just wants to play 30 or more mpg. And he is good enough to deserve those minutes for 20+ NBA teams.
Ha. He has acted like a major league douche. I wish the NBA had a franchise in Greenland, so he could be traded there.
Seriously, if Asik was given substantial minutes and possesions and Howard also willing to sacrifice a little for playing like 30 minutes, there will be some chance. I think asik will like to stay. But this team does not have the determination to win champion like LBJ did.
What's the infatuation with the original? You can always look for a lookalike and your chances are higher. Same thing with Asik.... I think you can find Emeka Okafors in the draft... a defensive center for cheap in his development
I wonder if someone has sat down with Asik and shown him the situation that unraveled with Dikembe Mutombo in 2008… he could be Mutombo
No he hasn't. He's a top 5 center who played a key role in the Rockets making the playoffs. Any top 5 center would demand a trade if they were asked to come off the bench and play 15 mpg. Howard acted much worst in Orlando getting SVG fired and then lying about it and then demanding to be traded. Asik has acted well compare to Howard in Orlando and LA
I do not really care if he is Top 3 or Top 5 defensive Center. Guy was drafted in the second round... did not play much for the Bulls. We build him up to be a starting Center. He is still not established enough. Dwight Howard was the superstar of the Orlando Magic since day 1 much like Lebron James. Howard never pouted in his second year as a starting Center. He did that once he was established and a star because he wants to win a championship. Asik wants more money and a starting job at the age of 27/28. He is not going into this with a winning mentality. Cut him loose.
It will be interesting if today or tomorrow a report comes out that the Rockets have not been impressed with the offer, and are contemplating not trading Asik as a negotiation tactic. In a normal scenario, you might very well see a report like this come out shortly before there is urgency to make a deal in order to let folks know they either need to severely increase their offers or they will just keep their guy. However in this situation, I feel like Morey, the coaches, Les, and the players just want this guy off the team so they can be done with it, and move on. Either way it looks like the Rockets are probably going to get burned in this deal in the immediate future because of this well known stance. They will almost certainly take back poor immediate value in return, but the main hope here is that the value could return dividends in the future much like when Orlando had to trade Dwight, or Denver had to trade Melo. Obviously those two players commanded much more in the deal than Asik will, but you get my point. Ujiri & Hennigan knew they were getting creamed in the deal by shipping out the best player in the deal, but still did their homework to make sure they got players & assets that would pay off in the future. So CF, dont be surprised if what Morey gets back at first is a big poo poo platter of weird pieces, but ultimately ends of being very good value in the future.
