I hear this a lot, and have no idea what you're on about. The "poison pills" barely affect us in any way (except Les' hip pocket). Has there been a trade refused on the basis of the money owed? If so, please link reliable source. The 'poison pill' thing was the way we got those 2 players in the hopes of them developing, and before we had a star. I think Asik is very moveable. Lin needs a couple of hot games in a row to show that he's moveable - i see him staying in Houston.
Brooks can be ineffective at times but he is the best 3pt shooter on the team, its hard to believe he could be pushed to the end of the bench, but then again it is a real possibility.
plenty of teams will, it's called an expiring contract. The Bulls basically gave away Luol Deng to get Andrew Bynum and waive him to clear cap space.
My guess is Brooks will be the 1st PG off the bench, he can score a bunch of points in a hurry *spark*. Jeremy will be the 3rd string PG or maybe a few minutes backing up Harden.
Brooks is one of the 7-8 best players on this team regardless if bev is back or not. So long as jones is playing out of his mind, expect to see brooks to eat into the back up SG minutes in smaller lineups where Garcia/casspi's minutes take a hit
I wouldn't say that these contracts are "biting the Rockets in the ass" when they KNEW this was the likely outcome upon offering them to Lin and Asik in 2012. THIS was the price to be paid in order to get either player in the first place. Asik last year was an absolute best case scenario. Lin was quite solid as well and significantly better than anyone else they could have had running the point at that time. If the "price to be paid" for getting both players is that they have to stay on the roster, play out their contracts and then possibly both leave in 2015, then so be it. Their cap figures are not killing the Rockets' cap. The payment of their Year 3 salaries has surely been planned for over these past two years as Les reaped the benefits of being able to grossly underpay both players. People who act like it is some sort of CURSE to be "stuck" with two good rotation players -- who, mind you, the Rockets never would have gotten in the first place if not for structuring their contracts this way -- need to step back and get some perspective on this.
Lin will be traded, and then brooks will get back up minutes. Or... They will play Lin at the 2 and Brooks at the one in some instances.
I would like to see brooks come off the bench as a backup 2. He can get hot at anytime and his shooting alone can impact a game. Also his passing skill and vision are very good for a backup shooting guard. His defense at the position is the only question mark. However, he is quick enough to stay with the opposing backup 2 and therefore prevent open looks from 3. If the opponent backup SG going off you in ISO situations and getting mid range 2's is your biggest problem then you are doing quite well. Besides he has the length to adequately guard the position. He pushes the ball well and provides excellent streak 3 point shooting and passes well. He is a perfect backup 2. Lin/Bev James/Brooks CP/ Casspi or garcia JOnes/D-mo D12/Asik is our best rotation and should be experimented with as Beverly is just returning from injury. Note .. I'm not banking on Asik coming back, although if back and motivated he is a great luxury.
Kind of a bad comparison. Bulls did that because Bynum contract was not guaranteed. Next year it may be possible, but it would mean us taking a bad contract back, which we all know Morey will not do.
I read somewhere where if the Rockets offered asik/lin + $3 million this year, or +$6 million next year, then it would work out. So it would work out to be $8M per year, as per cap space.
let's see what bev is going to do once he returns, brooks has had some great games, Lin has had some great games, bev had a good one vs the warriors, bev will start but let's not act like he was just tearing stuff, it's not cp3 coming back..
We could have kept Dragic and Lin was not better than him. Dragic was a more proven player who had had some very good moments in the playoffs and also played forus while Lin's sample size were a few regular season games in NY. Lin was a marketing move made before we ended up with Harden. Basketball wise Dragic was a better move. Yes the Rockets knew they had to structure the contract the way they did to get those players. While it made sense to get Asik in this manner since there is a price to pay for decent big men in the league, it was an unnecessary risk with Lin especially since we could have retained Dragic who was a more proven player. A proven PG that has played for the team + player option VS. still unknown PG + taking the contract risk (if Lin does not pan out, not many teams are going to be willing to pay that final year of the contract). Again, this makes sense to me with the marketing component in mind. Basketball wise, not so much. If I am the the other team's owner/GM, and when Rockets are offering me Lin, I would be reluctant to trade for him because Rockets have already drained the best value out of him for the two years (if he doesnt get traded by the end of this season). As an owner I am also thinking that unless Lin's level of play improves drastically for the third year, I am getting a terrible value for his last year of play. (Folks who like to remind me that not all of it counts against the salary cap...yes i know. But if I am an owner that still comes out of my pocket and I am not in this business to just throw money away). IMO, even though Rockets did what they needed to do to get those two players, I dont think those moves made them any friends around the league. Also, I think most owners would rather have the Rockets ride out the horrendous final year of that Lin's contract rather than help them.... .......unless someone out there wants to trade for Lin for marketing reasons...
They play really great together. They have totally opposite strengths and weaknesses so putting them together makes a nice PG I guess. (shrugs)
