You are assuming that Morey gets to "choose" his direction with free agency. This is only true to a limited extent. Remember, the free agents are call that because they are free to choose where they go. Lowry, for example, may or may not want to come back. He also may or may not receive a higher $ offer that he can't turned down elsewhere. What direction that the Rockets go and which of the current Rockets get traded depend substantially on the choices that the free agents make and the choices that other teams make. There are scenarios where Lin's contract goes and scenarios where that Lin's contract isn't involved.
Completely agree. It is also why it is quite possible the Rockets end up with no one (James/Love/Anthony/Bosh/Lowry). I believe Morey will be a shark to blood on the first premium player that shows interest.
If the Rockets want a third star, and they obviously do, they can't be picky. They must go after the first one available. This is why Morey would trade for Love right now even though LeBron is dipping his toe in the water. If Morey passed on the chance for Love, because he "might" be able to acquire LeBron, it could blow up in his face. This assumes he doesn't have information that would convince him that LeBron is giving more than just passing interest to the Rockets.
If we have an offer that Minny says yes to, I still think they wait for LeBron. If you're in position to even tempt him, you just have to take a shot at the best player on the planet, and Minny should understand that.
Given the report recently that Morey wanted to hold on to Asik & Lin unless a 3rd star was within grasp, I wonder: 1) If that report was bogus 2) This means Morey has something lined up 3) He changed his mind and now wants the extra cap room (8M) even though a 3rd star deal is not in place
We were always going to trade Asik. This doesn't change anything. We certainly didn't have something lined up when we traded Lowry in a similar deal. This is Morey simply liquidating his assets. He knows this return is a juicy one, and is more appealing to a lot of teams than Asik straight up. The canned air we received in the deal (TPE) is also a valuable asset in certain situations. It also sends a message to Bron/Melo, flexing our muscles to let them know that we can and will do anything needed to sign them and afterwards continue to make moves to improve the roster.
Option 4... the Asik trade was about as good as he expected to get. 4-19? Yah... does anyone see a better trade for Asik than that coming up? Saying you're not in a rush to trade someone isn't the same as saying you won't trade them if the right offer comes along.
I am not suggesting this isn't a good trade, or that we didn't value in return. But now we have a hole to fill (backup 5) which will require using a asset in some form, and likely a downgrade given Asik was probably the best backup 5 in the game. Maybe I was thinking we keep Asik unless it lead directly or indirectly to a 3rd star. Perhaps I have forgotten that Asik would go into pout mode if we didn't move him.
It's fair to assume that Asik still wanted out. And Morey told him point blank he would make efforts to trade him to a team that would play him as a starter. Holding onto Asik with good trades on the table would only delay the inevitable, and potentially hurt the level of trust between the FO and the players. We know that we need to get a back up 5 and have known that for some time. It's better to bite the bullet now while we have a good deal on the table and time to fix it during the draft and FA.
If we lose Lin (the thing we like), but somehow keep his fans.... ohhhh no. Please no. Or when he says Asik is worth a lotto pick or 2 late first rounders, then gets laughed at... then gets his price met just a few months later.
Considering how LoF's have perceived as the unjust treatment of their god, I highly doubt they will remain unless they just want to troll us out of spite. In that case, it would be REALLY EASY for Clutch to ban them as they have no business sticking around if they just want to troll.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Rival exec tells me Rockets already have a Jeremy Lin deal lined up and ready to execute if they need the cap room to sign Melo or LBJ.</p>— Howard Beck (@HowardBeck) <a href="https://twitter.com/HowardBeck/statuses/482239477721858048">June 26, 2014</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>As I noted yesterday, Rockets plan to keep Lin unless they get a commitment from one of their top FA targets. But Lin deal is ready to go.</p>— Howard Beck (@HowardBeck) <a href="https://twitter.com/HowardBeck/statuses/482239699575377920">June 26, 2014</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
