None of those guys you mentioned are my favorite players. If I had to pick my 5 favs it would be Harden of course, Durant at SF, Anthony Davis in the middle, Cody Zeller at the 4, and Rubio at the 1. Joe Johnson and Eric Gordon are players that could be moved next week if conditions are right. And they could be on the Rockets radar if things break down to them and Morey can't get anything done with Love, Butler, Goran, or Rubio. THey both are owed one more season and expire in time for the Durant sweepstakes of 2016. That's why they're on the list. BKN wants to break it down. There is a chance that we throw Ariza and expirings out there for JJ if we can't get anything else preferred done before then. And Gordon may be acquirable for expiring contracts and perhaps a second rounder or two if the NOP decide to pack it in and they want cap room to either re-sign Asik or be players in 2015 free agency.
If you think that the Rockets are a receptacle for bad or expiring contracts...for a dream(KD) almost 18 months away...then you really are out of touch. Run that garbage explanation by anyone on this site....I'm betting that everyone will disagree with your premise. Sorry, but that's bananas. Why would we want Butler??? He plays Harden's position....ugh. I'm done with this conversation.
Joe Johnson is a superstar that has one more year left on his deal. If he is available there is the possibility that we take him (while moving out Ariza) and use him as our 3rd star for this season and next season...instead of giving up valuable assets for a more common player that is not a superstar. This would once again allow us max space in 2016 to go after Durant or possible Love and others. Sorry you don't understand it. Pretty simply really. Why would we want Butler? Hmmmmmmmmmmmm, let's see. Well, he's turned into a superstar and he's a wing man. He can easily play the 3 since he normally always defends the best opponent wing player. And the good thing about trading for Butler is if we traded Ariza and others for him, he has a relative paltry cap hold of around $5.5 million or so this summer. That means we could create close to max cap space to sign a guy like Goran outright. Now think about that lineup. Goran/Harden/Butler/Dwight/DMo That's why I know Morey will trade for Butler if it is possible. Butler is a target because he's a great player still playing on his rookie deal with a small cap hold.
Hilarious....Joe Johnson is a superstar....keep saying that over and over...it still won't be true. He hasn't averaged 20 or more points for 5 years. To match his salary, we would have to trade Ariza, Terry, Pappa, Brewer, and DMO. That seems like a smart trade!!! And the real question to you, sir, is why would Chicago trade Butler for anything less than Harden? I'm done with you...you're either trolling, or just crazy.
Please use your connections to the Rockets, and call them tonight...I've found a trade, based on your thoughts!!!! http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=mcwaaxx Also....please construct your trades that would give us the lineup of Dragic, Harden, Ariza, DMO, and Howard. I'd love to see that.
Chicago obviously won't trade Butler unless he tells them he wants out. And then it might be a different story. I stated the possibilities before on him. Actually Ariza, Terry, and Kostas is enough salary for Joe Johnson and a couple minimum salary guys. There are several player combinations that could work for JJ. And he would shoot lights out here with all the space he'd have.
you guys are going off the deep end if you think morey is trying to get joe johnson on this team at his current salary.
I'm not advocating for Joe Johnson....that guy "Basketballholic" is...I'm trying my best to show him the errors of his ways...no luck.
Maybe you guys can also explain that we aren't looking at Jimmy Butler....or any other crazy trade that he thinks that Management is looking at. Good luck with that.
Id love this trade even if it means parting with papa I just dont see minny trading dieng. Hes been on my radarn for a while.
A tade of just Terry, NO pick, and Capela would work salary wise, for Mo williams and Dieng we are in win now mode and I dont see a draft pick helping us for the next couple of years. Woul you go for this? I guess the better question is would minny? We also have a Laker pick if im not mistaken (1st) round possibly to part with and tons of second rounders. I just hate to break this team up we've played great with dwight at 50% id hate to lose dmo, and dwight may never be 100% again. Bad knees on a big man is not good. Im not sold on tjones being what people think Dmo has proved much more he plays every night and plays hard, its rare to see a 7footer with his footwork and running the floor. If budinger excercises that option it will be his final year so I think we could dump him pretty easy. If we trade Dmo it will bite us in the butt mark my words.
Another reason Lawson may be targeted...Morey loves the 3 pointer...who makes the most passes for 3s----James Harden....second on that list is Lawson. Who makes and assists on the most 3s----Harden...Lawson is ranked a couple spots behind James. This stuff matters to DM....a proven passing PG who gets the Rockets' style of play, and who succeeds at it. Keep an eye out for this.
Long post warning. A few thoughts on our needs and realistic trade targets: Need 1: A second playmaker that can lead the bench unit and take some offensive load off of Harden. Without one, teams will collapse at Harden in the playoffs and we may be heading again for a first round exit. Current Status: Beverly is a 3&D specialist. Terry has been playing purely as a spot-up shooter and is hopeless defensively. Papanikolaou can pass, but he makes rookie mistakes and can’t shoot well. Canaan is a scoring guard, not very good making plays for others yet, but could be the offensive spark-plug off the bench. Regardless, McHale does not trust him. Targets: Isaiah Thomas: 15pts, 4ast in 25 mins, 42% fg, 39% 3p% – tied till 2018 at $6.5m p/a Mo Williams: 12pts, 6ast in 28 mins, 40% fg, 35% 3p% – UFA this summer, $3.7m p/a George Hill: 14pts, 3ast in 24 mins, 46% fg, 36% 3p% – tied till 2017 at $8m p/a Lance Stephenson: 9pts, 5ast in 30 mins, 37% fg, 15% (!) 3p% – tied till 2017 at $9m p/a, 2016 is a club option Evan Turner: 9pts, 5ast in 25 mins, 43% fg, 31% 3p% - tied till 2016 at $3.4m p/a CJ Watson: 10pts, 4ast in 27 mins, 44% fg, 41% 3p% - UFA in summer, $2m p/a Gary Neal: 10pts, 2ast in 22 mins, 36% fg, 29% 3p% - UFA in summer, $3.3m p/a Need 2: A back-up center with some offensive skill to spell DMo and replace Dorsey’s minutes while Howard is out. Having Dorsey out there or Smith at the C could cost us 3-4 losses which would be the difference between the 3rd and the 7th seed. Current status: Howard is out for 1-2 months, no one knows how good he will be when he returns. DMo/Smith/Jones can be bullied by bigger centers. Dorsey is an offensive liability. The only line-up that kind of works both defensively and offensively is DMo/Smith. The DMo/Jones and Smith/Jones line-ups can't rebound or defend at an adequate level against larger opponents. Targets: Zaza Pachulia: 8pts, 7rebs in 23 mins, 44% fg – tied till 2016 at $5.2m p/a Greg Monroe: 15pts, 10rebs in 30mins, 49% fg – UFA this summer, $5.5m p/a Taj Gibson: 11pts, 7rebs in 28 mins, 49% fg - tied till 2017 at $8.7m p/a Kris Humphries: 8pts, 7rebs in 22 mins, 46% fg – tied till 2017 at $4.5m p/a Chris Andersen: 5pts, 5rebs in 20 mins, 63% fg – tied till 2016 at $5.2m p/a My suggestion: Playmaker: Go after Isaiah Thomas or George Hill Back-up C: Gibson is probably not available despite the rumours. I would go after Pachulia or Monroe. Pachulia may not be available either considering the Sanders situation. Monroe should be tradable now the Pistons are out of the playoffs hunt, but his relationship with Smith may be an issue. Chris Andersen would be an upgrade, but perhaps not worth sacrificing any assets. How: A combination of Pels pick and TJones as the main assets should be sufficient, with Capela/Johnson/2nd round picks as additional pieces if required. Example trades: - TJones + Terry for George Hill - Pels pick + KPap for Greg Monroe For the next two months our rotation would be Hill/Harden/Ariza/Smith/Dmo with Beverly/Brewer/Monroe off the bench. In the playoffs we would have Hill/Harden/Ariza/Dmo/Howard with Beverly/Brewer/Smith/Monroe backing them up. I would be willing to place a small bet on that roster going all the way.
I am revising my trade projections slightly! The Kings are a disaster, they have extremely aggressive ownership, the GM is the former GM for the Nuggets, and the new head coach is the former head coach for the Nuggets. Goran Dragic is tough to dislodge. I now project a Ty Lawson-to-Sacramento trade, which reunites the Nuggets star PG with his former GM and head coach. This renders the very good Darren Collison available for 30¢ on the dollar. Here is the trade: Ty Lawson and expiring contracts (Darrell Arthur, Randy Foye) to Sacramento; Ben McLemore (or Nik Stauskas), Isaiah Canaan (or Nick Johnson), the Knicks' 2015 second round pick (via Houston), and expiring contracts (Derrick Williams, Kostas Papanikolaou) to Denver; Darren Collison and Reggie Evans to Houston I am sticking to this Dudley prediction in its original form. Although it would not surprise me if Houston passes, and sticks with Corey Brewer as its backup SG/SF.
I would be very happy if we could steal Greg Monroe from Detroit(as long as it wouldn't ruffle Smoove's feathers). He's a Hell of a post player offensively.
Couple of more notes about this proposed trade 1) The crux of the trade is Knight to Rockets, Lawson to Bucks, Assets to Denver. All of the rest of the players are to balance/even out the trade. And there are probably way too many players moving for a mid-season trade but what the hell. ;-) 2) The Rockets could deal directly with Denver for Lawson, but I chose Knight over Lawson in this scenario as I think he will be a better fit with Harden and is 5 years younger than Lawson. Knight is also 6'3" vs Lawson 5'11" and plays better defense. This is a trade for now and for the future. If the Rockets are going to give up a 2015 1st round picks, better to get someone younger to grow with the team, if you can. 3) I might have been greedy adding Henson/Dudley to the Rockets. Maybe they just get one of those guys (Henson). And maybe they have to take back Ilyasova. 4) Upon reflection, the Bucks probably would rather have Hickson (as a 4/5) than McGee. But Denver forces McGee on the Bucks for the Lawson upgrade. Denver getting Ilyasova for McGee is just about shedding some salary and nothing more. 5) From reading the Bucks fan forums, they like Knight, but would very much prefer a "pass first" PG and are afraid of Knight's contract demands. Lawson has been mentioned many times and they seem down with him. Bucks fans also would like to add a C. McGee is not much, but he is something. Bucks want to get to the playoffs, keep their cap sane and grow for the future (with Gannis, Parker getting the touches), and this trade will do that. 6) If the Nuggets want to rebuild, this is a good start. Do they get enough assets? NOP 1st, NYK 2nd rounder, TJones, Canaan. That's not too bad for Lawson. Could they do better? Maybe the Kings could trump that if they are willing to give up Mclemore/Stauskas etc. Do I think this trade will happen? Unlikely, but I was trying to solve each of the team's goals.
