Would you trade Donatas Motiejunas for Goran Dragic?

In a vacuum, I would flip D-Mo for Gogi instantly. However, there are a few things that can change that, namely which teams are willing to pay Dragic that he actually wants to play for (I assume that though he claims all options will be considered, he still values winning over not winning) and what they have to give up. If the line of trade partners for Suns is short, we could potentially give up less.

 

My gut instinct says trading away a young skilled 7ft PF/C is not a good idea. If we can acquire Dragic without giving up Dmo, then I may consider it. I doubt the Suns would want T.Jones since they have Marcus & Marrieff. They probably don't want Canaan either. We'd probably have to include Capela.

Honestly, I'd rather see what Canaan or Nick Johnson can do at pg. Dmo is younger and still improving. Dragic is what he is and he's not going to improve much at his age. Giving a max contract to a 29 year old pg doesn't feel like the right move.

I don't think we're good enough to win a championship if we trade Dmo for Dragic. I'd rather wait till the off season to sign Reggie Jackson or Brandon Knight.

 

I do not think Jones has near the upside of DMo and his skillset is much easier to replace. The potential of Capella intrigues me personally too much right now to trade him and I seriously doubt Phoenix would take Josh Smith, so Jones is the the odd man out to me. I doubt they would take Johnson or Canaan but I would not hesitate to trade either for Dragic. I assume they get the NO pick no matter who else we would send them.

 

Whether the Rockets trade for Dragic or not the Rocketss need to deal Jones for a C in the meantime.

 

Smh. A dragic harden backcourt easily is way better than a Howard+whatever pf you throw out there. Instantly puts them as one of best in the league

 

As I'm Lithuanian and i would love to see Donatas as a "Rocket" i think Goran is a better player at the moment. Though i don't know if Dragic would love to be a bench guy. I can't see them playing together with Harden, cos' both guys got huge Ego's and want to be ones to "save the day". If it is possible, keep Donatas cos' he settled in Houston and loves the city and people big time. Anyways, even Houston won't be a home for Donatas anymore, i'll stick with Clutchfans, cos' i've got used to be one Lets leave it to DM to decide.

 

Neither have huge egos and both are more than willing passers. Great backcourt fit.

 

If the Rockets trade for Goran it won't be to come off the bench. He would start along side Harden and they would take turns running the 2nd unit.

 

I can live with that. It's going to be hard to obtain one, because Jones needs a lot more time to get to the level which he was playing at prior to his injury.

 

I personally would be surprised.

 

Where did I get my information? How about basic math? The Rox jettisoned 18M more or less with Parsons, Lin and Asik but also signed Ariza (7M), K-Pap (5M), Brewer (5M) and Terry (5M). I like how you say this is not up for debate when according to the latest Bima update the Rox are already just $1 shy of the luxury tax and just 5M under the hard cap so it's not like they can add 15M worth of salary and keep their roster:

http://rockets.clutchfans.net/8054/houston-rockets-salary-cap-update-4/

Dragic is a good player, but he is also 29 years old and will likely command the max in summer thanks to desperate suitors like the Lakers. Pgs are the deepest position in the league, almost every team apart from the Rox have good depth at that spot, and yet you want to break the bank and lose a 7ft two big man (ironically the hottest commodity outside of superstars) just for a pg that's only 1 year younger than Dwight? Worrying about Harden's health when Dwight is actually injured seems stupid to me, if you bring Dragic here and lose DMO, and then Dwight stays injured and you have to play Dorsey 30 mins a night how many games do you expect the Rox to win?

There are other trade targets the Rox can do both in the deadline and in the summer to address the pg hole. Ty Lawson, Brandon Knight etc. there are dozens of other players who could be had with either just simple capspace or trades that won't cost us DMO. The world won't end if the Rox lose in the playoffs again this year, before the season started a lot of people predicted the Rox would actually be in the 8th seed or in the lottery. I'd rather DM wait a bit and get the best deal rather than biting on the PHX trade just 'cause.

 

People seem to forget that Jones played a grand total Four games prior to his injury, two great games, one average and one bad game. Everyone on the Rockets team was playing great during the first two weeks. Heck, even Ariza was shooting the lights out. It's really hard to know what level of play Jones can sustain especially after the injury.

 

Except the biggest part of your equation (Harden) still remains no matter what happens. Any decent pg with Harden instantly becomes one of the best in the league, Harden+Parker, Harden+Lowry, Harden+Ty Lawson etc. all these can result in the "best backcourt" in the league so wtf is your point?

SMH. Dragic is just one of the many options, he is replaceable however how many skilled 7Fters are out there on the market? A backcourt of Harden+Dragic still won't go anywhere if we lose Dwight to injury, and how often does that happen nowadays?

 

If Dwight is hurt in the playoffs, the Rockets have no chance, regardless of whether they have Dragic, DMo, Lawson, whoever. There isn't a scenario where that isn't true, so that's not really great evidence as to why a trade should or shouldn't be made.

I agree with you that I would do whatever I could to keep DMo in a trade for a point guard, but when it comes down to it, the Rockets hopes lie with Dwight's health above all else.

 

The Rockets are 5 million below the Apron. The Rockets are "Hard Capped" at the apron (this is important) for this season only. There are actions that trigger the Hard Cap. The Rockets become hard capped this season after they used their MLE to sign KPap since it exceeded the value of the Tax Payer MLE. The Rockets are only hard capped for the remainder of the season.

The Rockets can sign Dragic, resign all of their own free agents (so long as they have bird rights, don't use the bi-annual MLE, don't use enough of the MLE to exceed the Tax Payer MLE) without triggering a hard cap, even if that means going over the apron.

Teams are allowed to operate above the apron as long as they haven't triggered the hard cap.

 

Harden still has to play like superman with your skilled 7ft to win LOL. With Dragic minus DMO the rockets are dramatically better come playoff time.

 

If Dwight would come back reasonably soon, I'd be ok with it, but the truth is, we'll get killed on our interior defense because teams will be able to score in the paint much easier. Right now, Smith and DMo are doing an admirable job anchoring the interior defense.

 

Rockets need good PG so Harden would not need to play on a superman level. And good PG is needed to better integrate in the game DMo with his skills and potential. So noway DMo is for trade.
DMo slowed down a bit cause he has to defend starting Cs, but I hope with his return to his natural position of PF Rockets could have a very solid, young and developing starter in the NBA.
There are other ways for Morey to get a good PG.
DMo in the right environment could be very effective. Let's wait and see.

 

We don't have bird rights for Josh Smith, so our only chance to sign him is through our MLE. 3.5 million(tax) vs 5.6 million(nontax).

 

If it cost Motiejunas, I think I’d have to pass.

The quasi twin-tower tandem of Howard and DMo at the 5/4 intrigues me more than the backcourt combo of Harden/Dragic. IF Howard is healthy, and that’s a big if, I think that frontcourt has the chance to be just as good as Gasol/Z-Bo in Memphis.

Having said that, the Rockets do need another player on the perimeter that can run the show while Harden is not on the floor and I’d be willing to trade anybody else on the roster to get that player.