Can somebody give me some comfort on what our backup center situation will be if we dump Asik? I just remember Greg Smith's +/- numbers against OKC in the playoffs, and those were frightful. Can Camby come back? What options do we have? I'm seriously concerned. Thread justification: there are a lot of other Asik trades, but those either are appreciating his time here or speculating on trades. I'm worried about the backup center position, which is pretty dang valuable IMO.
This is easily solved because Morey can do one of 3 things. One is to trade for a PF/C type. One is to get a backup center in the trade. One is to simply make a separate trade that involves a backup center. People forget that getting capable role players cheaply has always been Morey's forte. Last year we rolled with Greg Smith because we weren't contending anyway, and we needed cap flexibility for the offseason.
The fact that the Rox dumped Camby is sign that they hadn't planned on trading Asik, at least not this year.
Portland is 7 and 2 right now and a sure playoff team in the west; also they have a center already in Brook Lopez who is a better scorer and shot-blocker than Omer and a BIG big. Yeah, Portland won't might trading off LMA and forfeiting their season for a back up center who whines if he doesn't get his way.
I'm actually really intrigued with Smith. I think he has earned more PT based on how he has worked his way through our system. He shows good effort, He can actually catch passes off the pick and roll and finish strong. I thing he would be pretty good in spurts but extra depth wouldn't hurt.
We have less flexibility this year than we have in the past though. No cap room to work with and considerably fewer disposable assets than in the past. I was thinking it'd be nice to bring back Chuck since the Kings seem like they'd be happy to dump his contract, but it'd be pretty tricky to even find a way to take on his $5.7MM salary.
Not having Omer is going to hurt, especially now that he's demanding a trade and not playing meanwhile. Not only will it hurt our performance on the court, but it lessens the amount of leverage the Rockets have in a trade. As stout Dwight's defensive history has been, he hasn't been that good last year and this year. I believe he's allowing around 50% around the basket. Besides defense, Dwight hasn't been that effective on the offensive end both individually and team wise. Omer, unlike Dwight, doesn't float around when he doesn't get the ball, screens hard, and rolls hard. Omer knows his role as a rebounder/defender, Dwight wants offensive glory. Losing Omer for what most likely won't be equal value will hurt this team.
Just sign Hakeem. But seriously, I am worried about the backup center too. We haven't had a good backup center since Deke was gone. Only Camby did well in a very short stint.
I don't understand how you can think this. Last year, Morey was forced to not make any trade that would take up cap space for the offseason in order to keep room for Dwight. He traded away Morris for a 2nd. He picked up TRob but he also sent a guaranteed salary away(PPat) with TRob being an easy salary dump in the summer. Last year Morey was considerably hamstrung by needing to clear $22mil in capspace. In any Asik trade, the Rockets can potentially take back up to ~$13mil in salary(150% of outgoing salary) and multiple players while trading Asik+light salary(say Brewer). Assuming $7-9mil of that is an Ilyasova/Anderson type player, that's still another few mil in salary dumps to us. And those salaries can in turn be traded away for a player of about MLE level, again using the CBA's ability to allow incoming salar to be up to 150% outgoing salary rule. A GM is much more hamstrung when he has to factor in capspace. Without capspace, you can literally pile up accumulation of salary until you reach Nets levels through a series of trades. Because every team wants to dump high salaries for low ones. In fact, if Morey holds back on the trade market, it will only be because once again, he wants to keep cap space for the 2015 FA(or dare I hope, 2016 FA). Without the worry of capspace, there's literally no limit to what a GM can do assuming his owner will pay up.
