[Ben DuBose] Interview with League Insider Shams Charania

Thanks... just to reiterate before anyone says anything, this was taped at approximately 8 p.m. last night. Literally an hour before all hell broke loose on the Dragic front. So unfortunately, we're behind the curve most on that. The one exception is that Shams went out of his way to point out possible trepidation on Dragic's behalf with Houston as a destination... which ended up being accurate.

My biggest takeaway was the Lawson stuff. He said multiple teams were in Lawson talks over All-Star Weekend, and the sense he got from executives in New York was that he was very much attainable.

The other good note was Isaiah Thomas... I don't think a lot of folks appreciate just how friendly that contract is. For 2016-17 and 2017-18, you're talking about a legit scorer with a 20-ish PER making $6 million/year on a $90-million cap. That's comparable to making $4 million or a little under today, and that's an absolute steal of a deal, IMO. I also think his strengths/weaknesses complement Beverley's fairly well, assuming the Rockets plan on keeping Bev around long-term.

 

I'm all on the IT front...his contract is on a declining scale...a lot of room to make a big move in 2016.