Bill Simmons NBA playoffs mailbag: Very Interesting Trade scenario for the Rox

Most of McGrady's career, there have been several 2-man teams that made it past the first round and beyond.


Shaq-Wade
Billups-Rasheed
Shaq-Kobe

There are so many 2-man teams in the 2nd round over the years. .

 

I'll be honest with you, I think your feelings are irrelevant in this discussion. Don't take it personally.

 

This thread is seriously adding geography between my heart and head.

One side says you can't pass up a player like CP3.

The other says you can't break up a dynamo of a team that took the Fakers to 7 games.

...and I still can't choose.

 

why? Elaborate.

if you are referring to the three month moratorium, it has to do with someone newly signed or traded for and NOT promptly moved.

and I guarantee Carl Landry does NOT have to approve any moves(as someone stated earlier)



directly ontopic....

I would make the move as long as we switch Cook's contract instead of Scola or Landry.

I dont want to lose all of our offensive-minded PFs...one or the other, not both

 

Remember folks....CHEMISTRY, HEART, DESIRE, WILL, IQ, COMPETITIVENESS...all these things are hard to find in ANY SINGLE PLAYER AT ONCE!! WE have a bunch of players NOW that have all these elements ALL AT ONCE!! So when you speak talents....you got to take into consideration of all the things i mentioned above because it really don't mean much when you play in a competitive game.

Scola has it!!
Shane has it!!
Ron has it!!
Hayes has it!!
Yao has it!!
Lowry has it!!

The players that i didn't mentioned may or may not has it and you can trade them!! Especially Tmac!! Dude just don't have all the elements required to stay competitive.

 

I think it has to do with the Rockets matching the Bobcats offer. Landry can't be traded to the Bobcats for a year. They also can't trade him without his permission for that year long period.

 

It's different.

Unlike Tmac-Francis trade, this time three starters don't include an All star type player if you are not counting Tmac as an healthy player, and you get Peja, Posey, Chandler in return, 10 times better than what we got from Tmac-Francis trade, and we'll have legit starters in every position.

Right now, Rockets not only have problem at SG and backup Center, there PG position hasn't improved over pervious years. Brooks/Lowry is not better than Alston/Brooks. Lowry had more potential, but he's still raw, not matierialized yet. Brooks can shoot and he's fast, but everything else you'd still give it to Rafer,who is playing in Eastern conference final this year.

Without an upgrade at PG, this Rockets team will still be from outside looking in come playoff time. Defense will always be top level, but offense will always be mediocore.

 

Chris Paul if my favorite non-Rocket.

If we can get him, I'd j*zz my pants.

 

Add to Championship winners:

Jordan/Pippen
Olajuwon/Drexler
Duncan/Robinson

Other Dynamic Duos over the years that went far and always contended:

KJ/Barkley
Stockton/Malone
Payton/Kemp

Recent:

Kobe/Gasol
Billups/Melo
LBJ/Mo W


I know I'm missing some others. The point is role players are severely overrated. They're dime a dozen in this day and age but true superstars in the form of CP3 are rare and have always been rare.

 

Simply a huge upgrade over Brooks in every aspect of the game. And people don't want to give up Scola/Landry for him.

Scola/Landry type player is relatively easy to get. Morey got both of them without using a 1st round pick. Same caliber PF can be found in every draft.
Brooks is similar.

But CP3? One in several years if lucky.

 

I'd even give up Yao for Paul.

 

If I'm not a YOF, I would too.

24 year old injury free surperstar vs. 29 year old injury prone superstar, not a hard choice.

 

Here are some interesting past trades to give some of y'all some perspective:

We gave up Dickerson, Harrington, Price, Carr and a #1 pick for a rookie Francis. Dickerson was coming off a very good rookie season (11 ppg on 47% and 43% on 3's) and Harrington was giving you around what Landry gives. We gave up all that because it's very hard to get a young PG.

We gave up Horry, Cassell, Bryant and Brown for a 33 year old Barkley. I would take Horry and Cassell over everyone on this roster, outside of Yao and Artest.

The Mavs gave up Harris, Diop, Ager, Hassell, Van Horn, $3M and two #1 picks for an old Jason Kidd. You can argue that Harris is better than everyone on our roster outside of Yao, as far as his trade value goes.

The Heat gave up Odom, Butler, Grant and a #1 for Shaq. And this was after taking the pacers to 6 games with a very young core.

The Pistons gave up Rebraca, Sura, Hunter, Atkins, and two #1's for a 29/30 year old Rasheed Wallace.

The Lakers gave up Kwame (contract), J.Critt, Gasol and two #1's for Gasol, who was not considered to be a top 10 player at that time.

I'm trying to think of some more instances where superstar level talent was traded, but it's kind of hard because it doesn't happen that much. But in the times that it does, you usually have to give up a lot. I know we are very proud of what our team just accomplished....but again, if you can land one of the top 5-10 players in the league at 24 years of age without having to give up 1 All-Star level type player, then you do it. Especially when that player is a PG and you already have one of the top centers.

Y'all are really overvaluing our players. In a perfect world (i.e. one where the Hornets weren't in money trouble and were only looking for enough talent in return), they wouldn't trade Paul for anyone on our team. Outside of Yao, we don't have any other player that we couldn't replace with quite a few other guys in the league and get the same production. Artest may be the only one, and only because 2-way players are rare. But Paul....I can only think of two young PG's that have a higher or equal upside...Rose and D.Will.

 

Well, you get Chris Paul and Tyson Chandler. I mean, I can't believe you would hesitate to make this move.

 

Tears of joy...

 

There's one championship team every year, but losing by 70 is the single biggest loss in NBA history

 

Plus Boston gave away Al Jefferson,Gerald Green, Ryan Gomes, Theo Ratliff, Sebastian Telfair and draft picks for old Kevin Garnett.

All the team except Mavs succeeded.

 

Championship is the only thing people care.

For example, if Rockets beat Lakers in game 7, people will remember that as one of the biggest upset in playoff history, not the 40 point loss in game 5.

 

Thank you for being honest. Carry on.

 

This thread deserves a five-star with the contribution of quality posts like this one.