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

when he shot 40%? i didn't se any kobe stoppers on that team that were zero's on offense.

 

If you're a fan and student of basketball, it gives you a chance to watch the game and better understand dynamics. Thats what my college coach always stressed about "living the game." I'll watch anyone, anywhere, anytime.

 

Well good for you, but I won't......I've watched enough basketball. Don't really feel like watching East vs West coast bias (last year).....or a Kobe vs. LeBron circle jerk if it happens this season.

 

Please read your own post. You "gave" Golden State Brian Cook as well. Peja and Cook make well over 125% of Turiaf+Maggette's salaries. It works only if Golden State has a 3.5m exception to take on Cook, which would beg the question -- why use a good sized exception on Brian Cook? Especially if the alleged reasoning is to shed salary?

You've already put the Rockets comfortably into luxury tax zone -- suddenly, giving Matt Barnes 2m is like paying him 4m. That's a bit tougher of a decision.

Additionally, the Rockets may have 4 TEs, but most are largely useless. Trade exceptions cannot be combined nor used on free agents, and the Rockets' biggest one comes from the Steve Francis trade (2.6m). Most of the others are under $1m -- you'd be hardpressed to use it even if you tried. That basically assures any player that could be acquired would be on his rookie contract, and more than likely, a disappointment. The lone exception may be a team in financial straits looking to get out of the luxury tax zone -- which this set of dealings dumps the Rockets in.

Peja's contract is bad, and his performance this past year was even worse. He could only be moved for a pair of players on contracts even worse than his (Maggette and Turiaf would be pillaging, and as I outlined before, makes no sense for Golden State on any level). From a long term planning perspective, if the Rockets made a big play that added 70-80m worth of contracts, they wouldn't compound the situation by dealing for even more long term deals. Morey's MO has always been flexibility and value.

 

I think I just threw up in my mouth a little. Horrible trade, I am praying Morey does not do do that trade if it was offered to him.

 

LOL even you know the 2 rings argument is extremely ridiculous. That's a TEAM accomplishment, not a player one. So you're basically suggesting Battier isn't a championship caliber role player while Posey is?

 

I'm sorry, i thought i sent cook to n.o. Point is, peja can be traded to a team that wants shorter years on a contract. Don't tell me it cant be done seeing that the knicks got rid of all of isaih's long term deals except curry for shorter ones. I'm not saying gsw will do it, but when you have a new gm, they like to shuffle the deck. Getting peja and a 1st rd pick for maggette and turiaf might be appealing to a don nelson team that likes to draw and kick and doesn't play defense. signing barnes for 2m put them right at lux tax, but they could always pawn cook or barry off for say a rookie level contract of 1m. The big fish is the 4th best player in the league who is 24.

 

What i know is posey contributed major on 2 ring teams and to use the shane from memphis ideas, the teams haven't been the same since he left. I think shane could play on a ring team if he's a bench player like posey was. Battir is a bench player and if he was on the bench, that would be better for him and the rox. Posey couldn't start on either of those teams just as battier wouldn't start on those teams now either.

 

Giving up Scola

Trade is sound imo if all the money and everything worked out

Nice idea

 

I wouldn't mind giving up Battier if they could make up the difference in his production or get it back through the trade. And Posey does have 2 rings

 

Which requires the Rockets to take longer years. After just biting a big financial bullet to take on contracts to acquire Chris Paul, does not seem to be a part of Morey's MO, nor working within Les Alexander's parameters.

-- They saved a year on Crawford for Harrington. Sure, well done.
-- They traded Zach Randolph for absolute scraps. In your own words, Zach Randolph is one of the best post players in the league, and they as of now have zero to show for it.
-- Traded Thomas and Jerome James for Larry Hughes -- salary wise, a lateral move. All players are signed through 2010.

They had to buyout Marbury -- saved a couple mill, tops. They still couldn't trade Curry. And they're still hanging onto to Quentin Richardson, Jared Jeffries.

I would hardly call that "getting rid of".

As opposed to the guys Don Nelson picked last summer? And the Peja coming off a year in which he looked downright terrible?

And yes, I'm sure they want to get rid of Turiaf because they prefer to not play defense.

No. Luxury tax by most accounts next year will be set at closer to $69m (see article I posted earlier in the thread).

Your scenario would put us at ~72m before any free agent signings, like Barnes, AND that's assuming they already pawned off Cook.

Why would a team add ~2m in salary by trading their rookie in exchange for Cook or Barry? Neither of those guys are going to be very useful to most teams. Further, it would require the other team to have cap space or a trade exception, unless you're within 25% -- at which point you'd be saving maybe $500K, and still well over the lux tax line.

I'm all for getting Paul, and am more than willing to make the sacrifices to make it happen. I'm just saying in the alternate reality in which we're able to land Paul, your reasoning doesn't make sense.

 

The Rockets have enough plausible young talent + McGrady's enormous expiring contract + manageable veteran expiring contracts to pull off a significant deal. The only way they get Paul is take on a few poison pill bad contracts along with him. I could see Morey rolling the dice for a talent like Paul. The only possible way it happens is if the Hornets are on the verge of going bankrupt and/or Chris Paul makes it clears he won't come back. From a talent point of view, there are better deals out there for the Hornets, but the salary dump possibilities might make the Rockets the best option.

 

I know what you're saying and i understand it, i'm just saying the gifted make a way, not excuses. If he's Paul is on the market, which i doubt and the rockets dont have to give up yao, you do it. Whats 2 m over the lux tax if you win a title? I know it isn't my money and 2m is alot of money, but this cash cow thing should kick in somewhere, right?

 

Thats my point. The hornets did this before with zo and with baron davis. Davis was traded for 2nd rd picks which made the team sorry which allowed them to get paul in the first place.

 

Lee you are assuming we can move Peja for 2 players. If that were the case NO could do it now and would never even have to give up Paul. The whole point is that they can't get rid of this contract in the first place.

 

If the knicks can get rid of francis and randolph, then the rox can get rid of peja. NO could probably do it also if they wanted to,but they would have to cobine it with something else maybe longer.

 

Yep that's right

Again.....right agian.....teams have to eat **** to get him.

This is where you go wrong.....Morey isn't "rolling the dice for a talent like Paul".....not when it costs him to break down every damn thing he's built so far....ain't happening, pipe dream people need to wake up. He isn't going to allow NOLA to send every damn bad contract they have over here just to jeopardize this team and his staff. Paul isn't the answer for this team when said team is giving up THAT MUCH.....aint happening. Houston would be set back for years to come.

First of all, there aren't "better deals out there for the Hornets"......this is their best possible deal..(absolutely their best possible deal)..a deal that puts them atleast third possibly second in the division, which makes them a player in the conference which would make this the Rockets the "best possible sucker".

Gladly this deal will never happen as currently constructed and if it does, bump this thread so I can start a "Morey needs to be fired" thread.....YES IT IS THAT BAD OF A TRADE.

 

Thats the problem though, New Orleans has nothing of value on thier team other than Paul. They have no decent young guys, and anyone who is a halfway decent NBA player is extremely overpaid.

The Knicks were able to dump those guys in a non recession period. I can't think of one team in the league that would say we need a Peja.

 

Peja to Hornets is like Zach Randolph for the Clippers. Both their fans wanna get rid of them but nobody wants their horrible contracts. At least Tmac's expire next season, Peja still has two more years. Peja was horrendous this year and you have to expect it'll get worse. He averaged less than .40 fg%.

 

After many days of enjoying this great thread and p***y-footin' around in making a decision, I've finally come to a conclusion: Trust the team, not the player.

First, I'm not inclined to believe Morey would do this trade as is, but you have to give him room to act if a great deal came along. Take Scola and Battier out of the equation, maybe. But in no way this should be a fair trade. Like someone said earlier, NO deserves to be abused, badly.

Second, after witnessing some of the conference finals, I am positive that with a healthy Tracy and Yao, we would own this league (pure homer speak ). I know, tough call because you have to ask yourself, would the role players be this good if Tracy never went down in Feb? None-the-less, we have a damn good team, a great defensive team that just requires health and the proverbial offseason Morey tweak.

And I'm not even going to list 3-10 because they are nothing but the heart of a fan talking.

And the ONLY reason I can come up with to even entertain this idea of a trade is this: you don't pass up top 5 talent. Considering Yao's window, do we have the time to regenerate a team like the one that finished this year? Can that actually be done in one year? Two?

Someone suggested this trade would be a one step back and two steps forward, all for a top PG after Yoa retires or whatever. Guess what, I don't see a top PG in to conference finals. (ok, maybe Billups comes close)

So, in the end, I'm standing pat with our guys.