I'm straight up saying he was the 3rd option entering the playoffs that year. In fact, he probably wasn't even the 3rd option with his whopping 11ppg during the regular season. He had more shots per game and and a higher PPG than Brooks that season. How else do you need this explained? Lakers, Magic, Cavs, Celtics, Spurs....you know, all the teams that either dominated their division or had been deep in the playoffs recently. You can't go from playoff team to contender because you pushed the eventual Champions to seven games (at which time they woke up and blew the Rockets off the court). Contender status isn't built in one series. Morey happens to agree with me otherwise he would not have overhauled the team after that season. I already answered...no need to asked twice.
Yes, because Morey is known to overpay players Get real. It doesn't matter what the market dictates. If Morey doesn't think a guy is worth the price he won't pay it. He will simply replace that guy with someone who gives nearly the same production for a fraction of the price (see Trevor Ariza shipped out for Courtney Lee trade).
Exactly. He had no option but to re-sign a valuable asset. What other reason could there possibly be other than Morey not wanting to lose Lowry for nothing?
You keep repeating this, but it still doesn't make it right. If the cost of keeping something is greater than its value, you let it go. Period. A thief comes into your house and steals nothing but your corkscrew. He then sends you a ransom note asking for $100 for the corkscrew. Your argument basically says to pay the $100 rather than risk losing the corkscrew. Instead, you could go out and buy a new corkscrew -- or backup point guard if that's what you're looking for The fact that he was on the team the previous year is immaterial -- the only benefit is that we have a good idea of how Lowry plays with this roster.
Does this thread have anything worth reading in it? I just ask because I really don't want to read this entire damn thread just to find that it's just like all the other offseason threads - no news, no relevant information, and no reason to read it.
And in the playoffs he was the 2nd. "Entering the playoffs" he had only been a starter for 30 games. Something tells me you're not pulling the "11 ppg" only from those games, which would make it more relevant. Yes he had more shots per game and more PPG. Brooks also didn't start for most of the year and was the better offensive player in the playoffs. Do you think that if the Aaron Brooks that just won MIP was on the team 2 years ago and was given more shots than Ron Artest, whose shot selection is kind of spotty, the team would have been worse off? I mean if Brooks is incapable of being a 2nd option on a playoff team, I guess you would kind of have to believe that. The Spurs won one more game than the Rockets. They lost in the 1st round 4-1 even with homecourt advantage. They were a contender and the Rockets weren't? The Celtics without Garnett were a contender? He did? Yao Ming went down for the year and Artest left for LA. Outside of that, the starters most of the time were Brooks, Battier, Scola, and Hayes. When did the overhaul happen? Right now we're looking at Brooks, Scola, Battier, and Yao all starting next year. What was overhauled?
Or he will overpay a guy (possibly Scola/Lowry), then get rid of another guy to shed more salary to make up for it (Ariza). I'm not complaining, I like all of those moves.
No, you said he had to sign Lowry so he could trade Brooks. I was saying he had to sign Lowry so he wouldn't lose him for nothing.
100% true. The analogy of the corkscrew is not very apt when talking about player asset management. There are lots of times that organizations are forced into matching a contract that they might think is a bit too much, but they do it to keep the asset and control that asset for future use. A good example is Ariza, a lot of us were saying Trevor was overpaid....but Morey paid him the full MLE, then flipped him for a lessor priced asset, if he simply walked away as he did Gortat, he would not have been able to get Lee. When teams put their guys as restricted Free Agents they know that sometimes other teams overpay to stop them from matching, Lowry got an offer from Cleveland, which to me was above what you pay for a backup PG, but still he had to match it? Why? 1. He said he would, if he didn't other GMs would have known he was full of it when he says things like "We will match all offers" 2. The Rockets need Lowry, he is a very valuable piece, probably more so in Houston than he would be in several other places. 3. By keeping control of Kyle he can controls the assets and can flip him at any time going forward, as a way to acquire a better player, or use him as a matching contract, or anything. If Morey let Lowry walk, he would lose, even if some of us think he is a bit overpaid.....the market this year was paying about $4 million for backup PGs like Ridnour, and Lowry is better than them, so I will concede that if he is overpaid, it is not by much. In my opinion, a good General manager, keeps control of his valuable assets, even if he has to overpay a bit, because if you let someone walk you get nothing, if you sign them, you can utilize them in the future to make a bigger trade. It was a no brainer to sign Kyle, now whether the team keeps him is just as much up in the air as any other player, Morey has shown that he is willing to trade players he likes.......so anyone is fair game. DD
But if there is one player in the NBA that will be more affected by the looming CBA than AB, I can't think of who that is. Melo's going to make sure he gets paid, but next year is just a bad year to negotiate. I wish I could say that Morey should just tell AB we're willing to pay him but only an idiot GM would do an extension now because the market is going to be very different next year. I don't think Morey can do that. If Yao is sort of like Yao 20 games into the season, Team Yao will have Morey begging to extend his contract. It's the truth if only because Les isn't going to let Yao go anywhere, and DM's just going to have to get it done. So I don't have any idea what Morey will tell AB's agent. Does he offer a 4 year 30 million deal? AB deserves something like that, but would he take it? I'm not sure what Morey should do here. I think there's a 50-50 chance AB will be moved, but not because of Kyle's salary, or AB's shortcomings. The all-star break is going to be very interesting because NFL owners will have declared war on the NFLPA, gone public with their omnipotence, and probably have invaded France. NBA owners will be salivating and wanting new wives. It's just going to be ugly.
Good point. I still think moving Ariza was more about Ariza being a disappointment (as I predicted from the moment the Ariza to Houston deal was announced last summer) than it was about saving cash but I'd be an idiot not to acknowledge that money was part of the motivation.
