[Chron] Don't rule out a trade despite Rockets' recent run

Codman

wade is not an enforcer & he wont come leading anything playing the same spot as harden

 

Spoiler

 

Hey Dwayne, thanks for recruiting James and Chris while taking a paycut at the same time. Thanks for the 4 finals appearances and 3 championships but i think we will have a better chance of gettig a 3-peat by trading you to Houston. Please don't take this the wrong way, i mean come one man, you have Harden and Howard there!

 

Will everyone please just drop the potential of trading for Dwyane (I still shake my head at that spelling; for God's sake....) Wade?

It.

Isn't.

Gonna.

Happen.

Bosh? I wish. A bold move for Riley. Maybe too bold at this juncture.

Mess with chemistry? Or admit your roster might not match up with Indiana's, given D-wade's being in and out of the lineup?

 

I'm as thrilled as any Rockets fan that we're on a roll lately, but I think it would be incredibly foolish to overlook major needs just because we're winning.

For a team that plays our style of basketball we have two MAJOR problems:

1) We're not shooting the ball well enough for a team that shoots as many three pointers as we do.

Just look at the 2008-09 Orlando team that D12 led to the Finals. They shot 38% as a team; we're shooting 35% as a team. That's a fairly large disparity and a lot of points we're sacrificing.

2) We have an overall lack of depth. Lin is a solid sixth man at the moment, but outside of that there's a lot of uncertainty between the Asik drama, minimum salaried players making up the bulk of our bench, etc. Playoff basketball is a long and brutal time period. Injuries will occur.

That said, other secondary issues we have:

1) We turn the ball over too much. Very reminiscent of the Francis/Mobley/Yao era where we're loaded with talent yet simply lack the skills and instincts to protect the ball well enough throughout the course of the game. That and a lot of sloppy crunchtime ball handling and decision making. Dribble, dribble, dribble...too much isolation and hero ball.

I've been calling for a Lowry or Rondo type for months, but obviously a move of that nature is a longshot at this point.

2) We give up too many second looks in the paint. We're one of the worst teams in the league at allowing offensive rebounds. This is troublesome for obvious reasons: it leads to extra possessions and put-back opportunities for the opponent.

Overall, it's going to be very difficult to address all four areas. In theory, getting Asik back helps with the depth issue and with our troubles on the defensive glass, but truth be told: we really don't know what we're going to get at this point with a semi-injured/crazy/unmotivated Asik. And unless we're going to try to infuse Covington or Canaan into the rotation, our shooting help is going to have to come from elsewhere. Garcia and Brooks need to be phased out, Casspi as well (if a better option presents itself) and I also think it's safe to say it's only a matter of time before Brewer is either traded or released.

Another concern (that kind of ties in with the depth issue) is the lack of a veteran 4/5. What happens when Jones has one of his Indiana or Dallas type games where he's completely in over his head and we need a veteran presence to come in and stabilize things? I think a logical play is to try to move Asik for a veteran 4/5 that can essentially backup both positions -- somebody along the lines of Hawes, Garnett, Frye, Josh McRoberts or someone like that. No, they may not be the rim protectors that Asik it, but what we sacrifice in that regard, we gain in versatility and motivation.

As for Lin, we can't really afford to trade him for a lesser player. He's been invaluable off of the bench and as Harden's emergency replacement. I'd love to move him for a Lowry type, but I doubt a move of that nature will ever come to fruition.

The next step would probably be to find some low cost/risk shooters. Ideally, we'll do what Boston just did and find a Chris Johnson type. Maybe Anthony Tolliver or somebody like that also. That catch, of course, is they have to be at least a respectable defender.

 

It just feels good to be mentioned as a possible destination for Wade or Bosh even though highly unlikely.

How times have changed...

 

Players with #7 Jersey

1 Carmelo Anthony
2 Jerryd Bayless
3 Lorenzo Brown
4 Jared Cunningham
5 Jimmer Fredette
6 Al Harrington
7 Xavier Henry
8 J.J. Hickson
9 Ersan Ilyasova
10 Royal Ivey OKC
11 Othyus Jeffers
12 Brandon Jennings
13 Joe Johnson
14 Ricky Ledo
15 Jeremy Lin
16 Kyle Lowry
17 Darius Morris
18 Jermaine O'Neal
19 Ramon Sessions
20 Tornike Shengelia
21 Jared Sullinger
22 Derrick Williams

 

Dwyane Wade is like everybody else, he wants to get paid. He wants to opt out of his current deal and sign a new four- or five-year deal averaging $20 mil/year. If New York is the only team dumb and desperate enough to do that, then guess what? Wade is very much in favor of getting traded to the Knicks. This "Pat Riley would never stab Dwyane Wade in the back like that" makes for a good topic on ESPN and on message boards but is an extremely overly simplistic way of looking at this. And it is not reality.

By the way, I am buying Asik and Lin to Miami for Dwyane Wade, but NO WAY does Wade get his $80 mil from Daryl Morey. Wade would be a trade chip for Morey, and Miami would be a pawn, the team that actually gives him what he wants, i.e., a good team this season AND cap flexibility this summer.

 

As if even a two way trade isn't difficult enough in the NBA.

And you really want Houston to get screwed that badly??? Luol Deng, Iman Shumpert, and Miles Plumlee for Asik, Lin and D-MO? A player who is going to hit the market this summer, a player who can be just decent one game and completely suck the next, and an untested big with little possible upside for one of the finest defensive bigs in the NBA, a player who can play the 1 and the 2 adequately, and perhaps the highest upside new big in the NBA next to Drummond and last years number one pick in the draft?

 

Yeah, I gave up the 3-way and 4-way trade stuff awhile back.

Sure, they happen, but there's so many variables to make the trade even for all teams involved.

 

Sounds like Tyson chandler to me. Veteran enforcer type who is not a gunslinger.

 

Okay so we started with a very unlikely trade scenario that made no sense for the Rockets with Rondo then went completely ridiculous with Wade....is that really what happened? Why would the Rockets, with Harden already at SG, ever consider Wade even for a second?

 

Smart move. I have done the same. And the few trades like that typically happen in the off season. Like Chris Paul. They take weeks or months to work out. After all there is tens of millions of dollars at stake.

 

Wait, who is the highest upside new big in the NBA next to Drummond? Are you referring to Donatas Motiejunas? Wow.

 

harden type player --> leftie --> bosh?

 

It's not Wade.

There's another player on a hot team that used to be the star but now isn't and has a flexible contract.

I'm thinking it's...

Spoiler

Danny Granger

He brings the veteran leadership and big brother aspect that this team is missing. Could be our new Battier.

 

Of course it would never happen. Acquiring Wade to play along side of Harden probably never crossed even the devious mind of Morey. If it did I assume he went into a laughing fit, spewing out single malt scotch all over the room. This kind of group hysteria hits CF at every trade deadline. I personally strap my tin foil hat on before I read any of these posts.

 

Uhmmm. There was a definite hint in my post. "and last years number one pick in the draft". Davis.

 

Hits 43% from the corner 3

 

How about Bosh? His number is "1" and he is no longer the "MJ of his team", which he was when he was with Toronto.

Perhaps a 3 team deal with Boston:

HOU In: Bosh
HOU Out: Asik, Lin, T Jones, DMo

Heat Out: Bosh
Heat In: Humphries, Asik, Bradley, Pierce TPE

Boston Out: Humphries, Bradley, Pierce TPE
Boston In: Lin, TJones, DMo