This is just my opinion and I have stated this a few yrs ago. The rockets are in the wrong window and has been for the last couple of yrs. I'm not saying they have to tank,but they have to assemble a team that will be able to compete with ok city,memphis,minny,miami,clippers. All of those teams have 2 all star caliber type players. Now I know all star doesn't mean a lot to most,but its a trait that really helps your team in terms of talent. Pau 3 yrs from will not be anywhere close to all star caliber. Hell,judging by the this yr,its safe to say he will never be an all star player again. Its the wrong approach not matter how many times anyone brings it up. What I suggest is something similar to what he tried with the 09 ers except with better players. Brook lopez,tyreke evans,anthony randolph,beasley,hickson,jason thompson, and even a guy like josh smith. Try to get a couple of guys using the draft picks and trades to get a couple of those guys. Most of those guys have been productive in their career and are young enough to grow going forward. Its similar to what portland did in the early 2000's. They didn't win a title,but they had a talented,talented team. Same could be said for that sacramento team with webber. That's the route I would take vs getting a older gasol who dosnt want to be here.
One of Lowry and Dragic will be gone. And if Lowry is not gone when teams can sigh UFA's, Dragic certainly will be. And I would not give the Lakers Scola. Give them Lowry and pieces that may, if given enough time, actually become NBA role players. Morris and PPat come immediately to mind. Scola paired next to Gasol is too great and advantage to give up. Two bigs that can both operate on the block and reliably hit an open 14 foot jumper. That would be a luxury. I can't imagine any way that the Rockets could have any shot at Davis. You are up against heavy weight tankers in the Bobcats, Wiz etc. I guess you could have just yanked Martin and Scola and Lowry and Dragic. I don't know if that would have given you a 20% shot at Davis. And let me get this straight. You want to go through a 3 - 5 year tank period waiting for the Heat and Thunder to grow old? Praying to the ping pong gods every year? Hoping that you don't draft an Oden or Roy who's body just can't take the NBA grind? I have to ask you when was the last time anyone got Thunder lucky in drafts? And it still took them 5 years to have a reasonable chance at a crown. Durant, Harden, Westbrook and Ibaka. Wow, what a run of great luck. They have a great scouting department and GM but I really doubt they could pull that off again. 3 - 5 years of Perdition. Hell for half a decade. Would there be fans left after that journey? Probably not this one.
You guys should all listen to today's NBA Today Podcast. They do an entire segment on Gasol and his trade value (lots of Rockets mentions) Scola + Lowry or Scola + martin for Gasol is the short version of it.
Gasol and Scola, isn't going to scare anybody away. You would pretty much be trotting out 2 PFs that play exactly the same way. You need a solid post presence that will be willing to bang and give the opposing team hell on the defensive end. Gasol and Scola is an "advantage" that will get you nowhere and cost you approximately half your salary cap. I'm not saying the Rockets should sit idly and watch the other teams compete for the title for 3-5 years. The Rockets should be preparing and slowly building a title contender to realistically compete in 3-5 years. You think having Gasol and whomever you are going snatch from the skies is miraculously going to put the Rockets in contention within the 2 years remaining on Gasol's albatross of a contract? Fat chance.. You are better served going after young players that you could potentially see as franchise cornerstones that will put you in a better chance to compete down the line. That much is common sense.
OK thanks for the link to the podcast. It was very informative. And coolio you should listen. A real NBA gm and Chris Mullin agreeing that Gasol's value is about Kevin Love. Kevin Freakin Love for christ's sake. I rest my case. Trade whatever it takes for Gasol and let's move on.
If you think this whole frickin board has the knowledge of a single NBA front office assistant GM you are completely off your rocker. And that was the GM. And Chris Mullin, who knows just a little bit about basketball and was a GM said it would come down to the personnel fit. Man am I just talking to a wall. Must be.
I don't doubt Chris Mullin has great basketball knowledge, but there is a reason he is no longer GM of the Warriors. Pau Gasol does not have the same value as Kevin Love. Even the casual fan can tell you that. With that logic, you would think the Lakers would be able to field a Kevin Love-caliber offer for Pau Gasol. If the Lakers could get Kevin Love talent and upside for Gasol, they would have Kevin Love talent and upside instead of Gasol. Instead, we are here talking about trading Scola, Lowry, (insert Rockets scrub) for Gasol. "Trade whatever it takes for Gasol and let's move on" - JTR And this gem from you. It's a good thing you aren't the GM because we would probably be seeing another "3 years of perdition" as you like to call it.
I have put out my thoughts on a Gasol trade, attempted to explain in plain English the benefits to the Rockets franchise, and tried to answer every concern of the Clutch posters to no avail. Then there was the fortuitous piece de resistance of a real live GM speculating that Gasol's trade value is in the neighborhood of Kevin Love. And Chris Mullen said it would come down to personnel fit. A NBA star and a former GM for christ's sake. Thank god you all (and me included) do not have any input into the Rocket's FO. A major fail for Clutch fans basketball knowledge, understanding, talent evaluation and general sanity. Kevin freakin Love people.
I think it's a great that you love Pau Gasol. I'm gonna be honest, he seems like a genuinely good guy. However, if Mitch Kupchak called up David Kahn and offered up Pau Gasol for Kevin Love, I could imagine their phone conversation going a little bit like this: Mitch: "Hey David, this is Mitch. So, as you know, we couldn't get the job done with Kobe, Bynum, and Gasol. There's been speculation that I might be able to net Kevin Love for Pau Gasol. So....what do you think?" David: "HAHAHAHHAHHA..." click. Nobody in there right mind would trade you Kevin Love for Pau Gasol.
The statement should be something like: "While I don't do NBA basketball FO work for a living, and would have no chance of working with those people due to not spending my whole adult life living and breathing NBA BB, and really do not have any understanding of the current NBA statistical analysis field as it involves player evaluation, I feel that Pau Gasol does not have the same value as Kevin Love. Even the casual fan can tell you that." Can you disagree with my rewording? Is any of it unfair or untrue? And no the casual fan cannot tell me that. They have absolutely none of the knowledge base required to tell me that. A casual fan works only from emotion and impressions.
jtr, Not every fan is casual, and it does not take a genius to understand basketball or personell fit. There have been a ton of idiots as GMs, think Isaiah Thomas to name one. Morey is smart, but whether he can build a team remains to be seen. Take last years trade for example... He wanted Gasol, and we were rumored to get Nene too, now we would be saddle with Nenes bloated contract and declining skills, we would have lost Dragic, and we would be stuck with Gasol at 19 million for a couple more years.... I think Stern did the Rockets a favor in the end. DD
JTR, you can cut this pie anyway you'd like. There is no way you'd be able to convince any casual fan that Pau Gasol, at this stage in his career, is worth anything close to Kevin Love. If the Lakers get anything close to Kevin Love for Pau Gasol, I'll be the first to deem you Nostradamus. Honestly, it doesn't take a genius to figure that the Lakers will not get anything close to Kevin Love for Pau Gasol, especially after his lackluster performance this off-season. Pau Gasol's stock as a player is dropping faster than Facebook. Truth.
DD I respect your opinion and do agree that there have been many bad GM's out there - Thomas among the worst - I think the Gasol trade would have helped the Rockets immensely last year. For all the reasons and more that I have outlined. And despite all the rumors about the Nene trade, they were just that - rumors. And Coolio I respect your opinion also, but in this case, because of absolutely stupid blind dumb luck on my part, you should have probably just have said that I may have a valid point there. Best to all of you.
The league has a long history of ex-players and ex-GMs who are out and out wrong about a certain player. Even the best GMs are wrong at times - Pat Reilly tried to give Juwan Howard a gazillion dollar contract and Isaiah Thomas could never judge free agents the way he could guys in the draft. I don't know who this mystery GM is, but no matter how much he may be devoted to NBA basketball, he's totally off base for even suggesting that Pau Gasol is worth the same as Kevin Love. Kevin Love may be a flawed big man like Gasol, but he is still the best rebounder in the game. Gasol is not the best anything. So drop the condescension - you don't know a damn thing more than any of the rest of us and the fact that you overhead a couple of guys overrate Gasol doesn't change that fact.
I think my thesis was correct and had some validation ( dumb luck I will admit) of that by serious lifetime NBA people. But I have convinced myself of the overall positive's of a Gasol trade and I hope I have convinced others. But in the greater scheme of things it is only worth the amusement and intellectual stimulation it brought to me. I am done with this discussion.
Gasol is a fine player in his own right. I'm not trying to disparage your arguments or opinions as some people have brought up the same points. We've been debating this topic for more than a few months. If the Rockets were closer to contention and had the necessary pieces to compete for a title in the near term, I wouldn't be entirely opposed to the idea of bringing in Gasol. However, the fact remains that we've been swimming around in circles for the last 3 seasons. The last thing the Rockets need is an aging player that is getting paid like a superstar. If history serves as any indication of how successful the Rockets are at obtaining the necessary pieces to compete for a title, you are gonna have to excuse me for being somewhat doubtful and pessimistic about the Rockets chances of competing for a title in the near term. We've spent the last three seasons chasing after all sorts of "superstars" (Carmelo, Bosh, Gasol, Amare, Howard, etc.) and we've come up empty-handed every time, and each time the fans are served the same convenient excuse as we were the day before. We were so close to pulling off the trade. We have a "great" accumulation of assets that will get us the superstar we need. And yet, we are sitting right where we were exactly 3 seasons ago. Zero playoff appearances, Three #14 picks. There is nothing glamorous about where we are right now. We are well on our "road to perdition". If we have sat a couple of starters here and sat a couple starters there, at least the fans would have something to talk about (i.e. the possibility of obtaining Anthony Davis) heading into the lottery. I honestly think there would be some renewed excitement heading into next season. Instead, we are here talking about which undersized PF we are going to get with our 14th pick this season. Pau Gasol is a talented player in his own right, but his services are not what the Rockets need at this point. He doesn't even bring the slightest sliver of hope that the franchise so desperately needs. If he were younger, I would certainly consider him as a piece I could build upon going into the future, but the Rockets current status as "perennial lottery powerhouse" and Gasol's descent from the height of his basketball powers is a disaster waiting to happen. If Gasol came at a much lower price tag, I might consider him, but the fact remains that he would count $20 million towards our salary cap. It's a much too expensive short term gamble to go after Gasol.
