Trade Parsons to get Paul is a no-hesitation move. It's prudent to plan long-term in the NBA but if you can get not one but TWO superstars, you have to do it. If they even just win one championship and suck for the next decade, I am okay with that.
Ziggy mentioned it earlier, but, despite his name not being mentioned, I also still believe that J Smoove is absolutely the #2 option, for a few reasons: 1) PF is our weakest position 2) Teaming him w/ Howard would not only make Howard happy, but would create an incredibly stout defense 3) Say a team like the Wolves can't retain Pek and have a down year, leading to Love requesting a trade...would they be able to turn down an Asik + Smith for Love trade? So, Ziggy, in answer to your question I think both Morey (Asset) and Howard (Friend) want Smith. It just makes a lot of sense for the present and the future.
The Miami Heat were not afraid to strip their team to the bone for 3 star players. It resulted in at least one NBA Championship. Mission accomplished. The gravitational pull of 3 NBA stars will net role players like Battier, Ray Allen Chris Andersen. Udonis Haslem signed for "less money" to remain there. That's the advantage of having that Big 3 core. Morey can find guys like Beverley on his own, and then take advantage of the Big 3 gravitational pull.
I would, but I doubt it comes to that. Honestly, if Lin were an unrestricted free agent this summer... I think he'd get a richer contract than $16 million over two years. Remember, Dragic got $34 million over four years last summer, and his numbers were worse than Lin's. Nash got $27 million over three years and he's basically a corpse. PG is a premium position and Lin is young with upside. He's also a marketer's dream. Worst case, I think the Rockets could get a deal done by adding a future first-round pick or one out of DMo/Jones. I don't see Lin's contract as anywhere near bad enough that we'd have to give up Parsons.
Meh, it all depends on how it plays out. In an ideal world, you would have to cut everyone and trade Robinson to clear the max space for Dwight and then perform a sign and trade for CP3 using Lin/Asik. That leaves: Paul / Beverly Harden Parsons / White Jones / Dmo Howard / Smith I feel like you could get Garcia to come back for vet minimum, so your depth wouldn't be completely gone. Yea but they didn't have anyone of Parsons caliber. Big difference there.
There is really no reason we would need to give up Parsons in this scenario. If we are basically dumping salaries, then we don't HAVE to add anyone to sweeten a deal because we aren't getting anything back. And there is no reason to dump Parsons' salary as it isn't enough to get in the way of signing both Paul and Howard. Having said that, I still don't think I would get rid of Parsons in order to get Chris Paul. Yes, he is a great leader and probably the best PG in the league. But he is a ball dominator and while he could get Harden a lot of open looks, he might take away some of Hardens opportunities to penetrate and either score or assist. And I could definitely see him and Harden butting heads over touches. With the recent big 3's, there is always someone who is the cut and dry best player on the team (Parker, LBJ, Durant, Garnett) I'm not sure you would see that with Paul/Harden/Howard. We would be crazy talented, but I could see a MAJOR power struggle between the 3 of them. I think I would rather just have the duo of Harden and Howard (if it meant keeping Parsons, who I think will be an Allstar one day), especially being that they would be a guard/big combo, they won't be taking touches from each other, they would simply feed off of each other and get better looks. Now, would I say no to CP if we could realistically get him? Absolutely not. But I certainly won't be heartbroken if/when he signs back in LA.
As Clutch pointed out earlier...Paul has to absolutely insist on this. I think we could pull off a trade with the clips. It's still a longshot. I Said all along though this happens if Dwight and Paul REALLY want it to happen, then I think it happens.
That doesn't solve the problem. If Morey locks in a trade now with a pre-determined execute date, what happens when that date comes and Howard decides he isn't going to join the Rockets? The team would be stuck in exactly the situation that it does not want to be in - trading Robinson for no reason. The only benefit to your "solution" is that Morey can point to the locked-in trade to prove that he can give Dwight max money. But the fact remains that it does not offer any inherent resolution - everything still depends on Dwight Howard, and there is still a chance that the Rockets are left shipping Robinson somewhere when there is no need.
Only problem with this is people here want Lin/Asik trade for Howard and also Lin/Asik trade for CP3. So I am guessing Lin/Asik will be playing for both the Lakers and Clippers. :grin:
What is with all this ball dominator crap? Somehow in the Cutchfans world great players can't play together because aparently no one passes in this universe and no one sits. Aparently Chris paul will be playing 48 minutes and will never ever pass the ball to Harden under no circumstances... and aparently great players have never ever played together before and houston has never had a big three that made it to the western conference finals because they would never be able to pass that ball to one another. Only on Clucthfans. To be clear, too many great players is a problem I would love to have. If it doesn't work out then you trade them for whatever you want because they are superstars and you can do that. People have underestimated Hardens abilities before, let's try not to be as dumb as OKC was last fall.
I think people need to stop compare what could happen in Houston to the Heat's big 3. Assume Howard and CP3 DO come to Rockets, who will be the #1 options? In the Heats, it was clear that James is the #1 options and Wade and Bosh accepted to play under James shadow. How would this going to work out for a team with Harden, Howard and CP3? Just Harden and CP3 will have a negative impact.
It was not clear people were saying the same things you guys are saying now. Dwayne Wade agreed to take a lesser role. If he is not on a team with James he is easily a Top 3 playerr in this league.
What's really funny is that it's been less than a year since Harden played with another dominant PG in Russell Westbrook. Funny thing, James was just fine. He excelled at moving without the ball and was even more lethal in terms of efficiency. The reason James dominated the ball at times here is because he had to. Last year's team didn't have another top-of-the-line option. If Paul comes here, I think he'll be glad to play off the ball more.
You would only have to get one of those deals done. One player you could sign outright, the other you could do a S7T for. Honestly it wouldn't matter which team got the S&T and which team got nothing.
What kind of trader do you think Morey is? Do you think he is going to lock into a future trade without it bringing back greater value? No, he wouldn't do that. If Morey negotiates a trade for any of these guys it's not going to be some salary dump deal. He's going to get good value for whatever he sends out.
I agree. The ball dominator argument is a thing, but it's invalid in this case. (1) Chris Paul would be the primary ballhandler. He is fantastic at doing that, and an amazing passer. (2) Harden is quite possibly the best player in the West off the catch. He thrives off players passing him the ball. (3) Howard will draw double teams in the post, be an oop threat, and just make (1) and (2) both easier and more effective.
