I don't think we'll be forced to move him at all -- I just think the value will be there for him at some point, though possibly not till the trade deadline. He's just too valuable as a starter playing 30+ minutes a game, which he can't do here. Also, I think it will be substantially more difficult to trade him next year -- his actually salary (not cap figure) will balloon to $15 million. If we trade him for someone of equal cap figure, the other team would be taking on an extra ~$7 million. Possible, but more difficult (same goes for Lin). If Morey does that, however, it would be all the more impressive - he would have gotten 2 years out of Asik for $10m total. I'm also hopeful re: Jones and Motiejunas, but this team is too good to wait around and see on them.
Agreed that moving Asik at the trade deadline is likely the most plausible scenario. With the new CBA, you have to take advantage of rookie scale contracts and when you've got two guys with as much upside as Jones and DMo have, you can't afford NOT to wait and see what you have
All these reasons plus with his minutes decreasing, his value is likely to slip some. As far as the very sound philosophy of selling high goes, now is the time if we are going to do it at all.
My take on Asik: If you wouldn't trade him for a guy before signing Dwight Howard, you still shouldn't trade him for that guy after signing Dwight Howard. Don't take 80 cents on the dollar just because the Rockets now don't need him as much. Even if Omer the player may play less minutes now, Omer the trade asset remains very valuable and should be kept unless you get a great return. Asik is an extremely useful and rare piece in this league. Teams need rim protection and there just are just very few Asik level rim protectors to go around. Huge, mobile, smart, defends in the post, contains pick and roll, doesn't foul, stays in position for the rebound even after contesting shots. He is also young, healthy and a good teammate and not a head case. You can't just go out and hire one of those even if you have all the money and cap room in the world. Yes, you have to pay $15M real $ for him next year and he hits the market after that, but he will remain a great trade piece even under these circumstances. Having Asik's Bird Rights alone is valuable, especially for teams without the cap room to chase a center. So, I would really only trade Asik for at least an near elite level player (Is Ryan Anderson that? Maybe) or an asset that could land me one of those (like a very good lotto pick like the Kyle Lowry deal). You don't trade him to "fill a need" like at PF when you can likely do so at a cheaper cost.
100% agree. I was never sold on the Josh Smith S&T. Thought we may be doing that to please Dwight more than actually getting value for Asik. At this point unless a superstar (Love, Bosh, DWill, Melo) comes on the market we should keep him.
Asik is an extremely valuable asset now and in the future. Great defense and a double double machine. And young. I trust Morey will extract maximum value in a trade. After all he could be a 16/11 young defensive oriented center in a couple of years.
100% spot on. Don't take 80 cents on the dollar. Asik is the 'lynch pin' trade asset for the Rockets to acquire a 3rd start type player. I like Ryan Anderson, but don't trade Asik to fill a "nice fit role player." Not enough value.
Somebody mentioned this first here or elsewhere, but if the Rockets manage to trade Lin for no salary in return before signing any free agent other than Dwight Howard, they can, at that moment, have roughly $8.4M in cap room (depending on the official cap # and which non-guaranteed guys get kept or waived). In addition to that, they still have the $2.652M Room Exception and the Minimum Salary Exceptions. It was said by (yeah, I know) Bill Ingram that the Rockets have been shopping Lin and receiving "very limited interest from teams." I would not be surprised at Morey shopping anybody on the roster, of course. And in this case, perhaps Morey has a $8.4M or so free agent target in mind. Would kind of make sense. I wouldn't mind if Lin is kept, but decent PGs in the NBA today are relatively abundant and thus expendable unless you are a proven superstar. It may well be that the optimal allocation of resource is to get an $8.4M free agent at another position while filling the PG need with a lower-priced player like Aaron Brooks. If the question is Lin + a $2.65M PF vs. a $2.65M PG + an $8.4M PF, perhaps the latter is better (depends on who specifically is on the market, of course). One guy that come to mind is Andre Kirilenko-- sort of a poor man's Josh Smith. Versatile, still a very good defender, a SF/PF tweener with some jump shooting ability. He opted out of $10M and I'm not sure Minnesota can afford to bring him back after signing Bud and Martin and still have to sign Pekovic. Sound like a good candidate for something like $7-8M per year at 2 or 3 years, no?
kirilenko is old. I'd pay him 5 m Max with team option in year 2. he opted out of a 1 year 10M contract bc he wants multiple years.
Kirilenko IS the only free agent left that is not a center that is worth anything close to $7-8 million. I suppose it's possible. With Smith, Millsap, Calderon, and Jack gone, I suppose it's the only possibility in free agency. The only other possibility is that Morey has a possible trade to bring in a player with a salary in the $8-$17 million range if he can move Lin. Lin + one DMo/TJones or some of the non-guaranteeds could bring in as much salary as that if he can dump Lin to a 3rd team. Rudy Gay?? (I doubt it) Perhaps a good young player attached to a bad contract?? (Cody Zeller and Ty Thomas??...I can dream, can't I?)
Ha Ha, never fought just watched. You are a decent poster when you are not a little b****. But TRob was never as bad as you suggested and we were never going to have to pay to get rid of him. Anyone who suggested that was out of touch. Glad to see you have returned from that dark place in your head.
Now that it looks like the Hawks are taking Monta off the table we don't have to worry about Lin being traded out for him. I was crossing my fingers that Morey wasn't trying to bring in one of Dwight's old buddies by moving Lin out for him. If we're gonna bring back one of Dwight's buddies, I'd much prefer Courtney Lee.
That $8.4M number sounds an awful lot like Omer Asik's number. If he's got his mind set on an $8.4M player, it may not necessarily be a FA.
I'm looking forward to seeing TRob in the Vegas Summer League. He bombed there as a rookie and if he bombs again as a 2nd year player against mostly rookies and scrubs, it's yet another major red flag. Glad Morey was able to get something for him, but he was a horrible rookie, which typically bodes badly for a player's NBA career. Anyways, no point in talking about it much more now. Robinson will be good or bad independent of our takes on him. We'll just have to watch and see.
Actually, the target does not have to be an UFA; it could be a guy with a contract in that vicinity that some other GM values less than DM the GM. BTW - - good points on this page, CH.
Just want to point out that we will (not right or wrong) value Asik more than probably more than half the teams in the NBA, since half the teams in the NBA have not adopted the camera technology that is feeding all of Morey's wonderful stats.
He should have an opportunity to compete for minutes if he is any good. LMA is the starting PF but if Robinson can't even out-compete the "etc," he doesn't deserve to be an NBA rotation player. Right now, the "etc"-- i.e. Portland's other bigs-- consist three other rookies from the year 2012 (Myers Leonard, Victor Claver, Joel Freeland) and Robin Lopez. If you can't beat out this crew for minutes, you don't deserve them.
