[ClutchFans] Rockets will seek Dwight Howard trade... again

This particular article and the two radio interviews were generated by Clutch himself. Not the Rockets organization. I dont know who in the Rockets org. had these conversations with Clutch, but I sincerely doubt it was for the purpose of raising fan interest.

If anything, this makes them look worse because of the possiblity of Dwight opting in because of the possibility of being traded to Houston. Maybe Clutch will enlighten with his opinion on whether or not this was leaked for the purpose you speak of or not, but Im under the impression it was not.

 

Forgive me if I misheard anything.

Spoiler

-Given where this team has been, they've done this the last couple of years. Pursue players that were considered rentals or unlikely to re-sign here.

-Rumors right up to the deadline was that they were one of, if not, the last team standing. Understanding is if Dwight doesn't opt in, they had a deal for Dwight. They look at that as a positive. If the Magic do look to trade Dwight again, they see that as a positive but it will be a whole 'nother ball game.

-Rockets fans frustrated this team is stuck in obscurity. They've always had someone to hang their hat on. They don't have that [now]. 3 years now being 9th in the West. Best team in the league to not make the playoffs and 3 years with the 14th pick. That's what they call the mediocrity treadmill. Spinning the wheels and not getting anywhere. In a desperation state to land someone.

-Put Clutch on the spot and asked what is the best deal Houston can offer. An offer compared to Bynum or Griffin, it doesn't compare. Rockets can offer salary cap flexibility and a lot of good players but none that are stars. Lowry is probably the best. Also mentions Kevin Martin and Chandler Parsons, who they're familiar with. Donatas Motiejunas is coming over, who the Rockets are high on. Probably a top 10 pick this year. Got the 14th and 16th picks. Got solid players but can't offer that player with a superstar ceiling.

-Asks him how long he's been doing this. 15, almot 16 years.

-Asked about Rashard Lewis. There was talk that he would have gone to Houston had the Magic not made it a max deal. Says Morey, the very first hour of FA, he went to Lewis' house. Presented him with Rockets jersey. Probably had to be looking at a S&T to get him. They had full MLE but probably had to work out a S&T. What Orlando offfered shattered what Houston could offer and Morey probably would not have offered that anyways.

-More Rashard Lewis and if the Magic overpaid: The Magic did overpay for Lewis but felt they were going for it. They went all in but at the time, given what he was, a very good complimentary player, giving him over 100 million was a bit much.

-If not Dwight then who or what? Says it's undetermined at this point. Every year they try to trade up in the draft. Lowry seemed to be PG of the future but Dragic stepped up when Lowry was out. Rockets going all in to sign Dragic. That makes Lowry expendable. Then a handful of RFA that could be interesting to them. Hibbert and Eric Gordon but all a notch below Howard and Williams. Rockets need to make a splash, make something happen.

-Asked about thoughts on the Magic organization: A very big deal on the national scene when SVG and Howard had that video issue there where SVG said Dwight wants me fired. That was something of a shock but the Magic are similar to me to Houston. Great city, weather, similar tax situation but if I was making an assessment, they have to make a very big decision soon and don't want to be stuck again like this past year. Probably seeking an extension right away from Dwight or seek a trade.

-Asked what is the feeling about Houston and if they unfairly feel like a 2nd class citizen. To a degree, we felt that way in the last year or two. We found ourselves with Bosh, Paul, Carmelo--either 2nd on the list or not on it at all. We always considered ourselves in the 90s that we were always a front runner, we could go get the best players. Last few years, we felt a notch below that. Will a superstar take a chance and come to Houston?

Host afterward felt bad for T-Mac. Comes to Orlando and Hill gets injured, comes to Houston and Yao and his injuries and how T-Mac had to or tried to carry the team without Yao.

Then as redhotrox pointed out, one of them said, I never felt like they could win a championship with Yao anyways.

 

Indiana is Indiana because they're in the East. In the West, I doubt they're significantly better than the Rockets. They're a star-less bunch of gritty, mid-round overachievers with good chemistry. Fun to watch, but not a true contender, especially not with the competition in the West.

As far as OKC, the building blocks are all top five picks. If you want to follow suit, picking up Dwight gives you a better shot than what the Rockets have now. That's exactly why I'm all systems go in support of the move. If it works out, great. If not, you've broken the mediocrity treadmill and should have a chance to draft true cornerstones. The "grow some of our own" route isn't likely to work unless something dramatically changes in the structure of the team from what it is now.

 

Yeah, I felt like the way they said it was sort of in good humour. Maybe a friendly jab or something, but yeah obviously they are the one team that cant say anything about Jordan's baseball fantasy being the only reason why the Rockets got at least one of their banners.

-What are your thoughts as far as how they viewed the Rockets assets that would potentially come back in a trade?

To me it seemed like they would have more of an interest of who else would come with Dwight to clear up capspace rather than what they would be getting along with a Kevin Martin type player (which obviously they aren't high on.) Lowry however, they seemed to speak very highly on.

 

See: Pistons, Detroit (with LB er, NextTownBrown)
See: Pacers, Indiana (with Exec-of-the-Year LB er, Larry Bird)

DH12 took Orlando as far as LBJ took Cavs. Blueprint? I don't needs no steenkin blueprint...

Frankly, my goal du jour is relevance. I want the Rox to again be relevant. Then legit contenders for TheParade! (sigh)

 

So maybe the Rockets had no intention in leaking any sort of information regarding Howard. After seeing what the Gasol fiasco did in regards to player-management relations. It'd be nice to know maybe what teams were involved and what players were discussed, but again, it could do more harm than good.

 

The Gasol fiasco was one of the few times that players were actually named in a trade on a public stage before the trade was actually official and then the deal was nixed. Most of the time the Rockets are one of the few teams that sort of catch you off guard with the players they trade for or trade away until the deal actually happens.

Thats probably a good thing seeing as what it can do to a player that is a little bit sensative like Kevin Martin when they find out they are on the block.

Again, we have no clue who the person was the Clutch talked to. It could have been the ball boy, or it could have been Morey himself. There is no way he would put that source out there, nor should he.

Someone knowing that they are on the phone with the Magic in a deal that obviously is involving Dwight Howard on the eve of the trade deadline is one thing. Having a wire tap on the phone to hear the names of the players actually being discussed is another.

More than likely Morey, Rosas, Hinke, & maybe even Les himself all are together in one or more of the offices at the TC on nights like the trading deadline so people in the organization that are around working can get an idea of whats going on, but the four or five guys in that room on that call are probably sworn to secrecy to not name names so something like "Kevin Martin type" of situation never happens again.

If you want names to leak out, its probably going to have to come from the other end of the phone. However, you can make an educated guess on who was involved. More than likely Clutch has an "educated guess" as do alot of the people around the Rockets organization as to who was involved, but giving his best guess would be taken as gospel on these boards and potentially around other websites and media outlets. Its probably not fair to go that route.

 

In today's day and age leaks most generally come from agents. When they come from teams it's often due to floating names out there for various purposes.

 

Winning makes teams relevant as well. Case in point, this past season before the tank job. Rockets were a hot topic for a short while.

 

good work Clutch.

 

No good can come out of having the players in the deal leaked. Other teams will use it as leverage to throw together a better offer.

 

I get what your saying and a lot of it makes sense. I would think that even of a trade is botched, you would want to keep thay information private as well. Obviously, some player handle the business part of the NBA better than others (Odom, Martin). Also, leaking information about a teams involvement in a trade also shows what kind of cards the team is playing with.

With regards to the Gasol trade, rockets fans have to remember that our pieces were going to New Orleans and the reason the Lakers originally pulled the trigger on the deal was because they were getting Chris Paul at the expense of Gasol. That in itelf would have been a heck of a deal for the lakers with the to rockets forking over a bigger chunk of their assets to obtain Gasol. I'm not exactly sure how attractive our collection of assets was to the Lakers. After all, if it was attractive enough, a deal would have already been made. Just my two cents.

Good points made though. Props

 

That was exactly what I was thinking.

 

You speak for all of us Clutch.
Defending Clutch City is an eternal battle between good and evil.

 

Great job, Clutch. I envy your ability to do these kinds of things without any apparent effort. -

 

We better be more aggressive this time in getting that player or "star"...expect those upper tier teams who failed big time in the playoffs to be also in competition for us to improve their roster.

 

Props to clutch for going espn orlando and beyond... not to mention the arguement which has led to 18+ pages of debate...(good debate at that)... i dont post often( i get more joy out of reading and finding out other peoples thoughts or views)... ive read every post and lots of souns speculation/arguements have been made...

I completely believe we were close(maybe closest) to landing dwight... kinda believe orlando used as bait to have him opt in... maybe our assets are good enough, maybe theyre not... maybe dwight will resign here, maybe he wont... its all specualtion...i admire clutch for his info and appreciate all he does...really wish i coulda listened to his live sportscasts... tooo bad i missed them..

That being said, how could you be upset at a tean for taking such a huge risk in an attempt to improve...no one would he mad if we gave up more than half our roster for the #1pick a.davis(who is unproven) yet they get mad because we would do the same for the ProveN #1center in the league? Sure it might be a rental... but is it worse than being stuck in second gear topping out at 14th pick...?

 

How could you, indeed.

 

-Link-

 

Interesting read from a "Magic Insider" with the Orlando Sentinel. Of course, Otis Smith would quickly hang up the phone if Morey called and made that offer. Our offer would have to start with Lowry and Martin, and then add assets from there.