I think that was all even especially for Orlando and Houston.... KL is young and relentless... He has a brighter upside than RA without a doubt... The only advantage of having RA in our roster was his leadership and experienced... We had couple of games that we committed more TOs than assists... The result would have been better if we took care of the ball more... BUT on the other hand, AB and KL were relentless... Their quickness gave the Blazers and Lakers some problems defensively... I think that trade can make a good argument IF we're talking about this season and the playoffs... But in a long run, the Rockets will be the better team....
I think it's a legit question. If there's one flaw I've seen so far in Morey's work as a GM, it's this: When he wants a player really badly, he might be willing to overpay to get him. The Rafer trade and (of course) the Battier trade come to mind immediately.
Rafer trade: We were trying to move Rafer cause of locker room issues. We did not overpay for Kyle.. **** Memphis fans are probably complaining that Kyle is doing so well in Houston. Alston has one good game and people think that we should have got Chris Paul.. some how. Rafer is a good player he just did not work well with the Rockets system. Battier trade: No Comment.. I honestly feel it was a fair trade.
What do you mean we didn't get enough?? We got Kyle Lowry and BRIAN COOK!! The latter is the crux of the deal, of course.
It's not JUST Kyle, though. In that trade, we also had to take on Brian Cook and his contract, which constrains our off-season moves THIS summer. So we gave up a starting NBA point guard (true, regardless of how effective he had been for the Rockets) to a team that was DESPERATE to get one -- in fact, their entire season hinged on them getting a decent replacement for Nelson -- as well as taking on the contract of a player not good enough to be on our roster otherwise. And for all of that, we get a backup PG? Don't get me wrong, I'm sure Morey ran the numbers and felt that long-term, Lowry would pay off that investment. I happen to think it was a steal and Lowry will be that valuable to the team. That doesn't change the fact that Morey could probably have made a better deal, since the Magic were in a bind. But Morey admits to having a boner for Lowry for a long time, and I think he was afraid to play hard-to-get for fear the Magic might back out and he lose his prize.
We could have easily got Rashard Lewis and Dwight Howard for Rafer. Rafer is a god and Orlando knew this. We got took.
By my understanding, this deal also was sort of last minute. There may not have been much time for hard negotiations.
let's clear this up first, it has nothing to do with rafer's contract. He is 5 mill. expiring at the end of 2010 and both Lowry and Cook are the expiring 2010. It has to do with the rockets like brooks and lowry that is all
I always thought we could get CP3 or D-Will by trading Alston. All Morey needed to do was calling those GMs. Morey screwed up big time.
Everyone got what they wanted. We got Lowry who is just as good and has more potential, the grizz got a 1st round draft pick for someone they did not need and got rid of Cook's contract, and and the Magic got a serviceable PG for this year and a great backup for next year.
Financially, the trade was a wash. We basically split Rafer's salary into two smaller salaries. Lowry and Cook's contracts also expire after 2009-10 just like Rafer's, assuming Cook exercises his player option. In other words, it didn't numerically add any constraints to what we can do this offseason unless you think Rafer is more tradable than Lowry and Cook. If anything, Lowry is the most tradable of those three players because of his value per dollar. Neither Rafer or Cook are valuable trade assets beyond the fact both of their contracts will be expiring after next season.
Oh God, please god dear lord and savior let Brian Cook think he's to good to make 3 mil a year so he opts out and goes free agent. God you may have T-mac's other knee if you so please.
GS loves players that shoot with no conscience. Cook should think about that long and hard before exercising his option. He is worth at least $50 mil over 5 years to them as trigger happy as he is.
