If everything goes right, a rockets roster of Llull/Johnson Harden/Brewer Durant/Ariza LMA/Jones Howard/Capela Would be hella enticing.
"Gutting the team" in terms of cap math means a lot of the players have to go, it doesn't necessarily mean that EVERY player must go. Josh Smith, especially, might take a pay cut to stay for 1 year given that he's already getting paid by Detroit and any extra $1 he makes is basically only 50 cents due to Detroit's contract offset language. There are probably ways to keep other guys, too (working out sign and trade, getting guys to return for the minimum, or use the room exception). I wonder if Portland would be willing to take some combination of Ariza, one or more of the young guys (Jones, DMo, Capela, 18th pick) and filler non-guaranteed contracts of Papanikalaou and Prigioni.
If you can Aldridge, you obviously have to try and get him. However not getting him definitely wouldn't end of the world for the Rockets especially if they keep Smith. The only thing this team has to do is get an upgrade at the point guard position.
Durant? Don't get ahead of yourself. It would take Durant taking a steep paycut for this too happen. Morey will have to decide.
LMA is way better than any of the Rockets PFs so we can end that debate quickly. The question is: is he a big enough upgrade to downgrade from Ariza to Brewer and McDaniels. I don't like relying on either of those guys, but I think the answer is yes.
You aren't using common sense. Aldridge wanted a 5 year contract instead of a 3 year contract with the Blazers. A big 3, along with a gutted roster and minimal role players isn't going to be enough to win a championship in the tough Western Conference. If the Spurs can give him the max, they will have a much better chance of obtaining him.
Both the Spurs and Rockets would realistically be giving up pieces to acquire Aldridge. Were the Rockets to trade for LMA, they would still be bringing back Beverley, DMo, Brewer, Terry and Prigioni at the minimum with the possibility of Capela, Smith, Llull and McDaniels.
I don't want LMA if it means letting go of Ariza, Brewer, Smith, Beverley, etc... I don't want to gut the team for him. We've got such a good thing going chemistry-wise. I think we would have had 60+ wins if our injury situation had been better. I say just bring everybody back and wait till the cap increases to hunt for a big free agent. Everybody will want to sign here if we have a monster season next year.
Agreed. Up 2-0 on Mavs and people salivating about gutting team for a mediocre star about to be on the wrong side of 30.
Morey is playing chess while the rest of the league is playing checkers (except for Cuban who is playing the crying game) :grin:
The big 3 system is broken, the only reason it worked before is LBJ was superhuman and Boston/LA played in an era you can afford to hav 30M in lux tax payments. The new tax rules make it so you wind paying 2-3 times the old lux tax so teams cant afford fielding big 3s with quality roleplayers anymore. If we burn our cap for a big 3 and DH goes down to injury during the regular season what happens to the squad? We wont even make the playoffs with just Harden, another guy and some scrubs.Rather than relying on just 3 guys to do everything, I think the GSW model is the best, you have 2 superstars and then you increase the quality of the roleplayers...guys like Iggy and Bogut can be considered stars by themselves but they ended up becoming complementary players to Curry and Klay.
Imagine how bad Portland would hate us if we took Aldridge like we took Drexler. Go all in, though I hope we don't have to lose Ariza... Harden/Howard/Aldridge the new Drexler/Olajuwon/Barkley?
LMA would cost too much, if you want LMA just bring in Scola he gives you 80% of LMA at 20% of the price. This would be us falling into the same trap as Dallas and going for the big name. Sure LMA torched us but if he was so unstoppable how come he didnt reach the finals last year? Fact is LMA is streaky, and if you're paying superstar money you dont want streaky You want consistently dominant like Harden on fts or Dwight on defense.
I wonder if Morey would give up Capela? You know that's who they'll ask for, as a centerpiece to any deal.
Interesting time for Cyberx to pop his head up with this little tidbit. I guess the news that came out the other day has sources tied to Cyberx's sources spreading this around in preparation for a Portland first round exit. Before you guys wet the bed with excitement though, a couple things to keep in mind- -From a cap perspective, this goes against what Morey just said this morning on 790 about operating over the cap in order to use the MLE (which is the contract amount that was rumored about as a dangled amount in Llull's camp this winter when Morey was in Europe). -Morey would have to gut the roster, and Ariza will need to be moved for no salary coming back -LMA will probably need to gamble on his health to sign a one-year deal in order to try and capitalize on the CBA. However, the Rockets will not have his bird rights. Financially its tough to see him leaving Portland given this is his final pay day. All in all, I think LMA is a perfect fit, and pretty much is a better version of Bosh anyways... the one who left us at the alter multiple times. I also have no doubt there is mutual interest if LMA is really going to shop around free agency (something I think he'll do but ultimately Portland should have the edge). However given the fact that he's SURELY going to require a max salary, and given what Morey just talked about this morning in retaining guys and operating over the cap, it seems highly unlikely this marriage will work out. -Scola resigning at the vet min.... sure why not, but if he's only getting vet min offers, Europe will come calling with alot more money. This guy was pretty much the Lebron James of Euroleague for a number of years, and is a huge draw over there. You still have more money to deal with as an option most likely. I wouldn't say Scola is a "lock" by any stretch just yet, but again I'm sure there is mutual interest. But seemingly little playing time, and virtually no money. Not sure why Scola is that eager to come back to Houston knowing this. -Llull coming over seems like the most likely report given what Morey hinted at this morning about as an MLE target. Thanks Cyberx for letting us know what you are hearing. Not trying to damper anyone's spirits here, but just letting people know that there are some serious mountains that need to be moved in order for these things to all happen. Its tough to see them committing to anything right now when they are in the thick of the playoffs and might just be looking to prepare for a series against the Spurs or Clippers.
LaMarcus is most assuredly another max player that I suspect will sign either a straight one-year deal or a one-year deal with a player option for 2016-17. He is a 9-year vet what stands to make considerably more money if he is a free agent in 2016 over signing a max 4 or 5 year deal this summer because: 1. The cap is going up substantially and 2. He will be a 10-year vet next summer and eligible for the higher 35% of cap max salary rather than the 7-9 year vet max which is 30% of the cap. ================================================================================== We could theoretically combine Terence Jones (hometown), Kostas (originally drafted by Portland and non-guaranteed), Pablo (only $290k guaranteed), Dorsey (cap filler), plus Pat Beverley signed-and-traded somewhere for around $17-19 million of incoming salary. So we can generate sign - and trades without moving Ariza. And players like LaMarcus will have the leverage to get their team to do such a lopsided deal by having the ability to walk to a team of their choice.
