I do see what you're saying now. It seems I did jump the gun a little bit. Out of those lineups, the only one I could see the Rockets going for would be Lee/Anthony, but that's only if Anthony is willing to sign an extension. I doubt the Rockets would give up their long-term plan at SG for a superstar SF that will be gone after this season. That's just pure speculation on my part, though, so you can take that with a grain of salt. I could maybe see the Rockets dealing Martin for Granger, but I seriously doubt the Pacers want to give Granger now that they got their future PG. I see no way at all the Rockets trade Martin for Iguodala. So basically going off of my own baseless speculation, I'd say the only way Martin is expendable is if they can get Melo with an extension in return.
Adelman liked playing Brooks at the 2 last year with Lowry at point. So if you're asking do I think they'd like to do that then my answer is yes. Battier or Bud would fill in the rest of the minutes out of necessity. My thought rests on the idea that Adelman and Morey liked the way Brooks and Lowry played together, so they wouldn't go out of their way to kill that lineup, and there are only liek 6 other minutes besides that. Why would he go out of his way to get a guy who only gets spot minutes? Using Martin as trade-bait instead of some of our other assets has other incentives. It would keep us from having to use that TE we just got. Using that requires that we jump right back into the LT hell that we just got out of. Also we may be able to hold on to some of those Knick picks that we would most likely have to give away in a deal revolving around expirings. To whoever just posted above me. I think the Rockets would prefer any of those lineups with Lee/whatever star SF over the current one with Battier. They've been shopping Battier for a while and Lee isn't a scrub. This team NEEDS another perimeter creator for when defenses tighten up and our team offense stalls.
I think it's safe to say the rockets would rather no play lowry and brooks if possible...it worked at times, but it also caused some issues...i tihnk we can live without it... So to answer your question, you decrease martin's minutes to about 30, so he's well-rested and less likely to get injured. That leaves 18 for Lee, which is perfect. Battier/dub strictly play the 3 and brooks and lowry the one. Ideally i think they'd want to rest the starters more, keep their minutes down, which indirectly lessens the chance of injury for all of them and keeps them fresh. You give the back ups slightly more minutes...of course there's situations where you'll need the starters to play a lot, but there will be plenty as well when we can constantly rotate all 10 or so around, keeping them fresher, while at the same time keeping them running.
Only way we get rid of Martin is to try and get Carmelo. I would take Martin over just about any shooting guard in the league. If he will just stay healthy for us we will fine with Martin as our SG.
That works. Just keep in mind to get Lee those minutes you're reducing Lowry's, Brooks, Budingers, and Martins minutes per game. I do like the idea of having rested starters though. I didn't make this thread because I thought Martin would be traded. I seriously doubt he will be. It just seems like we now have a viable option at SG if he were to be traded, and that because of the asset (may not have to trade picks) and financial benefits of trading him instead of Battier, Jeffries, or the TE (we don't trade an expiring for a long-term high dollar deal) that Morey may be inclined to pursue the option. Granted he'd probably pursue the option anyways, but now its more realistic.
Only in the sense that Morey has proven once again, he will trade a big name on the team, if he feels it will work out better. Started really with Alston, hit more fans closer to home with Landry and now Ariza, who they just signed last year and were gushing over. Basically, it comes down to Morey probably willing to deal anyone regardless of stature on the team. A respectable trait to have, but I am sure no one in that Rockets locker room is sleeping easier save maybe Battier.
i should add the only way martin becomes expendable is if the team shows they dont need him to produce much...in other words if the chemistry dictates that yao, brooks, scola, get the touches and that with minor contributions from lowry, bud, hill, etc. add up to Martin only scoring 12-15 a game, and if Lee shows he's still a capable starter who fits, then Martin could be out. I know many will say he wont score that low, but someone has to. We're not going to have 4 guys averaging 20 a game. The best thing would be for the primary scorers to be the best paid, but it may not turn out that way, which would make the others overpaid....but since we're not trading yao this mostly applies to martin and possibly scola.
That's a fair point. Morey's built a deep enough team that he could trade for an elite player at pretty much any position without handicapping the roster. It's been his MO for quite a while now, and he's been pretty open about it.
I doubt his scoring suffers much. I would expect Brooks and Scola to see bigger dips in their scoring. Of course when I say Scola would drop I mean from the 19 a game he was averaging post trade. 16.8 or whatever he averaged for the year is possible. And Yao won't average 20. He may only be at 12-14.
brooks-30/lowry 21 martin 30 / lee 15 battier 28/ bud 20 That's my guess...with lowry's extra 2 mins coming at the 2...i'm not sure if they'd keep him under 20, as in brooks30/lowry18, after his new deal, since he'd be losing almost 7 mins (got 25 last year). It'll be interesting to see how this develops as it's pretty different from the typical lineup, more depth than i've seen in a while.
See in one hand I like this, and in the other I don't. Martin and Brooks are two guys who deserve big playing time. But so do Lowry, Bud, and Lee. So by having these guys share the minutes like that, sure they're rested and everybody gets a piece, but you're not getting your maximum return on guys like Martin and Brooks. You're limiting how much they can do. That's why I suggested a Martin trade. You let Lee get the minutes he deserves, Brooks can still get his 36 and Lowry 25, and Bud or Battier can fill in the spot minutes whenever necessary. So your not wasting talent on the bench like we were with Landry pre-trade and we get a stud to go in the starting lineup at the 3 spot. Is it worth having Martin on the team for 11M when he's only playing 30 minutes? Same logic to Lowry and Brooks after next year. I don't know. 10 man rotations are hard to work out. Only reason Phoenix did it was because they had several older players who needed minutes reduced and younger guys who werne't ready for a huge jump yet.
Since when did "expendable" became "untouchable"? Let's put it this way. There are no players in the NBA Morey would trade Martin for today, that he wouldn't have traded Martin for a week ago. If Morey could trade Martin for Melo, he'd have done that trade a month ago, today, or a month into the future. Regardless of whether we have Lee or not.
well thats the issue i have too...i dont like the idea of having a lot of the cheaper guys doing the work and the heavily paid not doing enough...one, maybe two can pass, but we'd have like 4 of them, maybe 5. but then i think that maybe Adelman/morey figure this is the only way to win, especially against a stacked team like LA and a super team like miami. Then you have boston adding some depth as well...depth like ours can work in two ways for us...one, by just simply throwing waves of players constantly and trying to out run them or tire them out, which may work against an older team like Boston....or two, by trying 2 guys out at every spot and whoever has the hot hand gets the bulk of the minutes, so there's a very good chance you'll have someone playing well at every spot and every game, which will help beat a team like LA or Miami. So perhaps they realize they'll be overpaying some guys, but figure it's not realistic to have the roster AND salary perfectly balanced out, so it's just something they have to deal with in order to contend.
Actually, all the recent roster moves/changes (acquisition of Miller and Lee) seem to complement Kevin Martin. I believe we're set to trade for a superstar very soon. Martin stays. Ask R.A.
