Houston going for one more star?

Of course the Rockets will attempt to trade for a big name frontcourt player, but it won't happen for a while, because it can't happen for a while. The contracts that will be necessary to include as filler (Daequan Cook's expiring contract, Carlos Delfino's expiring contract) aren't eligible to be traded anytime soon. Plus, as others have pointed out, other teams aren't going to want to trade such players until they decide they have no choice, which is generally right at the February trade deadline, if not during the summer. Guys who are likely to be targeted by Daryl Morey in January-February:

Josh Smith. However, if Atlanta is a top 4-5 team in the East this season, as I expect them to be, Smith will be a big reason why, and the Hawks are going to want to hold on to the guy and attempt to re-sign him to an extension during the summer. Maybe they sign-and-trade him in July to Houston, who knows, but my guess is that he's still on the Hawks roster after the February trade deadline.

Anderson Varejao. Blabber all you want, but Morey and his team believe in advanced metrics, which told them that James Harden is one of the 2-3 best SGs in the league and which will tell them that Varejao is hugely undervalued. The preference will be to pair Omer Asik with a low post scorer but OKC has done extremely well with no real low post scoring threat. So did the Bulls, back in the day.

Marc Gasol. Memphis would love to unload Zach Randolph's contract but that ain't happening. I actually think Memphis will be very competitive this season and will keep the roster intact, at least until this summer.

Derrick Williams. He can't play with Kevin Love, and Kevin Love is going to be on the floor as much as possible. Minnesota will likely attempt to pair Williams with Jose Barea's unwanted contract for a solid veteran shooter, although Houston might tempt them with an offer of, say, either Royce White or Terrence Jones packaged with the expiring contracts of Daequan Cook and Carlos Delfino.

Andrew Bynum. He's only going to be available if he misses a ton of games due to injury or is a drama queen, in which case Morey isn't going to want him. Let's just not waste our time thinking about a Bynum trade.

Marcin Gortat. He turns 29 in February, guys. And Phoenix will likely overvalue him. Not a player likely to be targeted by Morey.

LaMarcus Aldridge. Portland has possibly the most unreasonable ownership/management group in the league, and they absolutely covet Aldridge. Aldridge just isn't going to get traded. Sorry. Will not happen.

DeMarcus Cousins. See Bynum, above.

Paul Millsap. Here is the guy who Morey is going to go out and get, and Rockets fans are going to love him. He is extremely undervalued, and he's an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season. Utah is a small market team that will be reluctant to offer him the near-max contract that he wants and that someone will give him. I think Utah moves him at the trade deadline, and I think it's going to be to Houston. Millsap for Terrence Jones, Daequan Cook, and Carlos Delfino might get it done, although I can see a Patrick Patterson or a Marcus Morris getting thrown in somehow. Stop trying to talk yourself out of Millsap, he's a hell of a ballplayer, and will get Houston into the playoffs this season. Houston will be extremely competitive going forward with a lineup of Jeremy Lin-James Harden-Chandler Parsons-Paul Millsap-Omer Asik. That's a 50 game winner and a #4-#6 seed in the West in 2013-14 if Lin lives up to expectations.

 

I love the fact that our weakest position (PF) is the same position we have 3-4 young players with all-star upside.

 

There is no way we should trade for anyone else this year unless its kevin love. No one else that we could trade for is in the second tier star group. Ask yourself even if we trade for aldridge or smith would we be true contenders for a title ? I think not . Yes those two are relatively young but it is likely that they arent going to get any better. The best bet for this team is to see if one of White, Motiejunas, or Jones evolves into a star player. They each have the potential to do so. In the meantime just enjoy the season. If we make the playoffs it will be because one of our power forwards has stepped up and shown flashes of becoming a star player. If we dont make the playoffs thats great too since we will get another lottery pick with which to improve our team.

This Harden trade is really nice , and it gives us someone to build around but we are still building ... and it would be foolish to go all in and offer our young assets for a player who will definitely not make us a contender this year or the next. Our core now is one real superstar and some experience away from becoming a major threat. Lets give our prospects a chance to become that star player and in the meantime figure out just how good Asik, Lin and Parsons are going to be.

 

What 3-4 young players are those?

From where I sit, we have one PF with all-star upside and that's Motiejunas. Jones looks to have the makings of a good player, and I still don't know WTF we have in Royce White but I'm fairly certain it's not a future all-star. Probably tops out as a sparkplug sixth man type off the bench, and that may not be as a Houston Rocket.

 

I would go for Rudy Gay. This guy is severely underrated and he can just settle on scoring points and let Harden be the top guy on the team.

 

Neither of Jones or Royce White has played a single NBA game, and you're writing their potential off already? Jones has impressed in the preseason and looks to have plenty of tools to work with. Morey said himself that without the red flags, Royce White would have been a top 5 talent in this past draft. I'll trust his judgement over yours. I'm not sure you understand what the word upside means.

 

Bynum has allready said he would sign with Houston. Aldridge aint leaving Portland. My wish is to get Millsap. He wont get msax contract which gives us more room to add to mid level players like him.

Lin
Harden
Parsons
Millsap
Asik

Lin and Parsons along with Asik are great role players, but they are no Harden or Millsap type ballers.

 

I'd like to have Rudy Gay in a vacuum, but would you really want the extra salary tied up in him, along with getting rid of our designated wing-stopper?

While Parsons is no star right now, every 'ship team needs a wing-stopper and right now Chandler fits that mold; and for pennies on the dollar.

While I understand you may really like the Platoon of Patterson-Jones-Donuts (as do I), I don't think switching out Gay for Parsons is the kind of mold that Morey/McHale is shooting for. Stop the ball and run with it.

 

Eh, that lineup doesn't scream contender to me at all.

 

I swear to god 90% of the posts you make fall somewhere in the range between




and

 

Thats a great young core that will only improve.Then you have Dmo,Jones, White coming off the pine. With the Lakers window closing and the heat are not exactly a young team , the fture will belong to us and OKC.

 

I rather get a star PF then stunt Parsions growth and bringin an overrated Gay hack.

 

I think we make a play at an decent big like Jefferson(possibly) or (more likely) Millsap. Millsap is a good value pick because he doesn't cost a whole lot relative to what he does on the court. Then I would like to see them make a run at a real Max type guy even if that means trading Lin(who I think will always have trade value because his popularity in the Asian community means teams likely won't lose money on him). Chris Paul is the guy I would like to see us get(since he hasn't signed his contract extension yet) but realistically I think that's a long shot and Houston will likely roll with what we have more of less and keep trying to find another trade partner for something of value. If nothing else, they should just throw money at Greg Monroe in 2014.

 

I think the one player that is available and could push this team to the Finals would be Lamarcus Alridge. He is entering his prime and is one of the best most consistent PF's in the league. I think because Portland is rebuilding, a package of Parsons and maybe Jones or White would make it happen. I wouldn't like letting go of Parsons though but you have to do it if came down to it.

 

Totally agree. Fans here just wanna trade for trading sake.

 

I wrote off their potential to be all-stars before they were ever drafted, because they never had that potential (at least any real chance of it, every player has like a 0.1% chance of shocking people) on the basis of the skills, tools, and college performance.

There's a reason they were drafted in the middle of the first round, not the top of it, and in White's case it's not just the anxiety disorder, it's also because he's just a weird player. He has a unique skillset in that he can do things few bigs can pull off, but he also struggles with bread and butter skills for a PF. It's wonderful that he can run the floor handle the ball and pass like a beast, but until he can do the normal things you expect from a big as well I feel comfortable in saying he doesn't have all star potential.

Jones, like I said, has the makings of a good player. Looks like he should be a very useful rotation piece; maybe eventually an average starter. All-star? I don't see the skillset or elite tools necessary to achieve that level of play.

 

I can understand the Millsap guys, I really can.

But I just don't think he makes the team a contender. I don't think he has the potential to make the team a contender.

I agree with the notion that we sit tight on our own guys (D-mo and Jones) until one of the bigger guys break loose. If Millsap really wants the max then...I just can't see us giving that to a guy with little upside at his age. I think we've seen all that he can do.

I like the Josh Smith idea better, if Josh just plays smarter he's instantly the better player IMO.

I think a dream scenario is Love/Cousins/Aldridge. In that order. It's going to take some funny things to happen for that to become a reality.

 

Or dwight.

 

Yall say this...Portland is rebuilding...around Lillard AND Aldridge though.

If they want to tank again though..yeah, I could see them doing something like that.

 

We need a decent PF if Jones doesn't develop... if not we need a small forward upgrade