The only thing Asik has accepted is not to pout and give the team his best for the time being. If the trade deadline passes and Asik is still with the team, expect Asik checkout 2.0.
Omer's not pouting as long as the Rockets are aggressively pursuing a deal in the background. That's new terms of the deal for Asik & the Rockets. He's not content on backing up Howard for the long haul. I heard Bill say that too, but it just reeked of typical PC things to say. He's gone, he's checked out, it's just when.
The writing was on the wall for Asik to be shipped out the day Howard signed. He's good as gone... Having him as a backup insurance policy doesn't make this team a contender but trading him could.
It's not $2.5M. Scola's contract had his last 3 seasons at between $9.4M and $11M. So, subtract PHX's bid (which goes from $4.1M up to $4.9M or so), you are left with still $5.3M and $6.1M. So, I was wrong as well. Not quite $7M for Scola but much more than $2.5M. http://web.archive.org/web/20110930...s.com/content/pages/data/salaries/rockets.jsp And Scola isn't the only guy that Leslie has paid not to play for Houston. This year, Leslie is paying the full guarantee for Marcus Camby, and partial guarantees for Reggie Williams and BJ Young. In the 2012-13 season, the Rockets paid millions of dollars to release Lazar Hayward, Jajuan Johnson, Jon Brockman, Gary Gorbes, Et'wan Moore, etc.-- all of these guys unwanted salaries from trade partners that Houston absorbed in order to acquire an asset (from Harden to moving up in the draft). The point is, while Leslie Alexander isn't throwing money around at a Prokhorov level, the kind of money that Asik makes really makes little difference when it is the cost of doing business.
If I were Morey, I would also keep Asik. Howard has injury issues (knock on wood) or can get into foul trouble. I don't want to repeat last season when our defense fell apart whenever Asik would sit. We love you, big fella. We want to keep you. Rockets should get him a shooting coach or some time with CD to let Asik know he can continue to grow with our team.
Well in the world where say, Love break his hand AGAIN tomorrow it probably can, of course, if that's the case we wouldn't do it.
The reason why Love always come up in trade rumors has never been about his play. Whether he's MVP level or superstar level or merely all-star level, his chances of being traded only has to do with his desire to stay in Minnesota. This is what happens when David Kahn makes GM decisions.
Love would basically have to chuck an ultimatum, and we'd have to give picks + Moreys firstborn and some unicorn blood. Maybe we could get him then.
No sane GM and owner will pay a backup 8 million a year to player 13 minutes a night and he has that spiked up 14 mill final year. Rockets will not be that much for a guy like Asik playing off the bench.
Right now the big need for the Rockets is a backup center who can defend and rebound and won't whine if he only plays 15 minutes. Centers like that are hard to come by. Young centers want to play; we might have to trade then for an older center like Dalembert or Camby or someone who will accept that role. People who think we are going to get a star for Asik are dreaming. I read an article on Bleacherreport stating their opinion that even Ryan Anderson was worth too much for the pouty, unpredictable, and can't-finish-at-the-rim Asik.
The Rockets don't have to trade for Camby... They're waiting on him to get healthy and will probably pick him back up during the middle of the season or whenever he does...
I liked Camby when he last played for us. I might be wrong,but I felt he didn't have anything left in the tank even before he got injured.
OKC traded Harden. It's not like he wanted to come here in the first place. Anyway, I don't blame Asik wanting to start but at least be professional about it (show some effort even as back up one the court).
