[Ken Berger] Rockets trying to acquire another 1st-round pick

If we're trading back, then there's something beyond picks/rookies that Morey wants.

Maybe Prigioni and #18 for Haywood and #24? That Haywood non-guaranteed is gold. Then you watch teams like NYK and MIA. What if Deng/Dragic/Wade all leave? What if the Knicks decide to do a true rebuild?

 

I would have to say the main interest in doing both would have to singularly line up towards collecting tradeable contracts possibly? Maybe all or partially non-guaranteed?

Could the ultimate purpose be to create an extremely palatable & enticing S&T offer that doesn't need to shed quality players come July?

Anyone have a counter to that theory?

 

Not even close. Seriously. No one would even entertain giving us the #12 pick for Terrance Jones. There are 30+ Terrance Jones level (or better) PFs in the league. No one gives up a lottery pick for that.

 

Here is what we know about the lead up to the draft since Morey has been on board:
- he is always willing to at least entertain a trade proposal.
- he calls most if not all teams looking for a deal.
- The player being most rumored to be involved in the transaction, is rarely if ever the move that is actually made.
- Morey is willing to squeeze out small gains from a transaction if there are gains to be had. This normally involves providing another team cap relief of some kind or facilitates a trade as a third party at a small cost.
- he stockpiles "assets" and looks to cash them in when he can.
- he won't deal someone if the value is too low unless he is trying to cut salary for an immediate acquisition(think of the trades that preceded Howard being signed for instance).

...you can extrapolate quite a few things from this but the big takeaway is, everything is on the table so don't be surprised by some of the rumors and also don't be surprised if nothing at all happens. Morey said this reminds him of the 2012 draft. Houston had 3 picks in that draft and most on the board thought he was going to try to package them to move up, but the opportunity cost was too high for Morey and he kept the picks instead and one of those pieces ended up facilitating the Harden trade, another of those picks has been our starting PF, and the other pick - well that was a disaster....but overall you can't be too disappointing that you turned those 3 draft picks into an all star and a solid rotational player/borderline starter.

 

I wouldnt give up 2 firsts for Lawson. I'd use the extra first along with future considerations and some current roster players for a bigger deal.

 

FWIW, Brendan Haywood's contract cannot be aggregated with additional salary in time to trade him before his 2015-16 salary ($10.5 million) becomes fully guaranteed. Therefore, the Haywood contract can be used to take back no more than roughly $15.5 million. Any player (either with an existing contract or via S&T) making more than $15.5 million cannot be acquired using the Haywood contract.

Still, that contract is one hell of an asset.

 

Thanks again for dropping knowledge. I got really excited about pairing Papas contract with Haywoods.

 

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">DRAFT FACT -
From 1997 to 2012 - Picks 11-30
0% All-Pro
3% all-star
21% starter
25% rotation player
51% non impact player</p>&mdash; David Locke (@Lockedonsports) <a href="https://twitter.com/Lockedonsports/status/613404615921369088">June 23, 2015</a></blockquote>
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Cleveland had no plans to trade Haywood before the Moratorium anyways. They're measuring the market for Haywood and their first rounder now with the idea of making a trade after the moratorium. They want the flexibility of aggregating a trade of Kevin Love with a trade of Haywood and their first if Love does tell them he wants to leave. Love, Haywood, plus the first, and possibly even JR combine to give Cleveland the possibility of a gargantuan salary trade. They could relieve Brooklyn of Joe Johnson and in the process also possibly Jarrett Jack, Alan Anderson, and Plumlee. Not to mention a myriad of other options around the Association.

 

21% starter is not bad

 

Thanks. Good for putting things into perspective. The expectation should 50/50 shot at being a starter/rotation player or bust.

Here's Morey's track record for 11-30 picks:

Brooks: Starter/rotation player
Patterson: rotation player
Morris: rotation player
DMo: starter/rotation player
Lamb: bust
White: bust
TJones: rotation player
Capela: rotation player...maybe starter someday

I'd say Morey has done pretty well. 2 starters, 4 rotation players, and 2 busts....a 75% hit rate

 

:grin:

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/BimaThug">@BimaThug</a> Lakers/Boston trying to move out of 27/28. Could it make sense for Rox to move up from 32. Get 3 yrs/rights. not have to use MLE</p>&mdash; Chris A. White  (@fyrebear) <a href="https://twitter.com/fyrebear/status/612311234600284160">June 20, 2015</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">.<a href="https://twitter.com/BenDuBose">@BenDuBose</a> 25th/26th pick will count ~$1M-$1.3M against cap next summer. Not much &gt; 32nd pick if signed to multi-yr deal (at least ~$875k).</p>&mdash; David Weiner (@BimaThug) <a href="https://twitter.com/BimaThug/status/613094879699165184">June 22, 2015</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/BenDuBose">@BenDuBose</a> Full disclosure: <a href="https://twitter.com/fyrebear">@fyrebear</a> brought this up w/me a few days ago. I took other side (Devil's advocate) but actually like benefits.</p>&mdash; David Weiner (@BimaThug) <a href="https://twitter.com/BimaThug/status/613096140548890624">June 22, 2015</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Sources say 76ers and Blazers have discussed a deal that would give Philly #23 pick in exchange for #35 and #37 picks (and possibly more).</p>&mdash; Alex Kennedy (@AlexKennedyNBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/AlexKennedyNBA/status/613409661576941569">June 23, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Looks like Blazers trying to move out of bottom of 1st as well (76ers confirmed he heard the rumor as well). The actual rumor isn't as important as the theme of late 1st being available and Rockets being interested in moving back up.

 

Paul George? Kawhi Leonard?

 

That's not a bad track record. I think Jones has started close to a 100 games for the rockets in his career as well.

 

You're not comparing apples to apples though. You'd need to be taking into account either the Rockets draft picks since 1997 and up to 2012, or you'd need to adjust the statistic being compared to account only for Morey's tenure league wide. Sort of wondering why he only did 1997 to 2012. Guessing there are a few inconvenient picks outside of that range, and maybe those beyond 2012 are still to early to call.

 

I think paul was top 10 bu you are right about Kl

 

I believe Brooks was Morey's first real 1st round pick, so this is the Morey era.

 

Boozer, Scola, Ginobili, Dragic, Marc Gasol, Draymond Green

 

Kawhi has not been an all-star.