I don't like when Morey said its in his hands. It's really not... If Morey wants to keep him and make Dragic the PG of the future. Then he can. Their are many suitors that pick ahead of us in the draft who need a solid PG. He could trade Lowry, Budinger, NY Pick (Lotto?..who knows) to move up. For instance lets just say NY has the 10th pick in the draft. We could use that pick and couple them to a team who needs PG help. I would only personally do this if it nets us a top 5 pick though.. But bottomline is... I think we could be good without Lowry. Yeah, Boykins and Fortson aren't who people would deem as a back-up, but they get the job done. We trade him off for a prized Top 5 pick. Martin would take buds minutes and having C-Lee too will keep depth at the guard positions. Parsons improves and we would still have Camby (hopefully), Dally, Scola (true 4 and at his comfortable spot) and an improved P-Patt. Call me crazy if yall want, but Morey would be letting Dragic go for nothing... when he could simply keep him and trade Lowry for something....
Carl, I don't think it will drop off. I think he will actually prove to be a clutch player in tough situations.. (hints).. he has already shown occasions and I believe he is the key in playoffs... just me though.. His stats are too good over the last 10 games for it to be a fluke. (He doesn't turn the ball over too much either)..
I'm thinking we have to match nearly any offer Dragic gets and take a gamble on him playing like this over a full season. He's like a PG version of Ginobili, much higher ceiling than Lowry at this rate IMO.
He's UNrestricted. Meaning, they make the offer, he makes his decision where HE wants to be, and how much he can make wherever. Its totally Goran's decision. He might want to take less to start with a contender for all we know. I believe the Rockets can actually offer him a lower base salary but spread over more years with Bird Rights. Bima, If you know off the top of your head I would be interested to know how "Bird Rights" could come into play with Dragic and get the Rockets an upperhand in negotiations without destroying cap space.
The Rockets advantage with Goran is that they can offer him more years and higher raises, so them MATCHING the contract would actually mean Goran gets more guaranteed money if they give him that extra year and top raises allowed. At this point, the ball is in the Rockets court unless Goran wants to take less to leave, if the Rockets walk away from him because he costs too much money - they will regret it for a long time. You don't let talent keep walking out the door for nothing. DD
But, the Rockets drafted Morris to play the 3. They were confident he could play the 3. I don't think he will be getting playing time ahead of Scola or PP during our stretch run for the playoffs. When a rookie gets in a game they need to make a positive impact in some way. Morris has played 84 minutes this season and is shooting 21.9% and is 0-8 in three pointers. Morris shot 25% in three pointers in the D-league, so it's probably best he not shoot 3 point shots right now. I also think his natural position may be at the 4, I just don't think the Rockets are interested in an undersized PF right now. Summer league and more D-league may be what he needs.
Yes, I realize he's unrestricted. But in order to convince him to stay we're probably going to have to offer at least as much as the top offer on the market to get him back. he's not going to take a discount, especially without knowing if he'll be starting.
This. Letting Dragic walk (with the exception being if he really does not want to be here) would be far worse than having Linsanity in NY. The Rockets can make a big statement to the rest of the league players: Your exceptional bb play will be rewarded in Houston. Personally, I am tired of saving capspace for that ever elusive superstar who does not want to be here.
'keep walking...' When has this happened in the Morey era? Especially when he could have reasonably 'got something'
morey finally has that game changing "semi" star player. Ive been a huge morey fan and supporter but if he lets goran slip through his fingers it will be a huge mistake. He's the only player on this team who can create. People dont wanna believe this cause its "goran dragic" but he's playing like a all star/ top 10 pg right now.
I think it's a little of both, as well as an increase in confidence, but i guess confidence also fits within either of those. Also, i think he's increased his strength/size since he was in phoenix. Not a big change, but enough to push the ball with more ease. Marcus Camby is definitely impressed.
Lowry last year put up 20/8 after the all-star break. He didn't drop too much this season, but I suspect Dragic will come back down to Earth too. Meanwhile, Lin has numbers as a starter that put both guys to shame. Does anyone still think he's a potential all-star?
Can Lowry or Gogi play SG? Can they defend the SG? If yes, then trade Martin and/or Lee if you get value. Done. If they can't really play SG effectively then it seems like we have to make the choice between them. I doubt Gogi stays here to be a backup. We all want to keep both L and G. And I love having backups in the game with either L or G at the helm. Lately, our bench is our big weakness and having L or G run it probably makes it a strength. So, maybe start both, rotate one out for Lee, and let the other play some point with starters and some with bench. Martin would have to be traded b/c he's not coming off the bench and isn't a SF. I do fear the small sample size (as others have mentioned). There is a chance of regressing to prior performance, or at least others teams "figuring out" Gogi's weaknesses. I think we're looking at offering $6mil/year and I don't think that's enough. Now if we trade Lowry then we'll up our offer.
The key advantages for the Rockets in re-signing Dragic (which others have already mentioned): --His cap hold only counts $4M against the cap, allowing the Rockets to sign/trade for other players before exceeding the cap to re-sign Gogi. (Still not 100% sure if the Rockets could also use the $2.5M Room Exception before re-signing Dragic, although I don't think that would be allowed.) --The Rockets could hypothetically offer Dragic a starting salary equal to the max salary for a four-year veteran (although they won't). Other teams would need to have that amount in cap room in order to offer Goran that much. --They can offer him a five-year deal with 7.5% annual raises. No other team can offer more than a four-year deal with 4.5% annual raises.
How quickly people forget. Lowry is better than Goran, plain and simple. If you want to get rid of Lowry and play Goran, then we're watching 2 different games.
