i credit the Astros for finally be honest with where they are...that it is gonna take some time to build this thing instead of playing with patchwork pieces year after year. i wish the Rockets would take that approach. the idea of trying to remain competitive while rebuilding is trying to serve two masters, and it's not working. wheels spinning.
Hey MadMax - How about you and I buy the Hornets and we'll show Les how it's done. Might need to have you be the 99.99999% owner after I payoff Christmas...
I would love to reprise the Gasol trade under two conditions: 1. That we can't get Orlando to trade Dwight straight to us for anything and everything on our roster except Lowry, Lee, and one of our young bigs. 2. That we only give up Scola and Martin for him. If.....we could convince Orlando to trade Dwight to us along with Hedo, Duhon, and whatever other salary they want to unload for anything on our roster besides Lowry, Lee and one of our young bigs, then we have the ability to get Deron here big time. I won't go through explaining it but we would have the cap space through a subsequent trade to outright sign Deron and we would have enough assets left over to entice NJ to do a sign and trade to bring Deron here. That's the #1 scenario and I doubt Morey makes any moves until the Dwight situation is worked through. It's simply a matter of if Orlando wants to trade him to the Lakers or to us or let him walk at the end of the year. They aren't going to win as currently constructed in the East. And there's no available trades that will improve them substantially. NJ is not trading them Deron. So, Orlando is stuck. Dwight will either walk on them or they will have to trade him to not lose him for nothing. And NJ can't give them enough assets to beat what LA or the Rox can. The only other team that looks like a possible threat is Atlanta, Dwight's hometown. If they are willing to trade for Dwight without him agreeing to an extension, then a Horford/Joe Johnson for Dwight/Hedo deal is somewhat attractive. So does Orlando want Bynum/Gasol for Dwight, Hedo, and Duhon or do they want Bynum/Scola/Martin for Dwight, Hedo, and Duhon or do they want Dally/Scola/Martin/Marcus Morris/Patrick Patterson/Budinger for Howard/Hedo/Duhon and whatever other contract that they want to get rid of??? Here's the deal, if we get Dwight here, we can then dump Hedo and Hill to Boston for expiring contracts. Boston could use them to make another run or two. They've got the expiring contracts that leaves us with plenty of space to sign DWill outright in 2012. We go to the lottery and get our lottery pick, along with the Knicks pick. DWill tells the Nets he is going to opt out and sign outright with us unless they trade him. The Nets take Lowry plus a couple picks and trade us DWill. There you have it. We are in the Dwight sweepstakes. Doesn't matter if he won't re-sign here. If he doesn't resign, we're rebuilding with our lottery picks anyways and we have plenty of cap room to go get a couple players and have another 2011 Rockets team. Or we can sign minimal talent, and build through the draft and wait for the next big ticket. Worse case scenario is NJ has to flip us a couple picks and possibly Humphries for Dwight. I'd take that in a rebuild. We can win the Dwight sweepstakes and we should go for it. Boston just showed last night how to compete against Miami. You zone them up. That's the team most likely coming out of the East for the next several years. Who is the best zone defensive player? It's Dwight, no question, who is already the best defender in the league. The team that gets Dwight and surrounds him with another superstar and other talent has the best chance of beating Miami. Orlando has zero incentive to help another team in the East. I think it's going to come down to us or the Lakers for Dwight and if we don't get Dwight I suspect we wind up with Pau.
No numnuts, read my whole post earlier, he should go to a place where he would be #1, a team already established with veterans and young talent like the 76ers, Blazers, Kings or Hawks.
I agree with a lot of what you just said...but I think it makes more sense for lowry to be included in the deal if you are going for howard. I thought a while back that a 3 team trade with the raptors would be the best.... Barani and Lowry (a young player or two) (draft picks) to orlando Scola and hill or bud or dragic to toronto and Dwight and expirings to rockets.
I don't think we are in the Howard sweepstakes, but, if we are, I agree -- go for broke. Throw everything at ORL to get him here, and take the risk that he might walk. ATL can offer a better package, but you might be right that they'd rather trade him to the west. In that case, and if LA won't part with Bynum and Gasol, then maybe Houston does have a chance. Still, several teams in the west can offer more attractive packages (Memphis with Gay and Gasol, OKC with Perkins and Harden, Portland with Aldridge, Wallace etc), but, if they are unwilling to take a big risk and trade for him without a guarantee he will return, then maybe Houston does have a chance. I'd be very impressed if Morey could pull that off -- but I don't see it. I don't see ORL wanting to become the Rockets, with no stars and too much depth, which is what they would be if Howard ended up here. The Gasol trade as previously created is, I think, our best opportunity to radically improve the defense of this team and to create a coherent roster capable of competing in the playoffs this year and capable of finding playing time for our current and future young players to develop into stars.
I really dont think it matters who we trade for as long as our coach is McHale I have no confidence in him as a coach.
I'm tired of Houston trying to facilitate trades to help teams get superstars while we lose depth and attempt to get older star players..with injuries to guys like Bynum and lopez wouldn't it be a perfect time to go all in and try to be the ones to get Howard? I would be fine with them trading whoever it took to get Howard because of the depth the rockets have...other teams would be more gutted in trade for Howard but rockets would still have talent to be a contender...I am sure we would go far in playoffs and that would convince Howard to stay in Houston...plus let's not forget every year he works with Olajuwon on his game so he must have a good bond/friendship already in Houston.
I am going to up my support of T-Will in earnest...because the better he plays, the better chance we have of landing Howard...
Hakeem is not exactly loyal to the Rockets organization after what they did to him at the end of his career, sending him to Toronto.
Anyone heard this 3-way trade rumor with Orlando/Houston/LA? Just listening to ESPN on XM and they're talking about a purported trade that has been rumored which sees the Magic landing Scola/Martin/Bynum/Pick, LA getting Howard and Houston landing Gasol. I hadn't heard this nonsense yet. Anyone know where this one is coming from?
If only everybody in Houston would donate 5$ annualy in order to have Howard here. That's an extra 10.1 million not including illegals.
We can't compete against brand name city like LA, New York and Miami. The reason Dallas is mention as place Howards likes to play is because of Mark Cuban. People want to play for Cuban because his team treat players like kings, too bad the Maloof (Kings) doesn't take advantage of it, they offer gambling and hotels to everyone even nemesis, Kobe. The only way to get Howard is if another mega-star came to play with him, not with our current roster of players. And if we do get Howard, I'm sure the Rockets will offer contract extenstion before the trade is consummated, they aren't going to trade without a guarantee. There is a reason why Morey couldn't sign big name, it is because we are small market.
