Been thinking about what the team can do now to salvage the situation now that a trade that's been worked on for reportedly months is vetoed by Stern (under ridiculous circumstances, whether or not whether any of us like it for Houston). My thoughts are: 1. Dumping $3.5 million in salary to salvage Free Agency Options: Unless the league overturns its prior decision or an better alternatives comes along, one thing the Rockets can do is to dump $3.5 million in salary, the difference between outgoing and incoming salary in the original trade, on another team, so that they get the cap room to chase Nene and try to bring back Hayes. This way, you add Nene to last year's team and look for other opportunities (maybe even make the same CP/Gasol/Scola/Dragic trade later in the season, perhaps at the deadline) . Remember, as BimaThug reported, the Rockets would have $7.8 million in cap space if the renounce Hayes, up to $13.71 million if they delay signing the rookies and amnesty Thabeet's $5.13 mil. The extra $3.5 million would have given thm $17.2 million total, which might be enough for both Nene and Hayes. You can get to this number, or near it by moving one or two of Flynn ($3.4 mil), Dragic ($2.2 mil), Hill ($2.9 mil) and Williams ($2.1 mil) for no salary in return. A natural trade partner for this? The New Orleans Hornets, who are a few million $ below the minimum team salary now and has only 5 or 6 guys under contract right now. Would seem to make sense for them to take a chance at our 2009 lotto busts, especially if the Rockets sweeten the pot a bit with some cash or 2nd rounder. Besides, Dell Demps is likely to have some sympathy with Morey right now. Lets see if Stern can veto this trade for "basketball reasons." Of course, this predicates on Nene wanting to come here even without Gasol... but it would seem the lineup can work with him and Scola (and Martin), too. 2. S&T with Denver: Same deal, Nene has to choose to come to Houston, but that's always the case with this "free agency" thing. Now the Nuggs want Nene back for themselves, but if he's determined to leave, perhaps they'll agree to a S&T for Houston to get something back in return (even Dan Gilbert agreed to a S&T for Lebron despite being pissed, so it's a possiblity). Denver is another team with plenty of salary space and roster vacancies (with W. Chandler, JR Smith and Kenyon Martin stuck in China and all), so maybe they'd agree to take some combo of Dragic, Hill, Flynn, Williams or even Thabeet in a trade. Denver fills up some roster spots while the Rockets get the salary saving needed to bring back Hayes. 3. Chauncey Billups: I think he's getting amnestied to make room for Chandler in NYC (BTW, I love Chandler but wonder whether Mike D'Antoni knows how to use a guy without a jump shot). Anyhow, I have an unhealthy infatuation for this guy. He's the personification of an efficient player-- almost the PG version of Kevin Martin: Not great FG% but when you look at the FTA, FT%, 3PTA, 3PT% his scoring efficiency is amazing. Seems like a Morey kind of guy. I would totally bid good money for him in the amnesty auction if, say, one of the perimeter rotation guys gets traded and/or one of the other free agency situations (Nene and Hayes) falls through and the team ends up with some cap space.
Morey did have all summer to think of contingency plans so I'm pretty sure that he has not only plan B but probably many different permutations of each possible scenario lined up. I don't think this is the end result by any means. Take heart.
Honestly, I don't know what we are supposed to do now. How can we continue to build a team around Scola and Martin now? Why should they trust us? We should just move the same package for Paul and shoot for Dwight in free agency. His only two options are Houston and New Jersey. We will probably fail, but atleast we can then start fresh in 2013.
I dont want Nene unless he is paired with another 2 way post player.... i feel that he alone ( or with any of our current players ) give us a top 5 NBA frontcourt .... I honestly think we need to trade Martin and Scola for young players / picks and try for top 8 in the draft. Hopefully the trade that never went down pissed them off and they take out their anger by elevating their play so we can get more for them. We are not gonna contend with Martin / Scola / Nene and we are left with not alot of flexibilty.... if we cant get Gasol/Nene ... i honestly will just give Thabeet a shot ... he has potential at least .. man im just so down right now.
Plan B: Morey probably has other potential trades set up. But I bet they all begin with: "<Ring> Hi David, it's Daryl Morey and Les Alexander. Yeah, we just wanted to run something by you...Is it okay with you if we trade player X for player Y? Pretty please? We talked to a bunch of other co-owners and they thought this trade was swell, but you know we had to check with you first!"
One other thing I'm thinking about: Emeka Okafor. New Orleans was, according to some reports, sending him to LA as part of the deal-- just sending Paul would not be enough for salary matching if they are getting the 4 guys (Dragic, Martin, Scola and Odom) back. I wonder if they are willing to trade Okafor for a package of Scola (who they evidentally liked), Dragic (ditto), Flynn and Williams. The total would save the Rockets $3.9 million, enable them to run at Nene and Hayes. Also, this might allow the 3 teams in the original trade to complete what they started later when the league thinks things through (and maybe when it becomes clearer around the trade deadline that getting something for Paul would be better than risking losing him in free agency): Houston can send Okafor to LA, Martin + picks to NO, with Lakers sending Gasol to Houston and Odom to NO and NO sending Paul to the Lakers.
1.) Trade Dragic, Motiejunas (cap hold of over $1M) to NO for their 2012 & 2014 first rounders. 2.) Wait until the NBA realizes they made a mistake 3.) ???? 4.) Profit (Scola, Martin, NY 1st, NO 2012 & 2014 1st for Gasol, Motiejunas)
I don't think they "trusted" the team any less now than before. One good thing about Morey's "treating players like assets" is that he's always been honest to them about the fact that no one is off limits if he legitimately things a deal can make the team better. Morey never preached the loyalty, team spirit rah rah stuff (some teams, like the Heat, are more "cultish" like that) and has always made clear that he's all business. Whether or not guys liked the way Morey operated, I think they understand where he's coming from and either respect or at least are used to it by now. Anyhow, I wish Morey was more "cultish" sometimes, but, in this case, being all business kinds of works out for the best.
Where does Nene fall into all this? What I'm pissed about is that why didn't the NBA block this trade months ago when supposedly it came to fruition? Supposedly Demps had consulted with Stern and VP Stu Jackson throughout the whole process weekly. Now all this time is wasted and it maybe top late to sign Nene and re-sign Chuck as they may have already made up their minds.
Offer Scola, Martin, and a couple 09 busts to NOH for CP3. This way the Hornets get something very similar to the previous trade, except instead of Odom they are getting some combination of Thabeet, Hill, Flynn. After the Rockets get CP3, trade Lowry and Budinger + picks and other considerations to Orlando for Dwight Howard. If Dwight is willing to go to NJN to play with Deron Williams, why wouldn't he be willing to play with CP3 in Houston? Paul/Dragic Lee/Williams Morris/Patterson Patterson/Hayes Dwight/Hayes/Parsons
Except, this was totally out of our hands. Don't blame Morey, blame Stern for caving in like a p***y.
I do. Plan B is too similar to other plans of last year and years before not to get me fed up though.
Hm, I'm wondering if after last year's Memphis success in the playoffs, Morey decided to follow their recipe. Highly efficient big man - Gasol = Nene Very skilled post player - Randolph = Gasol Defensive wing stopper - Allen = Lee Upcoming PG - Conley = Lowry good bench (Arthur, Mayo, Battier, Graviz vs Patterson, Hayes, Flynn, Morris, Williams) We are just missing Gay
Don't know how the NBA's contract is really structured, but the logic makes sense. Stern can SAY that he was acting as owner of the Hornets and NOT as commissioner representing all 29 other teams, but the fact remains he is the commissioner. As such, if he is to be the one to make the decision, there is inherently a conflict of interest. There needs to be someone who does not work for the league to exercise independent judgment on this issue in order to avoid that. That person can be Dell Demps or someone else who doesn't have to have the interest of the other 29 teams in mind when making a decison, but it cannot be Stern.
