What i am saying is, yes, Lowry is not at D. Will's level but he is more than capable of being this teams PG for the next 5 years. Especially with Dragic backing him up. It is probably best for this team that we don't focus on acquirring a "superstar" PG because it is unnecessary. Plus we would more than likely have to give up too much for them. Just to be clear, i am of the few who believe this current team is close to being contenders. Just a few pieces here and there.
You don't think Marc Gasol, Andrew Bogut, or Dwight Howard would make us a top 4 team a declining Western Conference?
Oh yes, we are certainly just two or three franchise players away from contention for certain. But most teams are a dwight Howard away from contention, that doesn't mean you don't trade for other superstars if you can.
Im trying to find possible destinations for Scola. PFs Available David West and Carl Landry as the best options via FA. Jefferson, Scola and Jamison are the best available options via trades. Josh Smith and Blatche may become available too. Teams in need of PF Jersey and Pacers are in need of a PF and they have the cap space and some trade pieces. Phoenix, Hornets and Milwaukee are playoff caliber teams who could use an upgrade at the 4 and would welcome a vet, they can do so via trades. Charlotte and Detroit can use upgrades too but they will want young players. Denver will definitely be looking if NeNe leaves. But they will most likely keep him and play him at PF while letting Mozgov and Birdman man the 5. Summary Trading Scola wont be difficult, but getting something useful and valuable in return will be extremely difficult. Getting names like Granger, B.Lopez or Oakafor would be ideal but will be next to impossible if its just Scola plus fillers we are offering. The most realistic type of trade I expect is Scola for Childress and R.Lopez. I just cant see us getting anything worth value in return because other teams have far better pieces to offer for anyone worth good value.
Trading Scola won't be so easy, really. Well, when trades go down, they're usually a surprise, and Luis could certainly help out a lot of teams. Depends on the new CBA. Will a new CBA be phased in over the course of a season or two? If so, Luis' contract won't be much of a burden to another team. I like Scola a lot, but without a good center next to him to help erase his matador defense, and with so many other PFs, well..... I'd hate to see Scola go, but at the same time, when the lockout lifts (and who knows when that will happen), you can bet his name will be one of the first that Morey utters into the phone.
If you could get D. Howard without having to trade away half the team, then i am all for it. But we all know that ain't happening. It would be waste to get him under those circumstances and he probably wouldn't even want to come to a depleted team. Trading away players to get C. Paul or D. Williams doesn't make sense if we already have 2 starting caliber PG's already. We should focus our attention on centers in free agency or a center through a trade that wouldn't deplete the current squad.
Filling positions serves no purpose w/o having a core to build around. We are not "set" at any position. We could sign Gasol in the offseason and be "set" (your definition) at every position, but we still won't be a championship contender, thus we are "set" at nothing. Step one is getting a franchise player here, at ANY position, then we can worry about filling gaps in the lineup.
Preach on. Posters that believe the rockets are a solid center away from contending are being foolish. Just as you stated, get the superstars and everything else is easy. I like lowry, but lowry played like cp3 for a month, but cp3 plays like cp3 all the time. There is a difference. I think if they have the money, the can get 2, howard and williams/paul. I doubt either is coming without another star.
Trade 1 Scola for Paul George + '12 first Trade 2 Martin for Beasley + Randolph Trade 3 Beasley + George + Lowry + Picks for Chris Paul Paul/Dragic/Flynn Lee/Twill Morris/Chase Patterson/Hill/Moti Hayes/Thabeet next offseason: Let go off all non-essential players until you have enough to sign Dwight to a max contract. '12 ROX Paul Lee Morris/Chase Patterson/Hayes Howard/Moti
Indiana does not do this. I'm all for scenarios that bring in Paul/Howard to Houston, but there is no way the NBA owned Hornets bring on that pot smoking hooligan Beasely onto their personal watch. Lastly, why is Morris starting over chase? the kid hasn't played a minute yet.
if morris is going to be our new franchise player of the future, then we gotta give him starter minutes right? :grin:
I hate the offseason, so this is my feasable but completely unrealistic pipe dream for the next year: This offseason: -Trade Nene (SnT from Denver) to the Rockets for Scola + Hayes (would love to keep Hayes, but his salary won't work with this plan). Hopefully Nene costs less than 12 million. -Send Parsons overseas to avoid having to pay his salary this year ala Llull. 2011-2012 Season -Hopefully without Adelman, Hayes and a heavy emphasis on development....we suck. I hate the idea of purposefully tanking, and would never condone it, but hopefully, just hopefully, we are not a very good team. -Showcase all our youth, get that trade value up up up. 2012 Draft: - With our own pick, NY pick and any combination of any of our players (save Martin and Nene) move up and grab James McAdoo, Perry Jones, or Harrison Barnes, ie a big time SF. 2012 Offseason: -Entering 2012 offseason, our guaranteed money should be completely empty with the exception of Martin (12.9m), Nene (~12m) and SF pick(~3m). -Yes, we will have team options on nearly every player on our roster which we will have to decline, thus it is important to move as many of those pieces as possible to move up and grab a great SF in the draft. Any other pieces will need to be moved for picks in the 2013 draft, or wink wink agreements to send us back players after free agency ends. - Under the current CBA, we would have a 58 million dollar salary cap, leaving us with 30 million dollars in cap space, assuming Lowry was moved. Obviously we would go out and offer Dwight 15 million and a superstar PG of his choosing (CP3 or Dwill) the other 15 million. A hypothetical 2012 core: CP3 / Llull Martin Barnes / Parsons Nene / Harris Howard Completely unrealistic, but entirely possible.
<!-- http://twitter.com/TheRealTWill/status/92146392239308800 --> <style type='text/css'>.bbpBox{background:url(http://a2.twimg.com/profile_background_images/198337631/twillwordaapp_2.jpg) #030303;padding:20px;}</style><div id='tweet_92146392239308800' class='bbpBox' style='background:url(http://a2.twimg.com/profile_background_images/198337631/twillwordaapp_2.jpg) #030303;padding:20px;'><p class='bbpTweet' style='background:#fff;padding:10px 12px 10px 12px;margin:0;min-height:48px;color:#000;font-size:16px !important;line-height:22px;-moz-border-radius:5px;-webkit-border-radius:5px;'>Just got traded to miami, The #Rockets got ripped off all they got back was some #1 pick bust,... Name was something like Lebrian or something.<span class='timestamp' style='font-size:12px;display:block;'><a title='Sat Jul 16 08:19:46 ' href='http://twitter.com/TheRealTWill/status/92146392239308800'>Sun Jul 31 10:36:12 </a> via <a href="http://twitter.com/#!/download/iphonerel="nofollow">Twitter for iPhone</a></span><span class='metadata' style='display:block;width:100%;clear:both;margin-top:8px;padding-top:12px;height:40px;border-top:1px solid #fff;border-top:1px solid #e6e6e6;'><span class='author' style='line-height:19px;'><a href='http://twitter.com/TheRealTWill'><img src='http://a2.twimg.com/profile_images/1441216889/image_normal.jpg' style='float:left;margin:0 7px 0 0px;width:38px;height:38px;' /></a><strong><a href='http://twitter.com/TheRealTWill'>Terrence Williams</a></strong><br/>TheRealTWill</span></span></p></div> <!-- end of tweet --> Spoiler not really
I really think Bogut would be perfect for this team. Problem is that I doubt MIL would be interested in Scola. I would have to think long and hard about Martin+Budinger+Hill for Bogut.
The 30 or so Rockets games i saw in full this last season, the two things that always caught my attention, first and foremost, Martin can score like it's going out of style, and with it seems little effort. Secondly, I thought Hill looked good, he's got the body of a great NBA player, he also looks to have his head on right. This guy could easily be a 16/8 guy, and I hate building up your own players simply because they're on your team.
