That's nice but we have nothing to give. Pritchard needs to come back to earth. If reports are true, they're demanding a king's ransom. They declined the Lakers offer of Randle/Clarkson/27/28. Teams should look at this as the STARTING POINT.
Agree, this is nothing like when Minnesota was able to land Wiggins for Love. Lakers aren't trading away a key prospect for someone they can sign outright in a year. And Boston doesn't want to sell the farm for a rental.
I really don't understand why the Lakers love Ingram so much, I can understand they don't want to trade him for a player they can get for free in a year, but they came out and said Ingram is untouchable. He is super young, but he hasn't really even shown flashes of being an all-star. I don't recall sports center top tens, he has never taken over a game for a stretch, I've never seen a big game winner from him, I've never seen him shut down a top offensive talent for a stretch of a game, nothing. I've lived in LA while he's been here, I never hear people talk about how great of game Ingram had the other night. You hear about Russel and Nick Young coming up big in games, Brandon although very young has had opportunities and at this point for a top pick who will become a star he should have shown something given the opportunity he has had.
Insider article: http://www.espn.com/nba/insider/sto...e-paul-george-add-chris-paul-james-harden-nba How the Rockets can swing a game-changing Paul George trade Kevin PeltonESPN Staff Writer After acquiring Chris Paul in a stunning blockbuster trade with the LA Clippers on Wednesday, can the Houston Rockets add Paul George too? Rockets GM Daryl Morey is creative and tireless in his pursuit of star players, and the possibility of George leaving as an unrestricted free agent a year from now surely would not be enough to scare off Morey. How would a George trade work? And could Houston offer enough to sell the Indiana Pacers? Let's take a look. Non-guaranteed contracts help Rockets match salary Not long after the Paul trade was first reported by The Vertical, Houston auspiciously began collecting non-guaranteed contracts from teams throughout the league. In all, the Rockets added five of them: Darrun Hilliard, Ryan Kelly, DeAndre Liggins, Shawn Long and Tim Quarterman. Houston included two of those players (Hilliard and Liggins) in the Paul trade, along with their own non-guaranteed contract for Kyle Wiltjer, allowing the Rockets to make the move now before the new league year begins July 1. But Houston retained the other three, which could be crucial in a George trade. Since the Rockets are staying over the cap and using exceptions, they'd have to match George's $19.5 million salary in a trade with the Pacers. That would mean sending out a minimum of $15.5 million. Besides Paul and James Harden, Ryan Anderson is the only other Houston player with a sufficiently large salary to match George on his own, and Indiana probably wouldn't have much interest in the remaining $61 million and change on his contract. (ESPN's Zach Lowe reported Wednesday that the Rockets were unable to find a team to take Anderson's contract into space without getting any compensation from Houston in return.) Enter the non-guaranteed contracts. The Rockets could send two of them along with Sixth Man Award winner Eric Gordon and make a cap-legal trade for George without needing to send any bad salary the Pacers' direction. Now to convince Indiana to accept it. The Capela problem Besides Harden and Paul, Houston's most valuable trade chip is 23-year-old center Clint Capela, who emerged as a solid starter last season. And that presents a problem in a George trade because the Pacers would be building around their own center, Myles Turner. It's possible Indiana believes Turner, 21, could play with Capela, given he started at power forward alongside Ian Mahinmi as a rookie before moving to center last season. More likely, if the Rockets were willing to include Capela in a George trade they'd have to recruit a third team to take him and send the Pacers draft picks or other young players. Houston probably needs to include Capela, because otherwise the team's offer for George is badly limited. Gordon's contract, which has three years and $40.5 million remaining, looks reasonable after he enjoyed a career year in Mike D'Antoni's system. He'd also be going back to his hometown. Still, Gordon is 28, so he doesn't bring much upside to the Pacers. Having traded their 2018 first-round pick to the Clippers in the Paul deal, the Rockets can't offer Indiana a first-rounder until at least 2020. (Technically, such a pick would have to come two years after the one sent to the Clippers conveys because it is top-three protected.) Given that Harden and Paul will probably still be in Houston then, the Pacers would probably have to project the Rockets' 2020 first-round pick coming at the end of the first round. Perhaps a more distant unprotected first-round pick would hold more value to Indiana because of the possibility that Houston is rebuilding by then. But it would be hard to make a pick five or more years down the road the centerpiece of a trade for an All-Star, particularly given the Boston Celtics' ability to offer attractive draft picks within the next couple of years. Rockets' best hope for George? Patience Because Boston can make the best offer now, Houston should probably be hoping for the Pacers to hang on to George for the time being to try to make a run with him. If Indiana is on the fringes of the Eastern Conference playoffs around the trade deadline, the competition for George might not be as stiff. It would be difficult for the Cleveland Cavaliers to pull off a three-team trade involving Kevin Love at midseason, and the Celtics might not want to mess with their chemistry for a likely rental. Even a relatively paltry Rockets offer could be the best the Pacers have on the table, because it doesn't include the bad salary they would have to take back from the Lakers. Of course, the non-guaranteed contracts Houston acquired Wednesday would long since be off the books, perhaps used in another trade to add depth. But by the deadline, the Rockets could include other minimum-salary players signed before the season with little hit to Indiana's cap situation. So while Houston adding both Paul and George this summer is a long shot, it could remain a possibility this winter.
He actually played pretty well after the break, averaging something like 14 points a game. He's built like an alien and I read somewhere that he actually grew and is closer to 6'11'' now. So I can see why he's so valued around the league.
He also displayed pretty good defensive potential. He would often times pick up point guards and has the length and height to eventually be able to guard 1-4 when he adds weight. To me he's the guy that could end up being that versatile player that can kind of do a little bit of everything on offense just not great as one thing but is elite on defense. He's unique and is a guy the lakers could potentially develop into there draymond green role at the 4 spot.
I see, I just didn't hear about Dray being a comparison since his body is different. Coming into the league I thought he was compared to KD more and I haven't really seen it yet. Figured the untouchable comments from Magic was to prop his value up.
Just the more I think about it, the more I believe Paul George would be best served in Boston, and they have the best assets to get him. Celtics give him a chance to be the #1 guy, a sidekick in Hayward and contending more and more each season for at least 5 years. Think of how good their young guys are going to be in 3 years as George slows down? That's still a contender. We're talking: GEORGE, HAYWARD, THOMAS, HORFORD, TAYTUM, BROWN, CROWDER, BRADLEY, SMART. Great coach, great management. That team can not beat the Warriors this coming season, but what about over the next 5 years? AND they would still have at least one of the Lakers or Brooklyn picks, and all their own picks. And they have 2 star SF's and 2 potential star SF's. Man. Now granted, joining Houston gives him the best chance in the NBA at winning a ring in the next year or 2. I would make the case Harden and Paul are the 2 best players mentioned in this entire post. But if you were him, you would think about 5 years. You would think about being the man. In 3 years, frankly neither Harden nor Paul or going to be calibre of player they are today. And if you're going to sacrifice a year of two of contention, wouldn't you rather make it the first year rather than later on? In fact that matches with his stupid choice of the Lakers. He seems to be willing to wait a year or two, if he can be the man and his team's dominance can be sustained. I hope he comes here, but Boston has such a legit case. And I think it's possible Morey knows it and tried to get Bev on the Jazz to help them convince Hayward. But I think Hayward has already picked the Celtics. I think we should be patient. If it's Melo, I don't care when we acquire him, even if it's mid season. His role is simple: catch and shoot and don't be fat. And Melo will refuse trades elsewhere, cause we're playing him. Morey fed a couple of people the idea that we are going for George and Melo so that Melo keeps blocking their trades while we buy time to see what happens with George. Too many thoughts, had to get it out.
Oh I wasn't even thinking about the Lakers. I think the Lakers are morons to be honest. Whether George goes to Cleveland, Boston or Houston he is never leaving them to join the Lakers, not chance imo. The Lakers are a nice dream for him, but wait till he tastes wins, and he sees Ball and the other dude showing their rookieness. I don't think he'll take that risk at that age, after either lifting the trophy himself or watching one of the big teams (who will have finished WAAAAAAY ahead of the Lakers) get the trophy. And IF it is the case that he wants to go to the Lakers in that situation, then good riddance to the loser.
PG is adamant about joining the Lakers when he is able to, if this report is true then the Rockets make more sense for a 1 year rental with a chance to win this coming season.
He's not going to join the Lakers if he gets traded to one of the 3 rumored teams. I'm sure it's a nice dream, but a year is a long time, he will quickly realize that he can't risk the rest of his career on the Lakers when the Celtics, Rockets and Warriors are locked and loaded. For him to leave, it means he will leave a top 3 team for a team that was in the lottery. It's conceivable he'll be in the NBA finals. Unless the Lakers deliver Lebron, he isn't doing that - and it was even loosely reported the other day that if it was CLE then he would not ignore the opportunity. And again, if he STILL wants to go, good. F*** him, he doesn't belong in the big leagues anyway in that case.
He was compared to KD coming out of college but that was more of some fans/media being lazy. It was really unfair to Ingram because he isn't nearly the shooter or scorer KD was coming out of college there only real likeness is there tall skinny and have some guard skills. I Do know some more knowledgeable analyst see him more as a defensive player and could be like a Scottie pippin type guy, obviously prob won't be that good offensively but he does have real potential as a defender. I mean go back and watch when we played them. He would pick Harden up full court and could stay in front of him. He needs to add serious weight but once he does that he's got real all NBA defensive potential.
I agree Chris Broussard reported either today or yesterday that PG13 does like the idea of playing in LA but more than that he wants to win. And if he gets traded to Cleveland, Boston or houston he'll stay. It's the other teams that if he's at he'll leave for the lakers because if he's rebuilding he'd rather be back home. I personally think he would never leave a team of harden cp3 and himself. That's a killer core and he'd be playing for an organization that is very well run and respected for an owner who takes care of his stars.
He really reminds me of T-Mac the rookie. Tall, skinny, getting props for defense, broken but good looking jumpshot. I think he'll surprise people on O. No one is going to be able to bother his 3pt shot if he works on it. His handles are great for his size/age. And one of the 4-5 youngest players in the NBA iirc? They intentionally took it easy on him the first half of the season. It paid off, he looked good in the 2nd half and he'll be ready for his sophomore season.
