I believe Hoopsworld reported it also, so take it for what its worth. Randolph wouldn't be too bad, a monster on the boards and another defensive presence in the post. His injury history is a concern as well. What's up with the Grizzlies FO? They've been in disarray since Hollinger joined.
When was the last time an insider was right about or ever predicted a particular Daryl Morey trade happening?
All seem like they've been in the league forever. Randolph drafted after freshman year at Michigan St. Jefferson drafted out of HS. Milsap draftee after junior year at Louisiana Tech.
It's not really a band-aid move. It would make the rockets contenders immediately. It significantly upgrades their weakest position. The Rockets currently have players in the top 5 in points, rebounds and steals. Morey wants to add rebounding to this team, so you add the 2nd best rebounder in the league. And the idea that the Rockets would only compete for the next two or three years is beyond crazy. They just have to be sure to have a replacement ready when Randolph's contract is up.
Credit this trade proposal to torotoe at RealGM boards Combining a few rumors. One is that Houston (supposedly) really likes Z.Randolph and the other is Denver is having talks with Utah about Millsap. trade machine link: http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=aruwymp Why for each team? Denver gets millsap, which improves the starter's Offense. Now they have to focus on Millsap, not just Gallo and Ty. Losing Miller hurts, but this likely stops the 2 PG lineup which is bad defensively. Brewer has been great this year, but Hamilton and Fournier are a better fit. Opens up time for Chandler. Utah gets a very solid PG duo by getting miller and keeping Mo Williams. Utah has depth at 4/5, so the production from the bigs stays relatively similar. Q.Miller is a decent pickup, not sure where he fits. Houston gets the best player in the deal for virtually nothing outside of Patterson. They also get Tinsely for a good third string pg. They use up all their cap space, but in doing so give up very little talent for a good player. They are said to be very interested. Memphis dumps Randolph for Patterson and drops under the tax this year and in the future. Brewer and Delfino are an improvement off the bench.
They're desperately trying to avoid the luxury tax. Their choices are to shop Rudy Gay or ZBo, and it's been intimated that it will be one or the other that will have to go. Rudy Gay will get them more in a trade, but it's also hard to replace his skill set. Memphis isn't exactly a high scoring team and losing Gay's production would kill what little offense they have. Lately a lot of rumors have been around shopping Rudy Gay, however if they can't get a good enough offer, I wouldn't be surprised if they traded Zbo. There would be a drop off in the PF position for them, but they could use the cap space and pieces from that trade to improve their bench and their scoring. I wouldn't say trading ZBo is the highest probability, but if they can't get what they feel is a fair price for Rudy Gay, it may be their next best choice.
There were reports of the Rockets interest in Ron Artest a month before the trade, also there were mentions of the Rockets interest in Harden the season before the deal. Look, the Rockets keep their mouths shut, but it doesn't mean Memphis does. Look at all the Rudy Gay talk. Randolph is older than I would like, but we really need a 4 and post scoring. If Kevin Love is a pipe dream, there is not much out there. Randolph is better than Milsap or Jefferson. If we give up very little I can live with the trade (although I am skeptical).
Depends on whether you believe the reports. I am not so sure Randolph or Gay would bring as much in trade as the conventional wisdom says.
Seems that the move is to dump either Gay or Randolph and so avoid the tax. Gay nets them less value since their analyst has already called him out (everyone knows Hollinger doesn't like Gay) - so they won't get a great deal for him. (Allegedly the best offer is from Phoenix with Dudley + expirings). So they then try to move Randolph (who has a longer deal than Gay) and see what they can get out of him.
A lot of teams were interested in acquiring a James Harden given OKC's cap situation but almost every insider expected for OKC to keep him. No one saw Harden going to Houston, hence, the shock of almost the entire basketball community. Regarding Zach Randolph, there are younger and better power forwards that would suit our style of play in the future. We just have to be patient. Gun to my head decision, I'd rather sign Millsap or Jefferson in the off-season than wasting assets acquiring a 31 year old Zach Randolph at $16.5mil for 3 more years. Ideally, i would prefer to keep our cap space and have a go with CP3, Dwight, and company this coming off-season or those other star free agents in 2014.
The Grizzlies are attempting to increase interest by "leaking" anything that might make sense. They did this same thing last week when news got out they were "discussing" Gay for Beal. The Wizards weren't biting but the Grizzlies were trying to make it seem like they can get a player of Beal's talent for Gay. They know the Rockets are interested in trades. The whole league knows that. And that will be true for however long Morey is GM. Throwing ZBo to the Rockets out there through a source that is questionable at best is a ploy to leak "news" to create more interest than what is reality. I have many doubts the Rockets would spend cap flexibility and the young tradable players on a player like ZBo with that contract and at that age. They want the next big player acquisition to preferably play with Harden and others for a long time. And if Morey does get ZBo it means that his targets 1-X weren't possible and he felt pressure to get something done in order to change this ship ASAP.
And although I agree that we need young talent to grow with this team - if there is none available to us we might as well do the most with this. ZBos contract is only for 2 more seasons. He should be able to produce at a high level during this time. Then he either becomes a huge expiring for us (so that we have cap space to sign a young "star") or a great asset as a huge expiring that we can trade for younger assets. People just need to realize: it is hard to get young players with star talent. We could try Millsap or Josh Smith but we probably have to give them 4 year contracts, so we are stuck with those "lesser talents" for two more years. Of course, if you think either of the two is better than Randolph and should be able to play at a high level for at least 3 more years, they would be the better option - but you still need to convince them to sign with the Rockets.
