Nice. Great point. Unless we can get a big upgrade from Casspi (extremely doubtful), I don't see a reason to even consider moving Asik. Asik is too valuable defensively and on the boards. Having two legit bigs also allows for injuries and foul trouble. If you are the only one on the entire 15 man roster who can play interior defense and man the middle, it is alot of extra mental and physical pressure on you. There are also going to be games when you need to be the enforcer and take the risk of getting a few extra fouls and even getting tossed on technicals to make a statement in the playoffs. OP--your thought is good in theory, but we've got to give it more than 4 games. Big guys are not only more brittle but also take longer than small guys to gel anyway, and on top of it Asik wasn't even fully healthy during preseason (plus it seems that Howard is still working his way back to 100%).
Long term the Asik-Dwight cannot work. So you keep Asik until a good offer emerges. It seems to me (and SVG) that this is the Rockets' very obvious strategy.
Let's look at our lineup assuming the Twin Towers is kiboshed. Beverley / Lin Harden / Brooks Parsons / Garcia Casspi / Garcia Howard / Asik So you trade Asik for a guy like Millsap, Ilyasova, or Anderson. Casspi gets less minutes, and you've destroyed your bench defense. In the case of Ilyasova and Anderson, both of whom are signed through 2015-2016, you've eliminated yourself from the LMA/Love sweepstakes. Millsap allows you to go after LMA and Love in 2015, but you would need a 12-15 min/game center coming back. I don't think a trade for Millsap can happen until December, since he was just signed. Anyways, it's easy to see why Morey hasn't done anything yet.
Should we trade him? Depends on what we can get for him. We obviously need a Pf in exchange but we also need a solid back up center. If we can trade Asik straight up for a Pf. Who can we trade for a back up C? And no smith doesn't provide the defense necessary when Howard will be out. The only way you trade Asik is if we don't lose Garcia, Casspi, and parsons. We have 4 PGs, it doesn't matter who we trade out of them. Brewer could be valuable to some other teams (although we should use him cause harden plays no d).
I'd take Milsap. Don't know how willing of a trade partner Atlanta will be, considering they just signed him. Playing Howard, the best C in the league, only 24 minutes a game would just be silly. Until we trade Asik, I'd have him back up Howard for about 10-15 minutes a game. Start Casspi and have Smith back up Casspi. Agree. I'd rather have Casspi start with Howard instead of TT.
I've never really felt playing Asik and Howard would work long term, but what scares me about the other bigs is lack of consistent defense. It was good Smith came with a good effort last night because I was down on him. But again, consistency is the key. Rox are trying to contend and if they trade Asik, if they don't get a very good big who can also play adequate defense, it probably won't make the team that much better because as soon as the second unit comes in, whatever lead the starters but up will be lost with lack of defense/rebounding with second unit. I do feel McHale should ease Jones or Dmo back into the rotation some as well to get a better feel if they can give you something to improve the spacing out there. Casspi is good but you can't depend on him to consistently bang with other 4s, Parsons either.
thanks for reply but think u read it wrong, I never said trade asik now, was saying a solid PF (not a super star) would be good and we could keep asik. see my post on how morey should have got antawn jamison this summer on vet min. that way we could have kept asik a a (BACKUP ) JAMISON could have played the back up pf spot 10-15 mins a game with asik as back up center and TT only when u needed to throw it on the court to close out a game
I don't think we need to trade him, but he shouldn't be starting anymore. I know we're trying to keep Asik happy but not at the expense of the team starting games slow. Against teams like the Bobcats or Jazz we have enough talent to overcome the 1st quarter deficit, but not against the stronger teams.
I know it looks like I doesn't work right now but sounds like no one want to give a chance to work though don't yall think the more they play together they will start to figure it out ?
Not that I want Milsap but Al Horford has made it known that he NEEDS a true Center. He's bee quite vocal about never playing along side a true Center. He's tired of playing center on the team, he's more of a power forward. The Hawks would make an ideal trading partner for the rockets. Although, I am not a fan of Milsap, nor do I think we need him at his contract.
I like having good interior defense and rebounding the entire game, but the Rockets play better with either Dwight or Asik on the floor. Asik needs to come off the bench, but he doesn't want to and that's the problem. So eventually the Rockets will have to trade him whether we like it or not b/c he doesn't want to accept a backup role.
Tieing a few things together, if I'm Morey I'm waiting to see how the Okafor thing works out. If he can play, and PHX cuts him...then you see if he's willing to take our room exception. If he does, you trade Asik to Atlanta for Millsap (who will almost certainly accept this deal). Beverley / Lin Harden / Brooks Parsons / Garcia Millsap / Casspi Howard / Okafor
They may figure it out. The question is whether it's worth it to invest all this time, and possible losses, just to see whether they do or not. I'd prefer to see Asik-Howard as one of the combinations coming off the bench rather than as starters. It just seems that things work better with Casspi or Parsons at the PF so far, so why not begin the game with Casspi to get the team off to a good start?
I love having the twin towers, protecting the paint, allowing for foul trouble/injuries. But we NEED a perimeter defender. And i don't know what assets we have to offer, other than Omer, that could land us a game-changing perimeter D guy. OR, James could just learn how to play defense and make all my worries go away. I love James, but damn, show some pride in your D.
DD won't let up with the platitudes. "Let's make the team better!" Hey, that's a good idea. Let's trade Asik for LeBron. Won't work? Oh, maybe DD has something specific in mind?
