Sources: Rockets have Lowry as 4th option after Lebron/Melo/Bosh

dayum, lot of possibilities....

 

That's a fair point, but we don't know who the favorites were...It seems like Lowry was really happy where he was and providing an immediate big-money offer was the cherry on top.

All this considered, I agree that we shouldn't ignore this criticism of Morey's approach. Either you love his consistency in chasing the big star or you hate his tunnel vision. I used to be big proponent, but even I'm having my doubts now.

 

They had to do it if they were to sign Bosh straight up rather than do it via S&T, and were prepared to either do it or use it as leverage to work out a S&T so they could keep a couple of guys.

If need be, I would have traded away Jones, DMo and the others for Ariza and Lowry, too. Jones was the only one among these guys who were even in the rotation in the playoffs. Daniels, too, I guess, in his specialist role-- he could have been renounced but later re-signed using either the minimum wage or a part of the room exception. DMo & Canaan have some value but were hardly irreplaceable. They also could have kept Nick Johnson because he was a 2nd round pick and didn't count against the cap until he signed.

Lets say the team did have to let all these guy go while keeping Harden, Howard and Beverley & matching Parsons, they'd have:

Lowry-Beverley
Harden-Daniels-Nick Johson
Parsons-Ariza
Howard

The PG and Wings rotation would look really good. There would not be any big guys except for Howard and maybe using one of the wings as a small-ball 4 at times-- an issue, but there are guys to be found in free agency and trades that could have been made-- Joey Dorsey, Jeff Adrien for example. Charlie Villanueva is still on the market, too.

 

fuuuuuuuuck. there was a legit chance we could have had Lowry? I don't even know why Morey wanted Melo so bad. UGH.

 

I swear Morey has got you all talking like pseudo-intellectual statistician wannabes. Where did you pull this 80% figure from?

Considering Bosh IS a Heat, has won two rings with the Heat, has called that team his home for years, and is wanted by Riley ... it was clear the chances of him leaving were slim as long as he got paid. He was not a disgruntled superstar looking to move (Melo was that and even he stayed in NY).

If you were even forced to quantify the chances of him signing here I would put that at 3%.

Morey misread everyone miserably. He should have committed to Lowry and Parsons and now he just got Ariza.

 

Because Melo is a "star", you see. And Les Alexander wants stars. Who cares if Lowry was a much better fit, cheaper, and coming off a much more successful season than Melo.

 

Don't get me wrong though..Anthony probably had his best season ever last season. He played excellent and well. His team's short comings were not his fault. Same thing goes with other players such as Kevin Love.

 

He gone. Lets all move on.

 

If Rocket offered Lowry 12 mil he would have taken that deal. He just wants to feel like he was wanted. More made it seem like he was plan b/c/d. No person likes that.

 

It really does sting that we didn't pick up Lowry. His leadership would have been a perfect fit for this team. Ahh well time to move on.

 

Woj and amick were tweeting that entire day saying that bosh to houston was as good as done. You can re-write history however you want in your head, but that doesn't change reality.

It doesn't matter what had happened in miami up to that point, all that matters is what is going to happen in the FUTURE.

Using the logic that bosh should stay because they've won rings is the same as saying Dwight should have stayed in LA because they've won rings....WHO CARES? That was then, this is now.

Clearly bosh decided he was fine with accepting the super max and staying put, but let's not be ignorant. Good lord, things don't work out on a calculated risk and it turns into the apocalypse around here...

 

It's pretty obvious that we were the favorites. No other team was connected to Lowry by legitimate sources at the time.

Imagine how bad it would have looked if Lowry waited the two(!) weeks until LBJ/Melo/Bosh made up their minds, then re-signed with Toronto IF Houston had been able to nab one of them. It would have been extremely obvious that TOR was his second choice and it wouldn't good.

Lowry appreciated that he was TOR's #1 option, the fact that he was HOU's 3rd option probably wasn't too appealing to him. He wanted to get it over with, which I can certainly respect.

Obviously in hindsight nabbing Lowry and retaining Parsons and having Beverley bolster our bench would have been HUGE. Ah well.

 

This isn't a big surprise. Someone can dig up my posts - always thought Lowry was the only realistic guy we could get and we should've jumped at the chance. He has history here and was not as highly sought after compared to the other options. Take him or make an offer for Love out the gate and get Lowry if Minnie didn't bite. There were never any rumors that Melo/LBJ were remotely interested in Houston, although some here would rather believe that was a media conspiracy against the Rockets.

I would've been dead wrong if we got Bosh, but at the time it also seemed highly probable Lebron stayed with Miami so it was hard to imagine Bosh was going to be available anyways. We were THISCLOSE to getting him but close got us nothing.

IMHO we need an upgrade at PG considering how tough the position is out West. And he was a nice fit. But who knows, we have space to go after a bigger fish next season so maybe it's for the best; I certainly hope so.

 

If/Ands/Buts

It's not easy being in the hotseat.

Good job, good effort, Morey.

 

I wouldn't have. Not because I believe our other parts are better than Lowry and Ariza, but I believe they can bring more in trade possibilities in addition to allowing us to keep the MLE.

 

Not the best comparison since both players have dropped off (Joseph is also kinda overpaid but he gave us one great year) but I'm SO thankful that the Texans signed their distant #2 option in Jonathan Joseph instead of waiting on the free agency prize Nnamdi Asomugha.

 

nothing more than used for leverage again and again,

 

I know things haven't been rosy for the Texans since December 2012, but damn, Rick Smith played that one about as great as you could.

Anyway, would have been awesome to get Kyle. However, things happen. Plus, I don't blame DM for what he did.

 

Yeah, its totally debatable because Morey was really close to nabbing Bosh.

 

The piece says that Lowry took a detached businesslike approach to free agency.

So you have two prospective offers, some require you to wait and involves things out of your control, the other is the money you want and you can sign right away. If it's all about business what do you choose?

This is not about making lowry feeling unwanted or the second choice, this is about being out-offered.