I'll believe what makes logical sense. And it certainly makes logical sense for a team that wants to play an uptempo style to be perfectly comfortable with 3 core guards... 2 of which are borderline all-star combo guards who play well with each other. Wanting a Big??... Sure, its logical that any team would want bigs. However is that big someone like Kevin Love or is it someone like Donatas Motiejunas??? I think its logical to choose Dragic over D-Mo. But, I also think its logical to choose Love over Dragic. So are they wanting a big..... I'm sure they are. Are they wanting just any big that they would be willing to move probably their best player for anyone??... No. If the best trade proposal you can come up with has the Suns moving their best player for a player like Motiejunas (who I still love & believe in) just so they can acquire a "big"... than I think you are getting a little ahead of yourself.
I too think they want to continue running a 3-piece combo guard rotation, but that they hesitate at tying up >50% of their cap in it. Who knows if they prefer Dragic or Eric, I would not be surprised if they are looking to turn 1 of those into a cheaper combo-guard option while nabbing 2-3 more assets that can be used to throw at a Love.
Cuban is cleaning up the free agency... Nelson and Al Aminu for dirt cheap. DM can't let the Mavs surpass us like this... Come on!!!
Aminu blows major ass. Pelicans fans were rejoicing that they got rid of him. And I'm sure Nelson wasn't much better.
None of which the Rockets possess .... Their assets are hot garbage outside of that NO pick and I really question the value of that pick. It appears to me right now that pick ends up being closer to its high end of #19 than the low end of #4. They have gotten better this season ... hell they may be a 7-8 seed with room to get much better going forward making that pick virtually worthless. DMo while I think he has potential doesn't have much value as he hasn't been able to seize even regular backup minutes on a team with a gaping hole at his position. Capela is intriguing but doesn't have a lot of value either - he fell to #25 in the draft just a few weeks ago. If he was so coveted , he'd have been chosen earlier. Those UDFA and 2nd round picks sitting on the end of the Rockets bench sure aren't good enough to bring back a quality player. The Rockets just don't have the assets to acquire a player of that quality. The only scenario where I could see them bringing back a "very good player" is a guy like Rondo where they take back that ugly Wallace contract of ~$21m over the next two years and they really don't have the contracts to make the $$ work now. (Makes the Lin deal all the uglier IMO as his $8.5m salary could have returned $10.625m in salary later , not to mention having that #1 pick to sweeten a deal) Sure they have the trade exception but they cant combine it with other salary and wouldn't be able to move a player they acquired with it for several months. Dragic or Bledsoe are pipe dreams .... May as well set your sights on players who are realistic like Marion or O'Neal at least for the time being.
Man sooo quiet and boring right now. Ariza signing was very solid Dorsey/Adrian/Smith signings also solid for 3rd string signings. Still need at least one more move for me to be happy with the off season, like signing Marion/Blatche or trading for Ilyasova/Young. Getting Dragic, Rondo or someone big would be gravy.
Sorry, but its pretty much game over now until everyone comes back for the start of training camp. The only signing out there is most likely Marion, and I think if the Rockets were going after him they would have already signed him. Actually wouldn't be shocked to see him go back to Phoenix. Probably a good landing spot for him with that group. Last thing I see the Rockets doing is getting resolution with Garcia & Hamilton. More than likely the Rockets are trying to get another S&T done with Hamilton. Garcia, they are probably waiting out to see if they are taking him back on the vet min. Garcia is trying to get more $ elsewhere first, but I think he will end up signing back with the Rox for the same contract. I think for the Rockets & their "big plans," they seem to be on hold down until trade season starts when probably isn't till December. Alot of teams start making moves when they get their season going to see how their roster is going to turn out. Unfortunately for the fanatics that need a Woj bomb per day fix, its going to get really really slow until the end of September. Most of these NBA front office guys, coaches, etc. are about to head out on vacation for about 4 weeks and nothing will get done for awhile. Sorry bud. Its time to start binge watching shows like Game of Thrones or something alike in order to fill the void.
Thank goodness I didn't mention the Rockets as being the benefactor of such a trade. I was merely adding personal opinion on the PHX discussion that had been going on previously.
There's 2 potential "move dates" for the rockets that come sooner than December. August 23rd - When Capela and Johnson can be traded. Unlikely anything happens here. September 15th - When Gee and Hopson can be traded with other players. If there are any trades in the "que", I'd expect them to go down around this time. Otherwise.......yeah, I don't expect much activity until then. Bledsoe and Monroe should have been signed by then (if not, then it's not entirely unjustified to let speculation run rampant). We could sign Marion with the MLE and perhaps a backup center with the BAE (O'Neal), but that would be about it. Agree that they are likely trying to get a non-guaranteed contract out of Hamilton.
Good catch. Good dates to note. For the NBA now August 25 looks to be the 1st day Wiggins can be traded. That might spark a flurry of moves that follow. However, I think this one will be queued up until the start of training camp. Minnesota will drag this out as long as they can. I think they really want GS to budge on Thompson so they can be competitive quicker. They know they have the Wiggins deal on ice, and can get it back on the table when they come back from vaca. Also that move sets the bar for the assets that Ainge might want to get in a Rondo trade (realistic or not). It will at least free up Rondo buyers from the folks that were holding out hope for the longshot of being a Love trade destination. So yeah, I think Sept. 15th will be the key date to watch for the Rockets & trades, but I think the trade market is probably going to be plugged up until Love gets to Cleveland or San Francisco.
You could be right about Thompson, but I can't imagine a world where a GM would prefer him over Wiggins, regardless of how "soon" the team wants to win. I would actually push the trade date for Love/Wiggins back to September 23rd.....which would be 60 days after the Cavs acquired those non-guaranteed contracts from the Jazz. That deal doesn't make any sense unless they are part of the package to add Kevin Martin to the deal.
One note about the non-taxpayer MLE: It appears there are only 4 teams with the whole non-taxpayer MLE at their disposal. They are: Boston Milwaukee Minnesota San Antonio We have somewhere around $4.7 million of our non-taxpayer MLE available after the signing of Nick Johnson. And a few more notes. Minnesota is unlikely to use their MLE at this point since they are prepping a trade for Love. Boston has 14 guaranteed contracts on the books. And they are at $78 million in cap. They could cut Bogans and sign someone with their full non-taxpayer MLE. Milwaukee is showing that the have a full non-taxpayer MLE simply because they have an $11 million cap hold for Ekpe Udoh. They are most likely going to duck under the cap when Udoh is either signed or goes elsewhere. The Spurs have 14 guaranteed contracts and have Aron Baynes unsigned. They will most likely re-sign him. -------------------------------------------------- What this means is we are essentially competing with the Spurs (limited) and Boston (limited) for use of the MLE of a vet comes available. This is probably why you aren't seeing a big rush on signing Marion. Why? Do the Spurs or Celtics want him? Not likely. What about Milwaukee and Minny? Not likely either. And what about......what I suggested earlier?? Using our MLE to help us in trades by helping teams buy out guys that we will sign with our MLE and make whole? You've got teams like Brooklyn and the Knicks that if they could simply drop $4 million of salary off their cap, they'd save over $20 million. Wonder what they'd give up for $20 million?? A pick?? A young player?? Guys, we're best off holding the MLE and waiting for teams to round out their rosters and looking for ways to get rid of players and save money. Predatory mode with the rest of the MLE. Predatory mode.
Your post made sense for PHX - move one of those two high salary guys for a cheaper combo guard +++ assets. I was just pointing out that the Rockets don't have that cheaper option combo guard to offer (Canaan - yeah right) nor do they have those other assets PHX would expect in return as the Rockets "assets" (If you want to call half a dozen UDFA's & 2nd rounder's assets) are hot garbage save for the NO pick which might not be as good as it first appeared. I know most of us thought this would be an early pick (4-8?) when that deal first went down .... Now I'm wondering if its transferred at all as they got a lot better. They pretty much have to find a team who wants to dump salary in exchange for "something useful" before they can be mentioned in any trade talks for guys of the caliber people keep mentioning.
The theory here makes some sense .... BUT its likely a good many weeks into the season when teams are looking to shed salary when they realize they aren't in contention for playoff spots. This ties into the future dates finsraider mentions a few posts earlier in the thread when Capela , Johnson & Hopson , Gee can be traded / traded with other players. This could drag out a while (all the way to the trade deadline).
This amazing free agency continues <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Considering it, other options. <a href="http://t.co/thXTsttpzj">http://t.co/thXTsttpzj</a> RT <a href="https://twitter.com/nathan0223">@nathan0223</a>: <a href="https://twitter.com/Jonathan_Feigen">@Jonathan_Feigen</a> so is Garcia coming back or exploring his options?</p>— Jonathan Feigen (@Jonathan_Feigen) <a href="https://twitter.com/Jonathan_Feigen/statuses/492420229868183552">July 24, 2014</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
