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Antec · Feb 25, 2011

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Patience · Feb 25, 2011

test FAILED

Antec · Feb 25, 2011

Sorry i cant edit it. Wanted to post this.

Grading The Deal: Rockets Make Two Small And Shrewd Trades

Read more: http://basketball.realgm.com/articl...ake_Two_Small_And_Shrewd_Trades#ixzz1F2dkJXK9

Just an article that shows what the rockets came away with and how it was something to gain not lose.

Antec · Feb 25, 2011

Basically I wanted to point out something that alot of people have not realized. And that is the rockets WOULD HAVE LOST Battier and Brooks anyways in the off season.

Morey basically traded them to teams as temporary rentals. And he got 2 draft picks and potential in return. Houston is at no real loss.

Its like the Carmelo deal. Might as well as trade them if u know they are leaving in the off season. Get something better than nothing.

Alot of people dont realize this and have continuously bashed the deals morey has taken. I know alot of people dont like RealGM sources. Just wanted to share their ideas/thoughts of the trade.

Warning-Sign · Feb 25, 2011

Test Fail

Fullcourt · Feb 25, 2011

You should start a new thread. This one is doomed!

Antec · Feb 25, 2011

The trade deadline has always been a special time of the year for Daryl Morey. He has been an industrious general manager and he had another successful deadline, but he continues to serve hors d'oeuvres when we are all waiting for the main course to arrive in an NBA where its best players are now insisting on teaming up in package deals.

Morey is the general manager equivalent of the guy who traded a paperclip for a house, so perhaps we should nickname him Kyle MacDonald?

Houston is an offseason hub for a remarkable percentage of NBA players and is the sixth largest metropolitan area in the country. The Rockets are a team rich in history and capable of being a franchise where two or three of the game's best players will want to play.

But the Rockets continue to be constructed with very good role players and no true stars. For all of the depth of talent they have to potentially consolidate for a star, Houston couldn't match the high-end potential of Derrick Favors in a trade for Deron Williams, who I can assure you would much rather be back in Texas with the Rockets than anywhere with the Nets.

Morey has taken on several freshly minted first round picks over the past 12 months, so while they have looked good on paper in terms of value acquisition, one has to wonder at a certain point who is playing who here. The next time Morey is offered a first rounder that a team liked well enough to invest a draft pick on and then quickly find dispensable after a few months of close contact (no matter what the motivation behind the trade), that's a question he must ask himself.

But moving past that sidebar, Morey traded Shane Battier back to the Grizzlies (along with Ish Smith) in exchange for Hasheem Thabeet and a first round pick in 2013, while also sending Aaron Brooks to the Suns for Goran Dragic and Orlando's first round pick this season (if the Suns don't make the playoffs).

Thabeet's contract is problematic, but that is the price on taking a gamble on the second overall pick from a draft that was 20 months ago. The Rockets have long been searching for a center and now they have one of the biggest projects in the game in Thabeet. He has barely passed the 1,000 minute mark for his NBA career and minutes is what he needs more than anything.

The Rockets are a few games out of the playoffs and a run to the eighth seed is unlikely, so the remaining 23 games of the season should be spent on fully evaluating all of their youth to determine who stays and who goes. Between all of the young players and upcoming picks, the Rockets are quickly running out of available roster slots.

Battier's leftover minutes will go to some sort of combination of Chase Budinger, Courtney Lee and Terrence Williams and that in and of itself is a positive for Houston's long-term outlook.

Morey's ability to turn Battier, who had dubious trade value to begin with, into a shotblocking project, a mid-first rounder and minutes for your young players at the same position is a triple-win.

Grade for Rockets (Memphis trade): A-

From the Chris Wallace perspective, the real mistake was in selecting Thabeet, not in how he was traded. The Rudy Gay injury forced Memphis into doing something if making a playoff run would be a reality, and though there is a familiarity of bring back Battier, the whole team has been flipped over since the 2006 trade that sent him to the Rockets.

Battier is famously an overachiever who delivers high quality defense and can hit open perimeter jumpers when called upon. He will fit in and keep things afloat until Gay returns, and then do whatever Lionel Hollins needs.

Battier will be a free agent this offseason and losing a pick for a rental is basically what they did last season with Ronnie Brewer.

But the upside is Memphis is able to shed the salary of Thabeet and re-signing the frontcourt combo of Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol is a less harrowing scenario for Michael Heisley because of it.

Grade for Grizzlies: B

Trading Brooks to Phoenix was an easy trigger for the Rockets to pull. The situation went sour with Brooks when talking contract extension and it was made worse by the fact that he lost his job at point guard to Kyle Lowry.

Dragic, meanwhile, looked excellent during the Suns' playoff run last year, but has struggled with his perimeter shooting, going from 39.4% from distance last season to 27.7% this season. He is a good defender on the perimeter and the upgrade in size and ability with Dragic from Brooks should improve Houston's defense immensely. Brooks has been one of the worst defenders in the NBA against the dribble.

Considering Brooks almost certainly would have left Houston this summer as a restricted free agent anyways, trading straight-up for a backup with some upside in Dragic would have been enough for me.

But the Rockets also bring in a first round pick, either Phoenix's selection right outside the lottery if they make the playoffs, or Orlando's in the low to mid 20s.

It is fair to label this one as the most unbalanced trade of deadline week.

Grade for Rockets (Phoenix portion): A

The Suns are desperate for a playoff berth and acquiring Brooks continues their momentum over recent weeks. Given the struggles of Dragic and the motivation of Brooks to play for a contract, the point guard position has been upgraded over the final stretch of the current season in terms of second unit scoring. Brooks should thrive in Phoenix's offense and the Suns are accustomed to porous defense at the point guard position to begin with.

I'm not sure what an eighth seed and a four/five game slaughter from the Spurs accomplishes for the Suns.

If they begin fielding offers for Steve Nash after the season is over, the Suns could simply re-sign Brooks as the interim replacement at point guard and I would like the trade a little more than I do today. We'll need to see the dollar amounts on Brooks contract before a real judgment is made there.

But losing a first round pick for a largely lateral and potentially temporary move at the backup point guard hardly seems like the most prudent use of resources.

Grade for Suns: D+
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This is the article from the link above.

Antec · Feb 25, 2011

Warning-Sign said:

Test Fail
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I was a rookie last week, didnt know I could make threads.

Sorry! Was testing it before i posted.

TurtleBonzi · Feb 25, 2011

I was looking forward to a quiz.

RedRedemption · Feb 26, 2011

I'm 12 and what is this?

Warning-Sign · Feb 26, 2011

Antec said:

I was a rookie last week, didnt know I could make threads.

Sorry! Was testing it before i posted.
Click to expand...

Well you could have put something relevant at least. And by the way, Memphis is not taking Battier as a rental, they want him to retire there.

Antec · Feb 26, 2011

Warning-Sign said:

Well you could have put something relevant at least. And by the way, Memphis is not taking Battier as a rental, they want him to retire there.
Click to expand...

People say they want a player to stay at place X all the time.

But can they afford to resign him is the question. Its not about wanting someone, its about can you afford them.

Shane is going to command near the MLE and they still need to resign big deals for both Gasol and Randolph.

mikol13 · Feb 26, 2011

I'm getting older and I wasted precious time clicking on this thread

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