Taking nothing away from Chuck. he has had a phenomenal year, but the NBA game is all about match ups both on offense and defense. The fact is, if Scola is your Pf, you need a true center who can matchup with him. The defense being bad has less to do with Chuck's height as it does with Scola's inability to guard.... Well anyone. He is pathetic on defense. Gortat excels at rotational defense and could have really helped out as a true center who can also run the floor and cover alot of ground on defense. Gortat is not the one on one defensive stopper that Chuck is, but he would have been better at help defense, and could have added a better matchup against teams with length.
I've got a bag of **** and a box full of rocks that I'd like to trade for Lopez straight up, but something tells me the Suns won't take my very attractive offer.
Dallas offered Gortat the full MLE (the most Hou could offer as well) and Orlando matched.... so the Rockets were not getting him as a FA regardless. I don't know where you got that Orlando wanted Lee or Martin for Gortat... Lee would not be enough and Martin would probably be too much. The Rockets did try to get Gortat, but a match could not be made... this is NOT on Morey. Gortat has produced as expected, but his defense has been slightly disapointed. Also do not forget Phoenix plays perfect to inflate rebound and scoring numbers..... having said that Gortat is a top 10 starting center. DeAndre Jordan will not be a Rocket next year, as he is a terrible defender, and does not play well with others.
Correct. Credit to Morey's scouting on both those big guys. He made his plays, but you can't make impossible things happen! Gortat is the hard one - would've been nice to get him in the off-season, but Orlando was going to match no matter what.
We know what negotiations were? IMHO they would have included the insistence that Vinsanity get dumped on the trading partner. J-Rich was a bad p/u? And his contract + subtraction of VC made the deal not a head scratcher to most, again IMHO. I wanted Gortat; no opinion on Asik. But might either have improved upon what Chuck accomplished? Plus Martin and Lee? On balance...yes, no, and maybe. Tough deals to be confident of outcome had they eventuated.
Draft a center and if a FA worth a damn is available then go after him.......at this point we should be hoarding centers like a ole lady and a house full of cats....!! Or take a page out of Minnys' book and go 3 Centers in a row in the draft...!! As for the SF position I think a vet like Prince (UPGRADE ACROSS THE BOARD) would fit perfectly here and compliment BUD in the rotation.......IT IS WRITTEN
Scola + Phx 1st rounder + Hou 1st Rounder for Gortat... They have a young Robin Lopez as a Center also.
You are most likely correct that in any case Vince Carter would have had to come along with Gortat. That would have been a bad deal had the Rockets had to take on Vince's salary and go deeper into Luxury taxville. However Carter's contract is expiring and could have easily been flipped before the deadline. However, Morey still made the right decision at the time, and I dont blame him for it, its just bad luck. My thinking though is if the Rockets pick up a free agent center they will most likely have to spend upwards of 7 to 10 mil a year for 3 to 5 years for anyone that will actually be an upgrade from Chuck Hayes. Meaning they will be able to beat him out. DeAndre Jordan, and Sammy Dalembert might not even beat Chuck out for minutes. Gasol, or Nene most likely would though. Now here's where it gets ugly. You couple that new salary they will be paying with Brad Miller's salary till 2013 at an average of 4.7 million. Thats 11 to 15 million a year for about the same production as Gortat would give you at 4 million a year for 4 more seasons. Given that the new free agent Center would most likely put Miller out of the rotation. And now it gets more ugly. Then there is Hasheem Thabeet's salary that averages roughly 5.5 million a year for two more seasons. The last season being a team option. So basically either way you look at it, The Rockets will be paying a Center on their roster around 5 Million a year to be irrelevant, and that isnt even factoring in Yao Ming being re-signed to a new contract. Best Case scenario for the Rockets is Hasheem Thabeet channels his inner Kareem and Hakeem and learns how to play basketball over the summer and wins the starting Center position over Chuck Hayes. Otherwise the Battier trade really, really starts to stink, and they really shouldn't pay that much money for a Center who might not even get minutes over Chuck.... AGAIN.
Gortat is quickly moving Lopez out of the starting center role. More than likely they will view Gortat as almost untouchable given his production at his salary. However, I wouldn't be surprised if they would give up Lopez... but then again we have to ask the question they I raised in the previous post.... Would Lopez really even beat out Chuck Hayes???...
Good points, with one correction. Of the final year of Brad Miller's contract (2012-2013), only $848,000 out $5.1 million is guaranteed, which effectively makes him as good as an expiring contract next season. This would make him easy to trade to a contender wishing to rent his services at the trade deadline, or to a team just wanting cap relief. Which would also then give the Rockets a bit more financial flexibility to go after another center.
Flipped - - maybe. Easily? NOT. 'might not even beat (out) Chuck' - - may not be all that easy to beat out Chuck. The guy brings a lot to the court. NO HE IS NOT THE ANSWER, but don't diminish the diminutive (for position, that is) Mr Wagon. Thabeet - - project or projectile. The braintrust thought he was worth a gamble. I hope they roll 7s. BTW - Gortat received Ariza's contract. 5 yrs @ $33+ m IIRC. That's nearly twice the $4m you cited.
Lopez wouldn't even beat out a focused Jordan Hill. He's the crappy Collins brother. He isn't athletic at all, doesn't rebound, isn't an intimidating presence, has almost no shot, and has issues between the ears. Jordan Hill when focused dominates Robin Lopez when focused. Asik would have been great. When that rumor came out I was so hoping we could pull it off. Maybe we can draft Enes Kanter instead.
I was rooting for the Courtney Lee for Asik trade as well. It made sense though that Chicago was a little worried about the risk if they lost Noah to another injury and just couldn't gamble at losing depth at the Center position long term. Especially with them making a run at a title here in the near future. I agree with you on Lopez to some extent. He doesn't make the mistakes that Hill makes on defense, but as a Center he still isnt good enought to beat out Chuck Hayes. To me, if I was in Morey's shoes, if the Center Im looking to aquire cant beat Chuck out, then my better option is to stick with Thabeet and try and throw every player development coach the Rockets have at their disposal at him.
I've wanted Gortat since early 2009 and if I were calling the shots he would remain a priority of mine. Assuming, of course, he's even available (which is doubtful at this point). Bottom line: that combination of productivity + $6-7M contract is hard to beat in today's NBA.
