Ariza potentially on the block? http://www.sbnation.com/2010/2/3/12...oudemire-rumors-antawn-jamison-andre-iguodala Houston Rockets Status: Buyer Team Weaknesses: Lack of size, creating offense, defending point guards Projected 2010 cap room: $15 million (sans options) Untouchables: Yao Ming Potentially on the block: Shane Battier ($6.9 million this year, one more year left), Trevor Ariza ($5.8 million this year, four more years left, player option for fourth year) Expiring Contracts: Tracy McGrady ($22.5 million), Brian Cook ($3.5 million), Luis Scola ($3.3 million) Prospects: Aaron Brooks, Carl Landry, Kyle Lowry, Chase Budinger, Jermaine Taylor Good trade partners: Chicago, Golden State, Memphis, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Sacramento, Toronto, Washington Possible targets: Andre Iguodala, Kevin Martin, Caron Butler, Brendan Haywood, Amare Stoudemire, Chris Bosh (if available), Rudy Gay, Kirk Hinrich, John Salmons, Monta Ellis How greedy does Houston want to be? That's the question that could turn this trade deadline from epic to ordinary. Look at all their trade assets. In Tracy McGrady, they have the biggest expiring contract in the league, and they're trying to get some mileage out of it, whether that means getting Caron Butler, Andre Iguodala, Kevin Martin or any of the other big-time players on the market. The Rockets are driving a hard bargain now, because they know how attractive the financial relief McGrady proves is to struggling teams like Washington and Philadelphia (and because they have their own long-term financial issues to worry about), but if they were willing to take on some bad contracts to make the salaries work (e.g. Samuel Dalembert from Philadelphia, Andres Nocioni from Sacramento or Mike James from Washington) or surrender some of their young players (which is what the Wizards want), they could get a real stud player. Right now, that doesn't appear to be the case, but for the sake of us fans, I hope it eventually is. Iguodala is a perfect fit here (Houston needs a perimeter creator in the worst way) and a major upgrade over Trevor Ariza, while Butler would help too without creating too many long-term money problems. Houston also has several interesting young players that they'll inevitably overvalue, as well as some smaller expiring contracts. They have some cap room this summer, but that's only if they let several key players (Luis Scola, Chuck Hayes, even Carl Landry) go, so if they were smart, they'd try to get something for those players now. They could also save them for sign-and-trades this summer, though, or they could do nothing because Daryl Morey loves his plucky overachievers. In case you didn't notice, I'm really hoping Houston does something big at the trade deadline. Screw financial issues and your precious young sleepers, swing a big deal Daryl!
Yeah.... Pretty sure that Landry is locked in until next year, that the market for the Chuckwagon won't be much of a market at all and that unless Chris Paul is included in any deal that you can pretty much add Brooks' name to that "untouchables" list.
Tracy will be traded right before trade deadline (like Rafer Alston was). I am sure about that one. Daryl is getting a lot of calls about McGrady and his expiring contract but as we all know Morey is a smart guy and he knows that the closer to the deadline, the better player you can get. So in my opinion he is just waiting. Maybe one or two teams will be forced to make that deal (because of money) and they will offer something really great? Who knows? If this doesn't happen, I still think Tracy will be gone. And we will get either Igoudala or Butler. That's just smart move by DM. Good work!
whatever morey does, please say no to kevin martin. kings been playing like crap ever since he got healthy.
according to that article, if Minnesota has put Al Jefferson on the trade block and have Iggy on their radar....would there be any opposition to making a deal for AL Jefferson if it meant taking Dalembert's contract? It would be a 3-way deal... Rockets get: Al Jefferson (get a big man to take over Center now, and play PF when Yao comes back) Sam Dalembert (take his contract off Philly's hands and get Prospect in Young) Thaddeous Young Minnesota gets: Iggy (get a player they're going after) Cook (expiring) Philly gets: TMac (expiring) Landry (Prospect/asset) I havent given it too much thought, so feel free to disagree.
I could possibly see Morey pulling this deal if it was Scola instead of Landry, I'm a fan of getting Al Jefferson and playing Al and Yao side by side, but we'll see what Morey does.
Really? One of our weaknesses is defensive point guards? Has he never seen Kyle Lowry play basketball? Even AB isn't that bad defensively. He plays solid team defense.
This is exactly how I feel. The offers are there. Morey is just waiting to see if someone will sweeten the pot but I'm sure he has a deal or two that he will pull the trigger on at the deadline.
At this point, I feel confident McGrady will be gone by the deadline. What I'm more curious about is if any of our other players might be traded in separate deals. For instance, does Morey expect he'll be able to afford to re-sign Scola? If not, now would be the time to trade him too.
Yeah i would too.. and the only reason i put Landry in the mix was cuz i dont think Philly would wanna take on Scola. I think we've seen Scola's max potential reached and i think Landry still has a lot more room for improvement as a player. I totally agree that Houston wants no part of Dalembert and i sure as hell dont either, BUT we get big man (Al Jefferson - 3-4 years left on contract) whose capable of putting up YAO-type numbers incase Yao does not return to form. And if Yao does, then we play them together and create HUGE offensive and defensive problems for MANY teams. Dalembert would make a pretty good backup and would be on the books for one more year after this year and could potentially end up being another trade chip as an expiring contract next season. We also get a solid player with potential in T. Young. If we have an opportunity to get Al Jefferson, I dont see why we would even need to keep Landry. But like i said...i havent looked at the numbers closely so this may not even be feasible from a money/cap/luxury tax standpoint.
This is something I'm not sure I agree with. Due to his size I feel like Landry already overachieves his ass out every single night by being the beast and hustler that he is. I'm not sure if he can overachieve much more than he already does.
I prefer Morey to trade for expiring contracts and 1st round picks. I have more confidence in Morey's ability of drafting rookies than his ability of trading for players. Morey should do the thing that he is really good at.
Actually, this is something I am not sure I agree with. His ceiling might not be as high as some think, but there are a number of reasons to believe he has yet to peak. Carl might become more effective as his decision making improves. His numbers will probably improve as he learns to handle the double teams more effectively. Look at the strides he has made this year. What if he develops more range with his shot? And consider how much better he might be with Yao on the floor. It will be tough for defenses to double both Carl and Yao, as long as they can space the floor. So no, something tells me that Landry might have at least a modest bit of upside still.
