Very true. It amazes me that so few fans seem to realize this. "Trade rumors" sell. The purpose of "news," particularly in the Internet age, is to make a profit. Doesn't matter if the "news" is socially responsible, or objective, or in good faith. It can be and often is completely idiotic, but what matters is the bottom line. And, again, most fans accept it as truth, completely uncritically. I seriously doubt that Morey was remotely interested in giving a ton of money to Josh Smith. However, it would not surprise me if Morey's team intentionally put some "Houston is interested in Josh Smith" misinformation out there.
Morey had a meeting with Josh Smith in LA on the first day of FA. That is a hard fact and not leaked out by any agents or teams! Perhaps your timing was off. http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?t=240547 <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>NBA sources confirm the Rockets expected to meet today with free agent forward Josh Smith and his agent Brian Dyke.</p>— Mark Berman (@MarkBermanFox26) <a href="https://twitter.com/MarkBermanFox26/statuses/351777192910389249">July 1, 2013</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
this is very true but Morey has to trade that contract b4 it reaches the final year or he will lose a lot of leverage
The meeting may have been casual, may have been a favor, may have been due diligence, I don't know. I'm just telling you what Morey said on 790.
Its pretty widely reported that Morey met with Josh Smith. Not sure how anyone can really think that they didn't. Even if he wasn't going to be signed to a huge contract, they had to do their due diligence with him either way. It was a no-brainer at the time to meet with him for more than a few reasons. But to be fair, while Morey did meet with Smith in the Summer moratorium, it was unclear if it was only to sign him as a free agent if Howard went elsewhere as option B, or if it was to get him on board as the next domino to fall AFTER Dwight signs and they get him VIA sign and trade. Of the big question mark here is whether or not Atlanta was willing to play along, and what was the price the Rockets were willing to shell out in a S&T. That seemed to be the main questions surrounding the meeting with Josh Smith this Summer. If they knew or thought they were getting Dwight, did the Rockets have the ability to pull off a sign and trade for Josh Smith as well? If they did have that option and they didn't pull the trigger for one reason or another (finances, liking Asik more, waiting for a better player, etc) I would think that would be a pretty debatable topic right now on the GARM given the current PF situation, the imminent failure of the TT, and the lack of PF's on the market. Could they have had Josh Smith right now???.... We might never get a real answer to that question.
Depends who we get in exchange for Asik. That's why I had mentioned Nene, he is a good defender at both positions. Bosh, likewise, although Miami probably won't trade him. Millsap is a good defender too but he definitely can't defend the 5 and isn't tall enough for the biggest 4's.
It's true that we (casual fans) might never know all the details that went on during that meeting, but one thing for sure, they weren't chitchatting about pingpong, especially on the first day of FA. Perhaps you missed earlier post by justtxyank that started all the confusion:
Yes I did see that, and while I do recall Morey giving that kind of response, I dont recall the context. Could very well just be a response to try and cool the waters a bit on the Asik for Smith S&T possibility lost. At that point, Morey probably knew that he was stuck with Asik till the February trade deadline, and had to start selling to the fans that Asik is their guy, and they aren't going to trade him for pennies on a dollar. The point though is nobody should really be debating whether or not the Rockets were interested in Josh Smith or not... Obviously they did on some level. The part of the story that is interesting though is whether or not Smith could have been had along with Howard if they were willing to pay him what he wanted and a deal was available in S&T involving Asik, or was he just considered plan B if Dwight went elsewhere.
Morey said it on 790, the Thursday before the season opened. You can find the "Morey on 790" thread, the recap in the first post from me talks about it. I initially misunderstood it to be about Josh Howard.
You know... for all the crap we give CH about the PPat thing. PPat would be starting at the 4 if he were here. Would be a pretty good fit next to Dwight.
December 15 is the day last summer's free agent signings can be traded, right? And we do need that backup for Howard if we trade Asik for a 4. Greg Stiemsma (signed July 2013) + Ryan Anderson for Asik and Motiejunas/Jones/Smith? Paul Millsap (2013) + Elton Brand (2013) for Asik + Motiejunas/Jones/Smith? Wilson Chandler + Timofei Mozgov(2013) for Asik+ fillers?
Let me clarify my position. Sure, Daryl Morey was likely interested in Josh Smith, but was not interested in paying Smith anything close to what Smith wound up getting from Detroit, which I believe was four years, $56 mil. And, since Josh Smith was inevitably going to get paid well in excess of what Morey was willing to pay, any Houston-Smith talks mostly functioned to entice Dwight Howard to sign (by creating pro-Rockets chatter, also by creating leverage) and to let Smith know they were interested if he was willing to settle for less $. The quasi-stars like Josh Smith and Lamarcus Aldridge inevitably spend the majority of their careers with poorly managed (I.e., losing) teams. This is because the poorly managed teams have to overpay for talent, and because players almost always sign with the highest bidder. The well-managed teams don't sign the Josh Smiths and Lamarcus Aldridges of the world to massive max salary deals. They sign legit superstars to huge contracts, they only pay top dollar for "best of breed.". The league's bottom feeders are bottom feeders for a reason; they are bottom feeders because they make poor decisions, such as giving Josh Smith four years, $56 mil. Anyway, this is why Smith was never going to be a Rocket this past offseason. Also why Aldridge will never be a Rocket, at least not during his prime years. AND why Rockets fans should expect a trade for a very good but undervalued/reasonably priced player such as Ersan Ilyasova or Amir Johnson rather than an overvalued/overpaid player such as Aldridge.
Aldridge is a top 3 PF & all-star making 14 mil this year and 16 mil next year. Most people think of Kevin Love as the best PF in the league, but if you compare the two players, you will find out that not only is their production very similar (except rebounding), but Aldridge has been a remarkably durable player while Love after his rookie year has only had one season where he's played 70+ games. Offensively, the only PF's last year that scored more total than him were Melo, and Lebron, and they aren't real PF's. Now I'm not saying he's anywhere close to the scorer that Melo and Lebron are, and I'm not saying I wouldn't rather have Kevin Love.... Also there is the fact that in Houston his usage rate would go down significantly leading to what would be lower overall production.... probably somewhere in the Chris Bosh/David West range. However, I am saying that he is definitely NOT overpaid on a 2 year deal at that price range. The Rockets acquiring him on this contract would be a no-brainer if he was ever let loose by Paul Allen.... which is very unlikely to happen until next Summer at the earliest unless the Blazers have a really bad stretch of losses leading to the Feb trade deadline.
Right. Or more to the point, the Rockets don't have enough other assets to throw in that would make it worthwhile to another team. The Rockets didn't trade Kevin Martin for Harden. They traded Lamb, a pick, and Martin. That picked turned into Steve Adams, btw. The problem is two-fold. #1 - DMo and TJones have been relative busts. And I don't think you can put this one on McHale. DMo can't play defense for his life. TJones has all the tools, but for whatever reason becomes inefficient when given the time. Royce White was Royce White. Marcus Morris was average at best. Greg Smith is a roller coaster, etc. The Rockets really needed one of these guys to at least show some level of breakout potential... maybe not 100% all-star guaranteed, but to pique someone's interest. And #2 they are short on picks now. They can trade their own, but that's not worth much given where that pick will likely be. So absent throwing in Parsons into a deal - certainly a possibility, but at what cost.. then being absent another starting spot? - there's not much to offer another team to get back "better" value. Trading Asik will get you at most an Asik like player. There was a time where I might have argued Asik + Parsons could have netted you Kevin Love... but that time has passed (for now). Maybe that package could still get you a LMA... but while I'm not on the LMA overrated bandwagon like some, I think that is probably giving up too much. Also, I really really do think Parsons is a tough player to trade at this point. He kind of is guy #1 wrt recruiting Dwight. He is being criminally underpaid (even recognizing that that's the deal he took). There would definitely be some bad karma/chemistry/etc. from trading Parsons. So to me its about fit. Cause Asik has value for sure... but it's diminished playing with Dwight. The team sorely needs a "real" PF. DM needs to make a move... try and win a championship this year. My list of players at least realistically attainable in a deal that makes sense starts with Ilyasova. Underrated. Not overpaid. Potentially obtainable in the right move. Fit wise makes sense (solid shooter at the basket and at 3s, above average rebounder, average defender, young, etc.). Al Horford would actually certainly be my number 1 guy, but I see no reason why the Hawks would trade him. Guy is a top 5 PF... I'd rank him ahead of LMA. I've seen Millsap's name floated around, and I'd definitely do that... but why would the Hawks sign Millsap only to trade him so quick? Especially given how well he is playing.... I know Horford wants more of a real center next to him, but Hawks management is doing what they deem best. I just don't see them moving Millsap for a bit. Love is unattainable. LMA is overvalued by his team. Thaddeus Young makes some sense but is really soft as a rebounder/defender. This site seems enamored with Amir Johnson for some reason. He's ok... I'd certainly be interested in seeing how it played out, but wouldn't necessarily "target" him. Boozer? Interesting idea. Not the player he once was, but great start to the season, and as a veteran would add some nice leadership - knock him for his Jazz days all you want, but he's played for a great coach in a great system that made deep playoff runs. Bosh? Don't really see the Heat doing that move. Don't fix what isn't broken. I wonder if the Jazz would move either of their bigs... but if they would (unlikely) it'd probably be Favors, which is an equally bad fit next to Dwight. I used to be in favor of a Ryan Andersen swap, but have soured on him. On the whole, I'd be in favor of any move, really. But that's why DM is the GM, and I'm an armchair general manager.
Asik for Millsap would have been the perfect trade come December 15, but if Millsap keeps beasting like this then Atlanta probably won't have interest... <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>Millsap (20.2 PPG, 59.8% eFG%) off to strong start. <a href="https://twitter.com/ATLHawks">@ATLHawks</a> NetRtg: +7.5 w/ him on the floor, -15.3 w/ him off, best differential on team</p>— NBA.com/Stats (@nbastats) <a href="https://twitter.com/nbastats/statuses/399998970753478658">November 11, 2013</a></blockquote>
Really? Did you talk to Daryl personally? Or did you listen to the media, who are, of course, "plugged in", and listen to them say they had conversations? I don't buy for a second that he was ever a realistic option. He doesn't fit. He just doesn't.
