No one other than Paul or Howard is worth clogging up cap room. Plan B should be getting a one year rental such as Gasol.
Wait for who? It's so easy for people to say "wait" because they assume there are better options next summer. In reality, there aren't. First, let's rule out all restricted free agents like Paul George. The ones with All-Star potential will never be allowed to leave their teams. Let's also rule out old players like Kobe and Dirk. Who else are we left with? The chances that LeBron, Wade, and Bosh will opt out next summer is zero. Not when they've won back-to-back championships and made the finals 3 years in a row. Rudy Gay ain't opting out either. He is guaranteed $19.3M in his final year. If he opts out he's not getting anywhere near that amount. Besides, he's not all that great and he plays the same position as Parsons. What about Carmelo? Does anybody really believe Carmelo will opt out of his contract next summer, leave New York City behind... and follow Jeremy Lin to Houston, Texas? I didn't think so. I don't see Carmelo leaving $23.5M on the table AND also leaving the Big Apple behind. He's too much in love with New York City. That leaves us with a very poor crop of available free agents next summer. Remember, Kevin Love & LMA don't actually become free agents until the summer of 2015. Who are our actual options next summer? Luol Deng Danny Granger The Rockets might as well blow their cap room this summer on guys like Milsap or Iguodala or even Monta. The free agents available next summer aren't worth waiting for.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>ATL!!</p>— James Harden (@JHarden13) <a href="https://twitter.com/JHarden13/statuses/348494383303233538">June 22, 2013</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> Josh Smith
This! In real it's not really tank, just play same squad and develop young talent. We could get into finals again with that.
Plan A Sign and trade Lin and Asik for Howard Sign Howard and CP3 Plan B Sign and trade Lin and Asik for Howard Sign Howard and wait for Kyrie Irving Plan C (Very Unlikely) Sign and trade Lin and Asik for Howard Sign Howard and get Lebron Bam 3 different ways on winning a championship No pussycat borderline all stars please Rockets are about winning the championship within the next few years
Pick up Gasol for one of our PFs our off of amnesty waivers Trade for Cousins Sign Bynum for a 1 year deal. That's it no cap screwing mediocrity Josh Smith, Jefferson, Millsap, etc. I'd like Iggy but only if Howard was here first. Cousins would be awesome because he's still in his rookie deal and if you traded for him you could still have cap room to go after a top FA next year. Then go over the cap to resign Cousins and Parsons.
Actually the more I think about this the better I like it. Trade T-rob for Gasol, Asik and Moti for Cousins and Salmons. Next season Salmons and Gasol come off the cap and you can sign a top FA and then go over the cap to resign Parsons, Cousins, and if you wanted to Gasol and Salmons. Lin Harden Parsons Cousins Gasol Interesting to speculate....
Do nothing and wait for next year's Free agents. Besides Paul and Howard, there is nothing else worth spending on that would make the Rockets contenders.
If the Dwightmare doesn't come here, I want Morey to mix some vets with our youth. Josh Smith isn't that appealing to me, so here are some of my hopes for Plan B: To help Omer: Cheaper plan: Go and get Emeka Okafor. Expensive Alternative: Al Jefferson We don't have a decent PF. At all. Practical Move: David West should be our starting PF. He fits everything we need at that position, from scoring to rebounding to toughness. UNDERRATED. Semi-Expensive: Milsap Expensive, but worth it: Zach Randolph would be another good look for this type of team. He has been putting up monster seasons year after year. He's crafty and is an easy double-double. We just need a legit PF. Dmo is still D-League material, and TJ and Greg are still learning. Morey needs to rescue a few shooters that are rotting on benches : James Jones, Mike Dunleavy types. But, I'd rather have Cisco and Carlos back. Best scenario for a pure shooter: Kyle Korver, but he's not signing for the minimum. I think we tend to overlook our point guard situation, which is odd, because it's not ideal. Lin is mediocre in many ways and needs so much work in order to create his own shot and STOP THE TUNRNOVERS!!! Pat Bev is still learning, too. If it were up to me, I'd love for Morey to sign CJ Watson. Good ballhandler, shooter, affordable. Darren Collison would be another solid pick. He had a bad year in Dallas, but his speed and offense would fit well here. If McHale weren't such a turd, Kyle Lowry could come back in here and complement James incredibly well. Of course, I know that the majority of these moves are impossible because of contracts, but we can't stand pat with the current roster. It should be interesting...
Am I the only one that thinks that rockets won't survive with Paul and harden at the backcourt? Both are ball dominate guards that need the ball to be truly effective. In order for harden to be effective, you need a spot up one guard like Lou Williams or brooks. For Chris Paul, he's always been playing with spot up two guards such as Caron butler/Willie green/Marco belinelli. Line up of L.williams/harden/parsons/jones or motie/ Howard would be more than good.
lol pau gasol would be terrible. He doesn't want to play here. He gives like 10% effort when he is not happy.
If only Harden had been effective alongside a star PG that dominates the ball just a year ago. Oh wait, that's right... Paul has always played with spot-up two guards, and his teams haven't been very good. What's the point? As great as CP3 is, he's never even made it to the conference finals. On the flip side, Harden made it to the NBA Finals playing the majority of his minutes with Russell Westbrook. LeBron James and Dwyane Wade each need the ball for peak statistical effectiveness, but playing together is obviously effective and gives them the best chance to win a ring. The same would be true with Paul and Harden. Harden's actually a very good off-the-ball player -- we just didn't see it a lot last year because he had to be the primary creator. He's also not a bad defender, from a talent standpoint -- it's just that his high usage on offense wears him down. I feel quite confident that Paul and Harden could play together and possibly make each other better.
Did you talk to Pau in the past couple months? Because if you're referring to the anonymous report in December 2011, the Rockets are clearly a much more attractive destination (and the Lakers significantly less) than they were back then. That's why Dwight wouldn't entertain even the idea of Houston a year ago, and now we're reportedly at the top of his list. Things have a way of changing when you get better players.
lol Tyreke replacing Lin, hell why not get Norris Cole or Shaun Livingston back to be a starter. it would be a fail move anyway since the pg spot is the least of the Rockets worries. You got one of the weakest PF spots in the game, worst OPPG in the league, have no one to backup Asik if he went down, but you want a Tyreke Evans. Its like basically saying the Lakers need a new PF and SF because thats the biggest problem on their team, replacing Gasol and Kobe.
