10 replies to this topic

[Jdon76]

As of this writing, we sit at 27-23 and 8th place in the West. I really liked the trades we made at the deadline, and Camby's impact is clearly visible. I can't help but look ahead to the off-season, as hopes of winning it all this year are basically non-existent, so without further adieu, here is my proposal.

1. Trade Kyle Lowry and Luis Scola to the Hawks for Josh Smith and Jeff Teague.
-Why we do this- We acquire a (should have been) All-star who actually wants to play for us and an adequate back up PG, while getting rid of Scola's horrendous D.
-Why the Hawks do this- They get a MASSIVE upgrade at PG, and get rid of a disgruntled player while replacing him with a player who isn't too big of a step down

2. Trade Kevin Martin and Samuel Dalembert to the Bulls for Joakim Noah and Rip Hamilton
-Why we do this- We acquire a young Center who is arguably top 5 at his postion and a backup SG.
-Why they do this- They gain the scoring 2 they desire, while also getting a viable replacement for Noah in the 2 man combination of Dalembert/Asik.

3. Re-sign Goran Dragic and Courtney Lee to long-term deals to be our backcourt of the future.

4. Re-sign Marcus Camby to a 2-year(?) deal, he said he wants to keep playing, and I don't see why we wouldn't bring him back to keep playing back-up.

After all of this, our depth chart going into next year would be:
PG: Dragic/Teague/Fortson?
SG: Lee/ Hamilton
SF: Parsons/Bud/Morris
PF: Smith/Patterson/Motiejunas
C: Noah/Camby/Motiejunas

I figure all of these trades are workable and beneficial to both teams, but If we need to sweeten the pot on any of them we have Morris and various draft picks we can throw in.

Thoughts?

[Rahat Huq]

Regarding Lowry/Scola for Smith/Teague, I don't see either team doing that one. I find Josh Smith to be highly overrated.

As far as Noah for Martin, there's pretty much close to zero chance the Bulls would ever go for that. They refused to part for Noah for Carmelo Anthony, back even before Melo's fall from grace. No chance they deal him for Martin. You can argue he's just as much of a cornerstone to their success as is Rose. That team bases everything on its defense.

[redfaithful]

What do you think about getting David Lee from the Warriors?

Not sure there's anything that will convince the Warriors to trade him, and he has a huge long-term contract, but in my opinion he fits the current roster very well.

[Stephen]

Jdon,
While like Rahat I am not a big fan of Josh Smith,I may dislike his game even more than Rahat,if Atlanta was to trade him it'd be to dump salary and as well as getting talent. Next yr Atlanta is in Salary Cap hell w/ $61mil committed to just 6 players.
If you made your trade something like Dalambert,Lowry,Bud for Smith,Teague Atlanta would likely go for it. This would give them 3 bigs,3 wings,a PG and they fill out the roster w/mins,their First and perhaps resigning one or two of their FAs.
But where would Smith fit in Houston? He's a PF and even w/a subsequent trade or Scola,there still would be Patterson,Motie(he's going to end up a PF) and possible even Morris,not to mention the draft is deep in PFs and there's the chance the team spends one of it's picks on a PF. You're also committing the Rockets to signing Dragic no matter what he asks for.

As to the second trade,Chicago doesn't trade Noah and Hamilton is a cancer. He's been instrumental in running 3 coaches out of Detroit,does not want to be a back-up,is pretty useless on offense when he can't play in an offense structured to set multiple picks for him and is an indifferent 3 point shooter,only recently taking as many as 3 a game. Plus he'll be 35 next season,w/a recent history of injuries,not having played as many as 75 games in his past 5 seasons.


As to the David Lee suggestion,not happening because of his monstrous salary.
Lee Per 36......19.4 points,9.3 rebounds,0.4 blocks,2.7 assists,2.4 turnovers, 20.0 PER,25.7 usage %
Scola Per 36...17.5 points,7.5 rebounds,0.4 blocks,2.3 assists,2.8 turnovers,16.0 PER,25.4 usage %
For a fairly modest improvement in scoring,assists and @ 15% better rebounding(and Scola is rebounding worse this yr than previous yrs,either age,playing beside a 7" or aftereffects from his off-season knee problems) let's look at their salaries:
Scola....$9.4mil,$10.2mil,$11mil(and unguaranteed unless performance goals are met).
Lee......$12.7mil,$13.9mil,$15.0mil,$15.5mil.
Lee will be making $15mil when he's 31(Scola's current age).

[Ostrow]

I live in the Bay so I watch the Warriors all the time. We do not want David Lee. He does nothing more than Scola does. And he's not as consistent as Scola. He's more athletic and a little better passer but you can't really throw it to him in the post. He doesn't score all that well in down there. And he might play less defense than Scola which I know is tough.

[redfaithful]

Stephen, Ostrow, thanks for clearing that up.

By now the best scenario I see is to keep the roster as is, spending as much as it takes on Dragic and Lee. Hopefully Martin will come back to a significant bench role, and if that doesn't work his expiring contract can be used come trade deadline next year.

[areteejay789]

Are there any big free agents next summer? as in summer of '13? Are we better off keeping martins expiring to look at signing someone important? or are other teams gonna be interested in his contract because big names will be available? because as it stands, martin the basketball player is not very valuable to any of the teams that we want to trade with, where as the 11 million owed to martin might be worth a bit more...

[Stephen]

As of right now Unrestricted 2013 FAs include Dwight Howard,Chris Paul,Kevin Martin,Ginobili,Josh Smith,Milsap,Al Jefferson,Pekovic,Tiago Splitter as the more notable.
OKC has two Restricted FAS in Harden and Ibaka,other notable Restricted FAs are Steph Curry,Jennings,Tyreke Evans,Blake Griffin(hah!).

[RocketMan]

That settles it. We just hold out and trade Scola/Lowry in 2013 and pick up Chris Paul and Blake Griffin. That solves that. May as well drop Camby in exchange for Dwight Howard. Man, this GM stuff is easy!

[rockets best fan]

people are blowing this cap room for the rockets way out of line. The rockets are in very good position to sign both lee and dragic without giving up any flexibility. Kevin Martin contract is 13 mil next season in the last year of the deal. If the rockets sign dragic and lee for less than that and get rid of martin they still reduce the payroll. I think the rockets have a diamond in dragic, the combination of dragic, lee and lowry is championship level. I would not let any of them leave. What we need to do is trade martin and some combination of ( patterson, scola, morris, dalambert, and draft picks) for a chance to move up in this years draft. I don't believe in bringing in to many players from other teams to be a centerpeice, we need a young star and this years draft has some players who could take us to the next level quickly. Who ever gets the number 1 pick may be open to trading it for the right combination of the previously mentioned players. This team we have has some parts ( a core) that I think we cannot lose. These player sould be on managements list of play in the core ( lowry, dragic, lee, parsons, budinger, montiejunas, and I'm iffy on patterson). If we could get our hands on somebody like davis or kid-gilcrest or henson I would jump at it. We need a very good big man that's all. I think camby has proven that.

[rockets best fan]

here's a trade to chew on. three team deal. the rockets send martin to minnesota (you know rick aldelman love him some kevin martin) for beasley and their 2014 first rounder (first one they have available for trade) send that pick+first rounder they get from dallas next year+the first rounder they get from new york this year to a team tto move inside the top 5 in this draft. do you think there is a player worth that within this draft. I do. how about kid-gilcrest, henson, beale, drummond,..........................thoughts anyone?