10 replies to this topic

[Alituro]

Thinking back to the Stern-nixed Gasol trade that left us all displeased and Morey's failure to strike a trade with Orlando for Dwight Howard, would we be better off today had either happened?

My thoughts are no, we'd probably have a similar win total at this point, but the future would be more bleak. On the former situation, well, Gasol is injured and, IMO, Asik has proved to be as good or better than Nene. On the latter, Dwight Howard hasn't impressed me as a Laker, and I fear he would even less so as a Rocket if unhappy to be here. We would have had to blow up our future by giving up promising rookies and sophomores and draft picks to get him leaving us, at this point in the season with a skeleton crew of a supporting cast for Howard.

Although we knew OKC probably wouldn't be holding onto Harden, we couldn't foresee them trading him within the same conference so early on in the season. That trade worked out well for both teams. I think Harden has a longer and more promising future than either of the stars we pursued in his stead. i think Asik will be one of the best centers in the league in a couple years and we all know the potential Lin has if he were to just get more consistent. Parsons and Patterson are both developing quite nicely too.

I like where we are now with the rising stars and the cap room and trade flexibility to still be able to pursue another star to add to the mix. I don't think our future would have looked quite as promising had either trade went down.

[feelingsupersonic]

Though I value Gasol more than most here on the board I agree it is good we did not end up with him. You did not mention Bynum but that would have been the worst of all the rumours if that trade were to have come to fruition and I have to admit I mistakenly thought it might be a good trade. As far as the Howard deal I am not convinced that would have necessarily been a bad deal though most possible scenarios don't seem as good as our current situation. We will never know what Howard would have done and I still think he might jump ship in LA, I don't think he knows what his plan is.

So since the current Rockets situation seems like a move in the right direction I wonder what all the Morey detractors are thinking. I have always thought that Morey has been good at what he does.

[Alituro]

I always thought Morey did the best possible with what he had to work with. To me, our current situation solidifies that opinion. Oh yeah, and Bynum, that would have been the worst of all scenarios. Yes, Howard had the best chance of working out when considering all of the trade rumors, but as a sportsman, person, and a player with a higher ceiling than what's been seen of him, Harden is a better building block than Howard. I think we've seen Howard's best and it's hard to say if it outshines his worst (personality). Harden seems to approach his game in a very humble, professional manner, curbing his emotions, not confronting the refs, and a person who seems to be a continual student of the game, always trying to be a better player. Like Yao. The only thing I see Howard elevating is his celebrity status, and not so much his game, which shines through when he's on the line. I think he's pompous enough to believe there is no getting better at his level. Hakeem will tell you he's wrong.

It goes to show that when our roster was blown up and Tmac and Yao were of no use any more, us diehard fans wanted something back and desperately! Anything! Patience prevailed.

[Chichos]

What Morey has delivered in our current roster is a team that will be better in three years then it is now. Morey often talks about his team as an investment portfolio and he finally shuffled it in a way that has both a high floor and a high ceiling.

Of all the deals sans Harden I really think that the Lowry, Nene, and Gasol trio would have been an excellent team. Lowry and Lee hitting threes and playing D with Nene and Gasol on the block would have been a serious contender. But we would be talking about who will be Gasol's replacement right now, just one year after the trade. And that is a scary thought.

[feelingsupersonic]

I think the jury is still out on Howard and he probably won't be back to his top form till next year. Back injury takes a long time to recover from. Also from a lot of commentators and former players you generally hear good things about his work ethic in the gym and he seems to have improved his game offensively over the years especially after the off season he trained with Olajuwon. I believe the court of public opinion is a bit hasty these days and once Howard gets his championship fans will come to their senses.

[Sir Thursday]

I think the jury is still out on Howard and he probably won't be back to his top form till next year. Back injury takes a long time to recover from. Also from a lot of commentators and former players you generally hear good things about his work ethic in the gym and he seems to have improved his game offensively over the years especially after the off season he trained with Olajuwon. I believe the court of public opinion is a bit hasty these days and once Howard gets his championship fans will come to their senses.

I agree with this. Because the Lakers have not started well, Howard is being unfairly judged. And the Lakers have not started well because of injuries and unfamiliarity, both of which will improve over time. Remember when the Heat started out 8-9 back in 2010? Same deal here, as far as I'm concerned, and once that rights itself the narrative on Howard will improve (especially as he continues to recouperate after his surgery).

The thing about that, though, that he would only have had one year in Houston to decide whether he liked it here. And if that season is clouded by recovering from surgery, then he would have been less likely to remember it fondly enough to sign a new contract here. The public are judging Howard too early at the moment, but were he in Houston any judging at this stage would probably be justified given there's a good chance he would be out of here by the trade deadline.

ST

[Alituro]

Nene is a 12 pt., 7 rebound guy been in the league 10 years, at this point Asik>Nene, IMO, by a long shot particularly because of his potential and youth. Gasol is not a guy who anyone can ever call the team leader, Harden is. Of course I'd rather have Lowry holding down the point versus our current PG situation. It's not a stretch to say Greg Smith could one day be every bit the player Nene is now.

[feelingsupersonic]

In my opinion Greg Smith will not ever get close to Nene. Maybe in a numbers way but not in a skill way. Smith is a garbage man living off scraps and put backs at best and Nene definitely has post moves, he schooled Patterson, Smith and Asik a handful of times on the block last night. Greg Smith and Nene are two very different style bigs and the former is 3rd best on a depth chart and maybe at best a backup whereas the Brazilian is probably a starter on any team and at least a backup without a doubt.

[Johnny Rocket]

I'm a big Greg Smith fan. It is unclear to me whether he'll be as good as Nene (or at least Nene in his prime), but Smith is far more than a garbage man. He has great hands, doesn't turn the ball over, and is an excellent free throw shooter. That doesn't sound like your classic garbage time player to me. Smith's lack of experience leads him to reach too much and commit to many fouls, especially against quicker centers, but he's only 21 and makes less than $500,000 a year.

I agree with Sir Thursday: you can't judge Howard too harshly now. As somebody who lives in S. CA and watches the Lakers a lot, I see the same problems that the Rockets are having--poor rotations, guys missing assignments, etc. The Lakers are essentially a new team, and thanks to injuries they have no defense at point guard, power forward, or coming off the bench. A great defensive center can only be great if the team has a strong system in place--just ask Omer Asik!

[feelingsupersonic]

Perhaps I was not clear. My point was not to label Greg Smith a garbage man (in the sense that he only plays garbage time but that he doesn't really have a post game and generally relies on put backs off rebounds and being left wide open from his man sliding over) but the point of what I wrote was that I do not believe Smith will ever match Nene skillwise. I like Smith sure, just as much as most Rocket fans but he has a long way to go.

[Jeby]

I would say the trio of Lin-Harden-Asik is preferable to a Lowry-Gasol-Nene core in a number of ways. Most importantly, this team is younger, with considerable room to improve and gel. Second, if you look at it based on this-year production, our current trio is arguably better even with Lin's growing pains. Third, the star power of the Lin-Harden pairing is in another stratosphere from a Gasol-Nene frontcourt. Fourth, who knows if Gasol and Nene would have been able to play next to each other any better than Gasol and Howard?
On the Howard deal, I'm a little torn. Howard is clearly better than anyone on our roster when he's healthy and motivated. But wiill he ever be completely healthy again? Probably, but that's a big question mark. Will he ever be motivated? That's an even bigger question mark.
I haven't seen the data that Daryl Morey sees, so maybe he would see this differently, but when I factor in age, character and production Howard only very narrowly edges out Harden. When I look at the other guys Morey was able to bring in around Harden that he might not have been able to acquire with Howard, I feel like he made the best of all potential deals.
The only deals that I would like better than what happened this summer would have to involve the following names: LeBron, Chris Paul, Kevin Durant, Anthony Davis, and Healthy Derrick Rose. Maybe Kevin Love or Blake Griffin, but I want to see better D out of my bigs.