Speechless.

Morey is really good. That first proposed deal with the Knicks did not make any sense, but this deal was great. I rather Scola got traded, Landry played well this year but with Yao back next year his touches would drop. Even if we just resign Lowry and Scola and dont get any free agents this summer our roster with Yao is loaded.

teddy - the chronicle's jonathon feigen says they may try to renegotiate with hayes

aps213 - its definitely been shocking, no doubt. landry was a tough emotional loss, but there's literally NOTHING bad about this trade. (even jeffries expires next year and has defensive value.) that doesn't happen in the NBA.

david - i think they will look to trade shane, not because they want to, but because he has value in that he is an expiring contract with game. the team is definitely in perfect position for a sign and trade with its boatload of assets. two things to keep in mind: if a team deals with us for their free agent, they know that those Knicks picks gain value simply by virtue of their own guy not going to NY. secondly, FA's cannot extract the full value allowable to them if signing outright with another team, such as NY.

david_etheredge: not sure about center, but i definitely think he can contribute here.

Morey is really good. That first proposed deal with the Knicks did not make any sense, but this deal was great. I rather Scola got traded, Landry played well this year but with Yao back next year his touches would drop. Even if we just resign Lowry and Scola and dont get any free agents this summer our roster with Yao is loaded.

teddy - the chronicle's jonathon feigen says they may try to renegotiate with hayes

aps213 - its definitely been shocking, no doubt. landry was a tough emotional loss, but there's literally NOTHING bad about this trade. (even jeffries expires next year and has defensive value.) that doesn't happen in the NBA.

david - i think they will look to trade shane, not because they want to, but because he has value in that he is an expiring contract with game. the team is definitely in perfect position for a sign and trade with its boatload of assets. two things to keep in mind: if a team deals with us for their free agent, they know that those Knicks picks gain value simply by virtue of their own guy not going to NY. secondly, FA's cannot extract the full value allowable to them if signing outright with another team, such as NY.

david_etheredge: not sure about center, but i definitely think he can contribute here.

I know didley about the NBA's salary cap madness, but from what I gather from ESPN there are about 8 teams with 20-35 million in cap space. Not all are contenders or places some stars may want to live and then there is the caveat the player's current team has a huge advantage in offering a contract to stay competeing teams can't match. (is this where sign and trade comes in?)

My point is LeBron and Wade among others are no sure thing to land there's going to be massive competition. The Rockets today eliminated some of that from the equation by being pro active. Personally I expected Morey for that reason to make a deal and not let Mcgrady walk on an expiring contract.

Digesting the amazing trade that @dmorey made 4 #Rockets today. Bye T-Mac, Hello Kevin Martin. Landry will be missed. http://bit.ly/c6El2g

the Rockets are definitely in tax hell next season but considering the picks, hill and martin I think Les will go over the tax for the first time in a while to keep this team intact. What I DONT see happening though this year is Les buying picks like the past few years will probably save that money to help pay for the tax.

What is the Rockets salary cap situation, now that they've added both Martin AND Jeffries?

Can they still bring back Scola, Lowry, Hayes? It doesn't look like they'll be able to sign another mid-level player without going significantly over the luxury tax.

Great haul for the Rockets, though. About as good as could be reasonably expected.

RT @red94_blog: New post: Speechless. http://www.red94.net/?p=1057

Daryl Morey is the man RT @Red94: Speechless. http://bit.ly/9nNkUt

That sounds about right. RT @red94_blog New post: Speechless. http://www.red94.net/?p=1057

New post: Speechless. http://www.red94.net/?p=1057

Good points all.

So now that the initial shock has passed, how much better will the Rox be THIS year with Martin and friends added to the mix? I don't know about anyone else, but I'd like to see a rematch with the Lakers...

I'm looking at Jared Jeffries stats and various people's analysis on him and wondering if he's going to be the starting center for the Rox at some point. Sure he's not a "real" center, but who is on this team? Given the fact that offensive rebounding is the only outstanding part of his game statistically, I kind of like the idea of Brooks, Martin and Ariza / Battier / Budinger stroking threes off of a post up game with Scola and having Jeffries cleaning up the glass from the weak side. Then Jeffries can focus on kicking the ball back outside (instead of his weak inside game) for another trey attempt.

Are the Rox about to become the top three point shooting team in the league?

Digesting the amazing trade that @dmorey made 4 #Rockets today. Bye T-Mac, Hello Kevin Martin. Landry will be missed. http://bit.ly/c6El2g

aps123, i couldn't agree more. Unless your landry's mother and your upset at him being in another state there is no reason not to love what happened today.

I have been scavenging the sports websites all day and I am simply baffled at the reaction of many Rockets fans I see out there. There are two camps. Those that get it and those that do not. Amazingly, those that do not seem to outnumber those that do. Judging from the comments, the people who are waxing negative about this trade are completely ignorant of the facts or have the facts all wrong. Surprisingly, many of them dont even seem to know who Kevin Martin is. Many still think the Rockets should have simply waited and "signed Chris Bosh this summer". Others just say this is a stupid trade in a barrage of misspelled words and disjointed thoughts.

These reactions make me angry just like my kids do on Christmas when, after opening presents for two hours, they look dejected when told there are no more. Wake up Rockets fans. This was a masterful trade that rendered us 200% of value for what we gave up and, frankly, it put us on the right path again. In 12 hours, the Rockets went from being fodder for the West's 8-10 spot for years to come to having a pretty damn bright future.

I know I do not need to relate this thought on this message board as the readers of Rahats column tend to see things with the lights turned on. I just want it off my chest and I knew this would be a place where nearly everyone gets it and I wouldnt have to listen to a bunch of innane bashing comments in response.

I wish Carl the best of luck.

Rahat,

What do you see the Rockets doing with Ariza or Battier in the offseason? Do you think they would keep both, or look to trade one or the other?

Also, if Lebron and Wade decide to re-up with their current teams in the offseason, especially if they do it early, Morey suddenly has two VERY valuable additional trade pieces with those picks. Do you think that scenario would make a sign-and-trade more likely?

I'm glad I didn't know Morey as a kid, I'm sure he would have talked me into trading my bicycle for a piece of gum. Imo Morey's status as a genius is somewhat of an understatement right now. I don't know how he did it, smoke, mirrors or jedi mind tricks. I am more than thrilled with this deal. Yes losing Mandry stings, I was glad to have him, so thank you Carl for giving it everything you had. Thank you DM, glad you are a Rocket. Hey Les how about a raise for DM?

Losing Landry hurts, but like steve said you've got to give to get. I see Hill getting minutes as Scola's backup this season, but with Yao's return next season I would imagine that Chuckwagon and Andersen would get the majority of the backup frontcourt minutes. If Hayes doesnt return then Hill would retain his spot as backup PF. As for Jefferies, his only spot will be next to Brian Cook on the bench unless someone gets hurt.
As for Kevin Martin, he is now the starting SG of this team. The problem is that you have to have either Ariza or Battier come off the bench. Either of them would suffice to protect Martin defensively, which is something that no one has talked about strangely enough. Oh yeah, and we get 1.5 draft picks too. In Morey we trust.

steve - i agree, it hurts to see carl go.

suhas - they won't be able to resign both scola and lowry without exceeding the tax. so the question is, is les alexander willing to pay it? for a haul like this, it is worth it. but we will see.

purvisshot, i think the knicks are gonna try to do like the celtics, lure a star in by going for two at the same time, if they tried to get lebron it wont work but if they told lebron "we'll have bosh if you come" then they get both. this worked amazingly well for the celtics so i think we'll see this signing strategy again

I keep reminding myself that Morey has been putting this team together using only half of the available salary cap. It's like he's playing hold 'em with only one down card, and yet he keeps winning. Moving McGrady was his first time to break into that other half.

And I would love to have been in the room to watch Donnie keep saying, your asking too much. Morey just went and started the trade without the Knicks, and then came back and said, how about now?

And one question: Do you read the Martin acquisition as giving any indication on the likelihood of Yao's return next season?

What's amazing is that if the Knicks fail to lure Lebron, they have nothing, and for years. Talk about negotiating with no leverage.

Rahat, for cap idiots like myself, can you comment on how this deal impacts our ability to resign Lowry, Scola, and anyone else who may be a restricted or unrestricted free agent after the current season?

if either of those events occur, the picks are deferred to the next year and likely with no protection. so if they get the #1 pick in 2011, it most likely defers to 2013 etc

It's just not even fair anymore. How does Morey do this? It's one thing to find an unknown like Kyle Lowry, but to trade for a top 10 scorer, a lottery pick, and two future first rounders for ONE good player and an expiring contract? You couldn't even pull that off in a video game.

I wouldn't want to play poker with Morey, he does know how to play the hand that he's dealt. Suddenly, the Rockets won't be undersized, and our core players are still here excepting for Landry. Either Landry or Scola was going to leave soon (I think), so the price paid for all of these changes is minimal. You can't get something for nothing, but we've done the next best thing.

Rahat - Can you explain what top 1 protection and top 5 protection means in simple terms? Does it mean if NY has the #1 overall pick they keep it in 2011 and if they have a top 5 in 2012 they keep it? If so, what happens in those events? Do the Rockets get their next pick or next year's pick instead?

I defer to your superior knowledge. While glad we are getting some great players, I am near mourning losing Landry. I just hope the Rockets can get him back this off season. Our second unit isn't going to be nearly as effective without this year's 6th Man award winner in waiting. Carl gonna miss you buddy.

You have to give to get, but this is really painful. Morey has my support.

Wow! What a deal--both big benefits in the short run and long run. We'll have a great starting team next year (Yao, Martin, Brooks, Scola, and Ariza looks formidable), a deep, deep bench, and a ton of draft choices that can parlayed into another big deal. Questions: Will Battier be effective off the bench? Who will get the minutes at back-up power forward spot, Hill or Jeffries? If we have both Hill and Jeffries on the team with Yao and (presumably) Scola and Anderson coming back, do we resign Chuck Hayes? Looking forward to next year, it seems likely that the Rockets can use the expiring contracts of Jeffries, Battier, and the draft picks to grab another star player if that's what they need. The possibilities are endless!

My thoughts exactly Red94. Go ROX.

the Rockets are definitely in tax hell next season but considering the picks, hill and martin I think Les will go over the tax for the first time in a while to keep this team intact. What I DONT see happening though this year is Les buying picks like the past few years will probably save that money to help pay for the tax.

What is the Rockets salary cap situation, now that they've added both Martin AND Jeffries?

Can they still bring back Scola, Lowry, Hayes? It doesn't look like they'll be able to sign another mid-level player without going significantly over the luxury tax.

Great haul for the Rockets, though. About as good as could be reasonably expected.

RT @red94_blog: New post: Speechless. http://www.red94.net/?p=1057

Daryl Morey is the man RT @Red94: Speechless. http://bit.ly/9nNkUt

That sounds about right. RT @red94_blog New post: Speechless. http://www.red94.net/?p=1057

New post: Speechless. http://www.red94.net/?p=1057