Houston’s efforts to acquire Bogut would be a less complicated, two-deal deal with Milwaukee in which many scenarios have been discussed. Among them, Milwaukee would get Samuel Dalembert, Courtney Lee and draft picks, sources said. The Rockets also presumably would have to take back Stephen Jackson, who has clashed with Bucks coach Scott Skiles and is owed $10 million next season, or the Bucks would need to find another home for him.
As I tweeted earlier, Bogut’s defensive numbers are sparkling. Last season, against Andrew, opposing players scored on only 29% of their isolation attempts; against Dwight Howard they scored on 39% of their attempts. In those scenarios, they shot 33% from the floor against Bogut; against Dwight they shot 39%.
When healthy, he’s a top-3 center in this league and inarguably the second best defensive center. He’s a young, true franchise cornerstone. The problem is that he’s rarely been healthy.
If for a deal built around Kevin Martin, this would be a no-brainer. But losing Lee and potentially the New York Knicks pick (now #9) hurts. Still, I think I would do it. Skilled 7 footers are the one thing you can’t really seek out and get on the cheap – you just have to luck into them. Would the #8 or whatever the Knicks pick ended up being be a better player than Bogut? It’s unlikely.
