- I realize that this isn’t Part 1 of this topic, but what the hell else do you expect me to title this thing? I thought I had a pretty good thing going with my “On the Houston Rockets’ pursuit of Carmelo Anthony: Part X”, but that kind of went down in flames when all of this Lebron stuff hit the fan considering that the maneuvering to acquire either player will be intertwined and related. So we’re going to have just one big running series until either one of these guys signs or we get left out in the cold signing neither and starting the season with both Jeremy Lin and Omer Asik in the most anticlimactic endpoint since…the Houston Rockets’ 2013-2014 season.
- Speaking of series’, you can relive the euphoria of last summer by glancing back over my Dwight Howard Free Agency Watch series, where, over like a month, I go from daring to believe we have a chance to outright cardiac arrest upon the day of the signing. Relive the day of the decision here, maybe one of my favorite posts in the history of Red94 and simultaneously one of the best/worst days of my life. More on this.
- Our buddies over at The Dream Shake noted on Twitter, earlier in the week, that there’s a certain collective confidence that Daryl Morey gets this thing done and brings someone in. I dared before not write that in print, but here it is: I think it happens. I think Houston reels in either Anthony or James, most likely Anthony. Such is the way of those following a team that has made the biggest splash of each summer. I did not feel this way at all last summer. I felt that looking at things logically, Houston made the most sense for Howard. But I dared not believe that NBA decisions could ever be fueled by logic. Logic and rationality is the ugly stepsister of ethos/pathos and “count the rings; 16 to 2 bitches; the Lakers are a storied franchise that will always build it back up because they always do”…
- I said at the time that the Sam Amick tweet last summer disclosing Howard’s decision was the most significant moment in sports social media history considering that the Twitter era has only really been like two or three years long and, unbelievably, one that doesn’t even span back to Lebron James’ “Decision.” We had Twitter, but it wasn’t ubiquitous, as it is now. Which leads me to my point: if James’ decision this year is disclosed by a Tweet, it will be the most re-tweeted Tweet thus far in the history of Twitter. Well, maybe not. But in the history of sports Twitter. If both Anthony and James reach their decisions on the same day, with dramatic decisions like both players leaving to new teams, there is strong potential for the internet shutting down entirely.
- If Michael’s “I’m back” fax to the Bulls were broken in Tweet form, that vs. “Sources tell Y! Sports that Lebron James has chosen to sign four year max contract with Houston Rockets.” (I just wanted to see what that looked like.)
- Sam Amick is reporting that the Rockets already have deals lined up to jettison Omer Asik and Jeremy Lin in the event a commitment from either Carmelo Anthony or Lebron James surfaces. As I’ve been saying, I’m extremely curious to see what the going price for Jeremy Lin ends up being. You can probably get a mid first round pick for Asik. But then are you going to have to include that pick, along with your own, to unload Lin? Two first rounders should be enough to dump one year of Lin, no matter how poorly he’s played of recent date.
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