Reading about Patterson’s experience playing with Cousins and Wall makes me think he could be a great PF for our starting lineup. It sounds like he’s basically learned how to play with Yao and Brooks already.

He doesn’t need the ball in his hand to be effective. He can both run the fast break and play a half-court game, which is important for Adelman’s two-pronged offense. He already has the foundation for a consistent jump shot needed when Yao gets doubled. He’s apparently a great team player, both offensively and defensively.

If he lives up to his potential and doesn’t defer too much, he could be an ideal fit for the Rockets.

Stephen:I question how much more NY can mean to LeBron as far as endorsements,etc go. Yes,he can get some fat local deals,but what about Nationally.
    

I don’t see him landing much more from being in New York. He already has deals with all of the major sponsors (Nike etc.) There isn’t really much difference in today’s age.

I think, the appeal of New York is more symbolic rather than actual hard pecuniary value. It’s f**king New York. If you win there, you become God.

I question how much more NY can mean to LeBron as far as endorsements,etc go. Yes,he can get some fat local deals,but what about Nationally.
I would love to see the the internal assessments by major Corp’s on LeBron’s marketability. His last series of ads have him as a puppet playing second string to Kobe,sharing an ad w/Dwight and having a funky backboard replace his head. Can you imagine Jordan being told they were going to replace his face w/a backboard? I wonder if he’s pretty maxed out in the US.

Randy: Unfortunately none of those free agents (bosh, lebron, etc) listed Houston in their dream-list. Lebron I can understand, but i don’t get why bosh wouldn’t consider it. Houston is the exact definition of his heroic need, “we’re going to win a championship, and you’re going to take us there”.    

I don’t know about that, because if he won one in Miami or Chicago, it’s not like he just latched on ala GP/Mailman in LA. I don’t know that history looks back and makes a firm distinction between being the main guy and being the sidekick, as long as you’re playing a big role…if that’s the case, why not take the destination with a greater shot at winning?

Stephen:
If I’m Cleveland-huge shudder-I might prefer a package of Brooks,Martin,Battier,Hill,the 2011 First and the lower of the 2012s for LeBron and Mo Williams(ecch).
Brooks,Martin,Battier,Varejao,Hill is a Playoff contender in East,you have a pretty deep bench and you’re under Lux Tax.
LeBron isn’t in the East so you’ve hurt one of your competitors and you could realistically expect to be in the 4-6 range.
    

If they agree to S&T, we’re probably in the best position. But what do you think those chances are? Classic realism vs. pragmatism dilemma right there. They can be stubborn and refuse our help or come to terms with the situation and atleast get a decent start on rebuilding. I can’t see the latter happening – it’s Lebron; you just can’t trade a guy like that…too much karma involved.

And this could be G’Day Dave as he looks like odd man out if Patterson can make 20′+ jumpers in the NBA.
Assuming no trades and Scola re-signed,that’s Yao,Scola,Hill,Patterson,Hayes,Andersen and Jeffries.(Adelman used Jeffries as a PF and C exclusively.) If,as Morey indicated in his remarks to season ticket holders after draft,the team intends to get another big,that would be 8 bigs,leaving the Rockets once again very thin at PG and no roster room for emergencies.

LeBron I will believe when I see him introduced at his “Welcome to Houston” press conference. But fun to kick the tires.
As to potential trades,why take expiring contracts when you can get a whopping TPE and salary relief otherwise.
If I’m Cleveland-huge shudder-I might prefer a package of Brooks,Martin,Battier,Hill,the 2011 First and the lower of the 2012s for LeBron and Mo Williams(ecch).
Brooks,Martin,Battier,Varejao,Hill is a Playoff contender in East,you have a pretty deep bench and you’re under Lux Tax.
LeBron isn’t in the East so you’ve hurt one of your competitors and you could realistically expect to be in the 4-6 range.
On the Houston side,Ariza may not be an Alpha SG but a SG who can defend,shoot open 3s,run the court and cut back-door for lobs-he can do that all night long.
I really don’t see Morey giving away all his young talent for one player,so if Brooks and Hill are going Bud stays.
Rockets starting line-up is prob Lowry,Ariza,LeBron,Scola,Yao. Second unit of Peterson,Taylor,Bud,Patterson,Jeffries/Hayes/FA.
This team could run and you just know there’d be some small ball units w/Lowry,Peterson and LeBron at PF.
Fun to dream,but like most everybody else,think there’s a snowball’s chance in Houston of happening.

Patrick Lee: i know i’m dreaming, but here are some more thoughts on how this could happen:    

The main obstacle is that I just don’t see Cleveland agreeing to facilitate Lebron’s departure. The case is drastically different from the one with Toronto where they have pretty much come to terms with Bosh leaving and just want to make the best of the situation.

this team might not have quite as strong of a starting 5 versus if lebron and bosh went to chicago, but it’s close. it’s also deeper than any team that chicago, miami, or new york could put together since they’ve gutted their teams in order to clear cap space (llull and patterson would be very experienced as far as rookies go).

if lebron and bosh do a sign & trade instead of outright signing with a new team, then they’d earn around $30 million more doing so.

additionally, there is no state tax in houston, so they’d end up saving a lot of money that way.

plus with the “yao ming effect”, they’d end up with a lot more fans and a lot more endorsements from china. resulting in even more money and more worldwide appeal.

so from a financial and competitive standpoint, a sign & trade to the rockets makes a lot of sense for lebron and bosh (assuming both go together). financially, they’d probably make more with the rockets than with any other team in the league.

so, if the cavs and the raptors are convinced that lebron and bosh are going to sign with other teams, then doing a sign & trade at least gets them back something.

if they are going to do a sign & trade, then the rockets have a lot of pieces to make this happen. yes, some teams could offer more (like if the lakers offered bynum for bosh) — but if lebron and bosh forced a sign & trade to specifically to houston, the cavs and raptors would still get a decent return.

everyone wins.

rockets sign & trade for lebron james:
+aaron brooks
+trevor ariza
+jared jeffries (expiring contract)
+2011 first round pick
+new york’s 2012 first round pick
+2012 second round pick
+$3 million cash

rockets sign & trade for chris bosh:
+luis scola
+jordan hill
+shane battier (expiring contract)
+rights to swap 2011 first round picks with new york
+2011 second round pick
+2012 first round pick
+$3 million cash

bring over sergio llull from spain (we have his draft rights)
offer all or part of the MLE to brad miller

afterwards, we’d have a lineup of:

PG – kyle lowry, sergio llull
SG – kevin martin, jermaine taylor, mike harris
SF – lebron james, chase budinger, alexander johnson
PF – chris bosh, patrick patterson, chuck hayes
C – yao ming, brad miller, david andersen

Santa Barbara – I’ll have to wait and watch him play, but I’m a bit skeptical on that. At the least, it is nice to have a true-sized ‘4′ with range.

Patrick – no problem posting that in here. You need to send back atleast $13mill to both and your Toronto scenario isn’t enough – Scola will be BYC, meaning he’ll only count for half in trades, and draft picks don’t count as anything.

rockets sign & trade for lebron james:
-aaron brooks
-trevor ariza
-jared jeffries (expiring contract)
-2011 first round pick
-new york’s 2012 first round pick

rockets sign & trade for chris bosh:
-luis scola
-chase budinger
-shane battier (expiring contract)
-rights to swap 2011 first round picks with new york
-2012 first round pick

bring over sergio llull from spain (we have his draft rights)

afterwards, we’d have a lineup of:

PG – kyle lowry, sergio llull
SG – kevin martin, jermaine taylor
SF – lebron james, mike harris, alexander johnson
PF – chris bosh, patrick patterson, chuck hayes
C – yao ming, jordan hill, david andersen

It is nice to have a draft choice who gets better and better the more you know about him…