I like Matthews as Im sure the Blazers do too, but lets be honest about what his ceiling is. Eric Gordon, when healthy, has all-star talent. Regarding the Center position of need- I'd assume that Asik, despite his young age, probably has more value for a team looking to win now. Asik is an upgrade from Lopez/Leonard, but he's not going to move the needle as much as a higher upside talent like Eric Gordon if the deal pans out. I agreed completely that after Oden, and Roy, Portland and their fans will be sick to their stomach thinking about taking on another player with injury issues. However, if you look at the talent that they could get back in ANY trade for LMA, there is nobody that comes close to Gordon that could be had. (Klay Thompson, Cousins, and Bradley Beal come to mind, but I dont see any of those teams being interested in a deal for a veteran PF, or in GS's case, they cannot make the salaries work under most conditions). Also, if you look at the financial commitment to Gordon, I honestly dont see it as a gigantic risk. Gordon makes slightly less that LMA this year, and about a million less than LMA next year. Gordon has 3 more seasons left on his deal and his salary doesn't top 15 million in any of those years. With the West as deep as it is, and the development of this team where its at, They would be capped out next year anyways with LMA still on the roster(actually get slightly more cap space with Gordon), and would only have 31.1 mil guaranteed the next Summer where they could completely rebuild their roster from scratch at that point. From a financial standpoint, its really not THAT big of a gamble. Your really just swapping your veteran all-star (that wants to go to a contender) for a young all-star calliber player who could be a better long term solution for the next 3 to however many years. Getting Eric Gordon & maybe some decent draft picks IMO, is about as good as Portland can do given their poor bargaining position. They can take a slight gamble, or they can tread the mediocrity wheel with their veteran star player who is held in purgatory during the prime of his career.
Time to rename this thread: Random Totally Insane Rockets Trade Ideas - 2013-2014 I used to come here for interesting ideas. Now I come for the lulz. :grin:
Has Wilson Chandler been tossed around as an option? Seeing his game on a regular basis (living in Denver), Id love to see him as a Rocket. He can play some 4, though he has trouble guarding the bigger stronger 4s. He can hit the outside shot with regularity, can guard 2s, 3s, & smaller 4s better than average, contract is decent value (considering what he brings to the table). Don't know what we could offer them, but they might want a better back-up to Darth McGee, since Kufous got moved to Mem their #2 C is Mozgov. Maybe package built around Asik for Chandler plus pick(s) &/or piece(s), like Hamilton, Mozgov? I would want to sign Camby if we did something like this....just interested to get other peoples opinions of his fit on this team & what you think he would demand in trade.
Jeremy and D-Mo for Rondo. Asik for Aldridge Sign Oden. Line-up: Howard/Oden/Smith Aldridge/Jones/Casspi Parsons/Casspi/Covington Harden/Garcia/Young Rondo/Beverley/Brooks/Canaan
If we did trade Lin, what team would make sense? I don't see any good fits. The only team I see is maybe the Bucks..... If we can't trade him/ don't want to trade him... I think Lin would be perfect for our second unit( but that's another thread)
Trade of the day: BOS IN: Omer Asik BOS OUT: Jeff Green, Jordan Crawford HOU IN: Derrick Williams, Jordan Crawford HOU OUT: Omer Asik, 2014 2nd Rounder MIN IN: Jeff Green, HOU 2014 2nd Rounder MIN OUT: Derrick Williams Why Boston does it: They've made it pretty known that they need a center, and Asik fits the model of an elite rim protector that they want. They give up Green and Crawford. Not too steep of a price. Crawford is expiring so probably on his way out. Green restricts them financially for an extra year, and he's worth losing for a quality center. Why Minnesota does it: Their lineup for next season potentially looks like this: PG -Rubio SG - K-Mart SF - Budinger (or Brewer) PF - Love C - Pekovic The biggest hole in that team is obviously SF. Green has shown himself to be best playing as a SF and not as a PF. He can provide some slashing and speed to the offense, which would be an attractive option to Minnesota. This would be the best scenario where Green's lack of rebounding wouldn't have that negative of an affect on the team since Pek and Love are dominant rebounders. This way they fill a hole by trading away a guy who will be stuck behind Love in the rotation, but is still a good player. They also get a pick out of it as Williams is a prospect they won't just be jumping to get rid of. (They were considering a trade previously, but withheld when he started to play better.) Why Houston does it: Derrick Williams finally showed some real signs next season of why he was drafted so high. He is a freak athlete that hustles, dunks, dominates in transition and rebounds, but he also has developed/is developing a shooting touch to boot. His energy and super athleticism will take a lot of pressure off of Dwight on both ends of the floor, and he really does still have a lot of potential for growth. Much more than any of our current PF prospects. This means that we can shop one of our young PFs if we want and try to either fill a hole or get a pick in the next year or two and still maintain depth or send one back to Minnesota in the trade if they want. We'd also get Jordan Crawford as a backup to Harden. He's kind of erratic, but can create scoring off the bench which I think we are going to really need. He's also on a $2.2m expiring contract, which allows us to maintain financial flexibility going forward. Here's some Derrick Williams action for fun: <iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/wW6mzq_DIvI" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/_3RopPSvwSo" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
I am still very intrigued by Derrick Williams' skill set. I feel he would fit perfectly here and he plays the way we want a stretch 4 to play, shooting 3's and taking advantage of the overplay and going to the rack for layups/dunks and fouls. He is a highly skilled offensive talent, more highly skilled than Terrence Jones for sure on the offensive end. And his defense is improving. I'd trade Terrence Jones for Derrick Williams straight up. However, Asik for Derrick...no. IMO Asik is worth more than Williams' potential. What Asik brings to a team is more unique, rarer, and harder to get and replace than what Williams brings. So, I would not trade Asik for Derrick Williams alone. With that being said I can't imagine Flip trading Williams right now for anything short of a star shooting guard or a more dominant center than Pek. Williams and Love's contracts are running in sync. If Flip gambles on Love not walking away in free agency and Love does leave, then Flip has Williams to plug in there. If the Love situation comes down to a trade over the next 2 years, Flip has Williams sitting there. So, it doesn't appear to me that there is anything that could develop involving Williams over the next year or so...unless there were a third team involved. I think the Atlanta situation bears watching. Minny isn't going to win with a power duo of Pek/Love. We know that. Neither guy can defend. They're both big bodied power players with below the rim games on both ends of the floor. Minny could really use Asik. Asik would be a much better fit to their team than Pek defensively and in allowing Love to flip between the 3 point line and posting up in the block. Asik is a superior player to Pek. By the same token Atlanta has signed Paul Millsap, a player that Williams is somewhat similar to in skill set. So Atlanta is running Horford out there once again at the 5 spot, a position that he really doesn't want to play and him and the Hawks would be better off if he was the 4 and he was playing alongside a big 5. I think ideally that 5 that they want is Asik. They could then trade Millsap or actually....trade Millsap in a package for Asik. However, Pek and Horford would be a better combo for them than Horford/Millsap because of their need for more size. So, if Minny re-signs Pek (which is taking way too long) and they get off to their same mediocre start since neither Pek nor Love can really shut down the rim then perhaps a 3-way trade develops. Asik simply has too much value to settle for Derrick Williams. And the truth is as the season starts and progresses and teams like Minny and Atlanta see their interior deficiencies and then see our interior superiority then Asik will become even more valuable in trade barring injury.
http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=lbnjwhl This is the bare bones of a simple, 2-team trade that I believe could happen if the Oklahoma City Thunder were in the Eastern Conference. Houston Out - Omer Asik, Jeremy Lin and Terrence Jones. Houston In - Serge Ibaka and Kendrick Perkins. Why Oklahoma City does this trade: 1. They get a defensive anchor in Omer Asik who can rebound the ball at an elite rate and can also serve as a good screener and decent roll man on offence; 2. They get a quality backup point guard and 6th man in Jeremy Lin, allowing them to use Reggie Jackson and Jeremy Lamb as the backup wings; 3. They get a really good prospect in Terrence Jones who is arguably on the cusp of a breakout year and can replace a lot of Serge Ibaka's role on the team; and 4. MOST IMPORTANTLY, they get out of the final 2 years of Kendrick Perkin's contract. I live in Oklahoma City, and the fans here do think Kendrick Perkins will lead them to the promised land. Why Houston does this trade: 1. We get the best player in the deal; 2. who will slide right in to the starting 4 spot; 3. can serve as a legitimate stretch 4; 4. and is a great help-side defender; and 5. is on a reasonable contract for 4 years ($12,350,000.00 per year); 6. We trim our roster down to 15 players, which means we won't have to cut Robert Covington if we sign Marcus Camby (I'm assuming we cut B. J. Young in this scenario); and 7. Kendrick Perkins will be an expiring contract in 2014-15.
nuggets chandler and gallinari for Rockets Omer asik, Dmo or jones, 2 2nd rounds from blazers Lin/Beverly Harden/Williams Parsons/chandler/casspi Gallanari/Dmo or jones Howard/smith
http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=pwzkdu6 Rockets in: Arron Afflalo Orlando in: Jeremy Lin We get depth at the wing and clear out the glut at the 1. Beverley/Brooks/Canaan Harden/Afflalo/Williams Parsons/Garcia/Covington Jones/Motiejunas/Casspi Howard/Asik/Smith
This could be part of a larger trade. Asik, Afflalo, TJones and a couple future first round picks might be good enough to garner a third superstar.
This is one of the better trades I've seen on here (realistic). I think this is something that should be done instead of the bigger third star moves where we end up losing most of the little depth we have. That second unit can be really good, especially if DMo comes around.
I like the suggested deal above for Afflalo. Small ball would be Howard Parsons Afflalo Harden Bev or Brooks
