Too early to look ahead? (Trade Deadline Thread)

[x-]

Ok... so the trade deadline is now less than one month away and with Daryl Morey being the GM, you know we'll make a trade or two. Maybe more.
(Last year I set the over/under for trades being made at 1.5. This year I'm setting it at 2.5)

With the trade chatter about to heat up let me do this silly Q&A I did last year. I'll try to update this thread/post as possible trades/names get leaked.

What are the Rockets looking for? What's the plan here exactly?

The Rockets are still trying to win and rebuild/retool this team without ever tanking.

That means that a.) we'll look to make a 3 for 1 trade or two (see the Pau Gasol trade) and b.) we'll try to upgrade this team without losing/sacrificing the teams long term flexiability/success.
Obviously that's easier said than done -- and you'll probably have to overpay -- as teams usually value quality over quantity, but I believe Morey is willing to do so.

I think Gasol is still on our radar, as he'd be a clear upgrade over Scola and the team puts a premium on two-way players and the ability to play multiple positions.
For that reason, Gasol is the only PF that I believe the Rockets are seriously targeting. Dalembert in all likelihood won't be here long-term and the team is pretty content with Patterson (and the idea of him being our PF of the future).
We also hold Motiejunas' (another PF) draft rights and although it remains to be seen whether he's a player or not, the team is pretty high on him also.

Depending on the asking price, I think Gerald Wallace is a guy we might take a look at.
Bogut and Iggy are guys you always here about, although I doubt they'll get moved.

I'm sure we'll make calls about that Howard guy in Orlando and maybe the Williams guy in NJ, though those are obviously longshots, too.

Chris Kaman if we can get him for the cheap.

Maybe Anderson Varejao. Maybe Danny Granger. Not sure about Paul Pierce.

As for possibly undervalued backups the Rockets may like, Ilyasova's name came up at last year's draft, but with him playing as well as he has and the fact that he's about to be a FA this summer, I'm not sure the Rockets would be willing to offer what the Bucks are looking for.
Omer Asik's name was thrown around last year a ton, but the Bulls obviously are high on him and with Asik about to be a RFA, again I don't see the Rockets offering what the Bulls would be looking for.

Who/what are the Rockets willing to give up? What's the asking price?

Nobody is untouchable, although I would say that Lowry, Patterson and Parsons are unlikely to be moved.
Marcus Morris, Greg Smith & Motiejunas' draft rights probably hold more value to us than they do to your team, too.
I think the Rockets would prefer to keep Courtney Lee, especially if Martin were to get moved, but I wouldn't quite put him in the Lowry, Patterson, Parsons group.

Kevin Martin, Scola, Dalembert, Dragic, Budinger, Jordan Hill, T-Will, Flynn, Thabeet are yours for the right price, though again I would say that the Rockets would much prefer to move them packaged together.

The Knicks pick, I imagine, is available too, if it were needed to get a deal done.

I'm a T-Wolves fan. What about Kevin Martin for Mike Beasley and Wes Johnson?

No. Not gonna happen.

What if we were to offer Derrick Williams?

I don't think the Rockets would be interested in Williams themselfs, but maybe a third team would, so there might be a deal that could get worked out. Maybe you can get Adelman's love child AKA Chase Budinger, too.

Lakers fan here. Is the Gasol package still available?

You know, I don't think so. Not the exact same package, at least.
Unlike most Rockets fans however, I believe that -- even with no Nene to pair Gasol with -- the Rockets would still trade Scola and Martin for Gasol.
I'd be surprised if this time around we were also to include Dragic and the Knicks pick though.
If there's nothing else out there that makes any sense for us, we might include a little sweetener.

Would you include Lowry in some kind of package for Gasol?

No. If Lowry gets traded, it'll be in a package for a top-notch star.

I'm a Blazers fan. What do you want for Goran Dragic?

Dragic, Budinger and Jordan Hill for Gerald Wallace sounds fair to me.

So if Dragic were to be traded, wouldn't you want a PG in return?

Not necessarily. Unless there's a PG Morey has been targeting Jonny Flynn should be OK for the rest of the year. That is if he's still on the team, of course. If he's not we could play Courtney Lee at the point some or bring in some guy from the D-League.
Sending us your non-guaranteed/expiring 3rd string PG would be fine with us, too.

Anything else?

We already have 15 players under contract, meaning we can't receive more players than we send out. In fact -- as I alluded to earlier -- we'd prefer to do 3 for 1 type of trades.

----

Anything you guys disagree with or want to add?

[zapatasblood]

I think OKC needs another score more so one in the post

[Zubby]

Nice post well thought out

Only thing I disagree with is the part about adding Dragic to that Gasol trade because we might get desperate...
Thats overpaying though im not even sure if Dragic is here long term, we might get outbid on him.

[Mr. E]

Excellent post, x! I think that you're spot on with every analysis.

Think I'll post this link in response to every Rockets trade on the T&T board.

[Alex I Be]

HELL NO! To the the Dragic, Bud, Hill for Wallace!

[x-]

I think OKC needs another score more so one in the post

They certainly could use somebody that draws attention in the post, but I do not see the Thunder making a trade with the Rockets.
Scola is too old for their nucleus and I think they'd prefer to trade for a center anyway.

That said, I'll sure be interesting to see what -- if anything -- they do.

Nice post well thought out

Only thing I disagree with is the part about adding Dragic to that Gasol trade because we might get desperate...
Thats overpaying though im not even sure if Dragic is here long term, we might get outbid on him.

Thanks.

Didn't I say more or less the same thing, though?

Excellent post, x! I think that you're spot on with every analysis..

Thank you, sir!

HELL NO! To the the Dragic, Bud, Hill for Wallace!

I respect your opinion, but remember that Dragic will be a free agent after this season and is likely to bolt for money and playing time.
Hill will also be a free agent and probably won't be on the Rockets either unless we can get him for the cheap.
Bud is a decent player and his contract is very cap friendly, but you gotta give up something of value to get something of value.

Gerald Wallace is a top-10 SF and the only reason you might be able to get him for a package like that is because he'll be a free agent this summer himself (that is if he were to opt out of his contract, which IMO is likely) and the Blazers may have to settle for one of Wallace and Batum, with Batum about to get paid, too.

[Kal El]

Well thought out...

I think there is a possibility Dragic bolts in the offseason. If I were him I would be looking for a place to start and there are teams our there that will give him an opportunity. If we can get Gerald Wallace for out back up PG, back up F, and backup big man i think its a fair deal and good for us.

Just like in another thread i mentioned how i think our starting lineup could use that wing defender, Gerald Wallace fits that and he is also capable offensively and he is a good rebounder. He definitely would add toughness to our team.

Lowry/Flynn
Martin/Lee
Wallace/Parsons
Scola/Patterson
Dalembert

pretty balanced roster.

[zapatasblood]

Strong rebounder and defender. Better slasher and shooter then Parson. Hells yeah. I also think the last year of his contract is not fully guaranteed or an option of some kind so could be 10+ of the books (could be completely wrong which would not surprise me).

Still need to find a place for Martin and Scola.

Move also lets us finally bring over Sergio.

[MaxRider]

0

at this moment
i don't think Morey will make any trade to mess up the cap space for next season
nobody is going to risk future pick for those 2009 lottery bust
we also don't have good chance to land one of the superstar

[zapatasblood]

I hope, which I know is almost impossible, we some end up with Ray Allen, Wallace, and Kaman

[HTown_TMac]

Could this be out post-deadline lineup? Talk about improved defense..

Lowry/Flynn
Lee/TWill
Wallace/Parsons
Gasol/PPat
Dally/Smith

[Alex I Be]

X, my apologies...I stand corrected.

[moofs]

I would like to throw a couple notes into the ring.

1. Sign Renaldo Balkman - I can't believe that after hardly even playing playing their second best player, the Knicks just CUT the guy!
ref: http://www.thenbageek.com/players/216-renaldo-balkman
2. Budinger is shooting 45/40 (49% from 2p range) while rebounding at a career high rate and not turning the ball over. I.e. he finally developed. He has 1 year left on his contract at 950k, and is only 23. If we trade him, we need something nice back, but it might be dumb to do that at this point when we could just resign him for 2.25-3m.
3. I've always liked GWallace in the past, but remember, the guy is a few months away from 30, injury prone, and requires his athleticism to do his job. I'm still surprised that Scola dropped off like he has (maybe it's the O/D schemes?), but Wallace should almost be expected to have a dropoff soon, especially on the defensive end.
4. The Gasol thing totally boned us on Scola, but we still need to find a way to ship him and Martin out if possible, and as soon as possible. Neither of them seem to be happy here anymore, no blame, and should both still be of value to teams.

[TMU]

Seriously, the Gasol trade sounds so good right now. Time to eat crow.
Gah, never doubt the Wiz.

[Andrew McCeltic]

Celtics fan, wondering your thoughts on Paul Pierce. If the C's decide to rebuild and want cap room, some of us would do Pierce for Thabeet/Flynn/Williams/Morris and the Knicks' 1st.. (and maybe your pick, if it's in the lotto but not the top 3)..

Pierce can still play, especially on a team where he's not asked to completely carry the offense-

[TMU]

Celtics fan, wondering your thoughts on Paul Pierce. If the C's decide to rebuild and want cap room, some of us would do Pierce for Thabeet/Flynn/Williams/Morris and the Knicks' 1st.. (and maybe your pick, if it's in the lotto but not the top 3)..

Pierce can still play, especially on a team where he's not asked to completely carry the offense-

At this stage in his career, I don't think Pierce's worth your proposed package. $15m for the next 3 years, that's rough.

[Andrew McCeltic]

Pierce is an all-star this year, & his game's never been reliant on athleticism. We'd trade him because at this point, he'd just be a band-aid if the team rebuilds.. But he's not "done", remotely. FWIW, half my board thinks the trade's horrible.

[x-]

X, my apologies...I stand corrected.

Ahh, no need to apologize.

I would like to throw a couple notes into the ring.

Budinger is shooting 45/40 (49% from 2p range) while rebounding at a career high rate and not turning the ball over. I.e. he finally developed. He has 1 year left on his contract at 950k, and is only 23. If we trade him, we need something nice back, but it might be dumb to do that at this point when we could just resign him for 2.25-3m.
3. I've always liked GWallace in the past, but remember, the guy is a few months away from 30, injury prone, and requires his athleticism to do his job. I'm still surprised that Scola dropped off like he has (maybe it's the O/D schemes?), but Wallace should almost be expected to have a dropoff soon, especially on the defensive end..

Good points.

I'd argue that Budinger, as well as he's played, sort of has reached his ceiling already.
He's a scorer off the bench, probably best as your 7th man.
Yes he's efficient on offense and yes he's very cheap and you might be able to re-sign him next summer to a reasonable deal, however his trade value isn't going to be any higher for the very same reasons.

Morey has shown that he's able to find the Budinger's of the world in the (2nd round of the) draft, so I wouldn't hesitate to trade Bud in some kind of package for a clear-cut upgrade.

Whether or not Gerald Wallace is the guy to trade for is certainly arguable.
How good will he be in 2 or 3 years? Would he chase the money or settle down in Houston? Would he be open to a 3 year deal with a team option for the 4th year? Would he give the Rockets a serious look in free agency if we were not to trade for him.

I just brought up Wallace, because he's one of those clear-cut upgrades that actually might be available and it's one of those few trade ideas that at least make some sense (I think).

Ideally the Rockets actually might prefer to trade Bud for a non-SF, so that Parsons can continue to grow and there's an opening for Marcus Morris to step in.
I also feel like we need a PF upgrade more than we need an upgrade at SF. We'll see.

Celtics fan, wondering your thoughts on Paul Pierce.-

I'm really not sure what to think of the idea of trading for Pierce, but I think I'll side with TMU and other Rockets fans that would be very hesitant to pull the trigger on a Paul Pierce trade.

I just think he doesn't fit with our core (age wise) and the risk/reward isn't quite there for us, as we aren't really Paul Pierce away from being a serious contender.

We wouldn't be giving up all that much in your trade proposal, but I just don't think Pierce is the guy to trade for. Maybe some kind of mega-deal with Pierce and Scola going to LA and Gasol coming back our way?

[TheNewEra]

What can the Clippers offer for T-Will?

[x-]

0

at this moment
i don't think Morey will make any trade to mess up the cap space for next season
nobody is going to risk future pick for those 2009 lottery bust
we also don't have good chance to land one of the superstar

My bad for not putting up 0 as an option. I can see your reasoning, but I guess I just don't think that's an option at all. Morey just loves them trades.

What can the Clippers offer for T-Will?

Well, again I would say that the Rockets would prefer to trade guys like T-Will in some kind of package for a player that would help us win now, without losing cap flexiability down the road (e.g. T-Will, Jordan Hill & Thabeet for Chris Kaman).

If there's no package-deal to be made I'd guess that we'd entertain trading T-Will for an early 2nd rounder (30-40 range), which the Clippers unfortunately can not offer.

I could see us being interested in the draft rights to Big Sofo (yay, a BBG!), so maybe something like Big Sofo and the option to swap 1st rounders some time in the future, but we'd probably prefer a high 2nd rounder.