Marc Stein: Houston Rockets have interest in Markieff Morris

[Matt1979]

McD also does stealth deals which no one expects.....

So chances are very high none of what we've all discussed will happen and we'll all be slack jawed pretty soon (and hopefully in a good way!)

[Fo-Real]

The only way we could trade with the Rockets is to take on Lawson, and what team in their right mind would take on Lawson with two starting Pg's already on their roster...... (Bled, Dragic, Thomas)....... MOTHER OF GOD..... MAMMA NO!!!! (Lawson, Jones, Decker for Kief, Tucker, Price???)

[Puff]

McD has yet to lose a trade so I hope we don't come away with his first L dealing with Houston.

You know I agree with that statement with the exception of possibly the Knight trade. The jury is still out on that one.

However if he has in fact won every deal and has drafted well why in the world do we suck so bad?

[LukasBMW]

Taking a closer look at the Rockets situation, it would be almost impossible for them to trade for Keef without a power forward coming back.

Their PF Rotaton:
Capela
Jones
Dmo
Harrell

Their SF rotation:
Ariza
Brewer
Dmo
Dekker

The only way they could possibly want another PF is if they indeed know they can't keep both Jones and Dmo due to cost.

Now, their cap situation isn't actually so bad given that Harden is the only 8 figure contract they have on the books in 2017/2018.
http://hoopshype.com/salaries/houston_rockets/

Given the cap increase, they almost could afford to keep both Jones and Dmo even if you assume they have to match solid offers.

But why match a crazy offer in RFA when you can essentially get the same output from a lesser paid player.

The Rockets are obviously comitted long term to Harden at SG
Their PG situation is always a work in progress
Their center situation is all Howard as long as he stays healthy.
They probably want to keep Dmo as a 3/4 since Ariza and Brewer are getting up there in age

Jones can't seem to stay in the starting lineup and has been criticized for playing isolation ball.
Keef is arguably an equal when he is motivated and the Rockets know that.
Keef is a perfect third option behind Harden and (insert Lawson/Howard/Dmo here)

It's gotta be a Jones for Keef swap.

The problem must be working out the final touches as both GM's are notorious negotiators.

Houston probably want's to see if they can get us to throw in draft picks, young talent, or even somehow snag Bledsoe from us.

We probably would want them to sweeten the deal with a pick or another young player.

Getting back Lawson and Jones would be a very "McDonnough" move though as we get bird rights to a Kentucky RFA that fits our system and we could either flip Lawson or simply buy him out since this is his last guaranteed year.

The result:

Cap space next summer and a Kentucky stretch 4 for the future.

Both teams improve and move forward

The only problem is a lineup of Howard/Keef/Dmo/Harden/Beverly looks hard to match up with on paper. That's a flexible lineup.

[lilfishi22]

McD has yet to lose a trade so I hope we don't come away with his first L dealing with Houston.

You know I agree with that statement with the exception of possibly the Knight trade. The jury is still out on that one.

However if he has in fact won every deal and has drafted well why in the world do we suck so bad?

The trades in a vacuum were a win. We got better value back than what we gave up. Their fit on the team is another issue altogether as is the coaching.

I agree about Knight. Jury is still out technically but I think he's played well enough for it to be considered a W for now.

[bwgood77]

McD has yet to lose a trade so I hope we don't come away with his first L dealing with Houston.

You know I agree with that statement with the exception of possibly the Knight trade. The jury is still out on that one.

However if he has in fact won every deal and has drafted well why in the world do we suck so bad?

I am not sure I'd say EVERY trade has been a win, but we were a team projected to win 17 games a couple of seasons ago, and despite that we did well. Hornacek (for his sake) overachieved with that squad which I think gave Sarver more of an itch to get there NOW. But we have had constant turnover.

I mean we are going with constant roster turnover, and most of our new players, outside of Knight have barely played major minutes in the NBA. Most of these teams we have competed well against have more experienced talent than us, and we are playing young guys major minutes. The west has been tough.