At work, so I can't listen to the whole podcast but a buddy of mine who is a Rockets' fan sent me this link - apparently the Rockets' version of BlazersEdge where the scuttlebutt around the Howard introduction press conference was that a deal of Asik, Lin, either Terrance Jones or Donatus Motiejunus and a bunch of picks for Aldridge nearly went down... Tough to know the timeframe of exactly when this was (since Lin and Asik are similar players to newly acquired McCollum and Lopez), but potentially interesting... I could see a move like this at the deadline if we're set on moving LA where Asik and Lin go to a 3rd team looking to make a stretch run... I know the optimal is to not trade LA, but if we're getting picks and young/cheap prospects from multiple teams, it might not be the worst way to go... Read into it what you may...
Outside of Lin being in that deal I would take it. Would prefer to sub him out for someone else. Seems like a good deal though if you feel you have to move LMA.
I know Lin is out of favor, as many predicted he would be, but we need a backup PG (McCollum isn't a PG). Lin is a pretty good one (although overpaid, I guess).
I remember reading something on the Rockets board saying a deal for LMA was almost done until Neil was able to get Robin Lopez for nothing.
As an aside, interesting how the Rockets fans in the comments just generally accept that Batum is clearly better than Parsons, while it seems many around here believe the opposite.
Hypothetically 1. Cap space 2. Rebuilding through the very good draft class next year 3. Adding young players like Jones and Asik as well as picks
@ebott -- I think that they would want different pieces at this point so glazeduck's hypothesis of a third team in the mix later in the year makes sense.
I don't think it is all that bad of a deal for POR but HOU is the very last team that I would want to send LMA to.
I'd do it. Gives us a lot of assets to make further moves. Lin would be a tremendous back-up PG. We would be a much better team THIS season should this trade happen. Wonder what sort of draft picks we'd be looking at. Assuming 2nds, but if there's a future 1st in there - like maybe 3-4 years down the road - that'd be terrific!
Realistically 1. There wouldn't be any cap space advantage since Lin and Asik make more than LMA and their contracts run out the same year as his. 2. The top 8 picks or so in next year's draft look pretty good, but the Blazers wouldn't be bad enough to get one of those picks. 3. Asik may be better than Lopez, but Lopez didn't cost us much of anything. Jones is okay and the picks are unknowns. Glad it didn't happen, assuming it was ever really being considered from the Blazers' end.
Someone else in the comments mentioned the possibility of a 3-way with Milwaukee involving Jennings and Ilyasova. Shall we tank thusly? http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=l7p4q5o
This will probably be unpopular - and I'm not advocating for it - but if we got Lin it could free us up to make a "blockbuster" trade utilizing CJ, should he explode onto the scene. If CJ puts together a RoY run early then he could be a very valuable commodity. But with Lillard/Lin/Wes/Crabbe he could also be expendable if we were getting the right player in return.
Or maybe our fans judge Batum relative to his contract. Parsons outscored Batum last year, while being paid about 8.2% of Nic's salary.
Doing so would go towards proving yayuza1's point. Judging players relative to their contract amounts is silly. Does Damian's value go down when his contract goes up in a few years? I've never seen a contract play a game yet.
I'm not sure this is better than lee and klay or Barnes or the hypothetical deng and assets from Chicago deals. At least in those we are getting an all star back
If we trade LA I want a 2014 draft pick from a team that has top 5 pick. Probably not going to happen that would be my starting point.
