BballWatcher

For anyone wondering why Luis Scola got Amnestied by Houston (a seemingly questionable move), here's a hint -- before that, Houston had 21 guys on its roster. 21!

I've been watching this offseason's moves with interest, as always, and the always intriguing but often miscalculating wheeler-dealer GM Daryl Morey currently has 20 players on his roster. Granted, it's the summer when teams audition players on their summer league team. However, 19 of those players have guaranteed contracts!!!

Shockingly, their payroll is less than ours, due to the fact that 16 of those guys are making 2.1 million or less, but I still can't help but wonder -- what the f@ck is Daryl Morey doing? Currently, their roster has no players over the age of 29 - a good thing for a rebuilding team. Still, in the draft they had 3 lotto picks, plus they brought Donatas Motiejunas over from the previous year's draft. So, 4 rookies could potentially play key minutes this season.

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They signed Jeremy lin and Omer Asik both to the same bizarre poison pill contract -- 3 years, 25 million, structured the following way:

year 1: 5 million
year 2: 5.2 million
year 3: 15 million

.... I'm not even joking! I really liked the Lin signing, but that contract is a little wonky! I think they structured the contracts that way in part so that the teams that owned their rights couldn't match, but that's a pretty sizeable gamble! They're basically rolling the dice on both Lin and Asik to reach their full potential very soon.
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Houston also haven't even had a chance to develop Patrick Patterson and Marcus Morris yet, and yet this year in comes Donatas, Terrence Jones, Jeremy Lamb and Royce White!

Often having a stacked team produces some healthy competion, but also equally true is that sometimes in the NBA less is more. Young players need real PT to develop. Those who are given minutes early in their career either sink or swim, but those who don't get minutes invariable don't become great players (or get traded).

Clearly Houston was hoping for a big move to land a big name player. But with such a bloated roster, teams will have them by the balls in negotations.

I like their team and think they could have a solid future, but it will be interesting to see just what happens with their roster. There's so many different ways they could go. They still have Kevin Martin (last year of his contract, $13M). If they're forward-looking, I know this sounds weird but they may be better off in the long term just to waive him. He may be a solid trade piece (20ppg, no defense), but that's 30+ minutes that could be given to Lamb and other young players.

It would appear that on opening night, their starting roster looks like this:

Lin
Martin
?
?
Asik

Competing for the two starting forward spots will be Patrick Patterson, Chandler Parsons (who played surprisingly well last year), Donatas, Royce White.

zxcvbn193

ant out of those 20 players 7 or 8 are Pf's.

starting 5

Lin
Martin
C.Parsons
Donatas Motiejunas
Asik
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J.Lamb
P.Patterson
R.White
Jones
T.Douglas
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what's left for scrappy minutes

Kirby

The poison pill contracts don't affect Houston, only for their respective previous teams if they had matched. Houston gets an even split in salary through the years so Lin and Asik would both make 8m in years 1,2, and 3 - If you were thinking otherwise.

Morey said himself he was stockpiling assets to make a big trade later on, that's what he's doing.

DocHoliday99

100%. Morey wants to go after a big name all star big like D12 or Bynum. One would think all these moves would be directed by the other team - curious who it might be.

halphbreedballer

Nothing is happening till after the olympics so meh.

The MVP of West Hollywood

Houston is trying to make a Dwight Howard deal. They don't want to waive salaries, because they need to trade it in a Howard deal, as ORL is trying to dump as much long term salary as they can.

Livingston, Douglas, Forbes, Johnson, Brockman, Williams, Jorts, Jordan, Moore, Smith, Forston, Smith = like 15 million, which is a huge deal in regards to making a Dwight deal

Bill Haverchuck

That's probably the case.

zxcvbn193

Yes it's most likely, but since they signed Asik and Howard said he didn't want to play for Houston, I think it might be for another superstar. Maybe Andrew Bynun or even Al Horford or Kleiza.

Ligeia

Houston is apparently willing to take Howard without an extension.

rapsmannn

if houston offered next years 1st round pick, Raptors pick, lamb,parsons, and asik i would take that deal, even if orlando also wanted the lithuanian that would be a easy deal to make

obviousl this deal would have to wait tell december just to add asik in the deal but howard isn't going to be heatlhy by then anyways

orlando rebuild would be in a better positino than what the cavs, and Raptors had, Raptors got two first round picks,

obviously orlando has to take the turkoglu contract, and another bad contract

but i think orlando is missing out on the big picture and thats there draft pick, they should be in tank mode already just because we all know howard is done deal he won't be a magic

ClutchCity

That's a terrible trade. Do the salaries even come close to matching? ORL is looking for expiring contracts while also ridding themselves of their bad contracts (Hedo, J Rich, Big Baby, Duhon). This trade doesn't accomplish that.

I doubt ORL wants an overpaid Asik.

Not really. First, they wouldn't be able to get rid of all their bad contracts. Second, the Houston pick they'd get in return would likely be a mid-to-low first round pick because Houston would win a lot of games with Dwight. Not exactly a valuable pick for ORL who would be looking to rebuild. Also, isn't the Raptors pick double protected? Not sure how it works but that could also become of lesser value than some think.

I assume you meant Houston. Not sure how that can happen if the salaries wouldn't work just for Dwight alone. No way they can take on more without giving up Kevin Martin and others.

The best thing for ORL would be a three way (with LA and HOU) simply because they'd have two partners to dumb their bad contracts on. Maybe something like J Rich + Duhon to LA with Big Baby/Hedo going to HOU. Also, trading Hedo isn't a must because after this upcoming season, his salary is only partially guaranteed and can be bought out for about $6 million. In return, ORL would get a few picks, a bunch of prospects (something like Lamb, Terrance Jones, Ebanks) a bunch of expiring contracts (McRoberts, Kevin Martin, etc.), while pretty much getting rid of all their bad contracts.

KoolAid

Luckedout

im sorry you lost me, where would dwight be going?

ClutchCity

ClutchCity

I was only talking about the bad contracts and where'd they go. Bynum would be heading to HOU and Dwight to LA in that proposed 3-team trade.

Dark Knight

KoolAid

Yeah that starting 5 needs a better SF, Stern give them Shabazz!

Kirby

Stern isn't helping LA whatsoever, he's the one who nixed the CP3 to LAL deal that got me all excited .

ClutchCity

Don't remind me of that

But kudos to Mitch for recovering from it. He was supposed to get Chris Paul while giving up Gasol and Odom. Instead, he turned Odom into Steve Nash and kept Gasol. Nash + Gasol > Paul alone. I think it's incredible to bounce back like that. And who knows? The Lakers could end up acquiring Dwight Howard and that would instantly make them the a top 2 team along with the Heat.

Luckedout

oh alright, well it doesnt look like that will be happening. instead it looks like there is a four team deal with orl, lal, sixers and nuggets. either way i think dwight is going to LA.