What moves will the Houston Rockets make in the off-season?

The Houston Rockets go into the off-season on a pretty sour note, having lost 7 of their final 9 games and missing out on the playoffs to the Utah Jazz.  During that stretch, starting PG Kyle Lowry was coming back from a bacterial infection in which he missed time, but was given a bench role due to the outstanding play of Goran Dragic.  Coming down the stretch, there appeared to be a rift between Lowry and head coach Kevin McHale when the two were seen arguing during a timeout against the Denver Nuggets.

Lowry told the Houston Chronicle via ESPN that he thinks it is unlikely that both he and Dragic return to the Rockets next season, as well as going as far to say that if McHale is the head coach next season that he doubts he will return.  It seems that Lowry has a me or McHale mentality to this situation and doesn’t think it can be resolved, but McHale’s point of view differs.

“That’s very surprising,” McHale told the newspaper. “I didn’t think we had too much of a problem coexisting this year. Everybody has a little beef every once in a while. I didn’t feel like (there were problems). He apparently did.

“There were times that we didn’t agree on things. There were times that I got on him. I don’t think it was unduly harsh on anybody.”

I personally love Lowry and think he is a great fit for the Rockets, especially with his Philadelphia attitude and work ethic.  Seeing as though I’m a born and raised Philadelphia sports journalist and watched Lowry’s growth from Cardinal Dougherty High School in Philadelphia to Villanova University and then to the NBA where he started his professional career with the Memphis Grizzlies.  He has developed into one of the league’s top PG’s and if he didn’t get hurt, he may have made a surprise trip to the all-star game.

Due to this current situation in Houston and the situation with the Los Angeles Lakers and New York Knicks, as well as the fact that the Rockets have already attempted to trade for Pau Gasol, I used ESPN’s trade machine to come up with a solution.  I did a 3-team trade revolving around Lowry, Gasol, and Stoudemire and here is the outcome of the trade which was accepted with the salary requirements.

 

Houston Rockets Receive: Pau Gasol PF, Josh McRoberts PF and Iman Shumpert G

Los Angeles Lakers Receive: Amar’e Stoudemire PF, Kevin Martin SG and Patrick Patterson PF

New York Knicks Receive: Kyle Lowry PG, Luis Scola PF and Metta World Peace SF

 

The Rockets finally get their guy in Gasol as well as a solid backup in McRoberts and a defensive specialist in Shumpert.  Gasol would take over the PF spot from Scola and adds Shumpert who would possibly start.  I think this deal would be dependent on re-signing Dragic and/or Courtney Lee who are both free agents.

The Lakers move Gasol, but get Stoudemire, Martin and Patterson in return.  Stoudemire’s game is different from Gasol’s and would open up the inside a little bit more for Andrew Bynum to work, plus the get a 20 ppg scorer in Martin who would possibly be the NBA’s best 6th man playing behind Kobe Bryant.  Patterson also a PF who can stretch the floor with his shooting ability.

The Knicks get a better compliment for Carmelo Anthony and Tyson Chandler with Scola and he adds toughness and can be a very good defender next to Chandler.  Actually all three of the players are good to great defenders, but they also have the ability to score on a consistent basis and aren’t ball dominant players.  Mike Woodson would have a greatly improved overall team on both sides of the floor who I think would compliment Carmelo and his abilities better.  Also, with Jeremy Lin being a free agent and his skill set geared towards Mike D’Antoni’s style of play, he may not return next season.