Blog Archives
The Sports Hound: NBA Draft and Trade Rumors 6/26/12
Charlotte Bobcats and Cleveland Cavaliers looking to trade draft picks. Charlotte Observer
Chicago Bulls moving Joakim Noah or Luol Deng for draft pick or cap space. Pro Basketball Talk
Philadelphia 76ers looking to move Andre Iguodala to Golden State Warriors or Toronto Raptors. Philadelphia Inquirer
Milwaukee Bucks looking to move up in the draft. Racine Journal-Times
Plenty Houston Rockets rumors:
Rockets targeting Sacramento Kings 5th pick, may be after Andre Drummond. NBADraft.net
New Jersey Nets interested in Rockets pick. Nets Daily
Rockets looking to make draft trades to have enough assets to acquire Dwight Howard. NBA.com
Rockets looking to acquire two top 10 draft picks to move for Dwight Howard. ESPN
Sacramento Kings (5) and Toronto Raptors (8) let Rockets know their picks are available, but Kyle Lowry may have to be apart of the deal. ESPN
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.
2012 NBA Season Awards: My Thoughts
The NBA awards for the 2012 season have been given and I want to share my thoughts on them. I can’t say that I agree with all of them either.
Most Valuable Player: LeBron James – Miami Heat
I completely disagree with this, because I feel that Kevin Durant and Tony Parker were much more important to their teams this season. Yes, LeBron had one of the best overall seasons statistics wise, but his team just has too much star power for him to even be considered EVER in my opinion. LeBron had the stats, but he still doesn’t show the ability to be the go to player in clutch situations.
Durant led the NBA in scoring for the 3rd season in a row as well as having one of the league’s top records. His downfall in this voting was Russell Westbrook, because coming down the stretch of the season Westbrook just started shooting far too much. Durant was the runaway winner throughout the season, but somehow the voters view of it differed from mine.
Tony Parker, on the other hand led the Spurs to the NBA’s best record even with the aging Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili missing time with injuries and “rest.” Parker easily had the best season of his career on a team that not many felt had a chance to be that good this season. I think both Durant and Parker should have had more votes than James, especially because Dwyane Wade had such a great season as well.
Coach of the Year: Gregg Popovich – San Antonio Spurs
This is a tough call for me, because Popovich had a great season. The Spurs overachieved with the older players they have and no one really expected them to have the best record in the NBA (tied with Chicago Bulls). The problem with Popovich winning this award with me was the fact that the Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau led his team to the same record and without reigning MVP Derrick Rose for most of the season and Richard Hamilton for many games as well. That fact alone should have made Thibodeau a runaway winner for the COY, but he won last season and the NBA is too political. Therefore, they didn’t vote him two years in a row.
6th Man of the Year: James Harden – Oklahoma City Thunder
I agree 100% with this selection. Harden is by far the best bench player in the NBA and could easily start for every other team in the league. Lou Williams of the Philadelphia 76ers was very important to their team, mostly with his scoring abilities. Jamal Crawford of the Portland Trail Blazers and Jason Terry of the Dallas Mavericks also gains consideration every season as well.
Most Improved Player: Ryan Anderson – Orlando Magic
I agree with this selection. Anderson had a very good season both scoring and rebounding. He opened things up for a lot of players on the team especially Dwight Howard. He also led the league in 3 pointers made. I think that Kyle Lowry of the Houston Rockets would probably have won if he stayed healthy.
Defensive Player of the Year: Tyson Chandler – New York Knicks
I completely disagree with this selection more than the MVP and COY awards. Serge Ibaka was by far the best defender in the NBA this season. He led the league in blocks and made every team think before coming into the paint. Chandler wasn’t even the best defender on the Knicks this season. Iman Shumpert was a much better defender, especially on the ball. The NBA voters need a do-over on this one.
Rookie of the Year: Kyrie Irving – Cleveland Cavaliers
This was the easiest decision for the NBA this season, since there weren’t any other rookies that could even be in the discussion with Irving, except maybe Ricky Rubio, but he missed most of the season with his injury and his numbers still weren’t in comparison. The Cavaliers replaced LeBron with a very talented and exciting player to watch. I’m not comparing the two, but the franchise is headed back in the right direction.
Derek Fisher: What’s the deal?
Derek Fisher, a longtime PG of the Los Angeles Lakers and President of the NBPA (National Basketball Players Association), was traded to the Houston Rockets on March 15 at the NBA trading deadline. Fisher was traded along with a 1st round draft pick for F/C Jordan Hill. Fisher has also spent a couple of seasons with the Golden State Warriors and one with the Utah Jazz before returning to LA. The deal came as a surprise to many in the league as well as Lakers players’. I think it came as more a surprise to Fisher though, who still hasn’t shown up to the Rockets.
I don’t know what’s going on with the situation, but I think it needs to be resolved quickly. For one, Fisher is the President of the NBPA and if he is deciding not to show on his own will then it is definitely showing a bad example for the rest of the players in the league, especially the young ones. On the other hand if it’s the Rockets that are keeping him away making their decisions on what to do with him, they need to do something or speak on it. Either release him or play him.
The last thing either party needs is to make a bad situation out of this deal. Hopefully Fisher has been told not to show up if the team is going to buy out his contract. They will save money on their cap space, plus they acquired a 1st round pick as well in a very deep draft. The Fisher trade could mean a lot to both teams…..with the Lakers his role decreased as he is older and slower, but his leadership will be missed. It also may affect Kobe as well, who we all know has his little hissy fits when things don’t go as he wants all the time. If the Rockets do keep him, he will bring that leadership with him and I feel could be a great mentor to Kyle Lowry and Goran Dragic.
In the end, this needs to be handled quickly in hopes of saving face for the player, the President and the franchise.
The Sports Hound Blog 