The Goat Pen

Yep. I hoped he would take over Leonards Losers.

RIP Hizzy...gone too soon...smooth journey on the transition back Home....

More moves to come? Screw that garbage...5 power forwards on the court at the same time please!

Stocking up for a trade? WWHD?

Adrian Wojnarowski‏@WojYahooNBA

Houston has decided to use the amnesty provision on Luis Scola and will likely file with NBA on Friday, league sources tell Y! Sports.

Scola has three years and $21 million left on his contract. The Rockets are clearing space in pursuit of a Dwight Howard deal.

The Rockets will soon have the space to absorb Orlando's Dwight Howard, Jason Richardson, Hedo Turkoglu, Chris Duhon and Epcot Center.

LOL

That'll be a big get, if they can get him. Hizzy would be proud.

the problem though is how do you convince him to stay? or is Brooklyn your default trade if you can't keep him?

moving half the Orlando team to Houston only seems like a change in scenery.

For some reason, Darryl Morey is convinced once D12 gets to Houston and gets with the organization, he'll want to stay.

Big gamble, but it worked for the Nets wrt Deron.

does Morey have the kind of pockets that the Russian billionaire did? Its an honest question because I really don't know.

I just don't see Houston as a team willing to pay into luxury tax territory to put the pieces around him like Abramowich (?) seems to.

Abramovich owns Chelsea. Prokhorov is the Nets owner. Alexander doesn't have pockets that deep but he's still a billionaire who has shown a willingness to spend to win.

seems incredibly risky imo. raps fans are upset they are spending 19M on Fields... can imagine what they would be saying if Houston fails to deliver on Howard?

Depends on how many of the big longterm contracts that Houston has to take on. The preference is that Houston keep a star or headliner (Bynum or Howard) that they can put pieces around. They want to get out of the last team out situation they've been in the past few years either by doing really well or really poorly to be able to draft a superstar if Howard leaves. Taking on a bunch of longterm Turkoglu-like contract kills you if Howard leaves.

OKC traded Harden to the Rox...bonus for LA.

short term pain for OKC but I think they got just about everything you can get for a guy, who imo, is not an elite caliber player deserving of a max contract.

Let's assume that he is deserving of a max contract (since I know some would argue that he is), getting 3 first round picks (Lamb being one), an adequate starter/bench player in Martin, and potentially a lottery pick is a fairly good haul for a guy you can't afford at his wanting price. I still don't understand how they can say the Raps pick is "guaranteed" to be in the lottery. If they make the playoffs for the next 6 years (which is not likely but definitely possible), that pick is not in the lottery and doesn't even get extended. I guess the assumption is they have no chance of making the playoffs for 6 straight years.

I don't understand this trade from the Rockets point of view at all. 32 1st round picks (including one that could be a lottery pick) for a freakin guard?

Yay! We got the second most overrated player in the league too!

Owlman wrote:I don't understand this trade from the Rockets point of view at all. 32 1st round picks (including one that could be a lottery pick) for a freakin guard?

it's called trying to justify why you gutted your roster in pursuit of Howard.... to get that elusive Olympic team member and allstar.

unless Harden completely blows up now that he doesnt have to share the ball with Westbrook/Durant I like this deal for OKC, I think eventually Lamb will make OKC forget Harden

once Harden turned down 4 years, $54 mill Sam Presti went straight into trade mode, very savvy move

apparently Houston will extend Harden for 4 years, $60 mil

that's pricey

It takes some pressure off of Lin, too. He was struggling this preseason, now he won't be the guy with the big contract who has to perform like a superstar. I expect some pressure to fall off of him.

Lamb will be a help down the road, but OKC's chances of making it back to the Finals this year just dipped a little.