Dash

Houston seems to think that they could somehow convince Dwight to sign an extension with the Rockets. In free agency, where exactly will Dwight go? The Mavericks appear to be the only real threat to sign Dwight Howard and all they have to present Dwight with is a 35 year old Dirk Nowitzki, is really worth leaving $30 million on the table to leave Houston for that? Reportedly the only places Dwight will receive his big fat check from Adidas is if he goes to Brooklyn/New York or Los Angeles, neither of those teams are in position to sign him and do note that Dallas isn't on that list which makes it harder for Dwight to leave that extra $30 million. Its not like Houston is a small market either, we're the 4th largest city in the entire United States AND twice the size of Dallas AND have no state income taxes AND are the most marketable team in China still to this day (the most populated country in the world at that too). I'm not guaranteeing that Dwight will resign but I can see the argument for him staying. It was reported earlier that Houston intends to pair Dwight with some all-star level talent, not sure who exactly but previously they were targeting Eric Gordon in free agency. If the Rockets have enough young talent left over from a Dwight Howard trade then they will chase a 2nd all-star. No chance they leave Dwight all by himself and exhaust ALL of their assets in a deal or else he will surely skip town. Bynum is clearly the smaller risk but I think a combination of the Lakers not having enough assets to compensate Houston in a three way deal, the Rockets being sick of mediocrity and Dwight obviously being the better player and superstar is behind them willing to go all in. Edit: Taking on Turkoglu, Duhon and Richardson is going to seriously cripple our chances at trading for another all-star level talent, which is why I'm confused by this report because Houston originally didn't intend to handcuff themselves this bad. Depending on which young pieces we're dealing exactly, we might not have much left over but at the same time Morey seems to think we can put a competitive team around Dwight.

Love it for Dallas. Not sure why Indiana does it considering they just drafted Plumee and Collison should be able to rake in more value than Mahinmi.

Taking on Turkoglu, Richardson AND Chris Duhon would cripple whatever flexibility we have for at least the next 2 years. If Dwight walks then its even worse. I'd be interested in the three way deal with the Lakers but the problem is that they're at the point where they have little to no assets outside of Bynum meaning most the pieces the Magic would be getting in the proposal would be from Houston. The Rockets might as well just take on Richardson, cut an aging Scola and pick up the best center in the game. If the Lakers weren't depleted of assets or could somehow string in a 4th team that wants to take on Pau then I figure the Rockets would be more interested in getting Bynum than Dwight.

http://blog.chron.com/ultimaterockets/2012/07/rockets-re-emerge-as-contender-in-howard-sweepstakes-as-talks-with-magic-grow-serious/ So we give a ton of youth, draft picks and take on 3 freaking Magic contracts?! We're getting raped in this deal bad, I hope if this actually happens that we actually leave open some wiggle room to surround talent around Howard.

Chad Ford is merely speculating that Houston would but I don't see it happening.

Welp.

Houston can make the best offer by far. Hennigan is either blind or the Brooklyn talk was a ploy to rake in more assets from the Rockets. No sane GM would want Brook Lopez on a max contract when they are trying to rebuild.

Not really. Camby was a lock to resign with the Rockets until Goran Dragic skipped town and suddenly the direction Houston was looking to go was drastically changed. With the other two top suitors for Marcus being teams that couldn't outright sign him, Morey saw an opportunity to allocate more assets albeit they are minor ones. Otherwise I think they might have just resigned him. Just annoys me that we've been looking for a center for years now, finally get one and we trade him away. Don't really care if he's 38 years old, rather have him back in a veteran role than bringing in scrubs and mid 2nd round picks (Morey's track record in the 2nd round is great but still meh). All things considered its a pretty good deal for Houston, normally don't see teams getting that much in a sign and trade. Heck we might not even have a legitimate center if Chicago matches the deal for Asik. Wish him in luck in New York though, Camby really grew on me in his short time here and that Chandler/Camby rotation at the 5 is nasty.

Rather just bring back Camby.

Bynum alone is better than this hot garbage.

I just want to know that what direction we're heading. Right now it looks like we're rebuilding but Clutch has stated multiple times that the endgame may still be Dwight Howard. Before I'd be fine with it but now that we actually have some good young players and draft picks that should make rebuilding a breeze with Daryl Morey as our general manager, I'm against it because we all know that Dwight would likely leave. I'd rather we just stink for one season, maybe get a top 5 draft pick and build around whoever we pick/Lamb/White/Motiejunas.

Camby on the Heat would be unbelievable, I know he's 38 years old but he still plays like one of the better starting centers in this league particularly on the glass. Give them their 2nd title already if that happens. This offseason has just been a disaster. Goran Dragic, Courtney Lee and Marcus Camby I thought were all locks to return to the Rockets but it looks like we may lose all 3 of them. Camby was the signing I was the LEAST worried about, he's stated multiple times that he wants to end his career in Houston in a Dikembe Mutombo type role and went as far as trying to recruit players to play for the Rockets (think it was Eric Gordon, not sure) on his Twitter account. Even if we're looking to rebuild, I want Camby back in Houston for veteran leadership in the locker room and possibly a mentor for our glut of young big men.

We just keep losing players.

If I am a Raptors fan, I'm excited about how Casey could utilize Lowry defensively.

Wow that is some light protection. Love this for the Rockets, pretty sure that pick will be around 10th-12th (Toronto should be fighting for an 8th playoff seed with the addition of Lowry) but we need lottery picks to rebuild.

Looks like we're finally rebuilding. Feigan reporting that we also take on Gary Forbes, can't post it through my phone though.

I don't think the Rockets liked Drummond enough to cough up Kyle Lowry just to move up 4 spots especially knowing that there was a good chance Jeremy Lamb was going to fall to them at that point. Daryl heavily hinted that Lamb was 7th on their draft board so in their mind it could have essentially been 2 spots and not maximizing isn't how Houston works. They were reluctant to move their only point guard as is, and in hindsight for good reason. Morey sounded like he loved this draft and given Toronto's high asking price, I think he just thought screw it and picked 3 prospects he really liked (well 4, Tyler Zeller was meant to be taken with 18th) like BFT said. Houston was still in play for Dwight back then too and plan B must've been to get Drummond + Lamb (Lowry + +16 + 18 for 8th would have made sense,IMO). Houston wanted a deal for #5 done before the draft. MKG was #2 on the Rockets' draft board and had they moved up on draft night, I had little doubt Thomas Robinson would have been the pick. Anyways it sucks we couldn't work a trade on draft night looking back but I can see why the Raptors didn't bite. Can't think of a trade post-draft for Lowry that would make sense for either side but who knows? Both front offices appear to be in panic mode.

I can understand not competing with that offer because its definitely overpay but we are screwed. Beyond screwed.

Wow...

Assuming the salary isn't much, low risk signing by OKC although I'm not expecting him to ever crack the rotation.

https://twitter.com/#!/ESPNSteinLine

Have to wonder whether Morey will actually move Lowry with Dragic now appearing to be unlikely, but could potentially knock out one of their competitors for Goran assuming Nash is going to New York. I have no idea what we would want from Toronto though, it seemed like a deal between them was hinging on the 8th pick and we all know how that turned out.

Haven't seen this anywhere else and the Rockets haven't even met Lin yet.

Good defensive and hustle player and he's still relatively young. In this league that will net you $8 million per year easily. The contract is around MLE level the first two years and then shoots up to around $13-14 million, which isn't bad because its only a three year deal and he becomes an asset himself by being a large expiring. So essentially he's on a bargain deal for 2 years and then becomes a big expiring contract. Good signing. Centers don't come cheap and the Rockets have been on the market for one since Yao Ming first went down.