"Kobe won't allow"? Is Mitch Kupchak really Kobe's bitch? So why didn't they trade Bynum for Kidd when Kobe threw his little tantrum? Asik's hardly "showtime". Asik is a player you want if the rest of your players can score. I guess if Kobe goes for 40 a night then they can settle for him. And it's funny you say his contract is small, given how many people were mocking the Rockets for wildly overpaying Asik.
If LA loses Howard, who will be their center? They won't have a lot of options? Sometimes the Lakers will take what they can get. Steve Blake is not exactly showtime. I admit I did not know Asik has a balloon payment of 14 million in the last year of his contract but the Lakers rarely worry about cap space. And although Mitch is not Kobe's puppet, I still say no one (Fans, management, or Kobe) will be happy if Mitch waste's Kobe's last window of opportunity by not surrounding him with as good as talent as possible. They will not "wait" for LeBron. Besides Asik's contract could help with a sign and trade they always seem to pull out of their asses.
I honestly do not see Asik as C of a championship caliber team, unless that team has LeBron and Wade on it. The guy is turnover prone and a terrible free throw shooter. You wouldn't want him on the court at the end of close games, except as a defensive substitution. He might grab an offensive rebound but lose it out of bounds. You don't want to pass to him much or see the ball end up out of bounds. He'd be the first guy you'd want to foul when you must foul someone. For all his rebounding in few minutes, his PER is a modest 14.9. I think I'd rather go after their backup, Greg Smith.
Longley was on a team with a LeBron and Wade kind of combo. He could also make a shot from more than 3ft from the basket, make free throws, and was a terrific passer. Kukoc played a lot at C as well.
It really does make you wonder though, if we take the next step as a team next but Myers is our glaring weakness defensively are we going to get impatient and give up on him in lieu of making a push for a playoff run. There could be a fine line there. Or not.
Unfortunately that description describes a lot of centers in this league. McGee comes to mind. (Sorry Mags) I think we are destined for a stop gap next year with an old Vet.
Yeah at 32 he is one of the older Vets I was thinking about. His low BB IQ bothers me but he wants to play. And Portland has available minutes. JO has looked good as late, but his health history would be scary.
This guy certainly rates Asik highly. So does Tom Thibodeau. So does this guy (but it's Bleacher Report, so it doesn't count).
I think Asik would be a really nice complement on this team ... still, it's hard to see how he ends up in a Blazers' uniform, but here's to hope.
Maybe. But when the Lakers got Shaq, Orlando did not get Vlade. I don't see the Lakers ever agreeing on a sign-and-trade. They'll dare Houston to try to sign Howard away. No, but he was signed as a complementary player in a time when they thought they had a championship-contending roster. He wasn't replacing an All-NBA player.
I think the Lakers are prohibited from a S&T since they are so high above the luxury tax. We would just have to hope that Houston wanted to deal Asik's salary away if they acquired Howard, which seeing as their GM is a wheeler and dealer type probably would for picks/young assets.
So: given Patrick Beverley's emergence and his comparatively anemic season (and a playoffs where the only time Houston won was when he didn't play), I wonder if Houston will want to package Lin with Asik. Dumping both would give them ample room to go after Howard, woudn't it? And maybe sign up Maynor, who used to come off the bench with Harden in OKC. Any way we could absorb both Lin and Asik's contracts? (Maybe re-route Lin to LA for Steve Blake back...)
You get more gnomic by the day. I'm going to assume this is your idea of a sarcastic diss. And move on. ANYWAY: it seems obvious to me that Lin and Harden don't work together. Also, that Morey is not one to be stubborn about a player just because he acquired him (see: Nash, Telfair). BUT: I wonder if Lin is attractive to the Rockets for non-on-court reasons, like maintaining their most-favored-team-in-China position.
