Stein: "HOU determined to trade Asik by Dec 19th"

Doesn't he already know his way around? Also, for that matter, didn't he play with Aldridge already?

 

I don't know at all what it means, but it's odd to me that with great defensive rebounders like Howard and Asik, we have the same defensve rebound percentage that Houston does.

 

Asik? When did he play with Aldridge?

 

Didn't we draft him as a rookie? I could have sworn we did. And if true, Aldridge was already here when he was a rookie

 

I totally agree with this, by the way. His supposed 'attitude' won't be why this deal doesn't happen. It'll be something else.

 

Oh we traded the rights to him to Chicago. Didn't realize he never played here

 

We traded him on draft night.

 

I've been really thinking about this and I would love the duo of Lopez/Asik. Of course that would mean only if Asik is fine switching duties with Lopez each game.

Maybe asik just knew that Howard is a 38 minute player and his time would be too short. What if he knew on any given day, he's getting 20-30 minutes a game?

 

It's a risk Mags. We've heard Dame, LMA, Wes, and Mo talk about the chemistry on this team. Aldridge is saying he's had the most fun ever in his time in Portland. Is it worth risking that by trading for a guy who has been a malcontent this season?

 

It's a huge risk and I'm really battling it. On one end, he's publicly called out his team and ruined any shot of them getting good value in return. On the other end, they must have promised something to asik to really want to come to Houston. Still doesn't give asik a right to be a whiney bitch about it.

For us, we have great chemistry! On the other end, having a legit back up center is a great plus. God forbid Lopez goes down. If that happens, asik is there to clean up for us. Also, the demand on Lopez wouldn't be as bad, so he can give his all for the full time on court (not that he hasn't already). What it really does is not have our defense take a hit when Lopez sits. Freeland is pimp and I love his effort, but he is hardly even in the same caliber as Asik.

So what is really questioned is 1.) will Asik come off the bench, even though he will get 20-25 minutes per game? 2.) will Lopez work well with Asik?

I think the answers are both yes!

 

I don't get why you guys are talking about Asik so much either. He's not very good.

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I don't have access to ESPN at work but how many minutes did you run it at? I went to NBA.com and ran it at all players <= 22 mpg and Joel is 9th in off rebounding while Asik is 12th. Where you get the big difference is Asik is 5th in the league at rebounding with 6.8 per game and <=22 mpg. Joel Freeland is half of that at 3.4 per game. While he is a good offensive rebounder Joel could def use work on the defensive end. the .2 difference on the offensive rebounding is pretty insignificant with this small of a sample size when you compare it to the trb they bring down.

 

He is better than freeland no?

 

Blows my mind that someone that likes Pryz enough to name his username after him doesn't like Asik. He is one of the best rebounding/defensive centers in the league.

 

He won't want to come off the bench.

 

Then he can eat a dick

 

For who?

 

I just ran it guys coming off bench. Joel is 6th in the NBA in total offensive boards off the bench and he's doing it in 14min per game vs others who get 18-25min per game.

 

He's not close to a top 5 center, he's not worth this contract, and he's not worth what Houston wants for him.

There's no reason to be talking about him so much.

I wouldn't have paid the Vanilla Gorilla that much, or given up a loterry pick or high end power forward.

 

If he's the piece that puts you over the top to win a championship, then yes, he's absolutely worth that $15m. Is he that to us? I don't know. I haven't seen him play enough. From what it sounds like his defense may be exactly what we need, even though I like what Lopez is giving us. On the flip-side, messing with the chemistry we've got makes it a sticky proposition. Additionally, there are good arguments on both sides of the "attitude" issue. Not really sure what to make of it. I do agree that HOU won't get anywhere close to what they want for him. At this point it seems to me they're going to be lucky to get more than cap relief out it. And I do think, if it comes to it, they'll trade him for cap relief just to get him off the team and improve their own chemistry.

With that in mind, here are a few things to think about:

http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=qcjcgfw

http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=l43ju7g

http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=mjtefv2 (J.Jones is a placeholder for Mason/Oden or Birdman)