Rockets have reached agreement with Omer Asik on a three-year, $25.1 million contract

[midatlantic09]

Erm, seriously?

Asik is an elite defender. Rotates quickly, can shut down the lane on drivers, and is alright man on man. He's a huge presence and alters offensive strategies. He has brick for hands and is borderline useless on O, though.

Eh, I'm sure they could find a D-League big man who can do the same thing.

[boozehound]

he'll have to learn how to cut back on fouls even though he's improved leaps and bounds there. his third year, he gets paid $15 million. yikes - i would not want asik being a big reason why my team went into the luxury tax.

i can understand a bit. that's what these small market teams have to do. houston went after dwight to no avail, then they tried to move up in the draft with both sacramento and portland. this was very much option C or less

you do realize houston is the 5th? biggest city in the country (with no state income tax and great weather - during the bball season)? It has nothing to do with being a small market team and everything to do with him being an RFA.

Those acting like he could be replaced by a d leaguer obviously only watch espn highlights. he was arguably a top 5 defensive big man last year and is incredibly active. sure, he fouls too much, but he is a very good defensive center in the nba. hell, how many games did he play most of the 4th over noah?

[blacknapalm]

Interesting..

Gasol's contract is up in 2 years right when Asik's big deal kicks in. Wonder if Morey is thinking about Gasol now.

How about Lowry, Martin and Royce White to the Lakers for Gasol?

highway robbery for LA

[ZenMaster]

Supposedly it is backloaded.... It would be a 5/5/15 deal.

That's just brilliant!

[D-Rose]

highway robbery for LA

Actually sounds like a decent deal to me.

[blacknapalm]

you do realize houston is the 5th? biggest city in the country (with no state income tax and great weather - during the bball season)? It has nothing to do with being a small market team and everything to do with him being an RFA.

Those acting like he could be replaced by a d leaguer obviously only watch espn highlights. he was arguably a top 5 defensive big man last year and is incredibly active. sure, he fouls too much, but he is a very good defensive center in the nba. hell, how many games did he play most of the 4th over noah?

oh, i like him a lot. he's one of the best defensive centers in the league and he's a tenacious offensive rebounder. i'm just not sure he's worth that contract when he's still so raw on offense, turns the ball over too much compared to how often he gets it and is a terrible FT shooter. we're gonna have to see how he handles a full time gig.

[boozehound]

Eh, I'm sure they could find a D-League big man who can do the same thing.

yep, tons of top tier defensive big men playing in the d-league who could easily be one of the best team defenders in the league. its just that no other team values defense. the celtics and heat could've had all sorts of great defensive 5s out of the D, but decided that they like tufiaf and steismas (btw, a top d league defender who was mediocre in the league) hairdos better.

[blacknapalm]

Actually sounds like a decent deal to me.

as an LA fan, i'd take it all day. martin is an expiring contract. last i heard, houston is just going to keep him though. i guess there isn't much interest out there

[CLTHornets4eva]

HOuston included that poison pill in year 3, just so Chicago couldn't pay. The first 2 years are extremely reasonable. But man 12+ mil for Osik even in 1 year is crazy.

[boozehound]

oh, i like him a lot. he's one of the best defensive centers in the league and he's a tenacious offensive rebounder. i'm just not sure he's worth that contract when he's still so raw on offense, turns the ball over too much compared to how often he gets it and is a terrible FT shooter. we're gonna have to see how he handles a full time gig.

yeah, its definitely over value, but thats what happens with an RFA. more importantly, what other center could they get, their biggest need? mcgee is going to command much more and is a knucklehead and poor defender. who else?

[BallsOut]

as an LA fan, i'd take it all day. martin is an expiring contract. last i heard, houston is just going to keep him though. i guess there isn't much interest out there

It doesn't make much sense to keep Martin when they already have 2 good young SG prospects in Jeremy Lamb and Courtney Lee (free agent). Unless they let Lee walk, I don't get why they'd keep all 3 SGs and especially Martin when the 12 mill they shed from his contract could be used on other much needed positions to fill out their roster.

[outbreak]

This deals actually not the crazy if it's back loaded. It will stop Bulls from matching it, still allows them to play him behind Howard or any other big name for at least 2 years, final year he will either have earnt more minutes or will become a 12mil expiring contract that becomes a valuable trade piece.

[blacknapalm]

It doesn't make much sense to keep Martin when they already have 2 good young SG prospects in Jeremy Lamb and Courtney Lee (free agent). Unless they let Lee walk, I don't get why they'd keep all 3 SGs and especially Martin when the 12 mill they shed from his contract could be used on other much needed positions to fill out their roster.

agree it doesn't make much sense. just going off a report i read. houston is transparently trying to make deals but no one is biting. you always need a second party to join or your intentions are futile. blame mchale for putting martin in the doghouse last year and driving his value even lower. he could have at least tried to showcase him a bit. here's what ken berger said:

Rockets have had some talks about Kevin Martin, but are planning to keep him, league source says. Martin has $12.4M expiring contract.

[chips93]

http://www.basketball-reference.com/...t=&order_by=ws

[Faptastrophe]

Could someone post Hollingers' (Insider) take on this when it's up?