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Though December 15th has yet to provide us with any crazy excitement and newly uncovered trade rumors, we get a bit more taunting and thigh massaging about the Omer Asik trade rumors. Previously, we heard that Daryl Morey had a deal in place with the Sixers for Omer Asik but he was waiting to see if a better offer came around. Now, we have this Jonathan Feigen article indicating there is a third team involved.
Read the whole article for all the goods, but here are the pertinent details:
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-- Morey set his Dec. 19 deadline in part because he knows he has an offer he is willing to take. Though things can change several times by Thursday: "It very likely will be a pretty complicated, three-way deal. There are a lot of moving parts."
-- With the emergence of Terrence Jones as the starting power forward, Morey is not determined to find a starter at the position. He hopes to come away with either a strong defensive wing who can catch-and-shoot, a power forward who can fill in as a backup center, or expiring contracts that come with first-round picks - or some combination of those assets.
-- As much as speculation has centered around Thad Young, if the Rockets are to do a deal with Philadelphia and former Rockets assistant GM Sam Hinkie, it is more likely to be a three-team deal in which the player the Sixers trade goes elsewhere.
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-- The Rockets likely would want draft picks in a deal, and Hinkie is not expected to give those up. If the deal was for Young, the Rockets and Sixers would not have had to wait until Dec. 15. And if the Rockets were to try to get one of the Sixers players who don't fit in Hinkie's long-term plans, it would be more likely for Spencer Hawes, a range shooter who could play next to Dwight Howard or as his backup with Asik gone.
-- Despite conjecture that Morey will consider deals that would send Asik to only an Eastern Conference team, a person with knowledge of talks said he has been open to deals with Western Conference teams.
Okay!
So it's a three-way deal, with the third team from either conference, with one of Thaddeus Young or Spencer Hawes being moved. If it's Thad, it looks like he'll go to the third team because Morey likes Terrence Jones. If it's Hawes, he'd go to the Rockets. Thad makes $2M+ more than Spencer and has two years after this one, but the Sixers can absorb so much salary, the money isn't a deciding factor.
Guesses on who the third team is? I'll leave most of the analysis up to you guys in the comments, but one important point -- Wight Howard and Dwight Howard would be an illegal amount of fun.
An awful lot of balls in the air. I am full of excitement and double-stuffed Oreos. We'll know something in the next few days. Trust Hinkie. Team Chill.
