Personally, I'd prefer to ride it out one more year and see what happens with everyone healthy, but this is for those who want to blow it up all the way. That includes trading all of the big 3. This thread assumes a few things.
One, this thread is for if we're going all the way to tank for draft picks.
Two, it's for if KG is decided on retiring, and we decide not to pick up Pierce's option.
If both of those happen, here is what we could do.
We have to be realistic. This team is not gonna get DMC for Rondo (our best trade asset) coming off an ACL injury. They could, however, get the defensive center they've needed for a long time in Omer Asik.
http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=bs4ceqgHere are his averages (per 36)
Season Age Tm Lg Pos G GS MP FG FGA FG% 3P 3PA 3P% FT FTA FT% ORB DRB TRB AST STL BLK TOV PF PTS
2012-13 26 HOU NBA C 82 82 2464 4.9 9.0 .541 0.0 0.0 .000 2.5 4.4 .562 4.0 9.9 14.0 1.1 0.7 1.3 2.5 3.3 12.2
Career NBA 230 84 4424 4.0 7.4 .537 0.0 0.0 .000 2.3 4.5 .527 4.2 8.9 13.1 1.1 0.8 1.7 2.5 4.0 10.3
You ask, why would Houston trade their center in a league deprived of them? For a play on Dwight Howard. With Rondo and Harden, Houston can make a fantastic pitch to Dwight to start another (big 3) with a real chance at making it to the finals.
Next, assume KG retires/gets bought out. I'm not exactly sure of the fine print, but his contract remains on the books if he simply retires. If he gets bought out, I think it comes off the books. In that case, it frees up some cap space.
Next Pierce is traded to Clippers for Bledsoe and filler (expiring contracts). Their weakness is small forward, and Pierce will be in the last year of his contract, making him valuable. This trade almost works in the trade machine (+-600,000). After the season ends, I'm sure they can negotiate something that will make it beneficial for both teams.
http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=bnnzwgkThis leaves us with a youngish core of Bledsoe-Bradley-Green-Sully-Asik and extra draft picks from the Asik deal. It's a team that I don't think is good enough to make the playoffs their first year, but with extra draft picks for 2013/2014 should be able to score enough talent to make the playoffs 2014 - 2015 season.
Unfortunately we're still stuck with Bass and Terry's contracts. What do you guys think?