Broussard: Josh Smith to Rockets trade in the works

[D.o.s.]

How does he fit in with the Lakers--moving Pau to the Center and having Smith play the 4?

[Evantime34]

For whatever it's worth:

Ken Berger ‏@KBergCBS 44m

As of now, Rockets have no deals in place and no plans for deals, source says.

Ken Berger ‏@KBergCBS 46m

Though they won't rule out post-Howard trades, the Rockets are now open to keeping Omer Asik and Jeremy Lin, league source says.

This has to be posturing/no one is willing to take Asik's contract on without giving up some salary on their own.

Hopefully this leaves Josh Smith with no one to sign him and he ends up in Boston for cheap.

From another perspective

a) we don't want him. Danny is not signing him even for 10 million per year. He isn't good enough to pair with Rondo and Green toward a championship.
b)Detroit will offer him big money. So would someone like Toronto or Dallas. Even the Lakers will be in play for him now.

Zero chance of Smith landing here, which is a good thing in the long run (in my opinion).

a. I want him on my team. It would make our team more exciting and better. Ainge is about collecting assets and if Josh Smith is willing to sign here for less he is huge asset. If he really wanted to play with Rondo we could sign him to a three year deal in which the last two years are mutual options, that way if he doesn't play well we could maintain cap flexibility, and if he does play well we could extend him. I know it is counter to the tanking mantra that has been used on this board but I still would enjoy watching a mid seeded team. Some of my favorite Celtics teams were the Pierce/Walker teams that we knew weren't going to the title game. Most people would argue that signing Smith and making us a team that is a 5 seed could get us stuck in the middle for a while like the hawks. I would argue that the Hawks never had the young assets we had now to compliment their good players, and they certainly never had the dearth of draft picks that we have to compliment their team.

b. I saw Detroit offered him big money but I think that is a terrible fit for him style wise. They would probably make him play more of the 3 which would considerably diminish his value come next contract. Toronto has no cap space to sign him, Dallas could certainly be an option, but again he would probably have to play the 3 since the Mavs best player also plays the four.

c. You are probably right that there is only a small chance that Smith signs here, but I don't think it is quite zero, probably closer to 5 or 10 percent. Since I want us to sign Smith I will hold out hope until he signs somewhere else.

[saltlover]

How does he fit in with the Lakers--moving Pau to the Center and having Smith play the 4?

A) Probably not well, but more importantly
B) The Lakers are over the hard cap, even after losing Dwight, which means they cannot acquire anyone in a sign-and-trade unless they end up under that hard cap level of between $74 and $76 million.  Seeing as they're alrady over $77 million in salary with just seven players signed, that would be virtually impossible, unless Gasol were himself traded (in which case, Smith and Gasol aren't teaming up).  So unless Smith is signing with LA for the taxpayer mid-level of $3.1 million, he's not going to LA.