Here is what was said regarding Houston:
Houston Rockets
Trade bait: James Harden, Omer Asik, Jeremy Lin, Terrence Jones, Troy Daniels
Pitch: Houston will sell the Wolves on Harden being the only All-NBA player dangled in an offer, along with an elite defensive big in Asik and any other selection from the end of the roster. Like Golden State, the Rockets' strength is they can give up proven talent to help Minnesota win in the present. Unlike Golden State, Houston can throw in a combination of first-rounders moving forward. In this scenario, Love plays alongside a dominant defensive big in Howard and plays for the man who drafted and coached him in Kevin McHale.
I would also add the fact there are no state taxes in Texas, big bump in money made. Houston has the ways and means to make it happen.
If Houston actually offers them Harden, then yes, they can win. But Asik and Lin do nothing for Minnesota aside from costing a ton of money. As I've said elsewhere, those two play they same positions as Minny's four-best non-Love players, and will be paid $13 million more than Love this season (actual cash, because cap isn't a concern to Minny this year, but cash will be when trading away their most marketable player). In fact, they'd both be backups making all that money. That's not at all attractive. Parsons is nice, but not for Minnesota. He's cheap this year, but if you're trading Love, you don't care about this year. You care about next year, when Parsons will be an unrestricted free agent and can leave himself.
Again, if they offer up Harden, then yes, they can get Love. But if they start asking for something else, or for Minnesota to take on Asik and/or Lin, then they're not nearly as atteactive of a partner.
In terms of Boston, we could send them either Sullinger or Olynyk, Anthony, and the rest of the salary could be made up in non-guaranteed contracts, and draft picks, of which we have several better ones than any other team in pursuit. Minnesota would only have to take on $3.8 million in dead salary (Anthony), could get a young, cheap player who's cost-controlled for 2-3 years (Sully or Olynyk), and some draft compensation, whether that be #6 overall this year, future picks, or both. This would leave them with the flexibility to add something else to their team via free agency or trade, and would not break their pocketbook, which will become more fragile without Love.
It depends what Minny wants, but we can certainly make a competitive offer. If you think that David Lee and Harrison Barnes, but no payroll flexibility or picks, will get them over the playoff hump, then yes, they should take that. If you think Harden, but again no flexibility and probably no picks, will get them in, sure they should do that. But if neither of those are going to produce any better results than they've already gotten, maybe it does make sense to take a shot at future talent instead of present talent, if the present talent isn't good enough. That's what we offer that his other suitors can't seem to match. (Except maybe Chicago, but I'm not convinced the Bulls will pursue Love unless he's had at a bargain. Between Gibson and Mrotic, they have that position decently covered, and getting Melo, or even getting back Deng, makes more sense to their roster.)
