Paul Pierce?

My premise is that pesky “gotta give to get” mentality. Kyle is more productive on offense and a little lighter on the assists than Rondo and the defense is near as makes no difference, so to me, the C’s do it to upgrade offense. Throw in Martin and Scola and you wind up upgrading their SG and PF situations, then toss in a pick and you give them something younger, why not toss em’ C-Buddy too since he’s a cyst on the team (in my opinion). See about snagging Pierce and Rondo out of the deal and if you can get an expiring contract or two like Allen and Jermaine O’Neal. I truly believe there’s something in there for us.

So my premise is actually built around the needs of both teams rather than any construing that one player is better than another.

Pierce might be owed for a couple years, but whatever, I’ll take it. If we accept that no big FA is going to come here in the summer, damn the cap flexibility, right? The point of being under is to sign guys and if we can’t sign useful guys, screw saving on to the money.

I would rather see if you can package Scola for something rather than just jettison him, it’s that maximizing value discussion, I think I had it with you where you said you’d rather get something for him than let him go, not sure though. I feel like Boston might be in a desperate enough situation that they’d let go of Pierce, expirings and Rondo. I mean it’d be nice for us to advertise to free agents that this team is run by All-NBA 1st Team PG Rajon Rondo, no? That’s worth something. Tag on Pierce in his waning years (Still productive, still a go-to player, injuries are a concern but come on, we’re Houston, you come here and you get half your salary in injury pay and nice suits) and some cap flexibility and I think we’re not in a horrible spot. Plus, like you said (and I agree) retaining that amnesty clause was huge. If Pierce gets hurt again, amnesty him off the deal.

As for the flexibility question, I think part of it is you can package those picks up in a deal, an attempt to move up, or use them on a point guard and other guy you need. I think if you’re the Rockets and Les won’t let you get your ass kicked for a high pick, you gotta pull the all-in move because the wheels will fall off shortly afterwards and your boss will have to deal with it, right? It’s the same theory around Dwight Howard rental, go for it, if he bolts, rebuild.