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Speculation on the canceled Gasol trade


If anyone hasn't seen it yet, and I always recommend him, but Bill Simmons articles are usually pretty good reads, especially when they're about basketball. Anyway, what I'm assuming is a Rocket's fan made it in to the Jeremy Lin mailbag that just came out today, or maybe yesterday. Here's the exchange between the reader and Simmons...

Q: This just hit me: If Stern doesn't veto the Lakers/Rockets/Hornets trade Jeremy Lin would still be a Rocket. Houston couldn't keep Lin because they already had 3 PG's with fully guaranteed contracts (Lowry, Dragic, Flynn). If the trade is allowed to go through, Lin would have been able to take Dragic's spot on the roster. Instead Stern vetoes the trade, and now Lin is singlehandedly saving the Knicks season, and keeping them out of the lottery. Oh ya, Houston owns New York's first rounder (top 5 protected). Is it possible Stern knew all this, and this was his actual reason for vetoing the trade? Also is this Stern's way of getting back at Houston for booing him after Game 7 of the NBA Finals? Let's be honest, the man isn't above grudges.
— Adam Spolane, Houston

SG: I love when Daryl Morey writes me with the alias "Adam Spolane." And yeah, you're right — if the Gasol trade goes through and Houston follows that up by signing Nene (something the Rockets believe would have happened, even if the rest of the league is dubious), here's Houston's team right now: Kyle Lowry, Courtney Lee, Chandler Parsons, Nene and Pau Gasol (starters); Jeremy Lin, Marcus Morris, Patrick Patterson, Jordan Hill, Chase Budinger, Free Agent 2-Guard to Be Named (bench). Pretty interesting. Daryl will now light himself on fire.

(PS: Did you notice Houston was awarded the 2013 NBA All-Star Game last week? My buddy House is convinced that was Stern's way of apologizing for screwing the Rockets over. It's like Warden Norton letting Andy Dufresne shine his shoes right after he killed Andy's buddy who could have testified that Andy was innocent, and throwing Andy in the hole for two months for calling him "obtuse." Sorry about what happened, Houston — here, shine my shoes with the 2013 All-Star Game!)

Anybody think that's out of the realm of possibility? I know it seems kind of wild to think that level of corruption could be in the front office of the league but it does follow a peculiar pattern of shady, hush-hush type behavior from the commissioner and some of the things he's been rumored, and even accused of doing. The Ewing draft, the sonic's sale, etc...

It makes me a little sick to think of this being possible and not even because Lin is proving himself as a viable starter in the league, at least for the moment. I hate that the commissioner of a league that we all love could conceivably control the destiny of our favorite team. I'd love to hear everyone's thoughts on this.

No cursing in title. No pirated material, such as links to online game streams. Do not cut/paste entire sections of content from other websites. Thanks.

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