I just woke up to the sound of my phone exploding with text messages.
With that said, here are ten immediate thoughts I had once I heard about The Trade.
- Damn, I'm gonna miss Carl Landry. But this is Daryl Morey being sneaky smart and selling high on a "young" power forward that isn't really all that young. (Remember, Landry was a 24 year old rookie with bad knees.) Besides, this allows the Rockets to re-sign Luis Scola quite easily this summer.
- The Rockets acquired the best player in the deal. Not to inflate the Sports Guy's ego, but he's right: the team that acquires the best player overall is usually the team that "wins" the trade. And Kevin Martin is the best player in this deal. Which makes it the "Kevin Martin trade" and not the "Tracy McGrady trade" - which probably pisses off T-Mac. Which makes it even more awesome.
- Just as I was about to write another "Ruminations from the Bench" with Joey Dorsey meeting with David Stern as a player rep to quantify what $400M in NBA losses means in number of lap dances and hos... he gets traded. Bummer.
- I own three replica jerseys of current Rockets players. Make that two now. Carl Landry's #14 is now retired. Yao and Luis are still represented. My "throwback" Horry jersey only gets broken out during the playoffs. Naturally.
- Sacramento is broke. There is no other reason they would make this trade. If they gave Martin and Tyreke Evans a couple years together, they could be scary good. But, alas, the business side broke that up. Good for us.
- I never have to discuss Tracy McGrady again.
- The Knicks may still be "in play" so the Rockets could acquire some draft picks, too. We shall see about that. I'm tempted to ignore the Knicks just to stick it to T-Mac one last time. McGrady really wants to go to N.Y., so sending him to Sacramento would be the ultimate indignity for him. Other than playing for the Nets.
- Sergio Rodriguez could be really good. He may also be Kyle Lowry insurance.
- Welcome back, Kenny Thomas! Please join Brian Cook at the end of the bench and do not speak to anyone until spoken to directly. Please do not poke the coach with a stick while he's sleeping.
- This trade is much, much, MUCH better than the proposed "Jordan Hill plus draft picks" s--t sandwich that was being rumored for much of the week. The Rockets actually get better with this trade.
So, do we really need to say it? In Daryl Morey we trust.