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Well, if you were holding out hope for Daryl Morey to work some Morey Magic and bring Goran Dragic back, this should all but extinguish it. Adrian Wojnarowski is reporting that the Suns' asking price has gone up (if it was ever as low as just a first-round pick). The Rockets, or any team, would now have to pony up a "player with All-Star potential" in addition to a pick to land the Dragon.
I'm not alone in saying I would be shocked if the Rockets were able to trade for Dragic before the deadline. With all the positive hype he built up last year, the rumored first-rounder asking price seemed quite low for something approximating a star point guard, even if it's a rental. Now we can be pretty certain that the price for Dragic is similar to the price for any franchise-altering player: it's really steep.
Woj followed up with one more bit of info that fits common sense:
If the Suns make a move before deadline, it is far more likely to include Isaiah Thomas and/or Gerald Green, league sources tell Yahoo.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) February 17, 2015
Of course, Isaiah Thomas doesn't meet the Rockets' needs at point guard like Dragic does. Goran isn't a lockdown defender by any means, but Thomas is so undersized that he'd be vaporized by playoff-level guards like Chris Paul, Damian Lillard and Stephen Curry. Harden can't guard them in his place, so any playoff team with Isaiah Thomas would have to bring him off the bench.
Of course, the Rockets also need a backup point guard so that Jason Terry can become the fringe rotation player he should be at this point. It's just that Patrick Beverley would ideally fit that role, behind a point guard that can run with the Western Conference big dogs. Isaiah Thomas would be a nice addition (and he does wear a headband, so there would be a certain poetry to it), but he's not worth giving up much of value for the Rockets.
That's just my take, though. What's yours?