Daryl Morey is at it again. The Rockets have finally traded Center Omer Asik to The New Orleans Pelicans for a protected 2015 first round pick and Houston will send over $1.5 million to The Pelicans as well. The Rockets have made plenty of attempts to trade Asik after the signing of Dwight Howard, but failed to do so. Morey’s asking price was rumored to be too high to acquire the Center. Asik is one of the better rim protectors in the league and should fill in nicely playing next to Anthony Davis. Unfortunately the Asik signing was a major failure for Houston, after giving him one year and eventually upgrading the following season to Dwight Howard as their second building block of the franchise.
The bigger story here is The Houston Rockets are one of many teams trying to put themselves in position for the two marquee free agents of the summer LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony. This trade will †take Asik’s salary of $14,898,000 off the books which opens some real cap flexibility for The Rockets. Now the Rockets next step would be to trade Jeremy Lin who makes about the same amount. With both of those salaries gone The Rockets will make a full court press for either Carmelo Anthony or LeBron James this summer.
