Ty Lawson‘s drinking habit had concerned teams even when he entered the NBA, according to Grantland’s Zach Lowe, who hears from several sources who say that it helped dissuade the Celtics from trading for him while they were in talks with the Nuggets before the February deadline. The video that depicts him smoking from a hookah and predicting that the Nuggets would trade him to the Kings as he watched Denver select Emmanuel Mudiay in the draft was a turn-off for potential suitors, too, Lowe writes. Lowe and others have more on the trade agreement, as we’ll pass along here:
- The Lakers were the only team other than the Rockets to express interest in Lawson shortly before the deal, according to Lowe, though Chris Mannix of SI.com heard the Pistons also did.
- Nick Johnson, one of the players heading to the Nuggets, didn’t get along with the coaching staff at the Rockets D-League affiliate while on assignment last season, several league sources told Lowe.
- The Nuggets face a scramble to complete the trade before the close of business today so that they can waive Pablo Prigioni, as they reportedly intend to do, before his partial guarantee of $440K becomes a full guarantee of nearly $1.735MM, as former Nets executive Bobby Marks details. Teams can waive physicals and the requirement that the players report, but it would be up to the Rockets to do so with Lawson, Marks notes. Also, players in the final year of their respective contracts must certify a trade before it goes final, so Denver has to get in contact with Prigioni, Kostas Papanikolaou and Joey Dorsey, Marks explains (All four Twitter links).
- Lawson is on board with the trade, agent Happy Walters told Mark Berman of Fox 26 Houston. “He’s excited,” Walters said. “I spoke to him once about it. He’s close with James [Harden], tight with Corey [Brewer], knows Trevor [Ariza] and Dwight [Howard] and is real excited. It’s an opportunity for him. He’s been deep in the playoffs before, but this is something he feels really good about.”
- Houston’s new point guard has his baggage, but the Rockets didn’t relinquish much in the deal, making it a risk that the rigors of the Western Conference demand that they take, opines Tim Bontemps of the New York Post.
- Lawson might not be the third star the Rockets have been seeking to complement Harden and Howard, but Michael Lee of The Washington Post points out that he’s the sort of facilitator that Harden has said he’d welcome.
- What’s your reaction to the deal? Leave a comment to let us know.
Real exciting deal for Houston if Lawson can avoid getting in trouble.
What do the Rockets analytics say about this acquisition? More specifically, what is the over/under on a 3-peat DUI for Lawson?
Houston continues to accrue talent with no regard for fit or character, but they are talented.
So Denver got another 3/4 if they keep him with Papanikolaou, another undersized 5 if they keep him in Dorsey, a guy theyll waive to open some cap space that should help someone if he signs somewhere in Prigioni, and an athletic combo guard, that apparently didn’t get along with coaches in his d-league affiliate, to add to their other combo guards, with a probable late 1st round pick and a 2nd round pick…for Ty Lawson? Houston lost Josh Smith, but this is a huge get for them. It should be interesting though. I’m curious how they plan on figuring out touches in the back court. That being said, theoretically, this is really big for them, especially with the depth they now have at PG with Beverly coming off the bench. I just still think they need to make things easier for them in the half court by playing a little more inside-out.
To really try to figure out what Denver looks like right now, I’m going to have to take some more time to look at their roster. Maybe its a more decent deal than I’m initially thinking. I just dont think I can really say that though
Can’t believe how far Lawson’s stock has dropped. I like the move for Houston considering what they gave up. For Denver, you put the ball in Mudiay’s hands. Jahlil Okafor will give him some run for the title, but Mudiay should be the ROY.
I guess I’m either over valuing Lawson right now, or have always over valued him, b/c I personally think he is a star PG, and when he wants to, he can play on both ends too. On this houston team with Beverly, Corey Brewer, Dwight, Trevor Ariza, and KJ McDaniels as defenders, he should be engaged on that end.
Overall, this is a deal that gets Denver something instead of nothing. Nick Johnson and Kostas do have a little upside since they’re both under 25, but they both look like bench players–if they stick in the NBA at all. The first rounder will be a late pick, but that player will at least be a wild card.
Just an FYI: hookahs are full of tobacco, not marijuana. So smoking that hookah shouldn’t be hurting his reputation much more than if he was on video downing a dozen crispy cremes in 10 minutes. Both of those things fall under the category of putting unhealthy things into your body. But any person who’s life is going to be publicly documented by the media should probably not be recording themselves in such a casual situation where just about anything could fly out of their friends’ mouths. He also shouldn’t be, you know, drinking and driving. Call a cab, Ty.
All that aside: Ty Lawson is a great basketball player. The Rockets’ next-to-impossible comeback in the conference semis broke my freaking heart as a Clippers fan. They’ll be even better next year with a real point guard–a guy who averaged almost 10 assists/game last year, and 8 the year before.
I actually think there’s decent logic there with the Hookah-Donuts comparision, but I would be just as concerned about the fact that Lawson made the video to begin with. Seems very childish to make one when a team drafts someone to compete with you. It isn’t exactly the most mature thing to do.
That being said, I would think that part of that was the fact that he was still salty about denver not only firing George Karl, but replacing him with Bryan Shaw, keeping him for as long as they did, and then hiring another coach where the pace won’t be what it was previously (though Michael Malone is an exponentially better coach than Shaw). He just wanted out at that point, in my opinion
The Raptors win big from this trade.
They get the least favorable of the Knicks/Nuggets 1st round draft picks next year. Nuggets are surely going to be bottom 5 now.