Andre Iguodala to Houston Rockets? What To Make of a Potential Trade

Last Thursday in her blog, Deep Sixer, Kate Fagan suggested that the Rockets and 76ers have been in preliminary talks about trading McGrady. While to the casual fan getting any type of solid player in return for the clearly not so solid McGrady (at least so far) would seem like a win.

However, the issue is not so black and white. While Iguodala gives borderline all-star production, he is slightly overpaid and his contract runs for another four years after this year, limiting the Rockets financial flexibility moving forward, as it would leave them with no cap space next year instead of the $7-9 million they would have this offseason (depending on team options etc).

Morey's willingness to take on Iguodala's big contract likely would depend what the 76ers were to include in their offer. If they threw in some good young talent such as Marreese Speights or Lou Williams the offer would certainly seem more favorable than if the 76ers required the Rockets to take on either overpaid player such as Elton Brand or Samuel Dalembert. 

While Iguodala certainly would be expensive, there is no doubt he would help the Rockets. He is a good but not great scorer who provides stellar defense on either 2's and 3's without fouling, is a fantastic finisher at the basket, and would take a lot off the scoring loads of Carl Landry and Aaron Brooks. He also would give the Rockets a true closer who can get the tough points at the end of games. 

For the 76ers the motivation would be purely financial. They are not selling many tickets and while trading Iguodala would not help that they are already up against the projected $65 million luxury tax threshold for next year and cannot afford to pay the tax for a bad team.

If they can persuade Morey to take Dalembert (there's no way Morey even thinks about taking on Brand), they even could get a good bit under the cap and make a significant addition in the offseason.

While Morey has been very cautious when it comes to signing/trading for big contracts, he has never been in the situation he is in now, sitting on a massive expiring contract. And while he may be a little overpaid, Iguodala is almost certainly better than anyone Morey could sign with the seven or so million he would have to spend and the Rockets could then have the chance to resign their free agents (Scola, Lowry).

And right now with the Rockets clicking, Houston should make a move to fill the void that is their weakness, the closer, and Iguodala really fills that spot.

Therefore if the 76ers are really willing to part with Iguodala and don't give the Rockets a terribly toxic asset (see Brand, Elton) the Rockets should pounce. If they don't they will either have to deal with taking another team's trash or just buying McGrady out, and I still have nightmares of seeing an ESPN headline reading "Eddy Curry and Jared Jeffries Traded to the Rockets."