Paulo Alves

And to put a bow on it before I pass it off back to you.

I think two second round picks is not a lot, but the Rockets do not have a lot of second round picks.

So it's like, okay, it's not a lot of assets, but it's an asset the Rockets don't have a surplus of.

And so that's not prohibitive, but it's uncomfortable.

The same way that trading Capella and not bringing back another big is not prohibitive.

You could do it.

You could play more Jabari Smith at the five.

You could try some new stuff.

But he is currently your backup center, like your bench center.

So if you trade him, you're going to have to go search for someone else.

So once again, not prohibitive, but also kind of uncomfortable.

Like who are you going to get afterwards?

You're just kind of shifting, you know, you get a point guard, but then you're going to have to go find the backup center.

And then we've already finished Smith.

Once again, not prohibitive of trading him, but there are a couple of uncomfortable factors with trading him.

But first of all, the fact that he has a three-year deal and he's not paying up to the money here he's making, not terribly toxic contract, but could easily get out of it if he wanted to.

It's a four-year deal, but it has an opt-out after years, too.

But it's uncomfortable because of that.

Are teams going to look at it as a neutral salary?

Are they going to demand an extra shotgun on a pick or two to take him on because of the extra year of salary versus an aspiring guy?