Taj Gibson (Photo : Getty Images)
The NBA trade rumors have teams taking chances on giving players a new environment.
That's the gamble on Ty Lawson. Only a year removed from being one of the upper-tier point guards in the tight Western Conference, he has already fallen out of favor with the Houston Rockets.
In the meantime, Taj Gibson is still considered as an "attractive trade target" by Bleacher Report, stating that "Gibson is the easiest to move of Chicago's three traditional bigs."
Considering that Gibson is always a hard worker and his cap friendly price at over 8 million/year, he is a better option for the Rockets than Markieff Morris because of the latter's offcourt issues. Houston is reportedly pursuing a trade for Morris.
In a Real GM thread discussing how to improve the Houston Rockets, user 'loser x' mentioned that Gibson is "the kind of guy (Houston should get). Lack of talent isn't the problem in Houston, lack of fire is. Grab a real leader somewhere and try to stop the lackadaisical play."
For the Rockets to acquire Gibson, they should offer the Bulls Terrence Jones, one of their own trade assets. Also, they could convince the Bulls to try out Ty Lawson. It would not be a hard sell since Lawson is only guaranteed for this season and the Bulls have problems in their backcourt with Derrick Rose still not up to form.
A trade that will send Gibson, Kirk Hinrich and Tony Snell to match salaries to the Houston Rockets and getting Ty Lawson and Terrence Jones works on the ESPN trade machine.
The Rockets could actually use Hinrich's perimeter defense and Snell could be an extra scorer behind Trevor Ariza. In general, the Rockets need more grit than talent and Gibson and Hinrich are two players who can serve that.
For the Bulls, Jones is more attuned with Fred Hoiberg's offense because of his three point shooting capability-something Taj Gibson does not have. Also, if the change in environment with Lawson works out and he returns to form, the Bulls actually have insurance if Derrick Rose gets injured or leaves via free agency at the end of the 2017 season.
