There’s not a whole lot of smoke coming out about the Rockets deadline at this point, but that doesn’t mean Daryl Morey and company aren’t working furiously behind the scenes to pull a deal off. They’ll be very aggressive over the next 12-ish hours trying to get something done that their fans can be proud of. Until that comes up, here’s what we’ve got right now:
- The Grizzlies, according to Memphis radio host Chris Vernon, are interested in a Shane Battier for Hasheem Thabeet trade. No word if they’re only interested ironically or not yet. In future tweets, Vernon followed that up by saying that Houston would be getting more back than just Thabeet. As I read that, my OJ Mayo alarm is going off. Perhaps somebody else on the Grizzlies roster is appealing to the Rockets though. Battier would be going back to the only other team in the league that he’s played for in that scenario.
EDIT: According to the Memphis Commercial Appeal, the Rockets are asking for a first round pick in return and Thabeet in return for Battier. It's not known when the first round pick would be given, as the Jazz already have Memphis' first round pick this year if Memphis makes the playoffs.
- The Bulls are still interested in both Courtney Lee and the aforementioned Mayo, but according to K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune, they won’t be dealing Omer Asik or Taj Gibson for either of them. Sitting pretty in the Eastern Conference, apparently the Bulls don’t think that Lee will be enough of a game-changer for them in the postseason to justify the trade.