When it was announced that the Houston Rockets and Toronto Raptors had developed an "innovative" series of protections for the first-round pick Toronto sent to Houston as a part of the Kyle Lowry trade, it was met with mockery on Twitter.
However, now that the protections have been made public, it seems like a fairly customary deal that should have Houston receiving a top pick by as early as next season:
Rockets won't get top-3 pick next year, top-2 pick next two years or No. 1 pick the next two. Otherwise lottery pick goes to Houston.
— Jerome Solomon (@JeromeSolomon) July 5, 2012
Unless Toronto is one of the three teams that win the lottery, Houston will have an extra lottery pick in 2012.
Down the road, however, a Raptors team led by Lowry and their last two lottery picks (Jonas Valanciunas and Terrence Ross) should be a perennial playoff team. So if the Rockets don't receive a lottery pick in 2013 from this trade, they may not be getting one at all.
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