Great post Cabbage, It's interesting that you so firmly believe the Rocks are already going through rebuilding. I think they just thought they could have it both ways. By letting Drew and Mobley time to grow they have not been playing for the present. Williams we should be looking to trade as the GermanRocket, chimed in. I would love to get even younger. By the way if our current winning percentage continues 20% will we have that lottery pick come draft dsy or is it already gone? Somebody help me out on this.
Hughes and Ratliff(who is injured) are athletic as all hell.Mitch is hurting though.He has been slowed by injuries and is too old.I heard that knee surgery is needed.
Popeye Basketball seems as a game of Tradings to you. How about no more trades for this season and try to improve the team with their current personnel? ------------------ Rockets' biggest problem is not player talent levels, it is the coach's ineptitude.
Mr. Maloney 1.Mitch Richmond signed 9/99 as $20M over 4 years(to 2003). There was an incentive package but $4.5M is counted against this year. 2.Erick Dampier is indeed injured that would make him more available wouldn't it? I hear that they want instant offense. Trading an injured player wouild seem to do that. 3.Name the overpaid center. Hakeem? T.Hamilton at minimum? Cato is a PF/C. Who are you talking about? 4.Trent is pouting. Nelson can't bear to be in the same room as him. Nelson is trade happy now. Need anything else be said. By the way I only posted the available players. I would endorse only a few. Read my post,please. If you don't want Dallas to trade Trent then call Nellie. Scarface "This is only speculation on my part,but a deal involving D.Marshall or C. Mills is not totally out of the question." As noted Mack was mentioned as speculation for EITHER of the guys not both. It is not a foregone conclusion, it was speculation. I would prefer Mills myself. And I would not give up Mobes to get him either. we would never get, nor do we need both these guys. German Rocket Like your thinking. I will go out on a limb and say that Harper would give so much stability, that we would improve by leaps and bounds instantly if he were signed. Harper and CD have been talking, too! Cabbage Your new found faith in the "rebuilding Rockets" is refreshing and you are also scaring me,man. Just kidding. LOL Mitch has some up. And to repeat, Mitch only makes $4.5M this year and up to $5 Million/yr until 2003. For Walt's $5M and either Drew or Mobes? Caveman "Basketball seems as a game of Tradings to you. 1. As you may or may not know, pro sports is not static,it constantly changes. Trades are, and will continue to be a part of it. Live with it. Get on with your life if you don't want trades in your sport. PS: read the page heading "Rockets 2000: Game Action & Roster Moves" You may be on the wrong BBS,man. 2. By the way, what do you know what Basketball is or is not to me? 3. Read number three below. "How about no more trades for this season and try to improve the team with their current personnel?" 1.I have no say one way or another who gets traded or who plays. Do you? What is your point? 2.If I did have a say,I would agree that less may be more as far as trades go right now. But, moving your team along with a timley trade is what good GM's do. CD is a good GM. 3.Piss off. How about that? For the Record I would love to have McGrady, Finley, Van Horn, Hughes, Harper, Richmond, Dampier, Mack and Mills . In that order. None of that is going to happen. Harper is the only one we are even close to acquiring. And I would love to be able to keep Cuttino and Carlos. Walt has soured a bit in my books and he may have to go with K.Thomas in any trade anyway. [This message has been edited by popeye (edited November 19, 1999).]
You know who else might be available that I think would be perfect for the Rocks. Cliff Robinson of the Suns. He can play 3 positions. He can run and play well in the half court offense. He is a good three point shooter. He is tall. He has plenty of playoff experience. He can block shots. Since Marion is starting, maybe the Suns will be looking to move him.
What about Hughes? Still haven't answered that. How much would it take to get him? Cat + Kenny? BTW, I heard of a Marshall/Gill rumor. Is there any possibility of Gill coming here?
Boyhood Cliff has a four year contract(to 2003) worth around $6.5M. He has some inside bang and a good outside threat. He has more D than Walt. But it would take at least Mobes and Walt with a pick to get him IMHO. I would hate to lose Mobley. I know I am probably a minority (along with CabbageHead), but unloading Mobes would be disasterous without another 1/2 Guard. Drew has improved in my opinion, but he scares me sometimes. I would hate to have him the only back-up to Francis. RF34 Hughes would be on my wish list. And he is going to be available. The Sixers team had a players only meeting recently and he wasn't invited. What does that tell you. I personally don't think we have what Brown wants. Again, to repeat, if we have to unload a guard, please God let it be Drew and not Mobes. If it is Cuttino, I hope we have Harper or some other veteran(Charlie Ward is available,but he's far over priced). A Hughes/Francis backcourt or a platooning system with them taking turns playing the off guard ... that would be deadly. Death from Above. AirCav time,brother man.
I also would rather give up Drew then Mobes, but you gotta give talent to get back talent. Although it would involve more people or picks, I'm was thinking along the lines of swapping mobes for hughes. We don't get the veteren guard, but we get one hell of a backcourt in Francis Hughes. Are there any other veteren guards other than Harper who are on the block. Any realistic ones?
Carlos Rogers is not someone I want to trade, he looks pretty good so far. Mobley has good attitude, so don't cast these guys away as scrubs. ------------------ "Not NOW, Cato!!!" -Kevin Calabro, Sonics Commentator
Is Popeye Jones avalible? ------------------ Rockets' biggest problem is not player talent levels, it is the coach's ineptitude.
Why would we get Popeye Jones.. He plays PF. And he sucks. The ONE PLAYER... I would want to get.. TRACY McGRADY!
I can't see us picking up Hughes, though I like his potential. Rudy promised the starting 2 spot to Shandon, and I can't see Larry coming in as the backup (too much of an ego). No Mitch for the same reason.
Well I could see Mitch playing the 3. That would look after the Shandon/Mitch problem with Shandon exclusive at the 2. Hughes and Francis playing switch-about at the 1/2 would give every team we play this year absolute fits. Who would they cover and with who? Shandon would go to the 3 on most matchups(not all, as he would have trouble with some of the beefier guys). Like I said: "Death from Above". Air Cav all the way. Veterans on the bubble: Childs, Ward(yep,both of them), Hughes, Christie(if Hughes goes to Toronto,and that's a great possibility), Harper, Nash, C.Mills, Starks (he's in trouble with the coast coach, again), JR Rider ..... There is enough out there to make the next couple of weeks very interesting. Tracy McGrady: Number one on my list if he was available. But again we don't have the horses to trade and it is not known whether he is even available. Cabbage would have a coronary if he Tracy put on a Rockets Uni. I may not be far from it myself. [This message has been edited by popeye (edited November 19, 1999).]
Bluto basher...No Im almost certain it was a 4 year 40 million dollar deal that was back laiden making him around 9 million this and next year. Living in the Washington area, all I heard about is how much the Wizards really didn't want to give him this much, but due to a lack of free agents, an unwillingness for teams to take on that amount in a sign and trade, and the thought of loosing him a C Webb for nothing forced their hand.
Mitch Richmond with Francis at the 2 and Anderson at the 3 sounds good to me. Rogers can switch with Anderson if there is a big 3 on the other team. I would be surprised if we could get Hughes or McGrady especially as cheaply as we can get Richmond. We would still have Mobley too. [This message has been edited by Air Francis (edited November 19, 1999).]
I would love to get Cedric Ceballos, he just kills us. Somebody mentioned Cliff Robinson, but I really like Ced better. Anybody should be expendable at this point. All the 2'S, 3's, Drew and K Thomas, Bullard could be a good filler for somebody out there. He always is. Also Popeye how much is Hughes contract and who would a Hughes scenario involve. I think Mobley and Kenny Thomas for him would be an absolute steal. A guard who shoots well 1 in 6 games, and a 12th man, who only sees the floor from the bench. Again, why don't we offer Kenny Thomas to L.A. for Devean George?
Popeye: I would be willing to bet away everything I own that Richmond makes somewhere in the vicinity of $10 million. I remember reading this summer so much about how he wasn't worth the money etc. If I'm not mistaken, I believe it was a 5 year, $50 million deal. Besides, we don't need Richmond. God, I would have a heart attack if we did something so stupid. Trade young talent for old, overpaid players. This is rebuilding. If you are going to trade away young players like Mobley, then you must get a young player for the future. The cut-off age should be 26. No, that is pushing it. I would like to get in the 20-23 age range. Get another young stud to grow along with Francis. AND no middle-age players either. (middle age meaning 28-33). I pretty much planned our future out . The way I see it, we have our point guard set in cement. Now, you have one big man in Cato set in stone. He can play either center of power forward, depends on who the other guy is. You put Shandon Anderson at the small forward. Then, we trade Mobley for a young player, oozing with talent. Tracy McGrady would be a huge pickup, allowing us to move Shandon back to the shooting guard. Larry Hughes would be even better. Damn, Hughes and Francis. Ouch. I want to run an inverted offense. We have Cato at center, who is primarily in there for defense. Then, I want to trade for/sign/draft a defensive minded power forward, young, someone like a Theo Ratliff. That gives you 2 defensive specialist big men to go with a quick athletic scoring perimeter. All in their early 20's. Then, off the bench, you have one to four more young guys, and round the rest of the bench out with extremely old veterans who know the ropes, and know how to control younger players. Sign them with your $1 million exceptions, so you won't have to trade valuable players for them. The first couple of years will be rocky, but the veteran's advice will start to kick in, and sooner or later, you will have the young players coming into their own, and will have a contender on your hands. That's my plan anyways. That's why I feel it is so important to trade Mobley this season. He is a very good player, but IMO, he won't be getting that much better. Package him with Carlos Rogers (who I like, but has value) for a young stud. One more thing, Walt Williams must go. No ifs, ands or buts, he is the only player on the Rockets which I absolutely cannot stand. Bryce Drew atleast tries hard. Enough on that, thanks for keeping us updated Popeye. BTW, I would rather have Hughes than 'Grady, just for the record.
