I'd say a bigger reason why it doesn't work is Oden's injury history. I'd like to see the Rockets become a bit less brittle, myself.
Since we still have the $5.7M trade exception, I hope Morey uses $850K each on Taylor and Budinger and then lands either O'Bryant/Petro for $1.5M and either Mihm/Nesterovic for $2.5M. That way we have one veteran center and an athletic youngster to develop.
Agreed but the durability issue would be the primary reason he would be available in the first place under this scenario. All I'm saying is sacrificing Battier plus a pick is worth the risk to me now that we seemingly have a Battier-like replacement (Ariza) and the means to acquire another pick (McGrady) to offset the loss of our 2010 pick.
We lost our 2010 first rounder? Dont you mean 2009? You cant trade two draft picks in a row, you gotta wait post draft to get rid of the second consecutive one
Both are young, tall, athletic, mobile and have untapped potential. O'Bryant needs discipline and motivation, and Petro needs to develop some offensive moves but is the better defender. Have you watched either play? Besides, with Morey playing the waiting game supposedly to get a better value, I doubt that even these two will even be available.
Ok since we are trading for our center why not shoot for a young athletic guy we can grow with and if YAO does come back he can slide to 4 in case we lose Scola with the deceasing Cap next year. Houston's own Emeka Okafor! Shane and Brent Barry to the Bobcats Okafor to Houston He has 5 years left on his deal but darn he would a dynamic interior defender with an improving post up game. Pair him up with a stud offensive force inside and BAM we back in contention in 2010!
It's too risky to burn our full MLE on him considering his contaminated history of drug addiction, but a cheaper prize won't be enough to acquire him. Comparably Gortat would be a better choice to cast our MLE to, even though he is relatively inexperienced.
Two reasons... 1) Cap flexibilty, Okafor has 5 years left and there not doing so well while Battier is done in 2 years while Barry in 1 yr. 2) They want to make the playoffs and needs someone to lead them. Who would you want Radmanovic or Battier?
Shane Battier + Brian Cook for Marcus Camby + Ricky Davis (both expiring deals) + draft consideration(s) Hell, I dunno.
