I have this feeling that RudyT is going to make a move to bring in a new PF

Sted,

You misunderstood my comparison to Horry. Let me clarify

Eddie and Horry have the same type of game. 6'10 PF, lottery picks, shoot the three, weak rebounder, good shot blockers, and niether can create their own shot.

The difference: Horry nails 3's, Eddie clanks 3's.

And yes...Mo Taylor can ball. And no...he didnt ball himself onto the bench. Who knows why hes on the bench. Obviously you have not given MoT a good look in previous seasons. Solid. Open you Eyes.

 

EG will improve. MT will start playing well. It is still way too early to pass judgment.

KT will become expendable even more if TMo can start where he left off in the preseason.

I can see a 2-1 trade involving KT and say Collier for a player, even a decent shooting guard. If something like that happens I would think it's going to be close to the deadline though. Mainly because Rudy is going to want to see how this all pans out and wait to see if there are injury problems.

 

when is the trading deadline?

 

Ming, Francis for Shaq, Kobe....if we did that we'd win a championship....no matter who our PF is.

 

Does any one on this site even know anything about NBA basketball? I dunno...a suggestion to trade Kenny Thomas and Glen Rice for George from the Lakers is probably one of the most idiotic statements i have ever seen. If you are going to make a trade, make it worthwhile, bring in Wallace or a guy like him, not a devon George......

 

I wasn't able to watch the Rockets-Kings game where the Rockets where blown away by about 13 points.

I was able to watch the Kings-Nuggets match though, the second-half.

I'm just wondering why a team like Denver just lost by two points to Sacramento when a team like the talented Rockets get creamed.

I was impressed by Nene Hilario and Chris Whitney in that game. Since we already have a lot of guards, maybe there shouldn't be too much interest in Chris Whitney, someone who can really shoot.

Hilario is someone the Rockets, I think, should be interested in.

He's bigger than Maurice Taylor or Kenny Thomas and can run and rebound. I think he's the type of muscle player that would well complement Yao Ming.

I would love to see the Rockets trade for a banger in Nene Hilario.

 

Denver traded away Atonio McDyess for Nene. Denver views this guy as one of their building blocks for the future so very unlikely that trade would happen.

 

BINGO!!!!!!!! And on a 2nd post too....well done!

 

how about this trade

Rockets Give:
Kt
Boki
Morris
Norris
Griffin
1st Round Pick

Blazers Give:
Wallace
Anderson
Daniels
2nd Round Pick

TRADE ACCEPTED

 

Well, if Rudy is going to do something, there is very little I see that can happen with the constraints of the CBA. It would have to be a 3 way deal. From past desires, this might be pretty close:

Houston Trades: Cuttino Mobley and Mo Taylor to Miami
Houston Trades: Kenny Thomas, Jason Collier (salary throw in) to the Clips.

Clips Trade: Elton Brand to Houston

Miami Trades: Eddie Jones to Houston
Miami Trades: Malik Allen to the Clips

 

Well, we can swap EG with Zach Randolph + some filler.

 

So, Clips trade Elton Brand for Kenny Thomas, Jason Collier?

Right.

 

We might be able to trade taylor for Vin baker. Just joking

 

Resurrecting old thread.

I am concerned that 1) we will lose KT via FA next year (get nothing in return), and/or 2) the 3 headed PF monster leads none of them to be as effective as they could be.

I just don’t see how we can keep EG, Mo and KT in our long term plans, because pretty much all the minutes we have for them at the 4. It might be different if we didn’t have a quality back-up center for a multiple year deal (Cato) because then Mo or EG could get situation minutes there. But the fact is as long as Cato is a Rocket there won’t be C minutes for our 4s. We could play KT or EG at the 3 some—except do they really buy you anything over Rice, Tmo, Hawkins and hopefully with a year or two Boki (about the time Rice is done). I think the answer to this is as a three KT or EG won’t buy you much over those guys. In sum I just don’t see how it can work with the current roster. HP, others—do you really think our roster can more or less be in tact? Do you think it is a good idea having Mo simply as an insurance policy that gets no minutes in game situations?

If you answer NO to both of these moving to the next point--

In terms of tradable players (I would not consider trading Francis, Yao or Mobley) with value that leaves us with:

EG (good value)
Boki (pretty good value)
KT (some value)
Cato (some value)
Mo (very little bit of value until he shows more)

For the right deal I would trade virtually any combination of these players, as well as Tmo (very little trade value), Moochi (very little trade value), Hawkins (very little trade value), Rice (no value) and Collier (no value). However just because Hawkins and Tmo (and Moochi too) don’t have trade value but that doesn’t mean they don’t have value to the Rockets, thus are unlikely to be part of trades. Collier can only be used as filler, Moochi likely would only be used for the same reason—though I team really shallow at the point might view his value as more than nothing to very little (Miami, Indy).

SO WHAT DO WE WANT?

I think what we should target is a defensive oriented, yet well-rounded, full sized PF. If they have physical style or enforcer to protect Yao and our guards a big plus. Obviously a guy like Brand or Ben Wallace (even w/o the O) or K-Mart is a dream pick-up, it just is extraordinarily unlikely to be within reach (as with KG, J. Oneal, Amare, Nene also). To be realistic you also should target guys on under performing teams, guys in the dog house, or guys coming off injury. Here is some of my short list…

Grant. I don’t think this is as unrealistic as many others. The guy is 30—no spring chicken but has a few years left. Miami is rebuilding. I think this deal starts with Cato—as Miami needs a center. Grant is OK as a back-up center (a role he would do for us also)—but he isn’t really cut out for as a FT center. Add KT and Moochi to Cato then it might get real interesting for both teams. I would not offer more though. For instance, if Miami demands EG for KT, then I only consider it if Mia includes next year’s unprotected #1 pick. If they demand Boki instead of EG/KT I also want a #1 pick—even if the protections are slightly more. I actually see a lot of appeal for both teams.

Theo Ratliff. This guy has only played like 70 games in 3 years, and from what I have seen he is never going to be as good as he was, but at 29 also has some good years provided he doesn’t get re-injured. He is still a great shotblocker and good rebounder even if his O has really slipped. As with Grant, the offers would be similar, like Grant he is an undersized 5 (except due to girth, not ht) though fine to double duty as a back-up C (thus he makes us OK to lose a forward and a center). To be honest I really don’t know what Atl thinks about him now—if they see him as a big part of their overall future plans where they think he will be close to what he once was, or if they no see him as cap killing re-injury waiting to happen. If it is the former his price would be way too steep (EG), if it the latter (or even a little bit of the latter) it might be worth pursuing.

Others Kurt Thomas, Murphy, Swift? Honestly Swift interests me more than the others. Kurt has character issues plus I wonder if he looks better than he is because his other front line mates really, really suck. Also, my perception is neither Thomas nor Murphy has an enforcer mentality (watch his teammates back and will inflict pain if necc to protect them), nor Swift’s (& Ratliff's)athleticism where that alone might be enough to gobble boards and be a defensive force. Swift is clearly caught in a numbers game in Vancouver, and maybe he doesn’t offer anything superior to what we have in EG and KT--but I would explore (see what Rudy & Carroll think of Swift) and worth considering with EG (if Vanc gives us more) or Boki as the meat. Boki would seem more logical because they would be trying to reduce their PFs. I would still consider Kurt (plus Knight as filler) and I might offer KT/Cato for him—but neither am I sold on this either--this is a guy I would be concerned about chemistry with.

Guys not going to happen, the Davises and PJ all would be great FA signings for what we need, but they are way too old for what they would cost (EG/Boki) to get them via trade. Forget about them.

I couldn’t find too many others that really are much better or more intriguing that what we have. Guys are undersized, too 1 dimensional, not defensive focused, or more of a PF/SF tweener include Fortson, Outlaw, A. Williams, J. Williams--just don’t offer much if anything over what we have in the long term for one reason or another.

To end, we should not trade just to trade. However Rudy has traded OT and Horry (when Elliott failed his physical) to tinker with an otherwise pretty good well-oiled team, don't think he won't if the right addition is there. That said, barring a miraculous Brand fire sale, unless something really interesting with Grant, Ratliff, or maybe Swift/Thomas presents itself—it is really unlikely some trade will come up that will add a PF to our team that would make a meaningful short term difference and fit in our LT plans (a must for any deal). Though it makes me a little uncomfortable (fear of losing KT for nothing, having no 1 PF emerge as a consistent all-around presence), I guess by far the odds are we stay put with EG, KT, & Mo as our PFs for the time being.

 

Desert Scar,

Nice Read and I agree with your post. Brand, given knowledge today, is not going to happen for the Rox. The only way H-Town might end up with him is if he says he intends to sign here over the offseason. He will not say that because we are strapped by the cap and other teams have plenty of $$'s to spend. That would be contract suicide. IMHO, without that proclamation, he won't be in H-Town. My opinion is if he is traded someone will offer more, like Kwame Brown (comes to mind...haven't given it too much thought).

I really like EG and look forward to his growing both physically and mentally. He will do fine, given time.

I don't think you make a move to land something for KT, if part of the filler to move him is a young player who is being relied on to be part of our core. The old saying, cutting off your nose to spite your face comes to mind. We'll have to risk losing KT for nothing or accept that we will receive MUCH LESS than others on this board are thinking. KT does not have a contract and was not even considered in the pre-season top 20 projected free agents. If your not a ROX fan, you don't know KT. We should have traded him on the flight home from New Orleans to New Orleans *kidding*.

The ROX look great through my rose colored glasses.

 

This is a good trade:

Houston trades:

Cato
Rice
Griffin

Toronto trades:

Antonio Davis
Morris Peterson
Hakeem Olajuwan

Why would Houston do this trade?

Because AD gives a solid veteran presence to the team. A playoff performer, good atitude, intangible qualities. Can help out in center if there is a need, in the meantime he plays PF. Morris Peterson solidifies the 3 spot, and Hakeem Olajuwan is free money....80% is covered by insurance, so that's approx. $9 million. That's alot of money that the Rockets organization would love to have. Griffin will take at least a few years to develop, Mo Pete and AD will help now.

Why would Toronto do this trade?

Griffin. 'nuff said. Raptors need talent. Cato also provides Toronto with the ability to dump most of their scrub centers. Trading Peterson isn't too bad, because we're stacked at the 3. Rice's contract expires.

 

Thats a horrible trade!

 

Why? Because of Griffin? Griffin is an unproven talent that will take at least a couple years to develop. If he does develop into the player of your dreams, Houston won't be able to afford him. Can the Rockets afford 3 max contracts?

Houston needs a physical PF. Antonio Davis is that PF. He played PF behind Dale Davis in Indiana, and become an all-star in Toronto. His FG% isn't that great in Toronto, but that's because he takes a big burden for offense in Toronto. In Houston, he doesn't need to shoot often. He can play center as well, he's 6'9", but he can easily play the center position.

MoPete gives Houston a 3-guard that is a good shooter and plays excellent D. He is great at taking the charge and can nail 3s in bunches.

Hakeem Olajuwan is unofficially retired, his contract is still tradeable. The contract counts against the cap, but 80% of the contract is covered under insurance. That means the Rockets save $9 million over 2 years. From a business standpoint, it's very enticing, especially at a time when the attendance is only just starting to pick up.

Houston gets rid of 2 bloated contracts that won't be part of their future, and one unproven prospect...and adds 2 solid players and $$.