Rockets also pursuing Dampier (UPDATE: Rockets make 2-year offer)

I just can't get past how lame he is. I would hate to see him in Rockets' Red. I get all the sensible arguments, but put me down in the NOOOOO crowd.

What a stomach-churning day. Another ridiculous "MILOS" thread and now Erica for real getting an offer. I'm going to hurl.

 

All he does is take the place of Jeffries...

Except he's got some bulk on his 6'11 frame and can legitimately guard opposing Cs.

If we had Dampier last season I reckon we win 50 games.

But go ahead and hurl

 

I'll do that, Doc!
Also,
::))

 

Whoa... someone said this... a doctor, no less.

 

Ummm....I guess. You can always add more bigs, especially in this era of the Lakers with 2 7-footers who start. And I guess with this whole Yao only playing half the game thing, it's probably a good idea to add a power big man since we have a finnesse one in Brad Miller. Good idea, Morey....

 

You think we wouldn't?

Our biggest problem was a soft interior defense. It meant that when we weren't scoring, we weren't stopping either.

Fixing that problem would've made us 8 games better don't you think?

 

Awesome! I hope we can acquire the best center in the west!

 

I must agree. While I dislike dampier for various reasons. His size and insurance to Yao shows the logic behind moreys thoughts. Would welcome him to Houston.

 

I am good with this, he takes up a boatload of space. If he is cheap, do it, I don't care who he played for. But I got a feeling Hill isn't going to be here come training camp and he may have company. Some of you are just being silly. You tell me that if we could get Dirk or (gasp) even Terry you wouldn't want them because they were Mavs? I promise you, their fans would take Martin, Scola, Brooks, or Yao in a heart beat. Maybe, several others as well. Anything, within reason, to get better.

 

So many nos. For 2m/yr, you cannot be wrong.

 

what's the time he has to make a decision on the offer?

 

Just say no.

 

<a href="http://photobucket.com/images/darth%20vader%20screaming" target="_blank"><img src="http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e115/benjaFL/Funny%20Photos/VaderNo.png" border="0" alt="Vader No Pictures, Images and Photos"/></a>

 

What can I say? I'm a fan. I'm not here to be rational.

 

Then why start now?

 

Let me set myself up for some more eyerolls.

Is he a better rebounded than Miller? Yes, but just by a little bit. Career rebound percentages: Dampier 16.6% and Miller 14.7% Miller is actually a tad higher in defensive rebound percentage, but Dampier gets more offensive rebounds by a longshot.

How about defense? Got to be better than Miller, right? Dampier career defensive rating 104 (109 in the playoffs). Miller? ... 105. It's a total push except that Miller will play much harder if we get in the playoffs.

One of my big problems with Dampier is that he's a total turnover machine. Maybe you all are thinking we'll just leave him on the defensive end, kind of like women's basketball of the mid-20th century. But if he ever gets the ball, yikes. Career turnover % = 17.3. And this gets worse when he's in big games. The last two years in Dallas, he was in 15 playoff games and he coughed up the rock 30% of the times he got the ball in those games.

He's just a lot slower than you can really imagine if you haven't watched him much. I don't think he would hurt the locker room morale, which is good, but he wouldn't help it a lot either. He always just seemed to be getting his paycheck in GSW and would ramp up his effort a lot in a contract year.

Just doesn't seem like we have those kinds of guys on our roster right now, so that's why I'm having my gut reaction. Probably a good per $ pick-up on paper if we get him, but meh, hard to cheer for unless someone finds a way to light a fire under him and never but never throw him the ball in the 4th quarter.

 

I'm kind of shocked, to say the least, at some of the reaction. I seem to recall the board blowing up when we thought we could possibly pick up Tyson Chandler, whose biggest impact as a player is on defense. Now, maybe the excitement for Chandler is because some assumed that Chandler was maybe a prelude to going after Chris Paul, but basically, Chandler would have been here for defense and rebounding and blocks and to be 7' tall. Damp would do all those things too, albeit in a less athletic package. That said, what I learned from the Cookie Monster is that you don't have to be young and athletic to be a monster on the boards and to pick up 2 blocks a game.

Damp suffers from what a lot of players do -- he had a contract that was bigger than his talents on the court. (This is a corollary to the phenomenon when a role player gets drafted too high, say, in the lottery -- the reputation as a bust follows them even when their price on the secondary market eventually matches their talent). That makes us remember them as a bad player rather than as overpaid. At 13M a year, would I take Damp, of course not, no one did that is why he was released. At 2M per is he worth it? **** yeah.

For a team that was, frankly, bad a defense last year, I'm all for picking up defensive assets for cheap. And for buying Yao insurance. And for matching up better against the Lakers. And for providing some flexibility in case we make a trade. I realize that he used to play on the Mavs, but frankly, I never held that against Juwan so I'll not hold it against Damp. (Amnesty does not hold for all, mind you -- I'd gag if I ever saw Jason Terry in Mustard and Red doing that pterodactyl twin prop airplane 747 landing heavy futbol celebration. See, I just did. Gross. Now to brush my teeth).

 

That's a really good point about the photographer having more of a beef than Daryl. Remember the Shepard Fairey incedent? He got sued for making the iconic "Hope" poster:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/06/arts/06arts-APSAYSITOWNS_BRF.html?_r=1&ref=arts

That could've been an AP photograph...

 

It's hard to ignore the big "See You Next Year" sign the Rockets are propping up for us.

 

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=ys-dampierfreeagency091710