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Bull & Mooch Gone TOO??? From the Chron...

Discussion in 'Houston Rockets: Game Action & Roster Moves' started by Jeff, Aug 11, 2001.

  1. Jeff

    Jeff Clutch Crew

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    Fegan at it again. :mad:

    <i>Rockets make deal to acquire Glen Rice

    Shooter gives Rockets deep threat in deal involving Knicks, Mavs
    By JONATHAN FEIGEN
    Copyright 2001 Houston Chronicle


    A consistent rule about the Rockets: When in doubt, Rudy Tomjanovich loves shooters. There are other qualities he admires. There were many qualities he admired in Shandon Anderson. But when in doubt, he will line up behind a gunner.

    Tomjanovich has long marveled at the deadeye shooting of Glen Rice. On Friday, Tomjanovich added the pure shooter's stroke to the Rockets' offense, sending Anderson to the Knicks in a three-team sign-and-trade deal to acquire Rice, who has averaged 19.5 points in his career, making 46 percent of his shots and 40 percent of his 3-pointers.

    But for all the reasons the Rockets could cite for making the deal, including a contract that Anderson got from the Knicks that easily exceeded the Rockets' offer, one was most inescapable.

    "In getting Glen Rice, here's a guy I coveted and this organization has coveted for a long time because he is one of the premier shooters in this league," Tomjanovich said of his fellow former Michigan forward with a sweet shooting stroke.

    "We have always believed in penetration, getting the ball close to the basket, be it a post-up play, a drive or a cut. When you play that way, you have to have good shooters to keep people honest because the defense has to shift on us. We've got guys that move the defense around. And to have an efficient offense, you have to have guys who can bury the shot.

    "He's a guy who I think just fits with the young, penetrating guys we have. I have a real good feeling about him."

    To get Rice, a three-time All-Star, the Rockets signed Anderson to a six-year, $42 million deal and sent him with Mavericks guard Howard Eisley to the Knicks. The Mavericks will receive guard Muggsy Bogues from the Knicks.

    The Rockets also acquired rookie Kyle Hill, the second-leading scorer in the nation last season for Eastern Illinois. Hill was the Mavericks' second-round pick this season, a draft pick acquired during the 2000 draft in the Dan Langhi deal.

    In dealing Anderson, who was moved to forward when Cuttino Mobley became the starting shooting guard, the Rockets removed what had become an increasingly awkward fit to add a forward that should move in smoothly to their system.

    "They were just going in a different direction," Anderson said. "Everyone could see it. Everyone could see I didn't fit. At first I thought I did. This year, it was real obvious. Standing around is not my game. I like to move around a lot. That's what I wasn't doing.

    "I guess I got caught in the shuffle of a lot of things. It was a tough situation for Rudy to be in with so many new guys and trying to get everybody involved. I guess the guy more soft-spoken gets left out in the cold. It's disappointing that it didn't work out. But sometimes things don't. You make a change. You cut your losses and move on. There's no hard feelings toward anyone."

    To make enough room for Rice, the Rockets renounced their rights to Matt Bullard, Devin Gray and Sean Colson.

    <b>Bullard, according to sources familiar with the negotiations, has been offered a $1.32 million one-year deal by the Charlotte Hornets. Although the Rockets could sign Bullard to a minimum contract, worth $1 million for a 10-year veteran, they have not been able to guarantee Bullard that there will be a roster spot left for him, and Bullard is expected to sign with Charlotte as soon as Monday.

    The Rockets' next move will likely be to try to sign Norris. But like many moves this summer, that does not look as if it will be easy, even given Norris' and the team's mutual interest in seeing him return.

    "Moochie is one of the top point guard free agents in the league," Norris' agent, Dan Fegan, said. "We've got some lifting to do. There have been a number of changes we'll address.

    "We get all this stuff done. I believe everything will work out for Houston and everything will work out for Moochie." </b>

    With Bullard's departure and Hakeem Olajuwon's move last week to Toronto, the last player links to the Rockets championship seasons are gone. Rice becomes the only Rockets player with a championship ring, won with the 1999-2000 Lakers, and only he, Walt Williams and Kelvin Cato have ever played on playoff teams.

    But though the Rockets had hoped to continue to build around last season's nucleus and draft pick Eddie Griffin, the loss of Olajuwon forced them to retool the plan and the roster.

    "As of last week ... we didn't get to keep the whole team together," Rockets general manager Carroll Dawson said. "What happened in losing Dream is we lost some points. This is a good way to make up for it. It started making more sense to us, although Shandon's been a great player for us."

    A 6-8, 220 forward, Rice will occupy $27.6 million of cap space over the next three seasons, although because of the signing bonus he received from the Knicks, the Rockets pay him $20.8 million. The move Friday will take up the rest of the Rockets' salary cap space, other than room saved to keep the rights to Griffin and Norris.

    In his 12 seasons, Rice has missed just 52 games. His best season, 1996-97, was with the Hornets when he averaged 26.8 points and was the All-Star Game MVP, with Tomjanovich the opposing coach.

    Anderson averaged 8.7 points, 4.1 rebounds and 2.3 assists last season. He averaged 12.3 points and 4.7 rebounds in his first season with the Rockets, increasing his scoring every month. He has started every Rockets game the past two seasons and has not missed a game since 1996-97, his rookie season, a streak of 335 consecutive games played, the fifth longest active streak in the league.

    Anderson made 44.6 percent of his shots, but just 27.1 percent of his 3-pointers last season.

    Rice, 34, struggled to carve out a consistent niche in New York with Latrell Sprewell and Allan Houston and while playing with plantar fasciitis. Though surgery was not required to repair his condition, he spent six weeks after the season in a cast. In 3 1/2 weeks since, he has reported no difficulties, though the trade is still contingent on his passing a physical. Other than in the lockout season, when Rice played 27 of 50 games, Rice has played an average of 79.4 games per season.

    "We're talking about two of the most durable players you could see," Dawson said. "Shandon Anderson never missed a practice, never missed a game. He was just a delight. On the other hand, the guy that we're getting is very durable. He's played over 900 games. Although he had plantar fasciitis last year, he still played 75 games. He's a real tough guy in the same mold as Shandon. He always shows up."

    Dawson said that the greater misconception, however, is that Rice is merely a shooter.

    "As much film as we looked at on Glen Rice, I'll say he's a great scorer and a much better rebounder and a much better defender than people give him credit for," Dawson said.

    But the shooting stroke has separated Rice from other players. The Rockets could often be a mediocre shooting team considering the sorts of open shots they had last season.

    That, they believe, changed on Friday.

    "The way we try to do it every year is I look at the players we have a try to devise an offensive plan that fits their skills," Tomjanovich said. "I talked to him about that. He understood. He talked about some of the things we do for our players, certain plays that fit their skills. He's excited about that.

    "In the flow of the game with our penetrators -- every new guy that we get says, `We get so many open shots with this team because of the penetration.' And here's a premier shooter. To me it just makes sense." </i>
     
  2. RocksMillenium

    RocksMillenium Contributing Member

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    Rice is a 4 rpg player for his career. Fegan though is a pain in the @ss though! He has to make everything tough. He could lock up Mooch to a considerable raise, but he has to milk every freaking thing, and it isn't good business it's just being to greedy. When your player wants to play somewhere, and you hamper his chances of staying there, that's just a greedy b*stard in my book. And people thought that Falk was the devil! How ironic that we didn't trust Falk, yet he has been light years better to negotiate with then Fegan!? Mo tells Falk he wants to stay in Houston and Falk keeps him there with a nice contract. Mooch tells the Rockets and Fegan he wants to stay in Houston and Fegan's response is ""We've got some lifting to do. There have been a number of changes we'll address."!? I feel sorry for Mooch, he's probably going to get stuck bouncing from team to team looking for minutes and a chance, all because of Fegan.
     
  3. Glyde22

    Glyde22 Contributing Member

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    I think "Mooch" will be back. Fegan doesn't have the leverage he once had now that Dallas has made room for Hardaway. Of course I could be wrong because six weeks ago I would never have believed that "Dream" would be traded and Shandon would get $42 mill!!!!
     
  4. mfclark

    mfclark Member

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    Who seriously needs a PG enough to overpay Moochie? He's this year's Chucky Atkins - either the Rockets will keep him with a fair, multi-year offer...or he'll bolt to another team for a slight bit more money and live to regret it later.

    Let's hope it's not the latter.
     
  5. Swopa

    Swopa Contributing Member

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    Everyone could see I didn't fit. . . . Standing around is not my game. I like to move around a lot.

    Clip and save these words.

    Glen Rice will be saying them before the next 12 months are over. :D

    After all, he said more or less the same thing about playing with the Lakers.
     
  6. RocksMillenium

    RocksMillenium Contributing Member

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    That's because LA DID make him stand around. Phil Jackson never ran any plays for him. Rice will get more touches and more motion plays in Houston, considering this team will be more perimeter oriented. LA was more post oriented, or ran things through Kobe, and I don't know what NY was thinking. Rice will fit in nicely.
     
  7. XXX

    XXX Member

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    I hope we get moochie back
     
  8. saleem

    saleem Contributing Member

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    I'm disgusted with Fegan,even though i didn't want Shandon signed to a big contract.Moochie's value to the team has been underestimated in my opinion by some people.He keeps the team in the flow with his passing and ability to make outside shots.
    I fear that he won't be back because of money problems. I wonder if there is any way that we could get Shammond Williams in exchange for him in a trade,even though I would prefer to keep him on the team.
     
  9. Valio!

    Valio! Member

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    Im still not sure how I feel about this swap. But I guess it makes sense not to pursue Bullard since Rice is kind of Bullard-like as far as 3-pt shooting goes. I like Matt and wish he could stay. But I guess rice offers similar skills with a slight upgrade in defense (though rice wont exactly win any defensive awards anytime soon either). Plus we have Langhi to develop some Bullard-esque shooting qualities.

    Even more than Bullard, I would like to keep moochie. He offers a totally different look (both in his play and hair cut) when coming off the bench for steve. I think that;s a good tool to have. Who would we get to replace him? Colsen? ummmm...that would be a serious downgrade in that department as far as I know.
     
    #9 Valio!, Aug 11, 2001
    Last edited: Aug 11, 2001
  10. Vengeance

    Vengeance Contributing Member

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    <marquee direction=left behavior=scroll scrollamount=1 scrolldelay=50><H2>I HATE DAN FEGAN</H2></MARQUEE>
     

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