How about trading Mo-T and Cato for Dale Davis and Sabonis's expiring contract. By waiving him Rockets save 7 million this year which saves them from the clutches of Luxury Tax and also gives them room to sign two more Vet. Davis can play both 4 and 5 so we will be fine. He will be a perfect Vet to complement Yao and EG. In two years from now when Yao and EG will be ready for the big contracts, he will be off the books. Portland gets legitimate center and a decent offensive PF.
I was thinking the same thing when I read about Sabonis' retirement. If the Rockets are hamstrung by the luxury tax, then they should put their bid in for the man's contract. If Portland gave up Davis, though, Cato would likely be their starter at center, which I doubt they'd relish. But, some offer should be made.
The possibility or impossibility of this trade is a moot point IMO. It seems that every trade suggestion I see has Cato thrown in. Now, don't get me wrong, I don't have any illusions about how good a player Cato is but, he IS an above average back up in todays NBA. I can remember all those years the rockets tried to find someone to play behind Dream. (eric reilly,zan tabak?) For years I would read article after article about Akeem/Hakeem playing too many minutes during the regular season. Now we have a young and potentially dominant big man in Yao who has had questions raised about stamina. I know Cato makes way too much money for the minutes he has played but I wouldn't be too quick to dismiss a probable need and obvious advantage.
I agree that Cato is a decent backup center. But he is paid way too much for a backup. We need money to upgrade our starting 3/4 spot, hence the suggestion. Remember the combined salaries of our starters was 17 million out of a total pay roll of 53-55 million.
The combined salaries of Taylor and Cato (=15 million) is considerably lower than Davis (=8 million). Davis has only 2 years left on his contract.
I actually like that idea but I have no idea how well dale davis did banging with the rest of the croud in the west. I really liked cato's hustle last year and he did some nice mean dirty work. now if u gave moochie and motay for those two I'd smile at that in a second.
With the Blazers cleaning up their image, I don't think they want another player with a history of drug use.
I think MoT is a lamb compared to some of Portland's guys. Not a bad trade idea, sanjay. We lose those 2 contracts and get cap space and a good PF who has 2 years to go on his. We could pick up a cheap backup C and still get a decent backup PG with the room we have left, not counting Sabonis's cap space. (vet exception and remaining mid-level exception... right?) Portland gets a big center at a good contract for a "starting 5" and a big scoring PF. (that's what CD would be telling them, at any rate )
