With the latest coming out yesterday, anything could happen. I just don't see them getting to the playoffs. Slightly.
Iggy's a good all-around player, but you're asking him to change his style a bit here in Houston. He doesn't move much without the ball and he's never played with a post presence like Yao before. Would he thrive playing off others or struggle like Tmac? Fortunately, he thrives in a fast paced offense like ours and is always healthy. He's also pretty clutch. I think he'd work here, but he's hardly the answer to our problems.
Iguodala is a better defender and distributor than he is a scorer. Seeing as four of our starters are scorers, he would fit perfectly.
iguodala cant shoot threes, is a ball stopper on offense - morey knows how inefficient he is. sure he's more athletic defensively, but battier is more cerebral. terrible move imo. id prefer gerald wallace because he can protect the rim and is a bigger, faster, dude, but we really, really need the court spacing - so lukewarm on that. honestly, its kinda weird, but nic batum might have been the perfect understudy for battier had we kept his rights - long, rangy, good shooter, good guy. kinda what ariza shoulda been without the attitude problems and overinflated ego. just my 2 cents, but ya. kp
i'd trade hill, battier, and brad miller or whatever fits the contract for him. Hill still is interesting prospect and rocket's highest asset so if iguodala wanted to move he probably could make this deal happen.
Both Iggy or G.Wallace will SIGNIFICANTLY upgrade this team. Granger is a pipedream. Indiana is young and they are building around him, collison, and hiebert. Larry Bird is NOT stupid. Melo DOES NOT WANT to come here, simple as that. Personally, I think unless it is New York, Melo wont sign ANY extention now. What that really means is that cost/value of Melo will be EXTREMLY low around the teade deadline because he is not going to give any team the security of signing an extention in exchange for a half season rental. The longer Denver keeps him the cheaper it will be for other teams to rent him. I think since he has already started the season in Denver, he's already decided to ride out the season and flat out sign with the Knicks in the summer. This prevents the Knicks from having to give up anything to get him. IGGY I think will be the perfect piece to our team. Moving without the ball can be tauht and he occasionally does that in Philla. They just move him without the ball for the sole puropse of getting him the ball so he can score. He has been there go to guy for years and he has proven to be CLUTCH, AGGRESSIVE, ABLE TO CREATE FOR HIMSELF & OTHER, ABLE TO FINISH AT THE RIM, ABLE TO GET TO THE LINE, TEAM ORIENTED, ABLE TO CLOSE GAMES and DEFENSIVE MINDED which are all the things that we either sorely miss or currently sturggle at (besides get to the line). I would hate to give up Battier to have to get him but you have to give him up if its a deal breaker. I think we can get him for: COST: Jefferies + PP/Hill + 1st rd pick + 2nd rd pick WALLACE brings a little more size but I'm not sold on his skill set being able to take our team to the next level. I'm also concerned about his ability to STEP UP, take big shots and close games. He's not known for doing such, but he does put up decent stat lines. Defensively the team gets better shot blocking and athleticism but not sure if he if the type of difference maker that we all expect out of our next trade. Bobcats will want a PG for sure so expect to lose either Brooks, Lowry, or Ish as a filler. That is the primary reason that I wouldnt like this move due to what we will have to give up. Like above i think we can get him for: COST: Jefferies + PP/Hill + 1st rd pick + 2nd rd pick + either Brooks/Lowry PRINCE will be great to have IN ADDITION TO IGGY or WALLACE. I think he can be had at the cheapest price due to his age and basketball milage. He gives us defensive versitality, rebounding, toughness, shot blocking, and 3pt shooting, plus he moves without the ball. I like picking him up but he is definately is going to cost either Battier or Bud. I'd rather keep Bud aka "Hard G". COST: Battier + JT (if they dont flat out cut him) + Pick + PP/Hill
If....we cannot get Melo, then Iggy makes the most sense of the SFs that are possibly available. Wallace is bigger, atheltic, etc., but Wallace is the player that is not cerebral, that Brad Miller leaked to all of us did not fit with Adelman's offense because he just couldn't get it. And as far as the poster saying Iggy is not efficient, that is ridiculous. Iggy is highly efficient even playing on a crap team for the last few years. When you go back in his career to when he was playing alongside another great scorer in Iverson, he was even more efficient. And if there is anything Iggy does on court, it is move. He is Kyle Lowry at the small forward spot. He is a great disruptive defender who literally flies up the court with the basketball, just like Lowry. Iggy is the best option at SF over Wallace, Prince, or anyone else besides Melo. Prince..............I'd rather have AK-47 signed for our MLE after this season. I'd rather have AK-47 this season, but don't think Utah would ever deal him. I think Utah is planning on trying to sign AK-47 to an extension.
The only possible way I see the Rockets getting Iguodala from the Sixers without giving up big pieces of our team is by taking Brand. That would basically kill any flexibility the Rockets have for the next 3 years, and possibly would mean we could not resign all the young players the Rockets have developing. It would look like a last ditch effort. Neither of those are signs of a Daryl Morey transaction, so it won't happen.
I hear Brand mentioned in conjunction with AI a lot. The truth is the 76ers would have an easier time moving Brand alongside a young player with potential still on their rookie contracts (JT, Hill, Patterson, or Budinger) instead of trying to include him in any Iguodala trades. I'll go ahead and predict, if AI9 is traded, Brand will not be included unless a 3rd team is involved and is greatly compensated. Otherwise I think the 76ers are better collecting assets to facilitate a Brand move. As for Gerald Wallace, he was unsuccessful in his first stint with Adelman, and I don't see him as a fit on this current Rocket team. The only statistic Wallace is clearly superior to Iguodala is in blocks.
The sixers are way past that. Brand is their starting PF. He is puting up Scola's numbers of last year and even after his injury he is still a better defender than Scola. I suspect over the course of the season he will even get a little better. They may still want to move his contract but not at the expense of losing their best player. Iggy is be far their best player. he is a gem . He is the second tier type player. after Wade Koobe and Lebron. There is no way we do not give up some assets to get him. That is if they even consider one bit to trade him. I wouldn't do it! Rule number never trade a star player for lesser assets no matter how many lesser assets you get. Exceptions to the rule;Your star is clearly past his peak; your star player has the worst attitude on the team and the league doesn't completely understand that; your star player has a drug problem; your starplayer is gay; your star player is in his last year and you are pretty sure he will not resign; your team sucks and needs to rebuild and you can get John Wall (potential star) for him. The only other exception is you just can't afford to pay your star player. But if Philly is so bad they can't afford to pay Iggy than they are very bad and they need to sell the team. playing okay right now. He would be a very good backup PF on some team.
Brand + Iguodala = 28 million dollars. Can you tell me who Houston has on it's roster who is insignificant and adds up to that amount, I'll give you a hint you can't. I mean Battier and Jeffries get you to about 15million but who is left? Almost no one has that much salary in NON-significant players including the rockets. IMO, Elton Brand is UNTRADEABLE and I'm sure they have tried to move him already, problem is no one is willing to take him on unless they give back an equally bad salary, which makes the salary "dump" a moot point. With that said if reports are correct on them wanting to rebuild why would they not possibly go the route of getting assets (i.e. picks and young prospects) for Iggy, wait 2 years and try to trade Brand as an expiring? If they absolutely had to trade Iguodala AND Brand together they will get nothing but crap and possibly get cap space, which doesn't ensure them anything (see the Knicks).
I love iggy, but the only problem I have with him if he came to this team is he's size guarding as a SF. he is 6'6, undersized as a SF and he weights about 207? Lebrons, grangers, carmelos, even artest may give him problems.
That's a valid point...except about Artest. Shane spent time guarding Kobe so I'm assuming Martin was on Artest. If Martin can guard Artest, AI9 should have no problem.
Legit concern here. My thought on it is this.........we need the quickness on the perimeter defense against Wade/Lebron/etc. Could they take him in the post? Lebron could. I think Iggy would battle Wade fine in the post and the post is not the strength of Wade's game anyway. That's why we need bigs like Damp. If you have multiple 7-footers defending the rim, then you can go smaller and quicker on the perimeter.
Iggy can guard Lebron, granger and Melo than anybody else in the league. As for Artest that's a joke. Battier had no problem guarding Artest, it was Kobe that gave him fits and a shorter more athletic player named Lee did a better job. Height is overrated. Iggy is more athletic and stronger than anyone we have at the 2 or 3 right now. He has better vertical Battier. I don't see the problem.
