[BimaThug Memorial Thread] The Myth of the Rockets and the McGrady Trade

A little more than mle if the mle.

DD, Landry is the better player and it has little to do with numbers. he's the better players because of his functionality and ability to create without another player. Those kind of guys are treated different and worth more and generally the better player. Anytime you can beat one on one or create space and get a shot, thats a different player.

 

I agree with you.

How do you compare them on the defensive end? I've always been down on Landry's defense, but I think he's improved considerably on that end. Particularly his 1-on-1 defense. He'll still miss a rotation now and then.

I would say, 1-on-1, that Landry is actually the better defender between the two. He moves his feet and contests shots better.

 

Thats the big misconception about the 2. Now i do understand that rebounding is a defensive stat and thats where DD and others get scola being a better defensive player, but if you just watch who contest more shots inside the box, its not even close. Scola plays with his hands down alot not to mention his lateral quickness on defense is subpar. Opposing players shoot over him like he's not even there, but landry does contest those shots. This doesn't make scoal a bad player, its just landry is one up in every facet except rebounding, but landry's ability to create one on one trumps that. Factor in his age and explosion around the rim with the ability to finish through contact and shoot 80%, its not hard at all.

 

....and the thing about each of those teams is they have a marquee player who moves jerseys, sells tickets (especially box seats), gets sponsors in a bidding war for your arena/TV telecasts, and just gets exposure for your team and their profile by being a marketable icon. I think that's why it was alluded to that Morey/Les would gladly pay into the luxury tax if they could get one of those rare superstars. Yao does it for us globally and honestly he is huge reason why Les and Rockets are making good money but the Rockets could have THE most profitable team and still have a really high payroll like the Lakers if they could have one more superstar who gets fans as excited in the US as they are in China for Yao.

Switching gears - I do have one wrinkle to add here. Les has been operating right at the tax line for several years now but it's my understanding McGrady and Yao's contract's have mostly been paid for by insurance companies during their extended injury periods. That means Les hasn't actually been paying out a full season's worth in salary in several years. So where does that money go - a gigantic piggy bank? Couldn't he fudge a little one year and stomach a high luxury tax bill to resign Scola/Lowry AND take back someone like Dalembert's deal if it meant your in the luxury tax for one year?

Seems like a short term commitment to pay into the luxury tax isn't that bad(although it's not my money....unfortunately) if it makes Houston a better team now and into the future.

....not saying I necessarily think Iggy(good but not a true superstar) / Dalembert(unmotivated, cancer) is the answer, but if Morey can add some parts to squeeze a decent pick out of the deal or even Speights(I know it's a long shot), I think you have to do that if you can get Les to foot the bill to keep Scola/Lowry....or if you could get Speights, I suppose they could send either Landry or Scola back(shutter to think).

 

I agree to a point lee. Landry is insanely efficient but at his position he really needs to work on his defense and rebounding. It's hard to say he is better than Scola right now when Scola has the more complete game. By no means do I feel like Landry can't improve in these areas, but needs to to be "the better player" imo

 

So what happened to Bimathug?

 

It's sad really, we are all broken up over it, But out of respect I'll let a 99er tell you

 

Rumors have C's interested in Nocioni for their expirings. If true etc etc on putting together a multi-player multi-team deal, a snap...as if.

 

Wow, it's that serious?

 

Carl Herrera.

I'll just go out there and say it.

When it comes to Rockets stuff, I look forward to your posts more than I do the Chronicle, rockets.com, and everything non-Simmons at ESPN. You're the rare sports writer--forget "poster," writer--who's equal parts lucid, entertaining, and thoughtful. We often see 2 out of those 3 qualities -- rarely all 3. Ever since your splashy debut defending the then-incendiary Rudy Gay trade, I've been drinking the kool-aid.

Terrific post.

And on a side note: it's highly probable that Morey lurks this board, right? He's hinted that he reads fan-boards in the past. (I think he suggested that to Simmons on a podcast, a while back.) It wouldn't surprise me at all if he reads this kind of post--and some of the other great cap-and-trade (ha) breakdown posts from other Clutchfans posters--and is impressed.

Nice work. Know that your analysis is appreciated.

Okay, this is getting embarrassing and I'm sounding like Almu praising Van Gundy, so I'll just shut up before I start talking about how I miss your scent, miss your musk.

 

Great post - but one thing doesn't make sense:

How is it possible that by taking back more money in 5. vs. 4. they get to keep Scola? Shouldn't 4 have a way of them keeping Scola since it's less money than 5?

 

I know - I thought something bad happened to you!! I read into it he was referring to your post but glad to hear it was not about you

Oh, and great post CH.

 

In 4, you can keep Scola, but would still have to give up Lowry and a piece of the MLE.

 

While I'm not necessarily saying that Scola is better than Landry (I think it's REALLY close), I will say that Scola is currently the superior defensive player. Is Scola a great defender? No. But he's better than Landry. I'm not just basing this on defensive rebounding. Scola is actually very good at making the right defensive rotations, which is the linchpin of the Rockets' stellar defense despite not having any shotblockers. Scola is also extremely effective at drawing charges. As many heard Adelman say a couple of weeks ago, the next charge Landry draws will be his first. Exaggeration on Adelman's part, of course, but it shows that Adelman has less confidence in Landry's defensive instincts (at least at this point).

I'm sure many of you saw this last night, but there was a point in the second half where the Lakers were on a fast break. Shane, David Andersen and Landry were all getting back on defense. After David was forced to commit to the player closest to the basket, Shane was forced into fouling the shooter, who got the bucket and the foul. Afterwards, you could see Shane get a little exasperated at Landry for not making the right play in the transition defense. While pure conjecture on my part, it looked like this wasn't the first time Shane's had to explain this to Carl. This is just one example of Landry's overall team defense being quite lacking.

Again, I'm not saying that Scola is necessarily better than Landry, but he's a superior defender. Sure, Landry is more athletic and gets the occasional fancy blocked shot, but Scola is much more fundamentally sound on defense than Carl.

 

Great OP and contributions by Bima and JayZ. This is some of the best discussion I've seen here in a long time.

I had one thought to throw in about a Dalembert/Iggy trade-

Dalembert is an expiring contract next year and will likely have decent value, so I don't see them giving up those two for Mcgrady + fillers. I think we'd have to give up at least one piece, probably Budinger at a minimum or possibly even Scola (plus our first rounder perhaps). I don't see the Rockets giving up Scola in that deal, so assuming they would take Budinger, that means we after re-signing Scola we would be in LT territory. So ultimately, I don't think we do that deal either way. The only way I see it would be if we found a third team to take on Dalembert, or trading him this summer.

 

Yeah, CH. The post was excellent, but it actually might have been simpler for everyone to understand if you did without all the various scenarios being spelled out, since it would have been very difficult to cover every single permutation. Especially since we have no idea of how much Scola or Lowry will get in free agency. Better to leave it at the $23M figure, make estimates for Scola/Lowry, and then let the people add it up themselves.

Nit-picking, I know. But, after all, it is MY "memorial" thread! :grin:

 

Still, giving scola an extension worth 8m per year is way too much.

 

I don't know...let's see what the market bares.

DD

 

Thank you Carl Herrera! For your best ever posting, having taken the time to lay it out in such a format, that even old fuddy duddies like myself can understand the various situations. Thanks Y