We will have about 9 million off the books next year. Bob sura, mutumbo, charlie ward, ryan bowen, and someone else i dont remember who though but i know its 9 million. but then again yao gets 10 million extra so....
Personally, I would: Split the MLE for Rasual Butler and Eddie House (or 2ndly Marcus Banks). What else can they do? Fans wont be happy with Flip or Stevenson.
Actually, the Rockets should try to be a 3rd or 4th team in a trade (Harrington deal?). This is the best bet: 1. I wouldnt mind bringing JL3 up 2. Using the larger TE for Reggie Evans 3. Signing Rasual Butler and V-Span with the MLE 4. Sign Cato for Vets Min. We have 5 roster spots to fill. And this would do the trick and give the Rockets some decent role players.
As our backup PG, my choices are Marcus or V-Span (sorry DoD). Marcus at least managed to knock down over 45% of his shots last season and penetrate at will. But Vasillis shooting prowess amazes me. How does a PG finish their regular season (though 23 games only) for a big club like Pana with over 60% from within the arc? Now matter how bad the Greek league defense is, 60%+ from 2-point range is definitely impressive. He shot over 70% from within the arc against Tau Ceramica in the Quaterfinal of the continental tourney. I also like the fact that he is "a little cocky" and plays with a chip or edge. Fearless fighter and a gym rat. We need good shooting from our guard and Vassy will do just fine in that area though he has only done it in Europe. That said, I think he will find it hard to leave his great atmosphere and star treatment, and especially these fans.... <object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/sZCbPYEEXY0"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/sZCbPYEEXY0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="350"></embed></object>
I like CD, one of the true gentlemen in sports. He should resign today. Make Moneyball stat man Morey the GM now so he can do his magic, or be revealed as a fraud with a bookmark to 82games.com. Let CD sit next to Rudy when Rudy is scouting the Rockets, but don't let him continue his lame duck reign. I don't mid losing Bogins, mayne we can get Aziz.
I hope they can get it done. It will take Houdini act to fill up the other holes we have especially with the dry FA market and unlikely trade possibilities. Our hope remains in a healthy Mac, Yao and Rafer. If they play at least 70 games together, we should be safe from falling into lottery again.
If the Rockets really feel that Battier can log major minutes at the four.... A - Call Isiah and inquire about a Juwon for Crawford or Richardson trade B - talk to DWes about a low salaried two year deal with team option on second year C - use MLE for Reggie Evans (and actually Van Gundy has spoken well of him, just doesn't like certain attributes such as croch grabbing) and Marcus banks D - sign Lucas as third PG
alright here is da masterplan 1. go for a trade to acquire JR Smith 2. get Banks or V-span 3. bring Cato back that will be all we need
Plan A failed, Plan B failed.. God knows plan CD has surely failed. Does that put us at plan E? Anyone? No? Sorry, I couldn't resist.
Plan B: Trade Rafer, Juwan, Sura for Steve Francis Use full TE on Kyle Korver Use all or most of MLE on Jared Jeffries Sign Cato for min JL3 for min Kareem Rush for min Francis/Head/JL3 Korver/Rush Tmac/Novak/Bowen Jeffries/Battier/Hayes Yao/Mutombo/Cato
Is butler even available? FA or Restricted FA. if he's restricted, then he's in the same situation as F. Jones.
Since I come up with about 100,000 different scenarios daily that I never post, here's a complicated one that I could live with: 1. Trade Juwan Howard/2007 1st round pick to NY for Jamal Crawford 2. Split the MLE on DeShawn Stevenson/Kelvin Cato 3. Send a TE to New Jersey for Jeff McInnis 4. Sign JLIII and Keith Van Horn for min. salary 5. Cut Bowen PG Alston/McInnis/JLIII SG Crawford/Head SF McGrady/Stevenson/Novak PF Battier/Cato/Hayes C Yao/Mutombo/KVH PG: Alston, McInnis and JLIII are a nice, varied mix that cold hold down the positon SG: Platooning a dynamic talent like Crawford along with Head and Stevenson is light years better than Wesley/Head/Bogans SF: Stevenson and Novak play minutes backing up McGrady PF: Battier and Cato would be an excellent combo defensively with Van Horn in the mix as the veteran scorer/shooter to contrast Battier/Cato C: Mutombo and KVH could play backup minutes here. I like the idea of spelling Yao with KVH since his range forces the bigger and slower C's he would be matched up with to leave the paint to come out and defend him. Overall, not a bad mix of talent and versatility. I guess the big question is would NY bite on my trade suggestion? Maybe, maybe not. Is it wise to consider trading away next year's first rounder? I think the possibly needs to be considered since we're striking out thus far in free agency and are stuck with limited trade assets. I think if the opportunity to acquire a player that can significantly help us comes along like Crawford, we need to make a move.
my plan for this summer: 1. sign either banks or vspan. 2. s&t for cato or wright. 3. go to war with: yao-cato-deke jho-hayes-baxter shane-novak-bowen tmac-head-sura rafer-banks-lucas my plan for next summer: 1. sign either mopete, posey, barbosa, stackhouse, eddie jones to play the 2. 2. replace gundy with adleman and bring over the motion offense with a team of: yao-cato shane-hayes tmac-novak mopete-head rafer-banks
