Randolph won't get 17M he's getting this year. Maybe 10M. And Gasol won't get a max either, a contract like Bynum's (about 13M per) would be as good as he can get, and 8-10M is more realistic. Grizzles have 67M salary and will be committed to 40M next year, add 20-23M there, they won't hit luxury tax at all. Marko Jaric is 7M expiring contract this year.
I don't think the Rockets would have been as desperate to keep him. But even if the Rockets couldn't afford him, he'd be alot better trade bait than Battier.
Look if you're going to weight the success of the Grizz franchise the past two years now it would be something like this: 1) Marc Gasol (anchors the team with D, rebounding and points) 2) Anthony Randolph (cleans glass scores buckets) 3) Rudy Gay/OJ Mayo (Mayo provides more consistent performance and great D, Gay comes up with exciting plays) 4) Conley JR Gay got the max, Conley JR got 9M a year. Yeah, seeing those numbers I'm sure Anthony Randolph and Marc Gasol will settle for 10M a year...NOT! You gotta be realistic here, would you stay in a franchise where players inferior to you make twice as much as you do? And even if the Grizz do keep all these players they're still a lottery team in the West.
You're right here. In retrospect we would have been much better off keeping Rudy Gay instead of getting Shane Battier, Rudy Gay would have lost us so many games with his horrible D and chucking ways we would be flush with lottery picks now. The irony here is people want Gay so much because Battier sucks this year, lol what do you think Memphis went through the past 5 years?
Best case scenario: Rudy Gay helps the Rockets win more close games and becomes the closer the Rockets have desperately needed. Worst case scenario: Gay chucks his way to the lottery. Lottery picks + Gay trade bait = good
Here's a few tidbits that are probably over the head of most of those who form their basketball values from a pool of statistics. The Grizzlies have both ZBo (who won't command his large salary next go-around) and Marc Gasol because they took a risk on Kwame Brown. And the Lakers had Kwame Brown because they took a risk trading Chucky Atkins and Caron Butler for Kwame. Apart from the fact these were risks the current Rockets' management would not have taken, I point this out for another reason. Marc Gasol is very decent NBA Center. And he's a legit 7' tall and reasonably mobile. Where that comes to play is in this manner. During the end of the game, LeBum was being guarded by Rudy Gay. In order to put pressure on the MEM D, the CHeat ran a series of high PnR's with LeBum and Ilgauskas. This would theoretically free up LeBum to do damage inside the MEM defense. What happened was this. On 2 back to back half-court sets, the 7' Gasol did not wait for LeBum to turn the corner on the PnR. Gasol and Gay soft-trapped LeBum and made him essentially value less. LeBum couldn't clear the trap because he was surrounded by players who were not short and/or slow. (There's a novel thought...players who aren't short and slow...who'd have thought those were important physical attributes for basketball)? Rudy Gay said it best when interviewed by a MEM announcer immediately after the game. Rudy pointed out the Grizz were in the tough spot because of his turnover. Then the announcer asked something like "doesn't this win over the Heat make up for the 5 game skid"? Rudy looked the announcer right in the eyes before walking off shaking his head emphatically. The answer..."No". Painfully, that's the answer $Ball should have given to Jerry West.
Me too,it's funny how quickly the cheers turned into boos. I remember asking my buddies at the time, who the **** is Shane battier?
I have mixed feelings about the trade, but based on what the Rockets did, it's hard to argue it wasn't a bad idea. At least Morey would have had the option to match whatever Rudy Gay got from another team. I doubt he would have gotten $16 million per year. I also agree Gay is paid too much and the Grizzlies roster can only take them to mediocrity. Lastly, while giving Gay props for making game-winning shots is one thing, he is not an "elite closer" nor a particularly clutch player (at least from my watching the Grizzlies). I've seen him blow it big time, like their possession before last. He's isn't a guy you can just give the ball to time-after-time at the end of games. Don't overrate what happened last night. What Gay is good at is buzzer-beaters. I've seen several of them. But I can't recall one time he dominated the last 2-3 minutes of a game and carried the Grizz to victory. He's not what Brandon Roy used to be. I'd like for a Grizzlies fan to comment about this. I don't watch that many of their games. Probably just enough to be wrong.
I dont blame Morey. I blame the FANS for over exaggerating Morey's moves. Some of guys seriously overrated our "prospects". Things that were said by clutchfan members in the offseason: 1) "Chase Budinger is actually more athletic, and a better player than JR Smith" NOT TRUE 2) We dont need Aaron Brooks, we should trade him for Kirk Hinrich. A real NBA point guard 3) Kyle Lowry should start over Brooks. When teams sag of Lowry, instead of shoot, he can just bull his way to the basket. Lol You guys can be delusional sometimes. Fact is, Morey has made some good judgements and some bad ones. Aaron Brooks NEEDS to get resigned. Jordan Hill needs more minutes and Jermaine Taylor needs a shot because Budinger is playing like dirt.
It wasn't a bad trade for out team at that time. I could say it was actually great. You have a great team with two superstars players (best center in the game and of of the best guards). That mean you will put the points on the board without bigger problems (at least it seemed that way). So for Morey to make that trade it was important. You add a defender like Shane (one of the best) and you know guys like Kobe who you will have to face in the playoffs will not hurt you as much. On the other hand you have a young talent, who doesn't fit your plays of winning now. When you look at both players, no question Gay is much better than Shane. But this was about fitting. Shane fit us well.
This form of logic never ceases to baffle me in a mind-boggling way. Given the health history of both Yao and Grady, why would any one conclude that the answer was trading a #8 pick in a deep draft for talent that most teams pick up for $3-4M in free agency?
Gater, I agree with you a lot, but the Rockets were not even going to draft Gay, so your point about him is moot. Sure, we need better athletic, taller players....agreed...... But beating the Gay for Battier trade to death at this point is silly....we got rid of Swift, we weren't drafting Rudy anyway, and we picked up a guy in Battier who was meant for a WIN NOW role alongside a healthy Yao and Tmac. The problem with that theory is that Yao and Tmac fell apart. DD
"I don't care if James Naismith was guarding me, which would be scary because he's dead," Gay said. :grin: :grin: Rudy, you would have many green things at CF BBS.
Da-Da... Yes...I continue to beat a dead horse. Only because I find it baffling and mind-numbing that the Rockets were so short-sighted. Even if it was NOT Rudy Gay...they stupidly gambled on the health of players with a history of bad health. And they compounded it by getting talent that most teams pay $3M for. You're the one that has this notion of following the Spurs methodology. (Whatever that is). They picked up Bruce Bowen for $3M. The NBA is loaded with glue-guys. They overpaid and few of you want to admit it.
I totally agree with this, I never understood why we didn't get a pick back too...... Either way, Yao and Tmac at that time were pretty healthy, and the team took a legitimate swing at it. It didn't work out, neither did the Rockets with Ralph and Dream, that team failed too.....**** happens. DD
Shane was a good addition,but CD said we have the big 3 stars,and claimed the Rockets were close enough to win a championship after his addition. Yao,McGrady were healthy and so was Shane when Utah took us out. Rudy wouldn't have changed anything either,but West was really after him. That's why I feel we should gotten Lowry as well.
At that time they thought Lowry could be a starting PG, once they realized that wasn't going to happen, they shipped him to us for peanuts...now we are just now realizing that as well. DD
