First of all, Maurice Taylor needs to be traded this season. Why? With Eddie Griffin planning to gain some muscle, I think he would be a good starting power forward next year. That will not happen though because of Maurice Taylor - Rudy T. will give Taylor the starting spot definitely. I don't see Griffin getting enough time next year with Taylor around. So we need to trade him. Kenny T. might be around next year too, and with that Griffin will barely get any time. In no way am I bashing Maurice Taylor. He's a pretty good player, but I don't see him fitting into our future unless he is a 8 million dollar per year backup. I think Eddie Griffin is our future, and he needs as much playing time as he can get. If we traded Maurice Taylor, a good player to get in return would be an energy type player who wouldn't mind sitting on the bench. Bo Outlaw, maybe. He can provide backup rebounding and defense. His contract is bad, but expires in 3 years. The Rockets could trade: Maurice Taylor + Kenny Thomas for Bo Outlaw or Maurice Taylor + Toronto's first round draft pick for Bo Outlaw The salaries would work out. The Phoenix Suns get Maurice Taylor, and their choice of either Kenny T., draft pick, or maybe even both. Any other trade suggestions for Maurice Taylor would be good too...
Maurice Taylor will NOT be traded. Period. First, he will be our best PF next year. He can score in bunches and will provide the Rockets will a good third scorer. Second, if the Rockets trade a player before he can come back from a major injury, they will lose all credibility with free agents and other good players that might want to force a sign-and-trade (i.e., Rashard Lewis types). No player wants to come to a team that is disloyal to its players due to injury. Third, the Rockets will most likely trade KT this offseason. Kenny's coming off a career year, plus next season is his contract year. The Rockets won't be able to re-sign him, especially with Taylor and Griffin on the roster. With his value at an all-time high, with a desirably low salary, and with one year left on his deal, Kenny Thomas is textbook "trade bait" for the Rockets this summer. Again, Taylor's going nowhere. Get used to it.
True, Mo isn't going anywhere. He's coming off an injury, so any trade they try to make including him will SUCK ASS for the Rocks. Best to let him come back, let him prove he is healthy, and then move him if need be. If the Rocks do end up trading anyone, it would probably be KT, Mooch, or maybe Cato, but Mo isn't going anywhere for now. Oh, and btw, Bo Outlaw sucks.
Mo Taylor is a talented player who will be the starter next season. EG is a versitile player who can also play center if he bulks up. when cato fails EG or MoTay can take center. There will be plenty of minutes for Thomas if u bench Cato and use others and maybe a 6'10"+ rookie to fill the void. Overall the Rocks will have a solid team next year, and should be deep enough to withstand injuries. so there should be no excuses. if by half point next season and the Rocks r still horible...I wouldn't be surprised if players started getting traded...but now is not the time. the plan is to see how far the ENTIRE TEAM has gotten as far as gelling and take it from there. Sounds good to me.
Trading Mo Taylor and Kenny Thomas for Bo Outlaw might be a worse trade than the Van Exel/Lafrentz move was for Denver. Both Mo and KT are light years ahead of Outlaw. Heck, Mo on one leg may still be better than Outlaw. BTW, when teams draft players (especially ones that are 19 years old), they do so thinking years in advance, not one season. The Rockets knew of Griffin's strengths and weaknesses when they drafted him. He may have surprised a few of us, but after workouts NBA teams knew the strengths that he brought to the table. Furthermore, after a month of summer league games and practices, the Rockets were even more familiar with EG's game, and his future. At this point, they still hadn't signed Mo. If they thought Mo would be a problem by limiting Griffin's role, the Rockets could've easily done the fan friendly thing and committed that 8 million to Hakeem for a year or two instead of signing Mo Taylor long-term. When the Rockets signed Mo Taylor, they had Eddie and KT both in their plans, and this season I really didn't see anything to change that. Most good teams have three quality frontcourt players. KT, Mo, and EG can provide that for us. Cato can be, at times, but I don't know if I'd want to count on him to do it consistently. With our three forwards, you have a lot of versatility. Mo, and sometimes EG, can play the 5. KT, with slightly better ballhandling, can play the three. (he already did in a couple of games this season) Eddie has said in interviews that he plans to be a three at some point. Having three good forwards is a luxury, not a call for a trade.
Trading Taylor won't happen for 3 reasons: 1. He is under contract for 5 more seasons. Teams won't want that salary hit. 2. He is coming off of a major injury. No one is going to make a deal for a player with that type of injury. 3. The Rockets wouldn't get anything in return given the fact that Mo is a base year compensation player AND the seriousness of the injury. One other note, in every interview you hear with the Rockets (Les Alexander, Rudy T, George Postolos), they cound Taylor in with Francis, Mobley and Griffin as the players they will build around. They are committed to him for better or worse.
Outlaw is in no way worth trading Mo-T or KT or our Toronto pick in any combination. If you trade a big money player for a worst player, it better be during the deadline and his contract needs to run out that year. I would much rather let EG ride the pine for 3 years and develope slowly like Jermaine Oneal, than trade so much talent for one hustle guy with goofy goggles.
The Rockets could trade: Maurice Taylor + Kenny Thomas for Bo Outlaw or Maurice Taylor + Toronto's first round draft pick for Bo Outlaw The salaries would work out. The Phoenix Suns get Maurice Taylor, and their choice of either Kenny T., draft pick, or maybe even both. Any other trade suggestions for Maurice Taylor would be good too... [/B][/QUOTE] WOW! Did I respond to this?? Maybe Griffin and the #5 for the Candyman?
The Rockets won't trade Mo Taylor. Because first off, we pay half of his 50 million dollar salary with mar1juana.....its much cheaper than actually giving him money........
As someone mentioned, if EG bulks up (20 pounds or so would be nice), he could be playing some center. A draw-them-away from the basket weakside shotblocking center. Maybe we will target Caron Butler after all.
Sorry . . . .I'm still laffing KT *AND* MoT for bo Outlaw . . . I think we can Package Francis and Mobley for Eldridge Racasner Rocket River WWWHOOOOO that is a good one
If Phoenix threw in their pick in the draft, I'd do it. Mo T's contract is too long, and he's never going to be satisfied as a backup. KT won't want to backup Griffin either. Bo Outlaw can back Griffin up, and back Rice up. He has a (after this season) 2 year contract and brings Defense to the team. We also get their pick. Maybe package our (then) 3 picks for the #1 (Ming). Doesn't sound too bad after all huh? Problem is, why would Phoenix take 2 PF's when they have an overpaid Googs? They can't have Googs, Mo T and KT on the roster.
Hey Cat, I remember reading this, too. But for the life of me, I can't find that article anymore. I thought it was right after the draft, in the Chronicle. It should be found on this BBS, as well. The best I can find is his point guard in college saying that he envisioned himself as an NBA 3, but that was at the beginning of his freshman year. Anyhow, doesn't matter. But if you find the quote, email it to me.
I can't see Eddie becoming anything but a three at this point. He's just waiting to take over Rice's job. You won't see a three in the draft.
If Eddie said he was going to be a 3, it was probably ebfore the season. In fact, I think it was right after the draft. Something along the lines of "My ballhandling is not that good, until it gets better, I'll play the 4, then when it improves, I'll play the 3". OBVIOUSLY before the season. If he was going to be a 3, why did he, a few days ago, say that he wants to put on tons of muscle so he could go inside more often next season? It would be wasting perfectly good talent to make this guy a 3. He can't defend prototypical 3's, and he has excelllent shotblocking abilities that wouldn't be as effective at the 3. Yep. I'm convinced that Eddie will be a 4 next season, and a 4/5 the season after that.
Gimme a break will'ya?!!! Taylor should be traded not because of the injury but because he's a junkie. There are janitors who get fired because of drugs, why do you have to pay 6 or 7 or 8 mil. per year to a druggie, if you are an owner? The Rockets will be very lucky if they can trade Taylor, and if that sends the message to other free agents that "If you do drugs you are outta here!!!", then good, that's what we need. The question is not "Should we keep Taylor", but rather "Who on Earth would take him". If you check my other thread you'll see that Boston may be interested to do it for Kenny Anderson. The Celtics have been trying to get rid of Anderson, plus they need some size upfront and a third scoring option. taylor will give that to them. The Celtics will want to win next year, while we could wait 1 more year for Kenny's contract to expire. If then we can get rid of some of our other mistakes (Rice, Cato, Moochie) for a similar type of contract (Juwan Howard would be the ideal option), then we'll have money to pursue a free agent in the rich 2003 season (Duncan, Brand, J.O'Neal/J. Bender). You think Duncan will care that we dumped Taylor? If we can get him the money plus some legit cast (Cat, Francis, Eddie, this year's pick) I think we have a chance.
Man, what a load of... nevermind. I'd be more worried if he drank too much. And who wants Kenny? We have a Kenny (at least for now).
No team in the league needs Kenny Anderson for Kenny Anderson. What people will be after is his contract that expires after next season.
