No doubt EG's ideal position is the pf spot. Unfortunately the Rockets've already got Mo and KT. Griffin needs a lot of playing time to develop. Mo and KT can only play power forward in the long term, which means either of them need to go. Mo has a fat contract and is just coming off a serious injury, he has little trade value before he proves himself again gamewise. As much as I like KT, he is the odd man out. This brings up the question, suppose the Rockets are trying to trade KT, what do you think the Rockets should or could get for him? The guy is hardworking, skillful and improving each year. He can start for most teams in the league. I expect the Rockets trade him along with Cato, that piece of dead weight on court and contractwise, to get a good backup center (such as Scott Pollard and fillers) and maybe future draft picks in return to further solidify our frontcourt. Talking about an iron made front court with Griffin, Taylor, Pollard and Yao makes me excited. Any other suggestions? CD are you listening?
How are some of you people willing to give up proven players like KT and Mo T ??? Eddie is still learnin and has nowhere near the muscle either KT and Mo have. Give it up! Makes no sense!
You trade quality for quality, why assume the Rockets won't get nothing worthy in return and get better?
With a new "young and athletic" team, you'd think the Rocket's injury woes would go away... Like many of the board members here have said, they'll probably keep KT in case something happens. Hopefully something good.
I am inclined to hang onto Kenny. I think he is underated and are not likely to get full value in return. I agree three is to many, but there is always room for a hard worker as far as I am concerned. As for throwing in Cato for a back up center, I would be real hesitant to let Cato go beore we have actually seen that ming is both good enough and actually ready.
It doesn't make sense to me for us to keep KT long term. He is a hustler but just is not as good as EG and MoT. Why would we keep a guy that a) can be traded for something usefull and b) requires the minutes that EG and MoT have spoken for. I say that as soon as MoT serves his suspension that we start looking at trades to get a serviceable 2 (if one doesn't come outof the summer league) or maybe a vet to take the Wiz's role. I am not going to check salaries, but someone like Jimmy Jackson via sign and trade would be great.
I'd rather hold on to Kenny and see if Taylor plays good enough next season so we can trade him and his salary. Kenny just seems like the perfect spark off the bench. While Taylor is more of a starter type of player, which he won't be able to do here with Griffin. Plus, Taylor is paid too much to be just a spark off the bench.
I agree with Pat about hanging on to KT(and Cato). He is a vastly underrated(and our best) man to man defender at the 4. He plays hard. I like the way he has improved noticeably every year he has been in the league(his slapping the ball away on post moves around the paint area ala Karl Malone has gotten extremely good). We would definately miss him if he were to leave. Sometimes you just don`t appreciate something till it`s gone. I think he is much better suited to coming off the bench than Mo. Remember, Mo usually has a first good Quarter (10-14) pts and then tapers off the rest of the game. With that said if RT and CD decide that Kenny is the one to move, we could do a lot worse than Scott Pollard and maybe a first rounder thrown in too. Pollard imo is an excellent role player at the 4 or 5. He throws his body around well and is not afraid to his 6 fouls when needed and plays within his limits. Don`t know if Sac would want KT, although he would be an improvement over ther backup 4(Corliss, Funderburke,?, whoever it is). Defensively especially. How about Mooch and KT(add filler as needed) for Pollard and Bobby Jackson? `Course if Moochie were here Pollard and him could have contests for best(or worst) hairstyles.
Is there any worse hair style than Moochie's? The man looks like a freaking monkey with that fro. Overall, it looks like there is diversion in opinions on whether KT should be traded or not. Actually I like KT more than Mo, and holding onto KT for the sake of injuries isn't a bad idea either. With that being said, I suspect if KT is content with being a backup in Houston, whereas he can easily start for many teams. KT worked hard last year because he is mad that Mo came in and took away his starting position. There is no reason for him to suddenly lower his ambition. Once his current contract is up, he'll be seeking big money, starting position and playing time. It's a problem whether the Rocks can retain him, given their capspace and the logjam of pfs. Better to sign and trade him to a team in which he can start earlier than later. As for Maurice Taylor, if he sucks then he will be the backup pf anyway. No way the Rockets waives him and pay him 7 mils a year. If he bounces back to his original form and get you 12 and 6.5, he is still hard to trade and won't be better than Eddie. A backup for Eddie in the future is what he is. Let's face it, Mo is a soft, overweight and overpaid backup pf, who can't rebound over his career. Keep him on the bench and watch Eddie tearing up the league. Why wait on Mo then decide, he is a lost clause. The Rockets starting 5 in the long term is set. The team needs depth at 2 and 5, and maybe 3. Trading away KT is like fixing a dam. Scraping clay off an extra thick area and use it to fix other holes on the wall. Trading him for some good players right now enhances the Rocket's chance of making playoffs. One last note, Eddie is tearing up the summer league, although for only one game. Go Eddie!!!
Let KT play for another season with 3 and 4 position, I think it will be awesome position for 6'8 Kenny Thomas1
Look, it's simple. After this coming season, KT will be a free agent. He has played well enough to earn a big paycheck, and since, no matter how well KT does he will never be a higher priority than Eddie, the Rockets simply are not going to throw huge money at Kenny Thomas. But he HAS earned it, and several other teams will be more than happy to offer him what he will be worth, and he WILL leave. Can't blame him. So, the question is, do we let one of the better young PF's in the league just walk to another team, and get ZERO in return? That go down as one of the great blunders in this franchise's history. Fact: MoT is not tradeable, and probably won't be, no matter how well he plays this year. (plus, if he plays really well, then we all forget about how much we loved KT) Fact: Eddie Griffin is unquestionably a big part of the future plans for this franchise. Not that he is untradeable, but I don't think there is anyone out there the Rockets would be willing to accept in return for Eddie. He's going to be that good. So he's not going anywhere. Fact: KT was arguably our most consistent, most-improved, most dependable player last year. According to many GM's around the league, he is one of the most highly-thought-of young players in the game today. And, sad as it is to say, he is the only one of the three who not only IS tradeable, but MUST be traded. It's the way the NBA 'business' works. Unless EG or MoT goes down early in the season with a long-term serious injury, KT is gone before the season is over. What should we get for him? Well, depending on our summer league play, and how well Torres/Brown/Maddux play, we may or may not be in serious need of a body to plug into the roster. Certainly we won't have any openings for someone with the value that KT will bring. My guess is a future 1st-rd pick (hopefully next year's, so we will at least have ONE) and some kind of a bench-warming, defensive minded backup SG/SF . Maybe someone like George McCloud? (Yeah I know, no defense, but he would be cheap, and he CAN shoot.. is he even still in the league? One thing is for certain: SOME kind of a deal WILL happen for the Rockets.
i think is to early to trade kenny. if he earns a big pay check by next summer and we deside not to keep him. we can work out a sign and trade(we get more, he gets more)
I really don't think Kenny will be asking for that huge of a contract, at least not as big a Taylor's. I don't think other teams are going to overpay for an undersized power forward. He's a solid player, but he's not going to demand an 8 million a year type of contract. He probably will get about as much as Corliss Williamson gets, around 4-5 mil. As a player, he’s probably close to as good as he’s going to get. He had a good season last year, but it was on a terrible team that was depleted due to injuries. He's most likely not going to get that many touches on any other team. Even if he were offered slightly more then 5 mil., I don't think he would take it. Kenny has said he loves it here in Houston and that he really wants to stay. He also really likes Rudy. I think his loyalty to Rudy and CD, the men that took a chance on him when all the others passed, will cause him to take a Cuttino-like bargain rate contract to stay here in Houston. He may not start, but he should still get plenty of minutes at the 4 and 3. He's a player that is perfectly suited to being a spark off the bench and I think he would excel in that role. I also don’t Taylor is untradeable, at least after he comes back and shows he can still play next season. He’s got good size for a power forward. He still has a lot of potential, more then Kenny. He’s already shown he can average 17 ppg. I think a team that needs another scorer, like Detroit, would be willing to trade for him.
