Rockets were/are offering Hill & Thabeet for Biedrins

I understand the Shane part and not making the playoffs, but I think we could have received something better in return. A proven player off of the bench or a project that isn't as epic as Thabeet.

 

Maybe. But the Rockets needed a legit shot-blocking center. And what teams that truly needed/wanted Battier (i.e., contenders) were going to give up a player like that?

Sadly, the Hasheem Thabeet Project (plus a first rounder) was the best alternative available.

 

aND WHY YOU DON'T FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER? lMAO..

 

There's not much talent in this free agency. The only FA centers worth noting are Yao, Dalembert, Nene (ETO), Chandler, Oden (RFA), Hawes (RFA), and Jordan (RFA).

Yao wants to come back, but he's only going to be a role player. Dalembert's most likely going to a contending team. Chandler's most likely signing with Dallas. Oden maybe available, but do we really need another injury prone big buy? Hawes is most likely staying in Philly. Jordan will be overpaid greatly.

Nene is a question mark because of the ETO. He could terminate it and sign for a big contract somewhere else, and I think we would be able to give him the money he would want. The problem is now that Denver could also give him the money as well now that Kenyon's horrible contract is off the books. Or he could choose not to terminate his contract and stay in Denver. Our chances of getting are higher than any other center FA (aside from Yao), but it's still a long shot.

Biedrins is worth the gamble because we may not be able to find starting center talent for a while.

 

That is enough to offer, while I like Biedrens they are on the hook for $27 million over the next 3 years.....they are not going to get a lot for that contract, and his injury history is scary, not to mention he makes Chuck Hayes look like Calvin Murphy at the FT line.

DD

 

Heres are a few things to remember when considering taking on the salary of Beidrins, and the risk of taking on a Center with some health issues-

-The potential available free agent centers DeAndre Jordan/Dalmebert/ Nene will command even more in salary than Biedrins in free agency and with the exception of Nene (who is nearly impossible to pry from Denver) will not be much of an upgrade defensively when healthy. Biedrins is not the "sexy" athletic Center that Jordan is, but he has proven that he can provide nearly the same production.

-If you can financially throw in Thabeet, Hill, and maybe a filler, then the finances should work out fine with some tweeking. The Rockets will take on roughly 2 Million or so more in salary next season, but imagine how much more they would spending by signing one of the Free Agent Center's up front with a 40 Million dollar contract and not being able to dump the salaries of Thabeet and Hill at the same time. A trade like this might be the only way financially to take on a decent center next season.

-Biedrins health has been a bit of an issue the past two seasons, but his injuries are not known to be chronic. If the Rockets team doctors give their stamp of approval after in depth physicals, then I see no reason to not take the risk and live with the results.

Also If his health keeps him out of the lineup then Im sure the Rockets have the 24hr hotline on speed dial to get their annual injured player exception to cover the wasted salary cap on an injured player.

Also, if a rehabing Yao & the always dependable Chuck are re-signed, and D-Mo shows he can play the 5 in the NBA, there will be nice depth at the 5 spot. If you cut his minutes to say 25 a game, then the injuries might not be an issue going into the future.

 

Tell me about this scary injury history. A misdiagnosed abdomen tear, a few sprained ankles, am I missing something?

I know it isn't exactly a clean bill of health, but we are not talking about Greg Oden or Yao Ming here.

 

I'm willing to bet that Biedrins would kick ass here. I think most people here are always wanting a Dwight Howard, when realistically we are not going to get that. Think about it this way, how many years have we been struggling to find a serviceable center? Andris, although not great, is a good player who probably needs a change of scenery. I'm willing to take the risk because he has proven to be a good player in the past. We don't have to worry about offense, we already got plenty of that in the line-up, we need a mobile big who can get us rebounds and be some sort of presence in the paint.

 

I have no problem trading for Biedrins based on the resulting salary cap impact for the 2011-12 season.

It's BEYOND 2012 that scares me off.

The Rockets are currently set up to have a substantial amount of cap room (under any system) in 2012, with many of these 2009 disappointing lottery picks potentially coming off the books (if their 2012-13 options aren't picked up before next season).

Having Biedrins eating up $9 million of that cap space is what will quite possibly prevent the Rockets from being a legitimate player in free agency and/or trades for a star player.

 

This should be a lesson to many of you about group-think.

What Minnesota fans were saying about Flynn, and what Golden State fans have been saying about Biedrins, is about how many of you talk about Hill. Now, you all think Flynn is decent, and a good number of you think Biedrins is decent. For that matter, many of you wanted Jeffries to get minutes, though Knicks fans didn't seem to like him more than you guys like Hill.

I'm used to seeing how you guys think you're smarter than Morey (a bunch of you do), Adelman (he gave decent PT to Hill before PPatt came on, and afterward, when we had injuries), Khan (show of hands - how many of you think you could make Minnesota a playoff team? I thought so), and even Donnie Walsh.

But, the light bulb doesn't go off in your heads when your clique totally disagrees with the cliques in Minnesota and GS? That's funny.

 

The difference betwen Biedrins and basically every previous Morey move is that Biedrins is RISKY. Hill, Flynn, Artest, every single draft pick, even bad signings like Andersen, Miller, Stevie, etc. None of them were all that risky. And all of the bad deals got written off later on when they turned out badly.

But Biedrins is different. He is a $9 mil/yr player for 3 years at a time when the Rockets have capspace. It doesn't matter if you're $1 mil above cap or $10 mil above cap, but $20 mil below cap and $11 mil below cap could be the difference between a CP3 and Raymond Felton.

So Biedrins represent the first major risk Morey is willing to make. One that literally can blow up in his face if it fails.

 

I understand completely what your saying. 9 Million in two years under the new CBA could be crippling, but how much were they going to offer a Center in free agency. 12 Million a year to Dalembert?, 10 Mill a year to DeAndre Jordan?

If Morey views the production to be similar to those two free agents then having less years on a contract with a Center like Biedrins who offers similar production for less money might be the better value option to go with.

However, they could strike out in every which way and know for sure that they will have financial flexibility under the new CBA. It looks like they might be willing to take that gamble.

 

Well, lets say that Biedrins leaves his injury history behind and returns to that 12 pts/11 rbds/1.5 blks a game player that he was a season ago. Then we would not need a "star player" because we would have somewhat found the solution to our problem. Not so much as a shot blocking big, but a rebounding, decent scoring big.

 

I can't see the Rockets declining team options on Jordan Hill, Patterson, Budinger, and to a lesser extent, Terrence Williams. Thabeet seems like the only lock for his option to not be picked up.

Also, if you're not trading for Biedrins, Chuck Hayes might still be the best center you can get, so you'd have to factor his $3-4M in there -- unless the Rockets are going to rely on Jordan Hill as their starting center.

EDIT: Forgot about Flynn. I think this might be an evaluation year for him -- but I think the Rockets are looking to deal him now if they can.

 

Under the expiring CBA, I think Dalembert would be worth $7-8 million at most; maybe a little more for DeAndre Jordan. With the new CBA, less.

However, signing a FA means we are adding that much salary, whereas a trade has us adding that much, but subtracting the amount of the players we are giving up.

 

Don't do it!!

 

I think T.Williams gets one more chance, but he might very well get cut a few months into the season.

 

Thats what I mean, plus the length of the contract would be shorter then creating an entirely new contract with more seasons negotiated. Sort of the lesser of two evils.

7-8 million sounds about right for what they are worth, but there are too many Center craved teams out there that will get the Rockets in a bidding war surely. Using recent center signings like Brendan Haywood as a basis for comparison its safe to say 10 Million a year for a starting center is what you can expect to pay in the free agency market, even with the new CBA looming. Gm's and owners have known this day was coming for a long time and have still insisted on overpaying for Centers. Heck, Darko just signed a deal this season to make roughly 5 to 6 mil a year in Minnesota.

 

I posted this in the "the dirt" thread yesterday:

Or maybe it just means the rockets started talking with charlotte about biyombo, so they wouldn't need to acquire biedrins? Maybe that's still a possibility?

 

How about parsons flynn and a 2nd for asik and cash