The amazing "point" guard Llull was at it again in the last Euroleague game: Struggled to even remotely resemble anything looking like a point guard on offense, and as usual played some of the most dreadful defense imaginable. He will be back to SG extremely fast, the same as every single year. Cannot run an offense at all, and cannot guard a shadow at the one position. He made Ear Jordan (Jordan Farmar), whom has been struggling time up until now look like an all time GOAT, his defense was so incredibly awful. This is what you get with Llull the "point" guard. Can't run an offense. Struggles completely all around on offense, with his own offense as well. And absolutely some of the worst defense at the PG position that you could ever witness. Because his lateral speed is very slow and there is no way he can stay in front of any even half quick point guard in NBA or Euroleague. http://www.euroleague.net/main/results/showgame?gamecode=33 This argument that Llull is a "point guard" might be one of the silliest things in this forum's history.
So the guy that does their English website does not know how to correctly translate from Spanish? So what? Big deal. The actual SPANISH version: http://www.realmadrid.com/cs/Satellite/es/Baloncesto/1193040475311/Plantilla/Plantilla.htm Funny, how the actual Spanish version lists him as a combo guard.
Oh, we could put this to a vote, and I guarantee you'd win the "silliest thing in this forum's history" poll.
You mean like the pure conjecture here that people wrongly claim Llull is a "point guard", even though he isn't?
I've said this before: I can totally envision Morey's strategy for the PG position this year (assuming that he's a believer in Llull as a rotation NBA PG). (1) Acquire Jonny Flynn to give quality depth at the position. (2) Let Dragic and Flynn duke it out for playing time behind Lowry. (3) Play whover wins that battle (probably Dragic) the first half of the season to increase his trade value. (4) Trade the primary backup PG at the trade deadline (either as part of a package or at least for a future pick). (5) Play the other of Flynn or Dragic for the remainder of the season. (6) Next offseason, have the option to either re-sign your backup PG (both Dragic's and Flynn's contracts expire), bring over Llull or sign a new backup for less money, knowing that Lowry will be playing the lion's share of the PG minutes, anyway. Boom. FLEXIBILITY.
Basically agree except I don't think Flynn was acquired to provide guard depth. I think Flynn was acquired solely to get cap space after this season as Miller has an additional year at $5 million on his contract. If he beats out Dragic that will be great, though.
I think he is stockpiling his "rights" pile so when we do have to make that big 5 for 1 trade or not pick up options so we have cap space to sign a max cat in 2012, we have bodies to fill in roster holes.
I but it except for the possibility of resigning the one who remains; or if the season (what, there is a season?) is a bust then trade them both and take-in an Ish-like filler for the last weaks of the lamented year.
I respectfully disagree about your "cap space" argument on acquiring Flynn. Yes, the Miller-for-Flynn aspect of the draft day deal DOES open a slight amount of additional cap space this offseason, but the final year of Miller's contract (a $5.1M cap figure) is only guaranteed for $848k! Purely from a "2012 offseason salary cap flexibility" standpoint, Morey actually would be BETTER OFF with Miller's contract, since it would be a valuable trade asset at or prior to the 2012 NBA Draft; and if nothing came of it, the Rockets could waive Miller and would only be $848k worse off, cap space-wise, then with an expired Flynn contract. With the copious amount of cap room the Rockets could conceivably have, that is not a material issue for them. I believe that Morey traded for Flynn for the same reason he traded for the other "2009 lottery busts": he thought that Flynn was a severely undervalued asset (yes, I said "asset") who could be a major plus in the risk/reward calculation. Remember, in addition to the Miller/Flynn aspect of that trade, the Rockets also (1) traded their future Memphis first rounder (from the Battier trade) and (2) traded #23 and #38 for #20 (only AFTER Flynn's physical showed that his injuries were worse than originally reported by Minnesota did the Wolves "give back" #38 [which was re-acquired for cash during the draft] and also give up MIN's 2012 second rounder). Trading #23, #38 and a future first, just to move up to #20, AND giving up a potentially good trade asset for 2012 in Miller? That seems like an awful lot to give up . . . unless you realize that Morey viewed Flynn (the player, not the contract) as an upgrade to Brad Miller. I'm not saying that I think Jonny Flynn is going to set the world on fire in a Rockets uniform. Frankly, I'm not expecting him to crack the rotation. But I do believe that Morey took a calculated gamble on a player who could quite possibly surprise a lot of fans and win the primary backup PG spot, either allowing the Rockets to trade Dragic or to increase his own trade value. Or, who knows? He could even be a Rocket beyond 2012.
I think your right in some ways. Lull's peak interest as an overseas trade should be right around the corner. Many teams are getting a good look at him during this lockout offseason as well so I know that Lull is still in Morey's plans as a valuable trade piece to the right team, and if he's not included in the trade, more than likely the Rockets are shipping off a good number of guards that he could fill minutes for in the future.
I can't see a team wanting to trade for Miller after this season and his salary would only be used to match a salary. Having the cap space for Miller's contract works just as well at matching salary. This trade was done at a time that the salary cap was expected to shrink. 800k is still 800k off the books and it would have mattered a lot more if the cap was lower. I would be very happy if Flynn makes himself worth keeping.
