We will be set at power forward if we can just sign Jamaal Magloire to a mid level exemption. I can't imagine it costing much more to sign him after this sub-par year. Also, I don't think there will be a lot of room for him since they have Aldrigde, Frye and Oden. Our team would look like this... PG- James SG- TMac SF- Battier PF- Magloire C- Yao Bench: (athletic swingman) Head Wells Landry Brooks IR Novak Hayes Magloire could also play some backup minutes at center. Now that would be some monstrous depth! What makes that really scary is that it's actually plausible. Thanks to the draft, we have a little bit more depth. We have enough depth here to make a decent trade for that athletic creating swingman that Tracy has been wanting. I'm sure we could find a trade involving Kirk Snyder and Sura (their contracts expire at the end of the year), as well as Rafer and Lucas.
You are joking? We have nothing... Thanks to the draft we are worst off. We just filled a guaranteed roster spot with a NBDL player. We have nothing. I am only hoping Lior shines and the Rockets can pick up McDyess or Mikki Moore... and that's not knocking my socks off. The Rockets got no better and the Spurs are widening the gap... Suck draft no matter how you try to swing it. I hope they know something I don't know. Morey said all along we would draft best available and that player would not help right away... The players we got were worst available and may never contribute!
I can't post yet, but Portland will probably buy out Stevie's contract. If he signs with the rocks then we will be trading rafer, bsura, vspan, and/or head. from cbs.sportsline.... "Steve Francis will be bought out, which means the Blazers will have plenty of money to sign their impressive arsenal of young talent to extensions and maybe bring in a key veteran here or there down the road. "
Actually I'm not joking and here's why... How can we possibly be worse off after the Draft? The Draft is probably the cheapest way of picking up talent. We gave a guaranteed roster spot to Aaron Brooks? Yeah so what? At the very worst he will ride the pine for about $800 thousand per year. Being from Oregon, I've watched his game quite a bit. I really think that out of all the players to come out of U of O, that his game was by far the most NBA ready. A lot of people complain about Brooks because of his height, but have people already forgotten about how TJ Ford is absolutely flourishing? He is only 6' and this past year he averaged over 8 assists per game! Earl Boykins is 5'5", went undrafted and has averaged over 15 ppg and 4 apg the last two years! We all know about Iverson at less than 6'. Let's at least give him a chance before we pass judgement. He was told that he was expected to go anywhere between picks 21-35. So why should he have gone to the NBDL?! The power forwards we heard the most about were McRoberts, Glen Davis, and Fazekas. Other teams had doubts about them too. That's why when they sipped past us they want about ten picks later. Don't know much about Fazekas, other than he is supposed to be Novak with a little bit of defense. Josh McRoberts was the "star" during one of Duke's worst years in recent history. The last highly touted fat star that came out to the NBA was Tractor Traylor. He was a huge bust. Glen Davis may be the same! Sean Williams seemed to be Eddie Griffin part two! Only instead of hitting his teammate in the face in college he took hits off a pipe! Who wants those troubles on our team? None of these guys are clear standouts over Carl Landry. San Antonio is widening the gap because they grabbed Tiago Splitter, who isn't even expected to play next year? Did you expect Houston to get a future all star out of this draft? I don't think they did, but both players should be reliable role players (I hope). As far as not having anything to trade, why would expiring contracts not be attractive to teams wanting to make some cap room? The contracts of Snyder, Sura and either Rafer or Head should be pretty enticing. Also, we have an exception if I remember right. Hey Old Man, have some patience! Remember, Rome was not built in one day!
magliore is a center...hayes is ok as a starter in the regular season, but we need better in the playoffs.
The reason why I said that James would start is becausing I'm realling hoping that he will be included in a trade for either our next playmaker, or power forward. Maybe that's just wishful thinking. By the way, in my last thread, I know that the contracts of Rafer Alston and Luther Head, aren't expiring, but we could lessen our log jam at guard if they were included in a deal with our expiring contracts.
The MLE should be spent on a perimeter player. There are no pfs on the market worth the MLE. Their PF MUST come by trade.
Please I have never called anyone Dumb before, but I feel tempted after reading your post. The Rockets might take another 5 years before Morey gets it and puts a championship team together. I hope not but we will just have to wait and see.
Please stay civil and respectful. I never said that the Rockets were set to be a championship contender. I simply was stating that they were on their way to having a better team than they did last year. I mean if they were able to sign Magloire, trade for Mike Dunleavy and then they have Brooks and Landry, is that really a disappointment? According to Real GM, to get Dunleavy all Houston would have to do is trade Alston, Sura and Snyder. They are looking to rebuild right now, so there is a chance that they would be wanting to get under the cap. Then if we signed Magloire, we would be set at PF. PG-James SG-TMac SF-Battier PF-Magloire C-Yao Bench: Dunleavy Wells Hayes Brooks Landry Wouldn't our team be much better?
If we can get Magloire at a reasonable price, it'd be great. The PF and C positions are essentially interchangeable in today's game. Plus it'd make for an interesting high-low attack if Adelman is really set on using Yao's perimeter skills more. Adding a post player who can score and rebound well is never a bad thing. Plus he's pretty mobile and agile for his size.
Magliore is actually a plausible option. Tall, bruiser, an interchangeable power forward-center type. Rebounds well, can defend, physical and has some offense to boot. He would be a perfect complementary player alongside Yao . And, its also possible that he could available for a reasonable price. Im surprised only a few have mentioned him as a possible power forward option . Now, if we can only subtract the glut we have on the one spot - then were almost done...
Magloire is only 29. He may get better offers than the MLE; however, a definately starting job along side Yao, on a playoff team is a mighty tempting situation for anyone. We should definately have a real chance to grab him. Now, if someone comes in and offers 4 yrs/ 28 mil, well, there's nothing we can do about that. Personally, I don't like the idea of Mike James being our starting PG. He's not a true PG (at least Rafer is). I love him off the bench, but starting minutes as our floor general is not ideal. If we could work a deal for a high caliber PG, we'd be able to get rid of Alston and James, while keeping Brooks and V-span as our backups (way more upside).
Maglore at this stage of the game is a backup C. He just doesnt fit next to YAO as a PF. Anyone we put next to Yao has to have quick feet. And that's precisely why the Rockets did not draft the likes of McRoberts, Davis or Fazekas. Maglore will probably get some team's full MLE. Portland could do a S&T with Maglore to some other team, but I have a feeling they don't want to take on the salary, unless it gets them back a decent range shooting SF.