While I would make the straight up trade, Cato for Jamison, in a second, I would like to add that Jamison is still not a team's answer at power forward. He's a better rebounder than Mo Taylor, but not by much. He is also not much of a defender. If you make this trade, I think Jamison becomes your small forward and you are still in the market for a power forward.
Let's not panic. This is a panic move. It took several years and a lot of panic mentality....signing Norris so Dallas wouldn't, Taylor for a hush-hush promise to big bucks so Seattle wouldn't take him, Maloney, Price, Cato, signing SF to a max contract (like he deserves it). We do not need to take on other bad contracts/ underachivers. We still have a young nucleus and will probably make the playoffs for the next few years. In the meantime, we need to start making some smart moves in the draft and trading whichever underachivers for draft picks. I would rather trade a Cato for a Reece Gaines type player. It is too bad that EG had to go. He is the type of guy who may save this team long term. Hey, if there's a GM who will trade something worth having for Taylor, Cato, Norris or Nachbar, great. So far there are apparently no takers. We do not need more trouble. We need patience. Yao bashers, you have given SF five years of rope and now want to get rid of Yao after less than 2 years. If they are not trading Steve then the fundamental make-up of the team is not going to change. We are stuck and must wait for the team to blossom. Why they can't come together like Utah has, I have no idea but there are a lot of teams who would like to have SF or Yao, much less both of them. Patience!
stevel - More than I think of Jamison, but not by much. But there are larger issues IMO. First, I have a strong doubt the Rockets could turn Kelvin Cato into Jamison or Abdur-Rahim without losing Mobley and picks. Perhaps more. (And if we're talking about losing Francis, I want more than Jamison for sure). I guess I just have more patience than the average CFans poster. I'd rather see how this team performs for a whole season before assessing needs and making mass changes. Especially when those changes involve a huge, lengthy contract like Jamison's or a huge short one like SAR'S which will need to be renegotiated in 2005. Making needed moves will be much easier next summer: * Francis loses his BYC status. * Charlotte can draft as many as 29 players (one from each team) voiding some current contracts and making some restricted FA's unrestricted. * The ~$7m trade exception lasts until pre-season 2004. IMHO, the solution is far deeper than "the Rockets need more offense, therefore the solution must be....go get someone who puts up points". The Rockets are in the position they are in because they have overpaid for underachievement. I would rather see them be value conscious for a change. Prime example. I'm glad we didn't overpay for Posey because Rod Grizzard and Ronald DuPree are tearing it up in the NBL. I would like to see value more than just accumulating high dollar contracts as knee-jerk fixes.
GATER, I assume that by the first statement above that you think Francis is better than Jamison. My question for you is why. I don't think Steve is as efficient a scorer as Jamison and I think with the ball in his hands so much that Steve does a lot more damage to the continuity of the offense than Jamison could possibly do. I'm not saying that Jamison is the answer but I think he is better than Steve. And I think 4+ years is more than enough patience to see some personal improvement in his decision making, passing and dribbling. I have seen zero and every year we make excuses for him. I just think its time to say good bye to a very talented but very undisciplined player.
I agree with you for the most part, but I remember MANY games where the Grizz posted him up in the 4th and he took over. This is one of the measurement tools I use for how good a player is, what they do when the game is on the line. I have not seen enough of him to know about his overall game, but we are SO weak at the forward spots, if you could use Cato and the exception then I would look at him. Alot of posters here talk about his D, but sometimes I wonder if they have actually seen him play more than the 2 times a year he plays against us. I know we tried to get him before when he was with Memphis but we couldn't get a deal worked out.
z The Grizz sucked, what taking over are you talking about? Jamison is head and shoulders better than SAR. Jamison fits this team better. DD
Excellent imagination, but I just dont think CUban is stupid enough to do this........... Jamison is actually a undersized, but true power forward. He has excellent low post movements and above-average rebounding skills. He is the type of player who is not afraid of going down low, make physical contact with the opposing players and score or draw the foul. This is exactly the type of player that Houston needs. Now, the only problem with him is his size, however, there are many other examples of undersized PFs in the NBA who are posting excellent numbers. (Elton Brand, for example). The main reason why he became a tweener later in GS and was not able to shine was because GS had too many good options at PF spot, such as T.Murphy, Fortson, etc.... So GS coach and management had to move Jamison from his natural PF position to SF, which he couldnt get used to very well. So, if he were to play in Houston, I see him having the ability to average roughly 18 points, 9 boards, 2 assists and 1.5 blocks per game... but once again, I just don't think Cuban is stupid enough to do this... ........................................................................................ unless................. Dallas starts to lose 10 games straight and become desperate for a decent C........
Where in my post did you see me say the Grizz were good? I said I have seen SAR take over. I DID NOT say anything about the Grizz. Bad teams can have good players. There were times against us he played very well in crunch time, but most of the time his team came up short. That is not a negative for him though. I also like Jamison, but I do not think he is head and shoulders better than SAR. For years reporters and coaches have called SAR one of the most underrated players in the game, the best player you haven't heard of, etc... I also know that they tried to get him once before, and I also think he would be easier to get the Jamison - IMO.
crash - One player being "better" than another is purely subjective. And being a better player doesn't make you a better fit for a team. For example, at the 28 game mark last season Dallas was 24-4. By adding "better players" the Mavs drop to 16-12. Subbing Jamison for Francis at this point in the Rockets' season essentially gives you this lineup... 1) Moochie 2) Cat 3) JJ 4) Jamison 5) Yao * Can that team play any D? * Is that lineup worth paying Jamison $78m (Nowitski money) over the next 5 seasons? * Why do we have an $8m backup PF? * Does Jamison have the range to draw opposing PF's away from Yao? * Jamison is listd at 225#'s. He's much smaller than Taylor. My original comment was (and still is) to not change the team until the end of the season and to not make a knee-jerk reaction to "add a scorer" because we need points. IMO, for all of his defensive orientation Van Gundy has given the Rockets more offensive options (real time decisions) than they can presently handle. Let's give it more time. FWIW, Francis' Efficiency Raing is 15.81 and Jamison's is 16.78. One less TO or 1 more assist and Francis is marginally ahead.
I just don't think we can sit here and say what kind of defender that Jamison would be under JVG. Jeff has certainly had a huge impact on all the Rockets this season from a defensive standpoint, I mean opponents only averaging 39% from the floor? That is just ridiculous. Jamison comes in with a lot of the same bad raps that Steve has or had defensively, a lot of athleticism but for what ever reason does not play defense. JVG would do a lot to change that IMO. Also Jamison has been as good as any Mavs player this season if not their best so far this season. The problem with the Mavs has been Dirks health and the fact that Nash has not had a very good season so far. But Jamison has been awesome for Nellie. No way I want Moochie as the starting PG. Any move to send away Francis would have to land us a point guard as well or would have to be followed up by a move that gets us another PG. I am not saying that Jamison would come in here and solve all of our problems or that he is the best answer for our PF spot but I don't think there is any question he is a huge upgrade on the offensive end of the floor. Jamison's quickness would create problems for opposing teams when we are on offense. He is an elite scorer. As far as Steve is concerned he has been the Rockets worst enemy with his bad decision making, poor passing and turnovers, not including last nights game. I have seen his act for over 4 years now and probably have not missed more than 10 games in that time span and I just do not see a lot of personal improvement from him. I hope it happens because with his athletic abilities he would be awesome if he just played sound, solid and simple basketball like last night. I am rooting for him but we have been teased before only to see him revert back to his clueless ways so I am just a little skeptical. BTW, how do you feel about JJ bringing the ball up the court? I don't know if I am making to much out of it or not but I believe taking that pressure off Steve really helped him when it came time for him to run our half court offense.
I think the Rockets should keep the offense simple. Having Steve having to funnel through different plays in his mind is just asking for a turnover. Other than isolation, the Rockets should focus on variations of the pick and roll. I would try to minimize the decisionmaking and thinking.
No one's brought up the point that we're trading him to a division rival. Sure it's "just" Cato, but I am pretty sure he knows enough about our team to do a more than adequate job defending Yao and MoT. And I wouldn't like the feeling of getting beaten by a Dallas team with Cato on it. As for Jamison...do we really need another scorer? Even with our league-leading opp. FG%, we STILL need guys that can defend. As far as our best defenders are, we need more guys like Cato and Jim Jackson. We need guys that can defend. That's why I agree with Gater and just let things go with the flow right now. See how things pan out...well that's if the Magic doesn't call us wondering if we're interested in Mcgrady.
How is Antonio McDyess doing after coming back from his injuries? What kind of contract does he have? If he still has some potential left, should the Rockets try to make a trade for him?
Has anyone else been watching Rockets games this year? Because I have, and I distinctly remember that if it weren't for Cato's defense, we would easily be .500 at best. Dallas' weakness in the past years is their low post defense. Bradley is crap, and walker, Jamison, and Fortson can't be counted on to play really good defense. Cato, on the other hand, has shown he can contain almost every PF/C in the West, including Shaq and Duncun (twice!). IN fact, the only big man I remember actually have a GREAT game against Cato is Zach Randolph. Dallas would defenitely do that deal, but I don't know if JVG would let CD do that trade. Cato, as bad as he is on offense, could come in handy down the stretch and in the playoffs.
Think about this, if the Rockets would have put a package together involving an expiring contract (Rice 9m) and Griffin 3m that would have ben the 12m needed to get either Jamison or SAR, but instead they gave Rice away for Amechi who doesn't even play and just released griffin. They totally blew the rice contract situation big time.
Coaching can make a difference as we can see with memphis now. Had that team had a Hubie Brown with SAR and Bibby, that team would be just as good now. I seriously doubt had West been there,SAR and Bibby would be playing somewhere else. I doubt if west was there that they would have drafted Swift when they already had a 23yr old double double guy already there. I orgot the gm after stu jackson, but he made some terrible moves for his brief tenure.
