I know that Vecsey dreams up a lot of things, but I also read a similar blurb in the NY Daily News. I realize that both of these papers are from New York, but it does make me wonder if there could be some validity to the reports. The Vecsey article indicates that several teams are inquiring about a trade for him. Could the Rockets be one of those teams? If so, what would we be willing to give up to get him? I'm assuming that Francis/Mobley/Griffin/Taylor would be the only untouchables & that we'd have to take on Abdul-Wahad's contract. So, how about this trade? Houston trades: Jason Collier $1,280,040 to Denver Houston trades: Dan Langhi $465,850 to Denver Houston trades: Kenny Thomas $946,920 to Denver Houston trades: Walt Williams $5,000,000 to Denver TOTAL: $7,692,810 Denver trades: Raef LaFrentz $3,755,142 to Houston Denver trades: Tariq Abdul-Wahad $5,062,500 to Houston (BYC Value $3,796,875) TOTAL: $8,817,642 TRADE ACCEPTED Would it help us or hurt us? Would we have to give up Taylor or Griffin? That's a lot of promising young talent (imho) to give up for a player that has, at times, struggled this year. Another article in the Rocky Mountain News reports that the Nuggets are in need of a post up player that can score down low. KT would offer them that. Or, do you think that Denver is waiting until Golden State can trade Jackson, with plans to make a run at acquiring him? Any thoughts, other than it won't work or it sucks? Here's the links to the 3 different articles that I mentioned. http://www.nypost.com/sports/knicks/5961.htm November 27, 2001 -- LIKE many teams, the Knicks are making a pitch for Raef LaFrentz. Most suitors understand they must give up something "almost unfair" to obtain the 6-11, 3-point shooting, shot-blocking free agent-to-be. Scott Layden, meanwhile, insults the Nuggets' intelligence by offering the variety of packages that couldn't get New York a reappearance of [Miami's] Vladimir Stepania. http://www.nydailynews.com/2001-11-27/Metro_Sports/Basketball/a-133373.asp Layden Seeks Golden Nugget By FRANK ISOLA Daily News Sports Writer arcus Camby's return is not stopping Scott Layden from trying to upgrade the Knicks front line. The Knicks have expressed interest in Denver power forward Raef LaFrentz, who will become a free agent next summer and whose asking price may not be met by the Nuggets. http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/nuggets/article/0,1299,DRMN_20_889343,00.html The inside scoop on Nuggets? It's hard scoring there By Michael BeDan, News Staff Writer Avery Johnson screamed loud enough for anyone in the arena to hear it. "Cut to the basket," the Denver Nuggets point guard admonished, glaring at forward/center Scott Williams during a loss Friday at Portland, Ore. Sunday at Los Angeles, Williams cut toward the basket. Guard Nick Van Exel threw a pass to Williams on the perimeter, but the ball sailed into the crowd for a Nuggets turnover. Confusing times. When the Nuggets win, they win with jump shots. Denver's big men are big men only in the most literal sense. They are tall. "I'm a stick-and-pop guy, so you're asking me to do something I haven't done in a long time," Williams said. "Something I got quite comfortable doing in Milwaukee was setting up pick and rolls for our shooters and popping for an open 15-footer." He has yet to find a comfort zone in Denver. Even his jumper isn't falling. "It's been somewhat of a distraction having to handle some of the off-court things," Williams said, referring to his move from Milwaukee to Denver. "I have to block those things out and focus on basketball. I'm getting shots that I would normally pay good money for, and I'm not knocking those down. I'm not helping my teammates as much as I'd like to." Williams usually comes off the bench, which usually leaves Raef LaFrentz as the only player taller than 6-foot-9 in the starting lineup. And LaFrentz is more likely to bury a three-pointer than back down a defender in the post. Denver's primary post-up threat at the moment happens to be a 6-1 guard. And Van Exel is otherwise occupied, having to carry the Nuggets on his back. Until Antonio McDyess' surgically repaired knees are fully rehabilitated, things aren't likely to change. Someone asked Nuggets coach Dan Issel if he believed the Nuggets relied on jumpers too much Sunday in a loss to the Lakers. "Well, that's us," Issel said. "Without Antonio, we don't have much of an inside presence. We've got to live with the outside shot most times." To compensate, the Nuggets have relied on small lineups. McDyess averaged 12 rebounds a game last season. Rebounding is a group activity this season. James Posey entered the game Sunday tied with LaFrentz, both averaging a team-best 6.8 rebounds a game. LaFrentz's average crept up to 7.0 after he grabbed 11 against the Lakers. Still, when the season started, LaFrentz figured that his rebounding numbers would swell in McDyess' absence. Instead, LaFrentz is about one rebound short of his 7.8 average last season. But rebounding -- or the lack thereof -- hasn't hurt the Nuggets much this season. They have won the battle of the boards eight times in 14 games, including Sunday. The problem is that teams are aware the Nuggets' offense is Van Exel and, if Van Exel is lucky, a few others. Four starters scored at least 13 points Sunday, including LaFrentz. But often, Van Exel approaches or surpasses his 27.2 points-a-game scoring average, and no one else emerges. "Teams have really started to get up and play us on the perimeter," Issel said. "Both of our big guys that play a lot -- Raef and Scott -- are more pop-and-shoot guys than they are taking it to the hole. Because of that, (opponents) are having to get up and guard our shooters on the perimeter, which is exactly what they've been doing." LaFrentz and Williams won't be miraculously transformed into post-up guys, but Williams said they must at least create the illusion Denver can score inside. "We've become primarily an outside-shooting basketball team, and we're not shooting a real high percentage," Williams said. "We're not going to win a whole lot of games like that. We've been playing hard and winning games because we've been playing hard. But at some point, we are going to need more of an inside attack." McDyess is expected to return in late January or early February.
comeon...you want raef and ANYONE on your team worth even half a damn is untouchable. yeah, real nice. funny part is you questioned the deal on houstons side?! lol. so you offer your entire bench fodder (aka crap) for raef. sorry but we are no longer dying to dump wahads contract. he is valuble (to us at least). playing some intense ball so far. not worth dumping raef at all! but i would not be surprised to see raef traded to some team maybe within a month. defintely not for a trade like the one above, but something.
The first question I have is why would Denver want all that crap? The second question is why would we want to take on Olivier Saint-Jean and that ridiculous contract? The third question is, what is the fascination with Lafrentz and what are you going to do with Griffin, Cato, Mo, and Lafrentz? Only two can play at a time and we can't kill Cato and get away with it so that's quite a log jam with a bunch of large salaries, especially when Griffin is up. I'll take my answers off the air. Thanks.
I'd have to agree with Nugz. Maybe a month or 2 back they would have considered something like this just to get rid of Wahad's contract, but not now. Even had they been desperate to get rid of the contract I still doubt they would have taken up this particular deal. I mean cmon ... the only player worth a damn that Houston is giving up is KT.
Why not give up Mo Taylor and some of the crap? They might take that knowing he's young and pretty good.
Lafrentz is no long term solution. We have to wait out the Griffin development stage in order for us to be at the level Rockets fans expect the Rockets to be. I really don't think there any players available via trade that can take us to the next level.
I don't know why not. He's a shot blocking presence. He is young. He can shoot the three so he's not necessarily clogging the lane for Francis and Cuttino. He can play the 4 or 5 as Griffin develops into either a 4 or 5. Sounds good to me.
Good idea - Mo would help them out at PF next year!! But wait...... don't they already have an injured power forward...... one who rebounds ?
a mind is a terrible thing to waste. yeah can we please have your hurt PF who doesnt rebound or play D and is much worse than our all star PF PLUS makes a **** load of money. oh and please throw in 'some of the crap' too. thanks! THINK PEOPLE!
