Okay folks, it's time for me to come up with another wild a** trade idea. So, Houston, Chicago, Denver, & Minnesota come on down. First off, I'm going to make some Assumptions (A) & repeat some of the Known Variables (KV). This post is going to be rather long, but bear with me, because it really does come together. KV#1 We want to dump Cato/Walt & to a lesser degree LOS's salary for cap space. KV#2 We have 5 #1 picks to work with (#13,18,22,Detroit's owed pick, & the Drew obligation). KV#3 Chicago can't trade any of their future #1's until they pay us back. KV#4 Unless Denver's pick this year ends up in the top 3, they will most likely, have no picks at all in this years draft & they are over the salary cap, but will have the $4.1 mill exception. KV#5 Minnesota has no #1 picks for the next 5 years & they are over the salary cap, but will have the $4.1 mill exception. A#1 We don't get Webber. A#2 Shandon will opt out of his current contract. A#3 Chicago is planning on opting out of Miller's contract. A#4 Houston will opt out of LOS's contract. A#5 Neither Chicago or Denver will get one of the top 3 picks in this upcoming draft. A#6 Tim Floyd still believes that he can motivate Cato to play to his full potential. I don't think that anyone can honestly say that Cato doesn't have the talent $ abilities to be a monster center, if he can be motivated. Now, the trades that I'm going to propose can't happen until after the Lottery drawing or whenever trades are allowed again, whichever comes later. If either Chicago or Denver get the top overall pick, you can quit reading this post. This trade proposal works with RealGM for last years salaries & hopefully, will only need minor tweaking to work with next years salaries (I guess that should be A#7). In order to simulate Shandon's salary in a sign & trade, I had to add two other players in the simulation to get the numbers to come up to my salary projection of $5.6 mill, but I'll leave them out. Here goes: Houston sends Shandon/Cato/KT/Detroit's pick/Drew obligation to Chicago. Houston sends #22 pick to Denver. Chicago sends Fizer/Artest to Houston. Chicago sends Miller/second round pick to Denver (as a condition of releasing them from the Drew obligation). Denver sends Cheaney to Chicago. Denver sends LaFrentz to Houston. We would still have the #13 & #18 picks, along with these players under contract: C: Collier PF: LaFrentz/Fizer SF: Artest/Walt SG: Mobley PG: Francis for a total salary of $25,095,032 (this also includes the Maloney albatross). We then sign our FA's & Marc Jackson to these numbers: Jackson: $6,000,000 Moochie: $1,500,000 Dream: $4,500,000 Colson: $380,363 Langhi: $465,850 for a total of $12,846,213. When added to the already existing contracts, the total is $37,941,245. We then have two options with the remaining draft picks. We could package them with KT (if we don't send him to Chicago) or Walt's expiring contract in order to move up in the draft for a shot at Battier or another impact SF (sorry about this Heypartner). The second option, which I personally like, is to trade Walt & the #13/18 picks to Minnesota for Szczerbiak/Garrett. We would then release Garrett, so that Minnesota could resign him. That way they have Walt's expiring contract next year & 2 #1 picks that they could keep or trade away for more picks. This is assuming that Szczerbiak is not considered untouchable (A#8). IF (and that's a big IF) all of these manuevers fell into place, we would have a lineup of: C: Dream/Jackson/Collier PF: LaFrentz/Fizer SF: Szczerbiak/Artest/Langhi SG: Mobley/Colson PG: Francis/Moochie for a total salary of $37,914,485. If we assume the cap to be $43,000,000, then we have $5,085,515 left over to resign MO. We'd probably have to put Langhi or Collier on the IR. The salaries that I used for LaFrentz/Artest/Fizer/Szczerbiak came from RealGM, so they might not be right, but they should be close. This would be a tough deal to pull off, but it would give us a deep, talented, & young team without having to take a chance on any rookies. Any comments, other than it will never work? ------------------
Can I get the Cliff's Notes version? ------------------ I'm about to boldly go where many men have gone before.
It seems that Denvers motivation for doing this wouldn't be strong enough to get rid of LaFrentz for the #22 pick and Brad Miller. I would say he's worth far more than that. Also, I think that Minnesota is going to stay with Sczerbiak for a while, so I doubt we could pry him away from them. Plus, the package you mentioned to get Wally would probably be enough to get a player that meets our more critical needs - a rebounder/shotblocker. ------------------ Founder and President of the Houston Homers Club(HHC) - Are you a homer? Join now! The Rockets will be NBA champions. Believe.
You guys are jumping the gun on the LaFrentz trade rumors. Plain and simple, wait until our coaching/gm situation is confirmed. If Issel's back, it wouldn't surprise me to see him traded (stupidly, much like Issel). However, if we get a real GM, LaFrentz will stick around. ------------------ Nuggets4 This space for rent!
You're welcome to my notes, but if you can figure out what I was trying to do from them, you're good. Even I got lost trying to figure out my own notes. ------------------
They would also get Chicago's 2nd round pick, which would be the 29th pick overall. I based this trade on the rumors that LaFrentz might be moved this off season & the fact that they need a true center to fill the middle. They could have a starting front line of Willis/Miller/McDyess. That'd be a pretty big front line, even in the west. Or they could go with McDyess/Miller/Posey for a little more quickness. It's just a thought. I'm obviously looking out for the best interests of the Rockets. Even if this is no where near what eventually transpires, it just goes to show that, with cap space & all these draft picks, we've got all kinds of options. Dreamers unite! ------------------
Part one is a Three team deal with Houston, Chicago and Denver : Houston gets : Marcus Fizer Ron Artest Raef Lafrentz Chicago gets: Shandon Anderson Kelvin Cato Kenny Thomas Calbert Cheaney The pick Detroit owes us(Turkcan) Release from obligation to us for pick(Drew) Denver gets: Brad Miller The #22 pick(from Houston) The #29(2nd Rounder) pick(from Chicago) Part two, we sign these Free Agents : Jackson: $6,000,000 Moochie: $1,500,000 Dream: $4,500,000 Colson: $380,363 And pick up the option on Dan Langhi. Part three, a trade between Houston and Minnesota. Houston gets: Wally Sczerbiak Dean Garret(waived and resigned by Minnesota) Minesota gets : Walt Williams(Free agent after next year) the #13 pick the #18 pick. Sincerely, Cliff. ------------------ Founder and President of the Houston Homers Club(HHC) - Are you a homer? Join now! The Rockets will be NBA champions. Believe. [This message has been edited by Puedlfor (edited April 27, 2001).] [This message has been edited by Puedlfor (edited April 27, 2001).]
As far as I understand it, if Issel stays Lafrentz is gone, and that deal might work. But I still that LaFrentz would be worth more on the open market than Brad Miller - who is a big body, but not much else - and the #22 and #29 pick. I just think that Denver would get far more attractive offers than that. Of course, if Issel is gone, I doubt Denver makes many moves. ------------------ Founder and President of the Houston Homers Club(HHC) - Are you a homer? Join now! The Rockets will be NBA champions. Believe.
Thanks but no thanks. I like signing Jackson but I want Webber too. And if we trade the pick I want a top 5 pick. ------------------ President of the Steve Francis, Jamal Crawford,Larry Hughes, and Charles Woodson fan club.
Thanks Cliff. I'm a big fan of your work. That is an awesome sounding deal for Houston. Jackson, Sczerbiak, Artest, LaFrentz, Fizer: a bunch of good to very good young players picked up for low draft picks, and our unwanted parts? I wish! And I'm not sure that Floyd will be around next season in Chicago to reunite with Cato. ------------------ I'm about to boldly go where many men have gone before.
I think you have to add KT and/or #13 going to Denver (if 13, take out #22), to make it a little closer. Also, I don't think the Minnesota part would happen. Maybe something like Fizer+change for Scz. One more note, Early Bird Mooch, pencil him in at 600K, and we can give him up to 4.5 mill, and go over the cap to resign him ------------------ "That's been a lifelong dream of mine." -Vince Carter, after laying it in on a breakaway, much to the Vancouver crowd's displeasure. [This message has been edited by NIKEstrad (edited April 27, 2001).]
When you guys said #13, I thought it was Cato. Then I realized it was the pick ...... ------------------ They couldn't stop him in the early 90s; now they can't stop him in the 21st century -- Bill Worell on Phoenix defense on Hakeem
This would be highway robbery for the Nugs and Rockets... What do the Bulls get besides wasted cap space? I would love to have that team for the Rockets... ------------------ "Awesome baby!" Dick Vitale
On my first draft of this plan, I had Posey going to Chicago instead of Cheaney, but even I knew that Denver wouldn't accept that deal. Puedlfor, Do you think Denver would go for it if, as Nikestrad suggests, we included KT & substituted the #13 pick for the #22 pick? The deal would still work as far as the cap goes. If Minnesota won't go for the deal, then does anyone think that Vancouver would send us Shareef for Walt/#18 & 22 picks? They would acquire a total of $10 mill of cap relief by next year & 2 mid to late #1 picks this year in a deep draft. This would mean that we wouldn't have enough money to resign MO though. ------------------
http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1002,76%257E27581,00.html Well, it looks like Issel is staying. Does that mean that LaFrentz is available & at what price? ------------------
Someone please shoot me. With that #$(%&@$# back in charge, we're screwed. Knowing Issel, we'll give you LaFrentz for a 3rd round draft pick. ------------------ Nuggets4 This space for rent!
excellent find toddie. I had a feeling Issel would stay in some capacity, even if not as head coach. It wouldn't have made any sense for Denver to let their top assistant (Lucas) talk to another team, if they were planning on getting rid of their head coach. ------------------ "That's been a lifelong dream of mine." -Vince Carter, after laying it in on a breakaway, much to the Vancouver crowd's displeasure.