We want a Pippen to go with our Jordan, the guy that can be effective and efficient offensively and can give us that big time defense to make us a lockdown defensive ballclub........like the Bulls were. Jordan, Pippen, Rodman.........3 lock down defenders.
The Rockets have two great pieces, and some good role players. They just need more role players--that is likely to come from MLE signings, trades with expiring contracts or good drafting--not under the cap manovers. Not really accurate. Duncan and Parker they locked up with their Bird Rights. In todays CBA they could have done the same for Manu. In truth their cap space got them Rasha Nestoric--who they are trying to get rid of. It was their drafting that got them their championship team, not free agent moves or being overly conservative with cap space.
Well I'm one of the guys that believe that T-mac could be moved back to SG if we land an impact SF. Rashard with his size, shooting and overall offensive game would be an impact SF. But like it's already been pointed out, he's not a free agent next year, and with Yao's extension the rockets would be hard-pressed to make him a decent offer anyway. Fact is, we shouldn't be looking at clearing cap space and being a player in free agency next year even with all those expiring contracts. With two contracts totaling in the neighborhood of $30 million, it will be near impossible to add a top tier free agent and maintain any semblance of depth for the following season. If we are really looking to "Think Big" we should try to parlay those expiring contracts to a team looking to dump salary at the deadline. It's probably our best chance to make a splash bigger than the MLE for the next few years.
Think big? Moving Tmac back to SG? Forget Lewis at 9m. Get Peja Stojakovic instead for about the same price. He's just as crappy a defender and an even better 3pt shooter. Ok, he's even crappier on defense. Doesn't put that 6'10" body to use at all. On second thought, forget them both. If we're thinking big, 't we should at least factor defense into the equation.
Expiring contracts. How valuable are they really? There are 2 kinds of expiring contracts. 1) Good/solid players that are expiring and 2) Worthless players that are expiring. Teams try to trade for the first option, not so much the 2nd one. Right now the Rockets best expiring contract is Wesley, and assuming James will opt out, his deal. Ward, Moochie, Baker and Spoon are just about worthless. No one wants them. I can't find Clutch's post but Clutch made a VERY good post in a thread recently that detailed OTHER TEAM's expiring deals. The Rockets arent the only ones with expiring contracts. There are a number of other teams as well and many of them have good or solid players expiring that teams would be more included to trade for. We need to keep this in mind. Also, to get on point with the Sonics and Lewis. If Lewis is expiring and the Sonics feel he will leave, they will trade him for GOOD players. Not garbage. Otherwise they would just let him walk for nothing. Expiring contracts dont buy you good players that are expiring. They buy you bloated contracts that teams are trying to rid themselves of that player. Baron Davis, Stephon Marbury are good examples. Lewis wouldnt be an example of this in your scenario. Unless the Rockets had cap room (which they wont), I dont see anyway Lewis comes here unless he is willing to take the full MLE when he becomes a FA. My guess is he wont. We should THINK BIG, but think about someone other than Lewis. If you want to THINK BIG with expiring contracts, think about teams that might be blowing up and wanting to trade their star player to start over. You could give expiring deals + 1st round pick. And think about teams in the EAST like this that would be more willing to send their star player West than within their own confernece.
I look at it this way: We could have made some noise in the playoffs if Juwan had not been injured. Hell, we DID make some noise... took a very good team to 7 games. Now we will have Howard AND Swift. I was thrilled with last year's team and I think with one year of chemistry under their belts they will be better. I totally agree with you, lee. Lets get rid of our deadweight NEXT year and open up some cap space for some key championship pieces.
If you have TMac and Rashard Lewis on your team. They both start. Who cares about the offical "position" they play. The Portland Trailblazers should have selected Michael Jordan back in 1984. Clyde and MJ , they both are SG, would have both started and dealt with it. Some guys are athletic enough to handle the situation and create as much a mismatch for the other team (or maybe moreso).
There's also a couple of different kinds of deals that can be made for expiring contracts. 1. There's the deals where most of the salary is made up of bodies with expiring contracts. And a small part of it, with maybe a decent player that's not making too much. The Hornets did this last year when they traded Baron Davis for Dale Davis (who they cut) and Speedy Claxton. In this scenario, the Rockets would be filling up on expirings like Spoon, Mooch, Wesley, and including one decent player in the mold of James or Sura. 2. There are also deals done with moribund franchises that don't really know what they're doing. Such as when Rasheed Wallace went to the Pistons from the Hawks. In this deal the Hawks received Bobby Sura (before he jumpstarted his career playing PG in Atlanta), Zeljko Rebraca and Chris Mills. In this scenario, the Rox could very well take advantage of such rudderless franchises as Seattle (these guys are taking a tumble this year), Toronto, L.A. Clippers, New Orleans, Golden State (maybe not rudderless, but Chris Mullin hasn't shown that much at the rudder), Orlando, and Memphis if West resigns or gets fired. 3. There are the deals where you take on A LOT of guaranteed salary and toss in a couple of picks to seal the deal. For instance when NY traded for Marbury and Penny by sending out an expiring Mcdyess (who they let walk), Eisley, luggage (including Charlie Ward of all people), two Euros that haven't panned out and two draft picks. In this scenario, the Rockets might do a deal involving, Paul Pierce, Lafrentz, for Howard, luggage, Span, Badinae, our 1st rounder, and 2nd rounder from NY. When you take a closer look at a lot of deadline deals, they were done with resources not too different than our own. It just takes the right situation at the right time, and a willing GM/owner.
m_cable, you make some good points in your post. Bottom line is, it is all about "timing". Find the right time where a franchise is vunerable and willing to cut bait with a quality player and then be that franchise that jumps on that deal.
the rox defense was good when jackson was here and tracy was guarding 2's, its just jimmy was struggling shooting the ball and turning it over. mcgrady has been guarding 2's his entire career.
Leebigez- Exactly how do you plan to bring Lewis home in 2006? I posted above that he isn't a FA until 2009!!
It's not just about defense. EVERYONE seems to forget that some of the main reasons for trading Wesley for Jackson were improving our ballhandling, passing, and transition game. Getting Rashard and moving T-Mac back to the 2 would not help us much in those regards.. leebigez, I believe that you, as well as a lot of the other posters here, might be thinking a bit TOO big, and that you're overlooking some of the little things that made us such an improved team last season....
I didn't think JJ was that good on defense..seemed like anyone could drive past him..and he often sagged off his man to let them get more into offense..of course I do that too..and Steve Francis did it A LOT back in the day..and Tmac does it as well.
