I know that a we don't need another Willis thread but I wanted peoples thoughts on if we are better with Willis than Jackson. I actually think we are better off with Willis than Jackson. We get a real proven 7-0 footer w/o a long term contract. A guy who is durable, smart and has a great nickname (T-Rex). I think CD is god....
On the downside, we've got a proven guy w/o a long contract. Willis is a known quantity, which is good. But that quantity is only solid, not great. Jackson has potential to be better (or, granted, worse) than that. I think I'd rather have gambled than taken the safe course, given the druthers. The other point is where I think we really lost out: the short-contract. Willis is old and his contract is expiring. Which means, in a year, we may have precisely no value left from the medical exception we were granted. That's fair to the league, but we had an opportunity to add an asset. The medical exception allows teams to actually add another piece above and beyond what they could do under the salary rules. If we had Jackson, we'd have a 6-year contract that we could play or trade. Plus, we'd have Bird rights when the contract finally expired. Even if Jackson sucked, he'd be an asset to a team that wasn't likely to get under the salary cap again. With Willis, we won't likely be able to get anything of value in trade for him ever. When the current contract expires, he likely retire or sign elsewhere via FA or maybe return to our bench for awhile. But a sign-and-trade is unlikely. That's the thing we missed out on: a tradeable commodity.
But on the upside, we now have Willis and Williams in the last year of their contract for 8mil, we could trade them to a team looking to go for the FA market next year.
If Houston thought we were better off with Willis, why didn't they get him instead of signing Jackson and waiting for GS? Jackson would have been my preference, no contest. Plus, how old is Jackson? We'd have him in a 6 year deal, and he showed great promise last year. Willis will definitely help us. But MJ was my choice all along.
I think we offered MJax 6 years to make his contract a bitter pill for GSW to swallow. The Rocks underestimated GWS ability to swallow Having MJax around would also have made it easier to trade MoTay when Griffin takes over the league and MoTay wants more PT.
Who says they didn't want Willis for now and will go after Jackson, or pick up someone along those lines, in a trade/free agent move next year?
The thing I love about Willis is that he's a Rocket's type of player. All around wholesome guy with good work ethic. Doesn't whine and is a good leader model. Also, I found this little section about Marc Jackson at ESPN.com: --------------------- ... The latest, greatest example of why he'll get it is Warriors forward Marc Jackson, who anticipated a big payday for last season's impressive showing and went on a spending spree. Dropped six figures in jewelry. Bought a Bentley and a million-dollar house. No wonder he was buggin' that the Warriors weren't going to pay him enough to cover all that before the Rockets' six-year, $24 million offer sheet came through. Jackson lucked out that Houston got an injury exception for Mo Taylor or the Warriors' low-ball plans might've worked. ... ---------------------- I can't say it means anything... only hints about some of MJ's ethics and direction.
Apparently, many didn't hear/read the first few times, but..........Marc Jackson [is not that good]! Griffin and Taylor will eventually play in the same line-up. Why? They complement one another's game. With Morris at the SF, Houston has an athletic frontline that can defend, run, score (from the post or perimeter), rebound, and shave. University (Mach-ing 3) Blue
JAX was okay but he wasn't our ideal fit, IMO. He's too short if you want somebody to compete against Shaq. If that is true, then we'd be stuck for 6 years. With TRex, we've got a perfect stop gap to carry us through this year in a respectible manor under the circumstances. Then we are freed up to go after a better suited individual via trades and/or FA next summer. I'm happier with TRex than I am with JAX. This Rockets org. just never ceases to amaze me. A brilliant group of folks to build the Hakeem era teams and now the rebuilding teams. I'm pumped and ready for the season to start.
I'm happy we got Willis, but I would have taken my chances with MJ. He is young and would have grown with the team this year, but GS will make sure that's a year away. Willis will help, but this could be his last year, so we'll be right back at it next year. Jax wanted to play with his hometown friends and would have been able to play 4/5. That stuff about a Bentley and a million dollar home, I'm sure Francis and Cat and everyone else have the same. Must be nice. Noone can stop Shaq, you can double him or zone him or use up your fouls on him, but you really can't stop him. The only way we can beat them, is by expoiting their weaknesses at the 1 and 4. We have the 1, Jax sure wouldn't hurt playing at the 4 with Cato or Collier drawing him out. It would be intresting if we could resign Willis and trade for Jax next year. I think this will be K9's last year as a Rocket. He's a good player, but I don't know how effective he'll be in the playoffs, and Eddie is at least another 25 lbs from being ready.
