Rockets running out of time: They must trade the Big 3!

The big 3 salaries (Francis, Taylor, Cato), that is.

Yes, it's true that we've made the playoffs for the first time in 5 years, but I truely expect us to go 4 & out. If we play Sacramento, San Antonio, or the Lakers, it could be a real ugly early exit. We're good enough to just get into the playoffs, but so are over half (16) of the 29 NBA teams. The difference being, we don't have the talent to get past the first round.

That's why I believe that we have to choose whom we're going to build this team around & clear as much salary cap space as we can. I believe that Yao is our future, as do many others on this board. So, I'm going to throw out an idea, that will most assuredly piss off the Francis lovers, but put us in a much better financial position, surround Yao with some solid talent, & leave us with enough cap space to pursue a top tier FA that compliments Yao's game, or some additional role players that'll give us good quality depth at every position.

Before I start, I'd like to repeat what I've said in some other threads. Francis is a super talent & will someday be the Superstar that he's destined to be. The problem right now is, he's being forced to play in a system that doesn't utilize his main strength. That strength is the ability to beat anyone off the dribble, drive to the hole for the dunk, & draw fouls. He's an average, at best, shooter. With Yao clogging the middle, more than half of Francis's arsenal has been neutralized. For Yao to be fully effective, he has to be under the basket. Thus, one of them has to go & 7'5" 300 lb. centers with a soft shooting touch, good hands, great court vision, & solid passing skills don't come along very often. Bye bye Francis.

Now, the reason I stated we're running out of time, is that Yao's rookie contract will be ending in 2 years, or, after the 05/06 season. At that time, he will most assuredly get a max contract. With Francis & Yao max'd out, we'd have very little wriggle room & that combo doesn't make me think of Kobe/Shaq. While Yao's still got a ways to go, I've seen enough improvement from him in just his second year to believe that he's the one I want to build my team around. So, I'm looking to get some young talent to grow around Yao & contracts that expire after next year in this trade. While I want fair value for Francis, I'm not going to let that be the guiding force.

Houston sends Taylor/(future #1 pick?) to Seattle.
Seattle sends Antonio Daniels/Jerome James to Houston.

Houston sends Cato/Nachbar to Memphis.
Memphis sends Battier/Outlaw to Houston.

Houston sends Francis to Chicago.
Chicago sends Hinrich/Chandler/Pippen to Houston.

I hope you take the time to read the rest of this explaination before you start ripping the trade apart, but just in case, Pippen will never step foot in Houston!!! He'll be released immediately.

Anyway, this trade is actually 3 different trades rolled into one. I just combined them to see if it would work. It does.

The Seattle Times

According to this article, Seattle is looking for a bigger PF to replace Evans & school Collison. Taylor is a solid shooter, adequate rebounder, & can play some minutes at the center position. In this deal, Seattle moves a center that they're no longer enamored with & give up their backup PG to get a player they once wanted very badly. If I have to, I'll give them a future #1 pick to take Taylor. James's contract expires after next year.

Memphis gets a solid defensive center in Cato & a very athletic SF in Nachbar, in exchange for 2 bench players. Now, while I may call Battier & Outlaw bench players, they are also a very integral part of Memphis's rotation. However, the addition of an athletic big man like Cato & Nachbar's potential/hustle to replace Battier, Jerry West should be tempted to do this deal. Outlaw's contract expires after next year.

Chicago would finally get their first marquee player since Jordan left. Teaming Francis with Crawford, Curry, Pargo, DuPree, & Johnson would make a team that can get up & down the floor in a hurry. Add to that, the no worse than 6th lottery pick & possibly #1 overall, & that'd be a pretty exciting young team with Francis leading them. Pippen's contract expires after next year.

By doing these trades, Houston moves our 3 biggest contracts, picks up some solid young talent, & gains cap flexibility. I'd like to keep Cato & Taylor, but their contracts are just too big for backup players. I know Cato is our starting PF, but he's too limited offensively & we need to improve on that. I'm not sure if Chandler is the answer, but because he's so young, we should be able to trade him away, if he doesn't work out.

Our current projected team salary for the 05/06 season is $48,703,000. With James, Outlaw, & Pippen's contracts expiring after next year, we will drop to about $34,605,000. This year's NBA salary cap is $43,840,000. If we assume that the cap will go up in the next 2 years, that should put us about $10 million under the cap (not counting rookies), with Yao, Mobley (unless he opt's out of his contract), Jackson, Spoon, Piatkowski, Chandler, Battier, Hinrich, & Daniels under contract. Hopefully, CD can convince Mobley to wait one more year for his big payday.

Our lineup next year will be:

C: Yao/James
PF: Chandler/Spoon/Padgett
SF: Battier/JJ/Outlaw
SG: Mobley/Piatkowski/Griffin(IL)
PG: Hinrich/Daniels

James, Pippen, & Outlaw's contracts would either be off the books, or they'd be resigned (not Pippen) for a lot less at the end of the year. Which, might mean we'd have to find a backup center & some depth with $10 million at our disposal. The next year we max out Yao & resign Mobley to a new contract & start racking up the Championships. Okay, rip away.

P.S. The list of FA's at that time will be very impressive & will include our own Battier & Chandler (Their qualifying offers were included in the $34,605,000 team salary). With $10 million ($20.55 million, if you don't include Chandler & Battier's qualifying offers), we could make a push for some RFA's or sign & trades.

Restricted Free Agents

 

Why do you feel this way? Is it because it requires you to read? Did you even read it? Were you able to comprehend what was being said? For that matter, can you read? Or, are you just an idiot that likes to post stupid responses?

Sorry about that everyone. Sometimes I have to vent at the morons that feel it's necessary to drive their post counts up when they have nothing to contribute.

 

I don't pop into threads & post smart *ss comments. If it doesn't interest me, I move on. It's not like the title was deceptive or anything. If posters don't like trade threads, then why do they waste their time posting in them?

Yes, to your question. I enjoy posting trade threads & I put a lot of thought (albeit, sometimes misguided thought) & time into them. That's the extent of my contributions to this site. So, as a result, I sometimes take offense to the child like behaviour of some posters & in return, I act like a child right back at them.

 

After posting that I meant to go back & check. Crap, I forgot. I'll go back & fix it now. Thanks.

 

Thanks.

I agree about JJ & even thought about putting him as the starting SG. JJ, Battier, Chandler (if healthy), & Yao would give us a nice balance of offense & defense.

And yes, none of these trades will ever actually happen. If they did, the Rockets would have to fire CD & put me in charge. I wonder what the job pays?

It's all in good fun & only meant to make you wonder, "What if?".

 

If I had to take ERob, then the deal's off. It would completely defeat the plan of picking up young talent & gaining valuable cap space.

Again, the GSW deal would defeat the plan of gaining cap space. AJ & Foyle would have to be signed & traded & I don't believe the CBA will allow you to sign a player to a one year contract & then turn around & trade him. While Murphy would be nice, Dunleavy would be redundant with Battier on board.