Rocky Mountain News July 3 :Houston offers brent barry 4 year 24 million deal

The more I keep thinking about it, I would rather see the Rockets invest their money in Derek Fisher instead of Brent Barry.

I like Barry's game, but the contract the Rockets are reported too offer seems to much for a guy his age.

 

This is the right move. Brent Barry is a dual threat on offense; somebody who can beat you with his passing or his shooting, and he scored his 10 points last year on an average of about 7-8 shots per game, so he knows his role.

I'm not scared off one bit by the contract because it's not that bad. 5 mil-7 mil in the last year for a player of barry's ability is a fair deal, even at age 32 because his assets are his vision, passing and shooting, which decline much slower than athletic ability.

He gives the Rockets exactly what they need; a guard who knows his role, plays within his limitations and shoots lights out which will be very helpful considering the double teams T-Mac/Yao will command. And it creates flexibility in that the rockets could still down the line get a "true" pg and Barry slides over to SG still bringing his quality skill set to the table.

Also, on his defense: Barry by all accounts is a solid help defender and a bad one on one defender, so he will be fine in the Rockets system. Good team defense can and will cover up some players individual flaws in that facet of their game. Plus, in LA and Seattle, they didn't exactly preach good defense night in and night out like Van Gundy does.

I'm a firm believer with Van Gundy coaching this team you get him good offensive players because his calling card is as a great defensive minded coach, so that way you blend the best of both together. Plus, with two dominant players like Yao/T-Mac, the point guard isn't really the engine of the offense like they would be on other teams. The skills the rockets point guard needs in this system are good entry passing, shooting touch, basketball smarts, and the ability to pass and get others involved if necessary. Barry fills those qualities to a T. Also, his veteran experience will help this team continue to grow even more, as right now the rockets have only jackson and howard as players I would consider veteran guidance on this team and howard is iffy in that regard.

Anyways, I'm not willing to settle for an inferior player(ie fisher) unless the money difference was enough to get a great backup big man and fisher will want around the same figure as barry.

Also, on arroyo, the Jazz for one would have matched an MLE offer unless they are crazy, and two, he's not a great fit here because of his shooting. Barry allows the Rockets to stretch defenses giving Yao and T-Mac more room to operate. Now, if barry's cost grows considerably in this FA market, then I'm all for looking for other options if they come much cheaper. But that is unlikely regardless of what the spurs do with ginobili(they should keep him anyway).

If the Rockets are fortunate enough to get Barry, the next course of action is getting a banger who can complement Yao down low and do the dirty work. But Barry is the guy that fits here the best.

 

Barry may be 32, but he had a very good season at 32. With shooting and passing as his main skills, he should age slower than a player who relies on speed or a great vertical leap.
It's not hard to imagine that he has at least two very good seasons left and one more where he can be a valuable contriubutor. As for that fourth season, that might be the cost of doing business. If we want Barry and we want that great outside shooting to beat the double teams that Yao and McGrady are going to face, we might have to accept paying him a lot of money when he's barely hanging on at age 36.
But there's also a chance he has four good years left, and that salary won't seem so bad at all. Barring physical injuries, great shooters tend to hang on a long time (Eddie Johnson, Reggie Miller, Dale Ellis). I would rather take a chance on Barry at age 35 or 36 than a player like Steve Francis at the same age.

 

Why then didn't Arroyo test the FA market to give himself a chance at more money...he can't be that risk-averse....this just doesn't make any sense.

 

Barry is a great talent, but he does have some glaring weaknesses (soft, lack of defense, a little too laid back, old, injury-prone). If the Rockets had players around him that could hide those weaknesses, I would be more enthusiastic about getting him, but as I look at the current roster, we only have players that will further enhances his weaknesses.

We’ve got 3 soft big men (Yao, Taylor, and Howard) to go along with Barry's softness. Then we have two guards (JJ and Mcgrady) that are known to be laid back, low intensity type of players. One of them is getting up there in age, just like Barry. The other is injury prone, just like Barry.

Seems like even though Barry will make our strengths stronger, he’ll also make our weaknesses weaker.

 

Because maybe he is loyal and wanted to give the Jazz more money to upgrade their roster, since Sloan did give him his big break last year. Or maybe he knew the jazz would match any reasonable offer for his services and decided to just resign. Personally, I vote for the former since it makes the most sense.

But regardless, point aside, Barry is still a better fit for this basketball team as currently assembled, and unless Barry's contract demands skyrocket, I'd still sign him over arroyo. The Rockets need more veteran experience, and barry brings a better skill set for this type of team than arroyo would have.

 

Why do people keep saying this.

JJ, Howard, Piatkowski have been in this league forever.

TMac, Maurice Taylor, and Tyronne Lue can also be considered "veterans".

If we keep Mark Jackson, he's ancient.

Boki barely plays. Gaines is a project.

Other than Yao, which players who actually contribute significant minutes have less than 4 years of experience?

 

I wouldn't exactly call Piatkowski or Howard "leaders" and Taylor/Lue either. Barry probably doesn't qualify either, but adding someone with his experience can't hurt, since the Rockets are ready to seriously contend this year. You are right there are plenty of 4 year and up players on this rosters though.

But I have no problem conceding that point. It is low on my reasons for preferring barry to any other FA guard out there. The big thing is his shooting, passing, court vision and size plus the fact he has proven he can score with limited shots. Arroyo is not the shooter Barry is and that is the big reason I preferred Barry all along unless the price for Barry was much more unreasonable and I don't think it is.

Also, to the guy who suggested Barry makes the Rockets "soft." I wasn't looking to go into the season with howard or taylor as the starter unless I exhausted all options. But regardless Fisher isn't good enough on defense to overcome barry's strengths as a player and that is what matters.

 

No disrespect, but this just cracks me up!!!

Marquis Daniels just got 40million for playing good the last month of the season, and in their first round exit.

Nash had more loyalty then Carlos, and took the money and ran from his best friends (dirk, finley).

Toronto just signed a scrub to 24 million, and etc...................

This was just plain stupid on his agent part. Any other agent would of gotten Carlos way more money.

 

Well I was just giving a plausible explanation on my part, I'm not being delusional about players wanting money. It would seem either Arroyo is loyal to a fault or the Jazz took advantage of his agent. But still I don't think Utah would have let him walk if a team offered the MLE either.

 

No, they still have Manu to probably match starting at 9 million. And they look likely to resign Bowen, I assume starting around 3 or 4 million. Even if they have the cap room (I guess depends on when Bowen's contract is in effect) I don't see them going hard after another swingman like Barry starting at like 6 million (to outbid us significantly) unless they decide to not match Manu.

Since Parker handles playmaking, if the just want another shooter they can get Peeler for less than half the starting amount on a shorter contract. Also, if they tried starting Barry at the 2 and Parker at the 1 they would have the most porous defensive back-court in the league.

It just doesn't look to me Barry is a good fit or value for them if they reduce his role to that of an overprice shooter.

 

Although not probable, i wouldn't discount the notion that he would sign for less b/c of loyalty. I mean didn't Mobley do the same with us? (Then again, lesson to Arroyo.......Mobley isn't here anymore)

 

Marquis Daniels only got to start the last month and in the play offs but he played well all year starting in training camp.


Nash has a home in Phoenix plus his parents live in Phoenix. Phoenix also gave Nash the biggest pay day he could possibly get. Factor that in with the fact that this is the last time Nash will probably have a chance to get a major payday and it stands to reason that he would take the Phoenix offer.

 

He was likely not getting many offers if the Jazz let it be known that they would match any offers. Why would you tender him an offer if you knew that the Jazz would punish you by taking you out of the market for 15 days by waiting to sign him. Now you have wasted your time setting the market value on a player that you never had a chance at and in the mean time other free agents that you wanted are signing with other teams.

 

Lets just hope that we dont rush out and throw a bunch of money out at someone who does not seem to be worth it. We have seen in the last couple of days the rediculous amount of money being handed to scrubs ( A. Foyle, Hedo, ) Nash although I dont consider him to be a scrub got way too much money for his age.

 

year 1 : barry backed by lue, reece gaines and lue trash minutes.

year 2: lue's contract is up, barry backed by gaines.

year 3: barry / gaines split minutes.

year 4: gaines backed by barry.

year 5: barry's contract is over.


i understand i'm ignoring marc jackson / wilks etc, but this is how i like to look at it (optimistic view).

 

Could be the case, but his agent played his hand like a fool. Whats the hurry to agree to a contract. Look how Hakeem, Moochie, David Robinson, etc.... dragged out their free agency and got maxium dollar for themselves.

Compared to other contracts being thrown out there (kid in Toronto, Turkgulo?, Okafur, Daniels, etc...) that makes his $16 million look like chump change.

 

I'm not saying that it makes sense for SA to go after Barry, but the Turkoglu move plus the fact that Denver will make a huge offer for Barkley's beloved Ginobili does make it more likely Barry will go there. Anyway, if Marty Burns is right, then besides the Sonics and Rockets, the Spurs, Nuggets, Pacers, Lakers, Celtics, Warriors, and Sixers are all interested in Barry. I think that we shouldn't be surprised if he doesn't end up here.

 

I hope it's not Snow, but Rudy T is trying to keep Fisher.

From ESPN.com:

Jeff (Cold Spring Harbor, NY): DA - Who's playing point for the Rockets next season, Mark Jackson (not)? What's going on with Dampier? Based upon Okur and Camby, he should be getting a lot of dough.

David Aldridge: (2:42 PM ET ) I still believe it will be either Derek Fisher or Eric Snow.

 

Not even close to being on topic...BUT..

Wardellp....did you go to A&M? I used to work with a guy at UCS named Wardell and the last name started with P.

If thats you...IM or email me via this site. Look at me profile.

As you were everybody.