What finishing touches would you put on the Rockets?

We've made the monster trade, but now we need to round out the roster. How would you go about doing it?

I'd finish the roster with these moves:

1) Trade Taylor to Cleveland for Battie/Ollie/protected future #1 pick.

Cleveland needs a PF to replace Boozer & would like to get rid of Ollie's bad contract.

Houston gets a player that can play both the 4/5 positions & is a better rebounder than Taylor. We would have to take Ollie's bad contract, but, fortunately, it's just $2.7 million this year & only goes up to $3.4 million in his 4th year. He also offers us insurance in case Lue decides to leave next year. The protected draft pick would be compensation for taking Ollie's contract off their books.

2) Next, I'd call Denver & see if they'd swap Tskitishvili for Piatkowski straight up.

Denver's looking for another SG & Piatkowski might fit their needs.

Skita has struggled so far in his career, but a 7'0" 225lb. SF is just too tempting to pass up & he's only 21 years old. I'd consider him to be a project.

3) Next, I'd offer Detroit part of the TE to S&T Mike James for a 4 year deal starting at $2.5 million. Otherwise, I'd just sign him to an offer sheet.

Detroit has indicated they won't match any long term offers that he gets. Doing a S&T for part of the TE would give them some compensation that they could keep & use for up to one year.

James really stepped his game up last year & brings a nice shooting touch from the field & behind the 3pt line. He averaged over 1 spg & has an A/TO ratio of almost 3:1. His FT shooting is pretty solid as well.

4) Next, I'd offer some more of the TE (~$2.0-2.5 million) to Phoenix for Keon Clark, or (~$1.5-2.0 million) to Orlando for Steven Hunter, respectively.

The benefit to the respective teams is the same as for Detroit In move #3. The first one to accept, gets the deal. Otherwise, I'll sign the player of my choice to an offer sheet outright.

5) Next, assuming trades 3 & 4 were done with the TE, I'd offer most, if not all, of the MLE to Stromile Swift.

Then, I'll sit back to see if Memphis will let him walk. Let's see if we can get a little pay back for them stealing Posey from us. Since Memphis is already $21 million over the cap, it's not real likely they'll match it.

6) Finally, I'd offer Rodney White the Million $ Exception.

Denver has given no indication that they plan to keep White, & since he's an unrestricted FA, they can't match the offer sheet.

I believe that White is ready to explode on the scene with some PT & would give us some additional depth at the 2/3 position.

If everything fell into place (& it won't), my finished lineup would look like this. Assuming of course, if I had anything to do with it (& of course, I don't. ).

C: Yao/Battie/Clark or Hunter
PF: Howard/Swift/Battie/Spoon(IL)
SF: McGrady/White/Nachbar/Tskitishvili
SG: JJ/McGrady/Nachbar/A.Griffin(IL)
PG: James/Lue/Gaines(IL)

The 2/3 positions would have to shake themselves out during training camp to see who's first off the bench. This would definitely be Nachbar's year to make it, or go the way of Langhi.

What would you do to round out the roster?

 

Oops. I forgot about Ollie. Someone would have to be waived. Since Griffin is in his last year, I guess it'd have to be him. Unless, he could be included in one of the first 4 moves. I wonder if Cleveland would want Griffin? The trade still works & he drops off their books next year.

C: Yao/Battie/Clark or Hunter
PF: Howard/Swift/Battie/Spoon(IL)
SF: McGrady/White/Nachbar/Tskitishvili
SG: JJ/McGrady/Nachbar/Gaines(IL)
PG: James/Lue/Ollie(IL)

 

Sane,

I wouldn't be real comfortable with that team. I'd be fine with the PG & PF positions, but if Nachbar, AG, & Pike don't really step up their games at the 2/3, we'd be just a starter's injury away from competing for a lottery spot. But, what really scares me about that team, is having Booth as our only backup center.

 

With JJ, McGrady, Nachbar, & Gaines to man the 2, I don't see how we would need Kittles.

You might be right, but I've been hearing that they've been trying to give him away. Since I look on him as being a project, I'm not sure I'd do the deal if I have to give up a #1 pick.

Only if he can consistently hit the 3. I believe that our offense is going to be more of a dump it down low & pass it out type of game.

Hmmmm......, I'm not sure how I feel about this one.

Again, you might be right, but by my best guesstimate, Memphis currently has 15 players under contract for next year @ ~$65 million & that doesn't include Swift, Tsakalidis, or their rookie Lishouk. When, & if, they sign those 3, they'll have a team salary of over $70 million. By the way, what's up with West & his fetish for 2/3 swingmen? He's got 7 or 8 of them. That's half his roster.

 

It's my belief, that to get Battie, we'll have to take something bad back. It's just a matter of how bad you want Battie.

 

Any players in mind? How would you get them?

 

Any names come to mind?