Checked out the waiver wires after reading about Rick Rickert being waived by the Twolves. They also waived Blake Stepp-- the big but heady PG from Gonzaga. Give him a shot. The Twolves PGs are Cassell and Troy Hudson. There's no shame in not being able to beat them out. Could he be better than Ward or Lue in due time? I wouldn't mind Rickert either. Bye Spoon. This is a transitional year anyway. Hey Minnesota's the #2 ranked team in the West. We are down at 4-6 somewhere in spite of having two of the Top Ten players in the entire NBA. You gotta question our depth. Who would you all like us to take a look at?
They waived Stepp? We should take a look at him, I know a couple of us were pretty high on him during the draft.
In 4 preseason games of his rookie year... Harsh, man! Isn't he a great shooter with 3-pt range? He's got size.
Dude, watch some games before you start popping off about Spoon. He had 11 points and six rebounds in 19 minutes last game, or very close to those numbers. If you think for a second Rickert is better than spoon then there's really no point in talking basketball with you.
Spoon is our only big man who actually likes rebounding and is kind of good at it. If we drop anybody, it should be Gaines, who has shown that he is good at absolutely nothing.
Is Spoon your cousin or something? Spoon is an okay player, but he won't be around beyond this or next year. We already have Juwan and MoT at the 4. What's wrong with developing a young power forward who has some skills? Say hello to Spoon for me!
Who's going to take Spoon's contract? He was traded for Moochie Norris who is in a position to have his contract bought out by the Knicks. Both the Knicks and Rockets knew it was an exchange of players not extremely relevant to the goals of the club. However, Spoon at least has a knack for rebounding. It's not like he's out there being a statue. He'll contribute when given the chance. My guess is that Spoon will stay with the Rockets for the remainder of his contract which will allow his cap number to be removed going into Yao's contract post-rookie which is a huge bump up even if it is not max.
There's nothing wrong with developing a good, young player. Unfortunately you're not making any sense in the means of doing just that. Spoon makes 5 million a year, he does rebound, can hit outside jumpers that Cato wasn't hitting, and if CD was to honor your request to waive spoon, he would be obligated to pay 5 million dollars that counts against the salary cap. All this just to sign Rick Rickert, whom left the University of Minnesota way too early, and develop him. If you actually thought things out you wouldn't have started this thread.
Here is what was on the Wolves' homesite about Stepp: Stepp, a 6-4, 194-pound guard from Gonzaga University, appeared in five preseason games for the Wolves, averaging 6.2 points (.500 FG%), 1.4 rebounds, 1.2 assists and 12.6 minutes per game. Stepp was slowed by a sprained ankle as a member of the Wolves' summer league team, but played in four games; his best outing was a 12-point, six-assist night vs. Milwaukee on July 9. He was chosen by the Wolves in the second round (58th overall) of the 2004 NBA Draft. He earned Associated Press All-America Second Team honors last spring after netting 14.6 points and 6.7 assists per game while leading Gonzaga to a 28-3 record and an NCAA Tournament appearance. I was disappointed we didn't take Blake Stepp in the draft. We took some little guard and traded him for for a guard (Spanoulis) we won't see for a year or two, a la Malick Badiane. I haven't given up on Reece Gaines as a future point guard, but he has shown even less than I expected.
Thumbs, He sounds intriguing...why not grab him and see what he can do. I really don't like our PGs, we should have at least one guy who is being groomed for the future.... DD
After the draft I thought we might pick up Steve Blake from Washington or Chris Duhon from Chicago since they have a glut of PGs (Kirk Hinrich, Ben Gordon and Frank Williams are all under contract). Now Chicago apparently has decided they like all of them and Blake is entrenched as the Wizards' backup PG. Stepp is big, steady, smart and a very good distributor. He is the type who could flourish feeding T-Mac and Yao Ming.
I never suggested that we just waive Spoon. If he is that valuable for us, he can be that valuable for someone else. With the few minutes that Spoon seems likely to get, I'd rather get a developmental guy in there. This guy sounds like a more atheletic Matt Bullard...
Surely not. No one is. Did you not hear? Rusty has accepted a head coaching job in our community. I saw him at a birthday party last Saturday. We rubbed elbows. Here's the latest crop of unemployeds. Damn President Bush! Oct. 28 Atlanta releases Lonny Baxter and Donnell Harvey Cleveland exercises option on Drew Gooden Chicago waives Gary Trent and Cezary Trybanski Golden State waives Brandon Armstrong Milwaukee waives Tommy Adams, Juaquin Hawkins and Jelani McCoy Minnesota waives Anthony Goldwire and Kasib Powell New Orleans waives Tremaine Fowlkes and Nate Williams San Antonio waives Ruben Boumtje Boumtje Oct. 27 Denver releases Mitchell Butler and Melvin Sanders L.A. Lakers waive Nate Johnson and Ike Nwanko New Jersey waives Damone Brown and Darius Rice New York waives Tracy Murray Phoenix exercises option on Amaré Stoudemire San Antonio signs Mike Wilks and waives Marque Perry ========================================= How about Lonny Baxter and Darius Rice?
Hmmmmmm.....Ruben Boumtje Boumtje is available again. I wouldn't mind having him as a third center. Yao's injured elbow, although not serious (I hope), demonstrates the need for one more true center.
