But we're not picking him up because he was a 1st overall pick. We're only pick him up if he's cheap and can provide us with 10/8ish stats. He's no 1st rounder. But he's not a bad player. Just depends on his contract.
Next year we'll probably get players of the unknown name...Like GATER said...Mikki Moore and Allen Henderson Or, Like you said... Zaza Pachulia. Building depth will be a key goal next year (as opposed to landing a star PF).
Didn't he play like 5 minutes against the Rox in a playoff deciding game for Memphis. If he was that good, he would be logging more minutes, a team like Memphis that is scratching and clawing to make the playoffs would be putting their best team on the floor and Swift wasn't a first option and when they played us he wasn't even a second option. We can't afford Swift, he didn't sign a one year deal last year to settle for the MLE this year, I'm sure he has expectations of 8-10 mil and I am glad the Rox can't afford him.
I like Pachulia, I still remember when he ripped the ball out of Yao's hands, we need a tough Euro player on the team. Gadrazic is also intriguing, I think he can be moved to PF. Some of it depends on what happens with Deke, I know he likes it here and I know we would love to keep him but this is a business. If we can't get him back then we will need to get a guy that can play the 4/5 let Gad or Pac.
I know this is kind of obvious, but why not Donyell Marshall? Defensively, he is mobile so he can guard the quicker 4's in the league and would be able to do those half court traps that Howard did with our guards sometimes. Has long arms and can block a shot or two and grab some rebounds. Chances are we are going to play Dallas in the 1st round of the playoffs. If we had Marshall he could matchup decently with Dirk and other mobile PFs in the league. Offensively Marshall has 3pt range to space the floor and is willing to attack the basket for offensive rebounds. He is pretty active. True he is around 30, but he still looks like he has plenty of gas in the tank. We could offer him the MLE (which might end up being a max of 4 years depending on the new CBA) and a starting spot at PF. That might be pretty attractive to him. We dont get all that "younger" with this move but we can use the draft this year and next year for that. And use the MLE to fill the PF spot. I mean, from looking at our team we are a lot closer than I would have thought to potentially playing for a championship so being able to add a quality 4 to this team to compete now seems to make sense. And then use the draft to start to build up our youth for the next wave of players to play with Yao and Tmac. Getting Marshall would allow us to move Howard to backup PF which would thereby give us more depth. Marshall could also swing over to the 3 spot and give Tmac a rest which would be a plus.
I can't believe the thread has gone this long without this interruption...but the name is "Alan" Henderson (that is unless there is a phenom elsewhere that has flown under alot of folks radar who goes by the name "Allen" Henderson). I propose a general rule that any guy whose name is misspelled by multiple posters isn't good and/or memorable enough to sign as a free agent.
I've thought about trading for Cassell too.. only problem is he is an expiring contract too. Rockets won't have anything they want.
I say sign Wilcox, he can be had for cheap, trade off Spoon, VB, and Moochies contacts with a first round pick for better players with or without bad contracts and draft the best player available at our pick.
For some comparison purposes - Per 48 minutes Howard(32) - 17.3pts on 16 fga(1.08 PPA), 10.2 Rebs, 45% FG, 0% 3PTS, 0.1 blk, 2.8 Ast, 2.3 TO, 4.2 PF Abdur-Rahim(28) - 23.4Pts on 17.2 fga(1.36 PPA), 10.2 rebs, 50% FG, 38.5% 3PTS, 0.7 blk, 2.3 Ast, 3.0 TO, 3.9 PF Marshall(32) - 21.8pts on 17.3 fga(1.26 PPA), 12.5 rebs, 44.3% FG, 41.6% 3PTS, 1.3 blk, 2.4 ast, 1.2 TO, 4.0 PF Evans(25) - 10.0 pts on 7.1 fga(1.41 PPA), 18.9 rebs, 48% FG, 0% 3PTS, 0.4 blk, 1.5 ast, 2.7 TO, 5.2 PF Pachulia(21) - 15.7 pts on 12.2 fga(1.29 PPA), 13.0 rebs, 45.2% FG, 0% 3PTS, 1.2 blks, 2.1 ast, 2.4 TO, 5.7 PF Gadzuric(27) - 16.0 pts on 12.1 fga(1.32 PPA), 18.1 rebs, 54% FG, 0% 3PTS, 2.9 blk, 0.8 ast, 2.2 TO, 6.0 PF J Smith(30) - 17.2 pts on 13.2 fga(1.30 PPA), 11.5 rebs, 51.4% FG, 0% 3PTS, 0.8 blk, 1.4 ast, 1.7 TO, 4.7 PF. O Harrington(31) - 21.2 pts on 15.9 fgs(1.33 PPA), 10.9 rebs, 51.2 FG, 0% 3PTS, 0.7 blk, 2.1 ast, 3.2 TO, 7.1 PF Chandler(22) - 14.0 pts on 9.2 fga(1.52 PPA), 17.0 rebs, 49.4% FG, 0% 3PTS, 3.1 blk, 1.4 ast, 2.6 TO, 5.9 PF
