We will see an improve backcourt if Luther Head gets some minutes. I'm still not too sold on having Swift even if he decides to sign with Rockets.
We may not get decent contracts by trading our expiring contracts, especially when considering the fittness to JVG's system. Most of the players the original teams would like to trade for expiring contracts are very possiblly overpaid in our viewpoint. So it also depends on our situation before deadline. If we are close to be a contender at that time, CD may trigger some trades; otherwise CD may choose to let them expire and hunt in the next summer.
if swift accepts MLE, the next focus should be re-signing Deke, then re-sign Barry or Bowen if we can't find anybody out there.
If anything, we should just hold on the the expiring contracts til the trade deadline. Things should open up then.
Thanks Drex...that's exactly why i opened this thread...we gone in circles talking about who the right power forward is for this team, the fact of the matter the rockets have clearly set their first priority on Swift. I have a feeling if the rockets get Swift, they will play it passive and look to sign one more guard with the LLE with hopefully someone like Sprewell or Houston will bite on it. That way, the rockets can at least buy themselves sometime to fill their SG problem for the long term. Sprewell or Houston would just be a stop gap measures, however, they are clearly better basketball players than guys like Sura, Wesley, or Barry. They will then probably resign Deke and Barry, and like an above poster stated, take all their expiring contracts and use it as trade bait throughout the season.
Bucker wants 1/2 the MLE while Barry can be had for the vet minimum. As for a guy who can start at 2 and also play the 3. How about DerMarr Johnson. He started 40 games at 2 for Denver last year and is 6-9 so can also play backup 3 for T-Mac. I know I post alot about him but I'm not really on his jock I just think he could be had for the LLE.
If we sign Swift we will have the best front court in the league. Not b/c Swift is great, but he is an OK all around player and sandwiched between the best SF and 2nd best C. As far as our backcourt, no need to panic. Step 1: (After Swift signs) is resigned Mutumbo and Barry with our own veteran exemptions. Then our line-up is: Yao DM SS JH Tmac ? (worst case bring back Padget or Bowen to help here) DW JB LH BS MJ LH Step 2: is shop with the LLE. If we can get someone like Demarr, Kittles, Spree, Bucker, James Jones, Willie Green, Flip Murray (I don't think Seattle wants him back), fine, if not wait for longer in FA. No need to reach. If Step 2 is unsuccessful, no need to panic. Not until October will we have the lux cap causalties (guys like Finley/Houston, etc). Step 3 is looking for late bargains. Trying to find our next Jimmy Jackson type player. If Step 2 (early SG/SF for LLE doesn't happen) and Step 3 (late LLE bargain doesn't happen), we can begin the season with the team above (add a Padget or Bowen for depth in the 3/4). It is not as bad as it looks, our backcourt became much weaker versus the Mavs because they were stretched across 3 positions and Sura wasn't healthy. Step 4, is IF Sura isn't staying healthy, Head is just too inconsistent to contribute yet, AND Wesley is giving us nothing, we can use our plentifull expiring contracts to make move before the trade deadline. So in summary, if Swift happens with the MLE, we have lots of options to address SG/back up SF and absolutely no need to panic. BTW with Sura/James/Head I have little interest in Daniels via S&T (unless essentially for James or Sura). If Head can do anything, AD just won't add that much over these guys, certainly probably not enough better to justify major costs. I'd look for an excellent offensive threat who was not another 1-2 type combo/tweener guard. Someone who brings something really different, like sign and trade [Sura or James + pick + Ward/Baker] for Stoudamire or Mobley--both deadeye shooters when left open and more explosive, veteran, offensive players than the alternatives.
Could the rockets sign Swift to a 1 year deal, see how he does then sign him to a bigger contract a la Mo Taylor?
It's possible, but neither side wants this. The Rox want him locked up for a longer period for the sake of stability. Swift wants to lock in $30-35MM guaranteed, not $5-7MM.
please don't trade anymore 1st round picks, management. that's the ONLY way to add impact players without breaking the bank.
If Swift signed for the MLE (which would be a dream), here would be my offseason plan: 1. Resign Deke and Barry 2. Trade Wesley + 2nd Round Pick for Eric Williams 3. Package Mike James and/or Picks for a SG Yao-Deke Swift-Howard TMac-Williams Trade-Barry Sura-Head *Eric Williams could start at SF and move TMac back to SG if needed.
Sorry, screwed up the formatting... I offer a previous post from one of the 14,000 A.Walker threads...: HTML: I never thought I'd say this, but I would MUCH rather sign SS to the PF slot than An-tween. And if we do make that our MLE deal, then we'll have an immediate need to make up for a lack of offense in the backcourt with a S&T for someone like A.D. For those who are slamming Cat, this is mostly guilt by association (ie, Francis). I think Cat's anger at being traded was justified. His b-ball I.Q. is plenty high enough to have realized he was going from one of the most respected team's in the league to an organization whose future was questionable at best. And also, remember that Cat was the KEY acquisition for Sacramento to bolster their offense after trading Webber. It worked too, they just didn't have enough total team "D" to offset Seattle's three perimeter shooters. Cat is an all round better player than "An-tween" and will vastly improve our ability to defend on the perimeter, which (unless you weren't paying close attention) is the most obvious reason we lost to Dallas. Yes we could have used more offense at key points when T-Mac was worn down, or when Yao was in foul trouble, and think how nice it would have been to have Cat and M-James wreaking havoc on the Mavericks backcourt. Cat takes it personally when someone like Stackhouse thinks he can take advantage of him. Imagine Cat on Stack, MJ guarding Jason Terry and T-mac on Dirk...the Mavs would have been lucky to average 90 per game...And yes, Cat comes with some baggage and some attitude, but there's no such thing as too much passion on the floor. One last thing... if this is just a matter of bruised egos between Cat and JVG, I say get over it and sign the guy. We're a LOT closer to vying for a championship than Denver and Cat will get us a lot closer than anyone on the F.A. market accept for SAR. the latter fits in this thread better anyway...
I like your plan GM Gucci Only one exception: Williams is not a championship caliber team starter. I think the salaries don't match either. The only way T-Mac moves permanently to SG is if we acquire a rally good SF--Johnson, Harrington etc--and that's not going to happen. You can't just tinker whenever you want with the position of a franchise player. By design, Yao and T-Mac are the two pillars at the 5 and 3 respectively. The players we acquire/have will fit around those two, not the other way around.
I don't need to be a moderator to tell you that you've gotten a thread that I was enjoying reading off track. Think about it. You're reading a thread about an existing trend where people seem to be reading books more often again instead of watching TV, and I come in and say something abrasive like: "Lets say we do start reading books often again.....then what? Then we get magazines back....We will have resigned all the focus of our disdane back to our entertainment....and we will have done it willingly! Please say no to reading books more often! Watch TV instead!" Wouldn't you be annoyed at me? Not to mention xomox simply stated his opinion, and you came back by basically calling his opinion a "joke." Believe it or not, there are PLENTY of other threads to state your opinion on this matter. I'm quite sure I'm not the only one who doesn't need people getting all emotional over something as trivial as a power forward, especially IN A THREAD SPECIFICALLY DESIGNED TO AVOID such a discussion. There are better things to start insulting and yelling at someone over. Grow up.
That's definitely along the lines I'm thinking... provided we sign Swift for the MLE, I don't think we have the proper assets to sign our future in the backcourt this offseason. We sign a stopgap player... D. Johnson, Buckner, Rush, Kittles, Houston, Finley, Sprewell, whoever. Then we use our expiring contracts as bait throughout the season (as you say), and if we have no luck there, we use our MLE next year to get our future guy.
I think Williams could start on a championship caliber team. Just look at Bruce Bowen, Nazr Mohammed, Ron Harper, Luc Longley, Horace Grant and many others. You have to have some role players in there.
