You have Battier playing 20 mins per game, but he averaged 35 last season. Given that, we only have 0-2 mins to fill not counting Novak. The Rockets are actually in pretty good shape heading into next season, despite trading a couple assets for 50 cents on the dollar. Alston[35]/(Spanoulis,Sura,James,?)[13] McGrady[38]/Head[10] Battier[35]/(re-sign Bogans)[13]/Bowen[0] Howard[25]/Hayes[20]/Novak[3] Yao[38]/Mutombo[10] Looking forward we desperately need help in the PF position as Howard deteriorates further, unless anyone is comfortable with a Hayes/Novak combo at the four. If Spanoulis can come over and be a contributor we are solid at the point. McGrady and Battier should be able to hold down the starting swing positions for a while, and Head is adequate as a backup 2, we need a backup 3 but Bogans would fit there. Obviously Yao is going to man the C for a long time, unless some unforeseen tragedy (like him demanding a trade) occurs. I think we target a PF with the MLE or use it to bring in Mike James or Spanoulis. We also have the trade exceptions to try to get a servicable PF or backup point. Best case scenario is Novak turns into a starting caliber PF and Spanoulis a starting caliber PG, which would leave us set as long as McGrady holds up. Maybe Badiane could even be brought in for some time backing up Yao.
We don't need a backup center. We got Lampe. (just kidding) The free agent class is sort of weak at SG. I like Harpring but he has a history of being injured (soft?). How athletic is he? Bobby Jackson too ... superb shooter, excellent handling, made of glass. We don't have any realistic shot at Flip Murray (Cleveland absolutely loves him), Jason Terry (can't afford). Bonzi is a long-shot possibility for S&T. Mike James is probably our best shot here ... but are we going to start him at 2? How does the rotation work out? I'd like to see what CD & Morey have in store.
the most likely would be: 1. mike james 2.chris wilcox 3. matt harping 4. speedy claxton 5. radman 6. jared jefferies 7. posey (don't know why we need him with battier) 8. reggie evans 9. sam cassel 10. bob jackson i think we would get mike james with the mle, and with the trade exception we can get sam cassel, speedy claxton, bobby jackson. maybe with the smaller trade exception we can get quiton woods? looks good, except for the pf and back up c, which i think cato could do it. but there is no way we can get him, he wants the mle. we get woods, jackson and james our line up is pretty good i guess except for pf. rafer/james/(vice versa) t-mac/bobby battier/woods/bowen/novak howard/hayes/novak yao/mutombo
My somewhat realistic choices. I'd probably put Wilcox first. The guy was a legit starting PF playing for Seattle.
Wilcox probably played his way out of Rox range while he was in Seattle. He'll probably get more than the MLE Rox can offer.
speedy claxton anyone? he gives us energy off the bench. do we need another backup center? do we need another SG? bonzi? if we cant get wilcox then what PF do we pickup? why would we sign radmanovic if we just drafted novak? are we really gonna have juho, novak, and hayes as our PFs?
