I think you have the right idea there. Try your hand at a few good players but don't force the issue.... The only thing that makes me think Wilcox wouldn't sign with Houston is we have a similar style to the Clippers and it obviously didn't suit Wilcox's strengths as much. Even if Houston ended up giving up as much money as everyone else, it wouldn't help Wilcox's value down the line.
Some things for people on this board to get straight: 1) Neither Chris Wilcox nor Drew Gooden are coming to the Rockets. Both of them are restricted free agents. Both will want contracts far in excess of the MLE. ESPN.com just reported that Wilcox and his agent are a little ticked with the Sonics because they are "far apart" in their contract negotiations. Do you honestly think the Sonics are offering a fraction of the value of the MLE? No. The Sonics even said that re-signing Wilcox was the team's #1 priority this offseason. Wilcox will end up getting a contract from Seattle in excess of anything the Rockets ever could have offered. As for Gooden, his future is more up in the air. Either he'll re-sign and stay in Cleveland or he'll be signed and traded in one of the big trades Cleveland is looking to make. Either way, he'll end up getting more money than the Rockets could offer. Please, no more proposals involving those two. 2) PJ Brown and/or Tyson Chandler aren't coming here, either. From what ESPN.com is reporting, they are going to be traded for each other. Both teams fully intend to keep the player traded for. The Bulls see Brown as a veteran leader and good rebounder, as well as an expiring contract that will greatly help the Bulls' salary cap flexibility. The Hornets see Chandler as another piece of the puzzle as a shotblocking presence. 3) While I'd love to get him, the Rockets will NOT be getting Jared Jeffries if it's for the MLE. Like Wilcox and Gooden, Jeffries is a RESTRICTED free agent. Washington is not going to watch arguably their best defender walk away for another team's MLE. They'd match an MLE offer for Jeffries in a second. Or, better yet, they'd wait a week to screw over the team stupid enough to make such an offer (as other free agents take other teams' MLE) before matching. Any bid for Jeffries would have to involve a sign-and-trade scenario. Unfortunately, the Rockets do not have much, aside from the $4.2M TPE, to offer. All the Rockets can hope for is that Washington is afraid to commit a long-term deal to Jeffries and that we could give them some sort of luxury tax relief with the TPE. Bottom line: getting Jeffries, which would be awesome, is very unlikely to happen. 4) People on this board need to prepared for the possibility that Shane Battier does not start for the Rockets next year. Just listening to Carroll Dawson talk about the need for size at the SG position and "depth in the frontcourt", we all should at least consider that the Rockets envision Battier as serving the role of the 6th man for the Rockets. McGrady is obviously more comfortable at SF, and Juwan is our only true PF on the roster. While obviously Battier will be on the floor in crunch-time (quite possibly in the small lineup involving him at PF), he DOES add the "frontcourt depth" that Carroll Dawson was talking about, being able to come into the game as either a SF or PF (or even as a SG). For those of you who would be MORE upset at the Battier trade if he doesn't start, see exhibit A: Cassell, Sam. A high-caliber 6th Man is just as (if not more) valuable than a 4th starter. I'm not saying that Battier definitely won't start. Just prepare for this possibility.
If you really want to make a splash with a PF trade, you trade J.Howard, Sura's contract and cash (to cover Sura's salary) for Z.Randolph. If Randolph is worth having ala R.Wallace you do the deal. I believe the deal would work under the salary plus 25% rule. Why Portland would do it is to rid themselves of Randolph's contract and Randolph, Sura would come off the books after this year and it would free Portland to play their younger guys and Lafrentz. Advantages to the Rox, you get a young PF who can rebound and hit the 15 foot jumper, he would come here knowing Yao and TMac are the guys but it also gives us a legitimate 3rd scorer AND it goes with the idea of WIN NOW BABY.
Unless you've never watched Battier (which obviously many of you haven't) you wouldn't want Battier to be a PF outside of a few matchups. It's not that he can't do it, because he's probably a better PF than Howard. He's a fair PF. But he's a great perimeter defender. And taking him off the perimeter would negate his biggest skill. Look at it this way: would you start Ron Artest at 4 just to get Abdur-Rahim off the court?
When I read everything in this thread, the only good proposal is that from jsb! And maby it will be the only possibility to get a young and good starting PF! Randolph could help the Rockets with their "win now attitude!" Nice thinking jsb!
This is actually an interesting point. I agree that Battier can be effective at the four, he is much better at the three, but that pushes McGrady to the two. Now, that solves our "length" problem on the wings, but I also fear McGrady is less comfortable there and guarding smaller twos would wreak havoc on his back. We could use Battier to defend the two, but I am not sure how effective he would be against smaller guys either. Regardless, I think Battier plays both forward spots and McGrady switches between the two and the three. Assuming we keep Head and Bogans (and possibly Wesley), that would give us some flexibility of McGrady slides down to the three, but we still have a need for someone at the four. Though Battier will play some and Hayes could be a pleasant surprise, the only person of starter quality there is Howard. I am not as down on him as some are, but would much prefer a four who can play the five in small lineups, as well. That may not require a star, but a Lorenzen Wright type who can give minutes at both post spots; then when you need some shooting range at the spot, you could always slide Battier down there.
I agree with most of you posting in this thread, we do need a tall, strong and Athletic Power Forward. I am concerned about the mind set of the Rockets Management team, especially when it comes to making a creative trade to move Howard away from the Rockets. If we are really in the WIN NOW MODE then we must improve the Power Forward Position. Don't kid yourself that Battier can play this position as he isn't very athletic and is only 6'8".I am wondering who would be a perfect fit and is within our trading range?
Yetti, JH isn't rocket science. Nobody wants him because he's clearly in decline and has 3 years left on his contract. If we could trade him for a better PF the deal would get done. It has nothing to do with a lack of creativity from the Rockets. Why would another team take him and give us a better player in return?
well if they were really creative they should have stood firm with memphis or any other interested team that they will only trade the 8th if juwan is packaged together..
I think rockets can get by and do what seattle did a couple seasons ago rotate the PF spot around matchups/need. Juwan -starter by default, midrange shot. Hayes, rebounding. Battier, shotblocking. Lonny Baxter, when some muscle is needed. Unless the Rockets can pick up an unproven player like England on the Blazers who has the potential to surprise everyone they'll be stuck with Juwan.
the rockets will be idiots if they dont trade for zach randoplh. how long will that peice of ****, glasses stealing, herpes having, son of b!tch juwon howard be our power forward??? this ***** juwon howard is freaking useless.
Go somewhere, hopefully far from this BBS, and take a couple of Valiums. Do us a favor and come back after you calm down. Thanks in advance.
How did you manage to get this many posts in before you got banned? Obviously, you weren't drunk when you made the others???
hey. let's trade yao ming and get some quality players in return and rebuild. that would solve all our issues with contracts and positions
That would have been "creative" enough to stop any trade, which is maybe what you wanted. When you demand things from other teams they can just tell you to take a hike.
