Thank you. Miles would be a far worse choice for the team than Swift was. He's not much better. He makes a lot more money. And he's a known cancer. (Make the argument about the environment, but Miles always gets the blame.)
Dunleavy and Murphy ... come on, dude! Are you kidding me? Those two guys are lazy unskilled players, no way one of them should be a Rocket! I 'd rather trade Howard "and someone or something else" to Portland for Randolph!
What about Randolph? I've read a lot of articles saying that if Randolph went to a team where he isn't pressured to be the number one option, he will make a fine player. Randolph's one the league's best garbageman and he bring toughness and rebounding which the Rockets sorelay need. Even if he doesn't reach his star potential on this team, he'll still get you 15 points and 10 rebounds just being himself and a role player. Compared to all the other contracts for bigmen nowadays, his contract isn't THAT absurd and he's still young. His addition should make us an instant contender in that he'll more than address our PF and backup C problem.
Dunleavy or Murphy may not be as skillful as others, but play certain roles. Murphy is good rebounder and Dunleavy is good point forward, and both can spread the floor. However, i was stressing more to the fact that i would take anybody but Miles, no matter how unskillful. He is a cancer. I will agree with you on Randolph, he fits the need to be a thug PF to defend the Duncan's and the Garnett's; and Battier could guard the Dirks and the new breed of PFs that play the perimeter. Randolph could also play spot minutes at the 5.
How can you say his salary isnt that absurd. He is owed 73.3 million over the next five years. That is slightly more then Yao ming is going to make in the same five years. Plus Randolph doesnt space the floor, he needs to play down low. All that does is clog up the lane for Yao even more. Randolph is a horrible fit for this team. If we sign him, tmac, yao, and randolph would be owed roughly 55 million in the 09/10 season, and that isnt going to work.
I mentioned Howard in the last couple of lines. I left him off with the other veterans because I dont see them getting any better. Unlike the youngbucks we have on the squad.
you are the one that is kidding us. come on, randolph is the definition of a lazy player. dunleavy is the son of a proven coach. he has a lot of skills and he is a smart player. it's just that he has no athletic ability and can't handle any pressure. if i had to choose one player out of those three i would choose in that order: 1. murphy 2. dunleavy 3. well, i would never take randolph anyway
I would take Randolph. Just so we could trade him But i'd easily take Murphy over juwan. Both are awful defenders, but one is 2 inches taller, and a lot bigger in terms of size. One's a way better rebounder, and one's got more range and offensive ability.
The truth is if yao and tmac get injured, the rox is screwed. If both have an off night, batt and gang are more than capable to put the ball thru the hoop as long as yao and tmac are on the court. The third/fourth scoring threat will probably be Howard and that's not going to cut it in the long run. JL3 and VSP and others may surprise us, but we just dont know at this point. It sounds bad, but I think this is true for all NBA teams including mavs, spurs, etc. (sorry, I think someone might have mentioned this point already). Few things that separates the rox from the elite teams is that the elites tend have better chemistry, more established roles, and higher paid salary (llist 3, but there may be more). We need more time, but we'll get there.. I don't think we can afford Randolph. http://www.hoopshype.com/salaries/portland.htm
1. Howard is extremely overpaid for his skill level. 14 Million in his last two years. 2. Howard is a chemistry killer. 3. Howard can not defend or be a good matchup against the great power forwards in the West. 4. Howard can not defend or be a good matchup against ANY POWER FORWARDS, in the West, East, Far East, or on the moon. He cannot defend anybody. 5. Howard has NO CHANCE of getting better, NONE. 6. Howard will ONLY GET WORSE. Enough of that nonsense. A motivated Darius Miles combined with the coaching of Van Gundy and the leadership of McGrady, Yao, and Battier, will be one of the best defenders in all of basketball. We're getting Howard's best and it ....blows. Basketball wise, Miles is miles ahead of Howard. All Miles' problems are attitude related. He needs a change of attitude to be an X-factor for somebody. Howard needs a new body, about 7 years, and a shocking collar wrapped around each ankle for him to be fast enough to keep up with Jerome James. (Oh, but he's got a great attitude. Wouldn't you have a great attitude if you had made over $130 million and was playing on a playoff team with championship aspirations that you shouldn't even be in the same league with, much less starting and playing 30 mpg? I think my attitude would be outstanding.) Remember the movie 'Trading Places'? Trade these guys out and let's see who shows up to play. BTW, you guys wanting Randolph and Murphy. They are both Juwan Howard clones, a few years younger with the same type games, mid-range jump shooters that shoot low percentages and are defensive sieves and they are making more money than Miles. Gimmeabreak!
Juwan is old, but he can still score big points on occasion (meaning ~20). We only need role players to have a big night every once in a while. Hopefully, they'll take turns chipping in the big night. The more weapons we have, the harder we are to defend. Basically, my answer to the original post: They all better step up when they're needed. Who cares who does it most often.
I was all for gettin Miles when I THOUGHT we were gonna get the fourth and dump Howard but Miles' contract is way too big and he looked sluggish from his knee injury.
Step up by Committee. If Yao, Tmac and Battier put up consistent numbers which they should and are capable of doing then we should be winning a fair share of games I'd guess around 45-50 wins. If we can have the "inknown" commodities i.e. Rafer puting up over 10 assists one game and then Snyder score 20+ the next game all while Sura/Howard/Head etc contribute and play decent we should win 50-55 games. Easier said than done but very do-able in my opinion.
