June 15, 2007 Of Bonzi, Shane and what's next Next week, Bonzi Wells will have to make it official. He can commit to another season with the Rockets and the second year of a contract he had always intended to end after one season or he can add his name to the free agent market and play the field. More and more, it appears that Wells will be back. And after so long in which it seemed that there had to be teams that could offer a better situation for Wells and his career, it actually might make some sense to give it at least one more run with the Rockets. The thinking here had long been that he should become a free agent and see what that brings him. His best position is shooting guard and on the Rockets, that's Tracy McGrady's position. There might be 12 minutes a game that McGrady is not manning the two, but any other time that Wells plays, he has to play elsewhere. As much as shooting guard and small forward are virtually interchangeable in many offenses, the combinations do determine match ups, and when Wells is at the three, he often cannot outmuscle and punish the forwards the way he does the guards. And a large chunk of small forward minutes with the Rockets are taken by Shane Battier. On top of all that, he hired Bill Duffy to be his agent too late last summer to give Duffy a chance to do his thing. Duffy has always prided himself on finding clients not just a contract, but a good fit. It didn't seem to make sense to hire Duffy and then not let him do his job. But now, a disappointing season later, Duffy might be doing a different job for Wells. He cannot enter into negotiations, but he can be a weatherman for his client. By now, he must have a pretty good idea which way the wind blows and if Wells is not opting out, he must know there are not big-money offers waiting. The word around the league is that teams are skeptical. That's not to say there would not be interest, but the offers will likely be tempered. It only takes one, but after last season, Wells could understandably want to go where he best believes his talents will be appreciated. He knows Rick Adelman believes in him, and that is a valuable offer in itself. There might not seem to be the gobs of playing time, but the plan last season was to use Shane Battier at power forward as well as small forward. I once offered to bet Jeff Van Gundy that Battier would play more four than three. Happily, he did not take the bet. It turned out that Van Gundy found that playing Battier at the four took him away from the impact he had defensively chasing around all those high-scoring small forwards and shooting guards. But if Wells is ready to be a force again, look for the Rockets to return to that plan. That doesn't mean Battier will be a full-time four, but it could be a very strong option to finish games. Sure some power forwards will be a load for Battier, but as Bruce Bowen just demonstrated on the much more powerful LeBron James, the defensive work done before an opponent gets the ball can go a long way toward disrupting him. And they still like the idea of taking big men out to the 3-point line and away from Yao Ming. With the trade of Juwan Howard inspiring all kinds of questions about the Rockets power forwards, they will not feel badly going into the season with Chuck Hayes (who is likely to sign with the Rockets), Battier, Steve Novak and Justin Reed. And if they need more, it is more likely to be a short-term, traditional power forward than a big-name addition to come in and own the position. Still, the dealing also is not likely done. Rafer Alston is a moderately-priced point guard that distributes the ball. Luther Head was fourth in 3-point shooting in the NBA. There is interest in John Lucas, loads of interest in Vassilis Spanoulis. At least one other deal is likely. But the first move will likely not be a trade, the draft or free agency. Instead, it will likely be an announcement that after leaving the team in April, Wells would like to be back in May and next season. If last season, Wells never entirely stopped looking back at the Kings and the offer he turned down, now he can look forward, to the next season and the next stage of his career. This time, it might work out. For now, it could answer more questions than just Bonzi's. http://blogs.chron.com/nba/2007/06/of_bonzi_shane_and_whats_next.html
Also, this little tidbit at the very bottom of the page: Hey Jonathan....if Bonzi comes back, does that mean that the Artest deal won't happen? From a purely basketball perspective, I like the idea of both Artest and Wells very much, but maybe two head cases are two too many for one team? Do the Rockets risk tanking their much lauded chemistry by either bringing in Artest, or by bringing back Bonzi, or especially, by doing both? Do you think Adleman can handle problematic players better than JVG? Danny, There is no Artest deal. Jeff had great success with "problem" players. The first half of the season, Wells was basically still unwilling to get over the summer disappointment. From mid-December on, he and Van Gundy co-existed fine. Jeff just considered McGrady, Battier and Head better options at those positions. Jonathan
One question, if Bonzi picks up his option he also gets to veto any trade he is included in because of a rule to do with bird rights?
Wow, loads of interest in V-Span. JVG considered McGrady, Battier and HEAD better options at that position over Bonzi. Hence Jeff gets his first round exit.
This is shocking to me. I'll be surprised if no team will give Bonzi ~3yrs/$10MM. If not and he comes back for$2MM, fine. If there is "loads of interest in Vassilis Spanoulis" the Rockets should take a look at that. Maybe he could be part of a trade that gets us a higher draft choice or a starting PF. I'm still not sold on Shane playing big minutes at PF with Yao at C. He cannot defend good PFs and doesn't rebound well enough.
Loads of interest in Vspan!!?? WTF are we waiting for!!!!!!!??? We should be calling everyone in the league and their moms. Lets get one or two of Portland's 2nd round picks. Make the sh** happen Morey!!
call me skeptical but most of this seemed like his opinion. "battier, hayes, novak, and reed is all the rockets need at power foward" doesn't seem like a good idea.
intrest in john lucas and vspan? trade at least one of them. PLEASE!!! hopefully we can get some future draft picks for like 2010 and 2011, incase mcgrady retires.
1. I think teams may give him 3 years at $10 million, but he probably is hoping to take the $2.5 million he gets from Rockets, have a good year, and get a larger offer at the end of the season. It's quite a gamble, but it may just pay off. 2. Spanoulis gathers interest, but My guess is teams aren't offering anything great. 3. Shane has his limitations at the 4, but the real problem with having Shane at the 4 is not having Shane at the 2 or the 3. Also, Shane at 4 usually meant Head at 2, Bonzi and Kirk having not earned any minutes... so they are undersized at two spots. In any case, I can see him playing some time there, depending on the roster (he played almost 1/3 of his minutes at the 4 in Memphis during 05/06 I believe), but probably not a full time solution.
IMO Lucas isn't bad, he just isn't a good fit. I think for the majority of the season he was one of four Rockets to have a positive +/- rating. Being a key figure in that near comeback against the Lakers would've set off the potential alert for other teams.
if there is any interest in Head and Lucas....for gods sake please trade them....get what you can for them...Head I hope we can keep as a player off the bench who can hit 3s..but we really don't need Lucaas at all...and i wouldn't really cry if we lost vspan...
The reason there is a lot of interest in Spanoulis is obvious - once he learns the NBA game, he will become something like a combination of Ginobili and Nash - someone who can beat players off the dribble, penetrate, and pass. You do not trade away players who are just about to hit the beginning of their potential, you trade for them. His turnovers are expected with learning an entirely new team in a new league, as well as a new country. There's no way you can learn to reduce your turnovers in just practice, because in practice you're playing against players with the same defensive skills, habits and tendencies day in and day out, vs out on the game-time court with 29 completely different defensive schemes and 300 different players providing an entirely foreign experience each and every second. Sustained success is all about developing a rhythm in real world situations. JVG didn't let him play any more than that because he didn't have a spot-up three, but then again, JVG's offense was a little too dependent on spot-up threes, and Adelman's offense requires constant ball movement with and without the ball, which is totally Spanoulis' game. It would be a monumental mistake IMO if they traded away Spanoulis now. If they really wanted to trade him, wait a year when he finally gets playing time and actually builds up significant trade value, at which point you'd want to keep him anyway.
Is it out of the question to consider tmac playing the 3? I mean I always thought he did well there. That would allow Wells to start at the 2. If we get a solid PF. That would make Shane our 6th man. Bring him in for Wells and move tmac to 2 if one of the other team's players gets off to a good offensive start.
Shane has always guarded the best opposing wing player, be it the 2 or the 3. Frankly, so did David Wesley, there were games in which he was guarding Carmelo Anothony in 05/06 while TMac was chasing around Ruben Patterson. So it really does not matter whether you call TMac a 2 or the 3, he's going to control the ball, get guarded by the bettter defensive wing, and take the easier defensive assignment most possessions. The real question is whether Bonzi can get in good enough shape to take on the tougher defensive wing assignments. I believe Artest got the toughter job in SAC.
Wow. A combo of Nash and Ginobli? If that was the case Im thinking we could get Atlanta's #3 pick for him. They have been searching for a PG for a few years now and a Nash/Ginobili clone would be just the ticket. You are nuts.
I don't think Feigan knows what he is talking about. First of all, I doubt there is "loads" of interest in Spanoulis. Secondly, there is no way Battier is our full time PF next year. IF he is, that spot will be even weaker than it was last year.
Well, you know everybody's favorite MVP was on the bench in his early days and did not become an all-star until about 4 or 5 year in Dallas. Ginobili did become Ginobili until he started getting serious minutes.
