Like I said, our best shot is probably brand new talent, I.E. trading up in the draft, like #26 and head for a higher ~14-18 pick to get McRoberts or Fazekas
I think Fazekas will be there at 26 but he is pretty slow for a PF. We need a guy who has the lateral quickness and smarts to overcome Yao's weaknesses on the defensive end.
If I was Morey I would really push hard to land Kirilenko. Looking at Utah's roster I think we could work a deal with them that would really help both teams, very possibly bringing both a matchup in the WCF's. I think this trade would be very doable. We could send them Battier, the 26th pick (picked for them), and Rafer Alston for Kirilenko. It works under the salary cap. I think we can draft someone like say Morris Almond or Marcus Williams for them in the draft then complete the trade. That would really balance their team out more. PG Williams/Alston SG Fisher/Giricek/Almond maybe SF Battier/Harpring/Brewer PF Boozer/Millsap C Okur/Collins/Araujo The Rockets would look something like this then: PG James/Spanoulis/Lucas SG Wells/Head/Snyder SF McGrady/Novak PF Kirilenko/Hayes/Reed C Yao/Mutombo Believe it or not that team would be right around the luxury tax threshold. The LT should be somewhere around $67,186,000 and that is only a team salary of $66,796,000, with the needed 13 players signed. I am figuring the LT if it has the same increase as last year. So conceivably, we could estimate a LT of about $67,200,000 to about $68,000,000. This is figuring in re-signing Mutombo for the 10 plus year vet's minimum, which is about $1,220,000 and re-signing Hayes for 3 years starting at the LLE equivalent, which is $1,830,000. This would give Hayes a 3 year contract worth about $6.2 million. Not only is that fair, that's quite generous IMO, and probably could even take a little off Hayes' deal if the team was right around the tax. Either that or they could trade Lucas and his $500,000 buyout to a team that is under the cap and needs a 3rd string PG for a future 2nd round pick, then sign a rookie undrafted free agent PG to be the third stringer. That would save about $330,000 and would probably get the team under the tax. Much of this is probably not even needed as some estimates are saying the tax will probably be around $70,000,000. If the tax is around $70,000,000 then the team could still use the LLE to sign someone like Webber to help Mutombo at backup C. If I was Morey this is the strategy I would be strongly pursuing before I went after Lewis or Artest.
BBall Scientist, I think aquiring AK47 is a really a good and possible idea. There have been bunches of trade rumors going back to the trade deadline involving AK47. He just is not a natural SF. He plays SF just fine on defense but his offensive skills lend themselvs to more of a PF than a SF. Personally I think he would be a perfect fit for the Rockets. Battier is a natural SF and is the type of player IMO that Jerry Sloan would love to have. Plus Shane is 28 and Kirilenko is 26 so they are similar ages. Plus Battier has a much friendlier contract than Kirilenko. IMO the trade should be: Battier, Alston and newly aquired Justin Reed for Andrei Kirilenko I would then do the trade with Sac of VSpan, Snyder and pick 26 for Artest That's two moves that would add athleticism and youth as well as solidify our starting 5 for the next 6 or 7 years. Yao Ming Andrei Kirilenko Tracy McGrady Ron Artest Mike James Bench: Head Bonzi Jake Chuck Hayes John Lucas Steve Novak And we would still have the MLE to add what ever additional depth we might need.
Looks good to me. Except I would personally swap Head with Spanoulis. I am sure this is an unopopular view but I think Head is a one dimensional player, he reminds me exactly of a an Eddie House type of talent. I think Spanoulis has on the other hand a lot of potential and will develop into a starting point guard that could play and star on a championship team. But I am sure that the reason his name is coming up instead of Head's is because Geoff Petrie realizes Spanoulis is much more talented than Head is.
I would do either Head or Spanoulis. Wouldn't matter to me. Personally I would love to keep VSpan and give him a chance to become the PG of the future.
Hayes is only 6'6" & destined to be no more than a solid backup, whereas Sampson is 6'11" & is the prototypical size of a PF. As for him being ready to contribute right away, he's been in the league for 4 years. While there are no guarantees, JO was in Portland for 4 years & exploded for Indiana in his 5th year. What a shame we got stuck with the other PF. What so many posters on this board want, is an instant impact player, & most are wishing for star players. We already have 2 & just don't have the cap room, nor the pieces to pull off a trade for a Randolph, Artest, or whatever star player someone is fantasizing about, unless we're willing to trade T-Mac, or Yao. I guess that, in the end, we'll just have to agree to disagree.
Actually there is enough room to trade for both Artest and Kirilenko by matching within salaries to not even have to pay the luxury tax.
Okay, then who do you trade to make this happen that the other team would accept? We only have 1 Battier & Head to trade. The rest of our players are borderline trade fodder. I wouldn't take Artest over Battier. This team doesn't need any knuckleheads on it. And, AK47 has been extremely injury prone & has missed 66 games in the last 3 years. How's he going to carry us to the championship, if he's spending 1 out of every 4 games on the trainer's table?
I really don't think AK47 is our answer at PF. From the games I saw him play, he is very good at weakside defense, which I doubt it could work if he guards the top notch PF directly, his body is too weak to take those bangings... Let me put it this way, the only teams that we have to concern about in the Western Conference are: Spurs, Phoenix, Mavericks, Jazz. Out of these, Dirk is the only PF that AK47 is able to guard. AK47 can't guard Duncan, he can't guard Boozer, and he can't guard Marion... Not to mentino that AK47 makes more than $14+ Millions a year, if the management is willing to pay this price for our 3rd option player, then I would say there are much better choice out there. I would rather spend the money on a top notch point guard than a above average AK47... BTW, if we do acquire Artest, our starting five with AK47 would cost us about $56+ million per year, that just don't make much sense from a money stand point. At same time our bench would be hella weak compare to the other top team in the west.. If we don't get Artest and just use Bonzi, the 2008-2009 year's salary would be about $56+ million as well, because we know Bonzi is going to require the whole MLE if he performs well this season..
How about the Rockets go after an NBA champion, a 6'10'' big guy with shooting range, a guy nicknamed the "Red Rocket" by adoring fans.
personally I think picking up AK47 would be a terrible move on the part of the rockets, he has a gigantic contract, he's frail and injury prone, and he's undermatched compared to the western PF allstars like someone previously mentioned. Artest, on the other hand, I view rather favorably just because he's a lockdown defender like Battier and a solid contributor when he's not hot headed.
I would like to sign Barnes for an MLE. Or trade modest assets for Nocioni. Both are a little undersized for 4s, but rebound decent (at least as well as Howard) and would bring athleticism and floor spreading ability. This guy and Hayes would be our primary 4s, and then we could look for an extra big body 4 in the draft for the LLE. Yes we would be vulnearable to the Boozer/Brand/Duncan big power 4s--just like we were last year, but we would be really strong in a lot of other weaknesses than Hayes (offensively challnged), Howard (athletically challenged) and Battier (rebouding challenged) just couldn't provide.
Crash -- Reed can be traded if he is alone in the trade. He can't be bundled with any other players for several months (I can't recall whether the restriction lasts for 60, 90 or 120 days).
