Unless we put together one hell of a run, we are going to end up back in the lottery. The Rox have all the primary players they need in Francis, Mobley, and Griffin and some good role players in MoT, TMo, Rice (when he returns, HEALTHY), Torres, and Cato (when he plays with emotion). We don't need to draft another player who is going to take two or three seasons to develop into an all-star, what we need is somebody who can come in and play D and clean the glass now. So do you all know of any teams that would trade us such a player for a high pick plus maybe KT, Langhi, Collier, Walt, or the Mooch? Here are a couple of ideas I came up with: 1)Lottery pick, KT, Walt, and Moochie to Atlanta for Ratliffe, Dermarr Johnson and a pick Francis/Brown or Cat Cat/Torres/Johnson Rice/TMo/Johnson/Griffin Griff/MoT/pick(Boozer) Ratliffe/Cato 2)Lottery Pick(and Picks) and Cato for Zo Francis/Mooch Cat/Torres Rice/TMo/Griffin Griffin/MoT Zo/Willis 3)Draft Marcus from WKen and trade KT+pick for Swift from Memphis Francis/Moochie Cat/Torres Rice/TMo/Griffin Griffin/MoT/Swift Cato/Marcus/Swift I just feel that the Rockets have everything short of size and rebounding to win with a season or so more together. I personally like the first trade the best assuming that we could obtain Boozer from Duke (who I think would be a monster on this team, think about the picks he could set for Steve and Co.). I don't think that the deal would be acceptable to Atlanta as is, but they need help and Ratliffe might be available for pennies on the dollar because of injuries. These deals were contingent upon the Rox having a lottery pick, but should they have a top 3 (Williams, Ming, or Wagner) then I see no reason why we couldn't walk away from the draft with a damn good veteran post for one of those guys.
Why would you want a 6'9" power forward(Boozer) to set picks when we already have 3 that do a very good job(Eddie, MoT and KT).
i agree about packaging the pick for an established younger player...too bad we could net keep Richard Jefferson and get Eddie, that would have been nice!
We gotta seriously think about drafting a center! I'm not sure about the prospect at that position but a good young center would make us very close to having a "great" young nucleus with Franchise,Eddie,Mobley,TMo;etc.
I say we tank it...finish 1, 2 or 3 and think about adding Kung Pao Tofu to the pre-game buffet: Yao Ming... this guy is an immediate impact type because he is so damn tall and can freakin shoot the rock. he will immediately clean the glass and prevent those sloppy seconds every team gets against us. Also, can you imagine the Francis high flying feeds to this guy. I seem him as an immediate 12-15 pt/ 8-10 reb guy right away without much effort! but, EZ is right..this team needs to address the Big Man area. Our front court is mediocre at best when they are healthy...adding a bruiser or a 7'5" guy will solve this right away!
Zo makes almost $19 million so it would take a whole lot more than Cato ($6 million) to get the salaries to match.
I thought about that too and its a dilemma to be in. Also A once unthinkablt trade I thought about earlier doesn't seem so bad now. Zo Morning. He's 32, a kindney disorder and not the player he once was, but he still plays very very hard and is still avg 12 8 rebs and almost 3 blocks, the bad part is he makes 20mill. It would take more than Cato and some picks to get there. You also have to look at the plus and minus. Plus: We will get rid of some big contracts, will have cap space to resign him( if he plays well) or be a major player in the Duncan sweepstakes, and he could help us make the playoffs this year and next. Negative: We might give away a pick to a center (Marcus or Ming) who might be just as good for 10 yrs, Mourning might be very damaged goods and may retire. I think you have to be real and objective when you give away draft picks. Remember when GSW was sorry and didn't any picks because of the Webber deal? I mean if the Heat would take Rice,Cato,Wlliams and Thomas for Zo and that other project on the bench plus this yrs first and a first in 2004, then i would do it in a heartbeat. Thats a big but trying to get Riley to give up on the season and Zo though.
There are only two players in next years draft that really interest me. Mike Dunleavy or Chris Marcus. I think Yao Ming will turn out to be another Shawn Bradley and no one else really addresses a need.
yeah!! let's get another quick guard who can't shoot!! let's see if we can be the only perimeter team in the league who can't knock down a 15-footer...let's see if we can become the only perimeter team in the history of the NBA to win a championship!!
when i talk about athletic guards who can't shoot, Cat comes to mind. sorry, crash. and when was the last time mo, walt or eg spent any time at the guard positions??
