Between Cato, Willis, Mo T, Griffin, Collier, and KT, there should be atleast one (if not two) odd man (men) out come next season as the rockets try to improve there frontcourt. My bet is on Willis or KT (to a lesser degree) as the front runners to be moved or lost. KT is cheap, young, and under contract. Willis is old, expensive, and in the last year. What value does Willis have? If there aren't any rules against trading a player acquired by injury exception, he could be used as 3 million in cap space for some team going after a big name. Coupled with walt, you're talking 8 million in free space. ***WARNING TRADE SPECULATION AREA AHEAD WARNING*** I found an article by the Miami Herald talking about the Heat. It sounded like a fit with the rockets as far as speculation goes. http://www.miami.com/herald/content/sports/basketball/heat/digdocs/108923.htm Here's a few excerpts ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ There was hope the Heat could clear at least $20 million in cap space that summer, when Tim Duncan, Jason Kidd, Gary Payton, Antonio McDyess and Jermaine O'Neal headline a rich free-agent class. But Miami's cap space probably will be much less than that, unless Eddie Jones or Brian Grant is traded, or Miami can dump Anthony Carter and LaPhonso Ellis. And there might not be much or any cap space if Alonzo Mourning is re-signed to a lucrative deal. ........ Another option -- which the Heat would consider if it keeps losing -- would be dealing Jones or Grant for draft choices or contracts expiring by the end of the 2002-03 season. Riley said he's not ready to dismantle the roster but admits he would be intrigued if a high draft pick is offered. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I'd take Grant as a starting center over Cato any day despite his lack of height. I'm sure someone could figure out a trade between Miami and Houston with an equal # of players and salary with KT, Willis, Walt, conditional Hou 1st rd pick, and Grant as the principles, considering Miami's wealth of low paid scrubs and Houston high paid scrubs. With this trade, Miami would gain approximately 10+ million in salary cap in two years (8 from Walt and Willis + 2 for Grant's increase in salary and + for the rocks trading slightly less salary), KT a workable PF, a draft pick probably around 10. Houston gets a bruiser who starts at center ,catches the ball, rebounds well, plays man to man defense, not a complete slug on offense, good FT shooter, and above all else hustles. Haven't seen Grant this year so hopefully he hasn't developed Kemp syndrome. In Conclusion. Miami gets: Gary Payton, KT, scrubs, conditional draft pick Houston gets: Brian Grant
Let me get this straight you want to trade away all of our future cap relief and lottery pick + Kenny Thomas for Brian Grant? First of all I would not trade Kenny Thomas for Brian Grant straight up. The Heat would have to throw something in that deal before I would part with Kenny Thomas for Brian Grant. Kenny Thomas has better numbers playing in the west than Grant has playing in the east. Grant avgs about a half a rebound better than Kenny and lags in every other catigory. I would not trade a lottery pick straight up for Brian Grant. Brian Grant will turn 30 this year and is 5 years older than Kenny. Kenny will continue to get better while Brian peaked while in Portland. If you want a 6'9" center then I would wait for Mo. Mo does everything just as good or better (in most cases) as Brian Grant with the exception of rebounding. Brian gets a couple of more boards a game than Mo. Brian does not block shots or steal many balls. Brian makes no since. If you want to trade Kenny, a lottery pick and a lot of cap releif then you better get someone a hell of a lot better than Brian Grant. You better get someone that has a chance to fill a need in an effective way. You should want that person to still be effective when this team matures.
I'd pass on Grant, but acquiring Ellis could be intriguing. I'd rather resign Willis as the backup C/PF & have him work with EG on his strength & conditioning. Now, if we could move Cato, I'd be as happy as a pig in slop. Here's a trade involving Willis that would net us a 7 footer, to replace Willis, in Stepania & Ellis to fill the role that Bull did for us. Stepania, when given 15+ minutes has scored in double digits & has rebounded in double digits or just below(8-9) in 5 of those 8 games. He's played in 22 games this year. He's not getting a lot of minutes behind ZO & might be ready to break out. Houston trades: Kevin Willis $3,000,000 to Miami Houston trades: Dan Langhi $465,850 to Miami TOTAL: $3,465,850 Miami trades: Vladimir Stepania $565,850 to Houston Miami trades: LaPhonso Ellis $3,000,000 to Houston TOTAL: $3,565,850
Where do people get the idea that we even have any salary cap relief coming up in the next few years? Assuming Stevie re-ups, and also that we can't pawn off Cato, we are going to be over the cap for a pretty long time. Then again I haven't been to RealGM in a while so maybe it is my perception that is screwed up. I just don't see anything wrong with trading Walt and/or Willis for players with long term deals, so long as the player(s) we get in return are worthy of what they are being paid. Not that it matters, I wouldn't do this particular deal anyway. Grant's best days are behind him. Plus, if we are going to shop for someone to play center, let's get a real center...otherwise let's just go with the rangy two forward approach, and I don't see any personnel better to do that (within the confines of Rocket reality) than Mo and EG. TRADE SHOT DOWN
I don't believe the rockets will have any cap relief any time soon with the recession, Rice's contract which keeps rocks above cap for next two and half years, and the max for Franchise which kicks in before Rice leaves. Don't expect cap relief until Francis and Griffin retire. KT can't play center regularly. Grant's not the best center, but is an upgrade over Cato despite being undersized. Mo despite being bigger than Grant isn't nearly as good a defender. Hustle plays don't show up on stats. Grant is averaging 8 boards a game since he returned from injury(?) in december which is almost a board above KT. I don't see KT happy playing few PF minutes and/or playing out of position. Willis will leave after this year since he like sto play not ride pine. KT wouldn't necessarily be in the deal, but I'd expect Miami to want an actual player to have for next season. The bench players involved in the deal don't really concern me too much. Miami may be willing to deal Grant for picks and players in the last year of a contract. Miami is focusing on 2003, but may do a deal earlier as they become aware they need to retool. 8 million in cap space can't be found every year. btw...Willis makes 3 million. That's not Mobley money, but that's a lot for someone who is falling out of the rotation on a team that is anemic at his position.
Prempeh-Salary relief doesn't necessarily just mean caproom. Les doesn't want the luxury tax to kick in. So keeping our salaries down allows us to use the MCE. This isn't the 2.25 mill MCE of 2 years ago. This MCE is worth probably a ~5 mill, meaning you could throw someone a deal worth close to 40 mill over 6 years. Based on the facts that CD and Rudy, the Rockets, and the city of Houston historically have been loved by free agents, it's possible that big name free agents take a "cut" to 40 mill rather than 80 mill to come here.
You can't just give up value for someone that does not provide more than a margenal upgrade at best (if that). Just because we may not be under the cap does not mean that players such as Willis and Walt don't mean cap relief. There are lots of teams out there that would love to have the cap relief that those two would provide. Also KT IMO is just better than Grant. Grant does not provide enough value in return for a younger better PF.
