in response to the duncan sweepstakes post, i thought i'd start a post dedicated to predicting scenarios for offseason acquisitions. mentioned in that post was the rockets' apparantly good sign and trade situation and possibility of acquring a strong 5-6 mill guy all the way up to a 9mill+ duncan. unfortunately i cannot add anything right now, thus please forgive my "foundationless" initiation (note: let's leave draft talk out of this and isolate the discussion to off season acquisitions of present players)
Plato- thank you. This is more like it. I think we've spent too much time trying to say 'yes there is some incredibly remote possibility for us to acquire Duncan.' I say we tune down to an improbable, but less improbable scenario such as Grant Hill. He's one of the best players in the league, but at least he isn't unquestionably top three like Duncan is. Furthermore, he would be the perfect fit for us to plug into our glaring hole at SF, could be Mr. Everything for us, AND would play fantastically along with Francis. He's already shown he can play great ball with a big time scoring guard like Stackhouse. Plug Grant in and pow- we're in the playoffs. Hell, we'd be rebuilt, just need give the team time to gel.
No prob Nolen, is a hill deal any more viable than a duncan deal tho? from what people have said in the past, they seem pretty equal when it comes to difficulty in acquisition. any suggestions as to how a hill deal would work? i'm wondering about guys out there that are strong, but not quite superstars, hefty but not mouth-dropping. any ideas? i do think, as has been stated many times here, that SF is a major weakness for us. i like SA at SF, but is not large enought to take on the bigger guys out there like say, garnett. however, we are also weak at the PF spot. i really like ratliff, but not sure how that deal could work. i see something like this in terms of possible starting team scenarios: PG-Francis SG-Mobley SF-Anderson / (draft pick) PF-Pick up? (Ratliff) C-Cato or PG-Francis SG-Mobley/Anderson SF-Pick up? (McGrady?) PF-Thomas? / (draft pick) C-Cato [This message has been edited by Plato (edited February 29, 2000).]
Anderson does not provide the scoring punch we need at SF. Hill would be ideal. Jalen Rose is another free agent who, I think, the Rockets will take a look at.
Who to go after in my mind will be dictated by what we draft, that is if we draft a 3 go after a FA 4 and vice versa. In my mind I'd draft a 3 and sign a FA 4, mostly likely a hard worker and glass eater Off the top of my head here are some options, in no particular order 3s to go after Marshall- for years the most overrated player in the NBA, but is now underrated, was give us the large 3 we are after (at 6-9) and hopefully could rebound like he is at the moment, nearly 20rpg Jamal Mashburn-perfect Rick Fox-finds ways to contribute 4s to go after Alan Henderson-wasn't he most improved a couple of years ago, and then injured Danny Forston-needs minutes to perform Anthony Mason-lots of skills Jason Caffey-works hard Brian Grant-surely he won't want come off the bench for much longer Jerome Williams-now he is improving Theo Ratliff-he could be a great fit
I could very easily see the Rockets drafting Morris Peterson with the 6th pick in the draft, and then working out a deal for Jerome Williams/Brian Grant.
My thoughts: I'd love to get Duncan. Sure, it's a dream, but hey we already had one DREAM so why not another? If there's even a possibility, shouldn't we go for it? Especially if the payoff could be so great. On G. Hill: I think this guy is a great player. He's in the top 10 in the NBA. But, he's also 28 years old. This means that by the time we get him (assuming we did) he'd be 29. That'd leave him with 3 - 4 very productive years left (possibly). Is that what we want? Do we think we'll be contending for the championship that soon? Even if we were in contention in two years that gives us only 2 more years of Hill while we're contending. If we still had Hakeem at anywhere near 80%+ or Chuck for another year, I'd say yeah, why not let's go for it. But, I don't think Hill fits into a rebuilding scheme. Also, here's some of Hill's negatives: Rebounds have gone down every year for the past 5 seasons. Assists have gone down every year for the past 4 seasons. Steals have gone down every year for the past 4 seasons. You know one thing that hasn't gone steadily down? Turn overs. Since his rookie season (in which he averaged 2.9 TOs) he's averaged 3.42 TOs a season! Do we need that added turnover propensity, especially with Francis turning it over 4.0 times a game? His defense, although better than average, is not on the same level as: Jordan, Dream, Payton, Pippen (pre 1999). Okay, this may be nitpicking, but if we're gonna pay this guys bundles of cash for his previous performance in Detroit (ala Pippen) then I want to be assured of the whole package. ------------------ I have a dream.........his name's Hakeem.
BobFinn*: Jalen Rose would be a good choice to consider. The past month or so he has been almost guaranteed to put up 20. Also, he might not have strong ties to Indiana. Bird has given him the minutes and the confidence, but he is leaving. So there could be a chance...
I would like to see Jalen or Grant. I love to watch Grant play because he is so quiet in his scoring. It seems like he is at 25pts and you didn't see him do too much. No matter how much his numbers went down, this guy is a "triple-double" threat every night! Jalen has really been taking advantage of his playing time. He would be a great addition to the young squad.
I would absolutely love to get Grant Hill! I mentioned in the thread about Duncan that I didn't think the chemistry would work between Tim-Francis. But I think Grant & Francis would work great together. Grant seems to be as effective w/o the ball as he does with it. This year his scoring is up, just mainly because he is being asked to shoot more. Seems like in prior years he acted more like a point forward where he could run the offensive and not need many shots to be effective. I would love this!
I say Jalen Rose should be a priority as far as NAMED talent. [or B.Grant good ONE TWO with K.T.] hehehehehe maybe we can get Byron Russel . . He torches pippen every night or so. Is Van Horn still unhappy [he is a poor man's Duncan] Rocket River I'll be looking out for the next person
I heard David Aldridge say that at the start of the season Brian Grant was looking to opt out of his contract. However, D.A., says that those kinds of talks have died down. I don't know what teams are looking to pay him 9 million dollars/year so he may stay in Portland.
Plato- I think you're right. We should probably just get a good-great player at around 4-6 mil that will fit in well with us. Thought I'd throw Hill out there for kicks. SmeggySmegg- those are all great recommendations, especially for PF. Are all of those guys free agents? Wonder what it would take to get Grant. What could we have that they want? It's funny, kinda like- what do you get for the man who has everything? I perhaps they'd like to relieve cap room, but Paul Allen probably doesn't care, and if they wanted to do that they could just let him walk. DREAMer- interesting stats on Hill. Didn't know that. I'll tell you what, though- his age doesn't bother me a bit. I think one can take the whole building for the future thing a bit too far. Look at vancouver and the Clips. Damn good young talent, but can't do a damn thing. Look at Sacramento and Toronto- add some butt-kicking veterans, and suddenly they catapault into the playoffs, faster than anyone could have dreamed. We have plenty of young talent- tons. Few teams have more. I would LOVE to have a good player in his prime, or two or three. Especially a tough enforcer type in the frontcourt.
I can't remember but can we use the exemption for the purpose of signing a Free Agent or in a Trade or either??????
DREAMer - Grant Hill turns 28 in October - look it up. I don't see how age is a factor. This is not like the Quitten situation at all. Sure, Hill's rebounds and assists have dropped off - but still not too shabby at 6.5 and 5.5 respectively, and his FG%, 3P%, FT%, and scoring are all up significantly this year (scoring is WAY up). Nolen - I agree 100%. I'm not sure who we have to give up to get Hill, but assuming we keep most if not all our nucleus (Francis, Mobley, Anderson, Cato, and Thomas) I would do this deal in a heartbeat. Hill's stats for 99-00: FG% 3P% FT% REB APG SPG TO PF PPG .489 .370 .810 6.5 5.5 1.43 3.5 2.5 26.6
Smegg: It's a trade exception, so we can't use it directly to sign a free agent. However, we can use it in a sign and trade. (IE: Walt($4.5 + Exception => $9mill) Basically, we give up less in salaries than we obtain. This is valuable because: A) We don't have to give up as many players. B) The other team may be looking to clear cap room, so we can help them clear $4.5
I totally agree with the Hill-supporters. We have enough young talent, Hill would be a perfect veteren leader for this team. Plus, 28 just is not that old! The only problem, and a big one at that, is getting the guy. Would Detroit do a sign and trade for one of our "non-nulceus" guys and the exemption? very questionable. As for other suggestions, I really like Jalen Rose, Donyell Marshall, Theo Ratliff, and Jamal Mashburn. It seems more likely that we could pull off a "non-nulceus" relinquishing deal for one of these guys. Regardless, I think the Hill deal would be optimal.
In the offseason I pondered on this BBS the idea of trading for Hill this coming offseason shortly after we traded Pip. I got roasted for suggesting such an insane idea but I still believe it possible if not likely. Hill cannot possibly believe he will win anything serious in Detroit now. This is especially true if Detroit doesn't make the playoffs in the weakly East. Right now I believe they are in contention with the Bucks and Magic for the last spot and have an overall losing record by a game or two. This has got to be disheartening for a guy that is deserving of All-NBA first team honors who is third in the league in scoring and has great all around numbers. Grant has always been consistent and sturdy and now is finally a strong 3-point threat for the first time and that says alot. Stack scores okay and gets to the line more than any other gaurd but his D is suspect and he doesn't do the other things well. The rest of his team is kinda pathetic. Laetner and Mills are the big guys on that team...uhhhmmm well that just sucks. Hunter is a quality backup who can't distibute and doesn't shoot well. The depth is Michael Curry and some guy who didn't play for the Bulls. All this and the Rockets have the Pistons draft choice in one of the next two years. This is an opportunity for both teams and an unsatisfied superstar. We send Carlos Rogers (who is from Detroit and who I think could get Most Improved Player), the Wiz (who is at least a gap-stop with only one year left before you clear cap-space for a Finley or someone else and maybe a serviceable player you sign on the cheap when the free-agent market dries up), You give Detroit back its soon to be very valuable lotto ticket, and then maybe you have to either send Drew(darn ;}), Thomas(please no), or Cat(HELL NO!!!) , or another draft pick and vuala' one awesome freakin team for us and a less bleak forseeable future for them. This works because we have the 4.5 mil exception and the sign and trade will give Hill his full value. Now for the fun part. I've been imagining Hill playing with Francis for the last 6 or 7 months and it still seems like it needs to happen. I mean just think of Stevie, Shandon, Grant, Kenny*, Dream, Kelvin, Cat*, Moochie, and this years pick in descending want(Woods, Mihm, Haywood, Swift, Martin, Morris, Johnson, Murphy, Fizer, Porter, and Boozer). I mean damn that would be tight. One note this might not work of course but what would you think about going for Mcgrady with something similiar. I like Hill better but that is for the near future 4 years from now Mcgrady could be better although this is not because I forsee much decline in Hill's game. Anyway agree or disagree try being polite and constructive. ------------------ ***Elie... we don't need no stinkin Elie Mobley's takin over ROCKETS IN 2000 BABY*** [This message has been edited by MattsayzIstillbelieve!!! (edited March 03, 2000).]
Nice tome Matt! I think it only a little bit longer for me to read Crime and Punishment. In Russian!!! Interesting post, however.
