The Draft and Carl Landry

Landry ain't going nowhere. If we talking about losing Landry then we better be talking about signing Elton Brand or Ron Artest. Landry leaving is a no-no!

 

I know you didn't just mean Mike Miller specifically, but if Mayo falls to 5 as you suggest, there is apparently a deal in place to send him and Mike Miller to Miami for Michael Beasley and Mark Blount. Just figured it was worth mentioning.

 

I think the Rockets still have a chance to get Battier though. Ideally the offseason could look like this:

T-mac = Billups + Prince
and
Battier (+ Head) = Mike Miller

or

T-mac = Billups + Rip

 

He's a good backup PF. Bad backup PFs are worth most of the MLE, because PFs signing for less than half the MLE are even worse. He's short. He's a "risk", but on the scale of risks...he's got considerable less risk than nobody. Who out there is less risky that can be had for less than most of the MLE? Most likely, the knee injury will save the rockets a lot of money, but will hurt the value of the deal.

 

I don't understand how the team can determine, before training camp and preseason even starts, that whoever they pick at 25 will be good enough to replace Landry, who had one of the most efficient years, especially for a rookie, in recent memory. Presumably, the trading of Landry will have to happen very early because you don't want Landry to tie Morey's hand while free agency goes on.

I mean, Rudy T at least waited til preseason to anoint Kelvin Cato the future, and our new kid will be judged based on, what? Draft workouts and maybe summer league?

And who exactly will Morey pursue with all that money supposedly freed up by trading Landry?

Morey has a favorable negotiation position with Landry (Gibert Arenas clause, restricted FA), and can likely retain him at less than the MLE and you want him traded to free up a space for the 25th pick and unnamed free agent?

 

Well he's certainly worth more than Juwan Howard don'tcha think? Or would you rather have him back and the salary he chewed up?

 

I agree with DaDakota. If other teams are that high on Landry to offer him a big contract, then it would make more sense for the Rockets to package him in a deal to get a swingman and a higher draft pick.

Since we're set on Scola being our starting PF finding a backup PF in the draft shouldn't be that hard, especially in this draft where it seems to be pretty deep in the 4 position.

 

So you are saying not siging him will result in the Rockets obtaining what star PG or long/atheletic wingman/scorer?

 

Always draft the best. Landry should stay. Any mess in contract with Landry should not be sorted out by trading a good player like him. The mess is caused by management blunder and management should fix it using other means that should be rational. A player with Landry PER should never be traded to fix a blunder made by management. Of all the PFs (Scola. Landry and Hayes), Landry is not the worst.

 

As a trade asset on draft day Houston would have to get creative. The Rockets would need a team willing to pay Landry near/full MLE and willing to sweat out a S&T deal that occurs 5 days later (July 1st).

They're not allowed to negotiate a deal with Landry before July 1st so it has to be a max (MLE) type deal that Landry can't disagree on when they can start contract talks.

One hiccup could be his knees. The media hasn't picked up on him busting his right knee in college and his left knee this year. Other teams would be aware but there hasn't been that bad publicity that might effect player value?

 

You're all jumping on Landry cause he's a second rounder. You wouldn't hear any of this if he were Kevin Durant or Al Horford. That being said, I can certainly make the case that this kid is better than Yi and Noah. If he were a first rounder nobody would have said squat. As it is he's making GM's around the league look foolish for not picking him as a first rounder.

Landry is behind Scola now but at the end of the day Landry will be greater than Scola.

Landry has many other games like this to come in the future.



In 20 minutes no less.

 

I don't think of it just in terms of PFs, if we can get a better player (whether he be a SG, SF, C or PG) with our mid-level i would take that over Landry. I think Scola should play plenty of minutes and i think Hayes is an obove average backup PF. I don't think you should overpay in an area that we are doing fine in if you can upgrade the areas where we are lacking, like PG and the wings.

 

what free agents are there for the mle?

last time i checked, most scorers go more than mle. hell... battier makes around the mle maybe even more. rafer almost makes the mle as well. MIKE JAMES makes the mle.

you want maggatte? nope. jamison? nope. brand? nope. artest? nope. gilbert? nope.

landry is worth the money that he'll get (which isn't going to be the mle) than lets say... jr. smith.

this year's fa are weak. most A players are just going to resign with their team or will be involved in a sign and trade.

 

ever since i could remember the rockets always get beat by good teams but not because the stars on that team but that one player that avg's six to eight points a game blowing up on us, and finally we have that guy in landry...
that s why i think we keep him im, unless we get a major upgrade ofcourse, or it just cost to much.IMO

 

there's speculation that 2-3 free agent's worth more than the mle will have to settle for the mle because too many teams are over the cap.

 

I was at that game! I think this game was the exception rather than the rule. He was doubly pumped up because he was back in Indiana and he had a lot of fans there to see him.

Not that I don't think he will improve, I do... it's just that I wouldn't count on he or Scola to have a lot of games like this one.

 

True but when have we ever seen Hayes, Battier or even Scola put up numbers like that in 20 min?