Unfortunately, telfair is really only a good break player. He doesn't play well in set offenses. He just hasn't developed
I completely agree with you about needing an upgrade. I wish we had more cap room and/or tradable assets. Have not seen a lot of Felton, but I know Charlotte is trying to unload him...
DD, you know those stats are skewed. Rafer normally doesn't take that mony shots, he just had to step it up whenver Yao or Tracy got injured. When Tmac had the knee injury Rafer was our best perimeter player (sad as that is to say). When Yao went down Rafer again had to shoot more and did a great job. And Scola only played 25mpg. He takes just as many shots per minute as Alston does. And that's including the first two months of the season when he was extremely hesitant to shoot.
Felton would not be a big enough upgrade for us to go after right now, he is streaking just like Rafer. And his shots is worst than Rafer
Landry and Battier will make about half of what Davis gave up to become a FA. Plus, since Davis is now a FA, there is no trading to be done unless a team does a S&T.
What has Hinrich done that would make anyone believe he'd be that much of an upgrade over Alston? If the Rockets are going to make changes, they should be good ones that really upgrade the team, not just change for the sake of change. People seem to have adopted this "anyone but Alston" mentality. I think if the Rockets can't improve much at PG, the better move would be to stick with Alston, develop Brooks and upgrade somewhere else. I think Maggette or Pietrus would be a nice addition who could help show some improvement in the stat line that really counts: wins-losses.
True, Felton need some serious work on his shot, especially his threes. But he's almost a decade younger than Rafer, he's currently cheaper, and he still has managed 7+ assists the past 2 seasons. Plus he's got 20 lbs on Rafer. From a youth/athleticism perspective, it would definitely be an upgrade in my opinion. Especially considering while he'll never become a great shooter, he can and should continue to get better. That said, not enough of an upgrade to warrant a move, though, imo. UNLESS you could get Gerald Wallace with him. That'd be sweet. Shane, Hayes, Novak, Alston would work for Felton, Wallace...but MJ would have to be really really dumb to do that. Maybe if we threw in a couple of picks, though, plus with Larry Brown looking to add some veteran leadership, it could have legs. Rockets roster would be: PG: Felton, Brooks, Francis, BJ SG: T-Mac, Head, Brent Barry? SF: Wallace, Barry?, Greene PF: Scola, Landry?, Dorsey C: Yao, Deke
I am not that stressed about PG. Rafer is solid, we have a 1st round pick entering year 2, and another vet (BJ). This position isn't what I would call strong, but it isn't a monumental gap. Also, the FA market for a back-up swingman (maybe a bigger priority) looks much better than that for a PG. The free agent PGs will likely be way overpayed because of supply/demand. Barry for the LLE would also help. Not a traditional PG, but playing next to Tmac they could share PG roles. Sure I am interested in Hinrich, he is about the only one on the block who I would start over Alston. Not sure the cost (Jackson, Francis, and Hayes + #1 pick). There are others I might look at as Alston's back up/development prospect. Lowry, Critteton (he is BIG, not a schrimpy). Maybe one of the Seattle's vets + a pick (there 2nd, or acquired Phx 1st) for Bobby Jackson. Steve Blake (Francis + Head?). (Felton concerns me because of his 30% 3 shooting the last 2 years; Pargo had some great moments but isn't much of a true PG and overall isn't that consistent) I doubt Louis Williams is available because of Miller's age, but his stats look solid for a young guy.
I don't think Hinrich is much of an upgrade over Alston, but I think Alston/Hinrich; T-Mac/Hinrich is a big upgrade over Alston/Brooks; T-Mac/Head. Alston is fine as a starter, but we have no depth behind him. Brooks can't play defense and, so far, has not shown himself to be a good 3 point shooter. Hinrich had an off year shooting, but is a capable PG and is also big enough to backup T-Mac at SG. He plays excellent defense as well. I'd much rather have a Maggette, but he is unattainable. I like Pietrus, but he will be unattainable when we re-sign Landry. Hinrich would be a good get for expirings and a draft pick, but I think it will take more.
I would give up Jackson, Francis, Hayes and a protected #1 pick in a heartbeat for Hinrich, but I bet Chicago gets better offers. I really like Crittendon. Memphis has so many pg's maybe we could get him on the cheap. I think Memphis is under the salary cap so they could give him up for next year's #1 pick. If we could get them to do that we would have solved our backup pg, backup c(Dorsey) and we could then use our expirings at the deadline to snatch a backup shooting guard.
B-Jax/Brooks for Jason Terry Cuban would never agree to this but Terry has a lengthy, pricey contract. That's kind of a bad problem to have whenever you have an even pricier guy like Kidd playing 40 MPG thus reducing Terry's role to either backing Kidd up or playing as an undersized two. At least with this proposal they could get rid of one of those contracts and steal a solid piece like Brooks from a rival, perhaps in the SA/Scola fashion? That's a risk i'd be willing to take! Not only that but Cuban has too much money locked up in a team that's seemingly plateaued. Sure, Kidd's contract is expiring but they still have Dirk, Howard, Dumpier and Terry all locked into long term deals. This proposal might make more sense then you realize and I certainly don't need to explain the value of it from our end!
Rafer pointing at XXX and yell, "Meet me at the playground around the corner. I will show you who is the star PG, AND1."
Jason Terry would be an excellent fit for the Rockets. He and Alston would make an excellent PG combo. He would also give you a legit scoring guard when T-Mac is on the bench. I don't think Cuban would ever help the Rockets out like this. It would help his salary situation, but it would hurt too much to trade a Rocket killer like Terry to the Rockets.
Udrih is crap as a PG. Crap. I don't trust Baron Davis to play smart or keep dedicated to the team for more than a week at a time. There just aren't many good options out there. I'll keep saying it though - chase Hinrich. He can actually play the position, as opposed to the multitudes of shoot first combo guards, and he's fair as a scorer. $10 million next year is a little high, but the salary gets smaller every year. Evan
Hinrich is absolutely an upgrade over Rafer. He's Olympic material - an All-NBA defender with a shot >= Rafer, plenty of IQ, and a great floor general... Rose, Gordon, Duhon, Sefolosha, Hinrich, Hughes... someone's got to go. Duhon may be NY-bound which makes it lighter, but having any one of those guys at the end of the rotation could spell trouble for the Bulls' chemistry.
