Which Trade Would You Prefer?

Ron Artest – 7.4 million per year
Luther Head – 1.963 million per year

For

Kirk Hinrich – 10 million per year

Or

Ron Artest – 7.4 million per year
Luther Head – 1.963 million per year
Louis Scola – 3.1 million per year

For

Amare Stoudemire – 15 million per year


If Daryl Morey walked up to you today and said that he had two trade possibilities on the table and you have the power to pick which one…which do you pick? Amare? Hinrich? Or neither?

Remember that the biggest plus to either of these trades might be finally getting Luther Head off of the team.


The Case for Amare Stoudemire

Adding Amare to a front court of Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady or Battier would potentially be the best in the league in terms of offense. Amare is a great pick and pop player, goes aggressively to the basket and the ally-oop play could become a steady diet in our offense again.

Amare is a true front court player that plays above the rim. Imagine TMac taking the ball into the paint and the defense collapses on him like they always do. Now imagine that instead of just throwing up a prayer and hopping for a foul call or making some pass in traffic to Yao the gets knocked away or picked off he just lobs the ball about 2 feet above the rim. Only Amare can get that ball to slam it with authority for 2 points with an exclamation mark!

An athlete and size (outside of Yao) in the front court is one of the Rockets biggest needs. And to know that you would still have Landry and Deke coming off of the bench would be huge IMO. If Scola and Landry had great numbers combined, imagine what Amare’s and Landry’s numbers would look like combined. Better than Scolandry for sure.

Also when Yao goes out Amare is also a dominate center. The team would still have a dominate post player with Yao out of the game. Scola and Landry are both nice but neither is dominant when you absolutely have to have scoring inside with Yao on the bench. How many times have we seen Yao go to the bench in foul trouble only to see our offense go in the tank because there was not an inside scoring threat?

Amare is also a good weak side shot blocker. Yao blocks most of his shots facing his man. Amare has the athleticism to at least challenger the power forward or center that likes to play on the perimeter. Yao just does not have the quickness to recover when he is forced to guard players on the perimeter. For those that say Amare is not a good defensive player, I say that he is certainly no worse than Scola and certainly better than Landry.

Finally for those that say Amare has too big of an ego and wants a team of his own, say this is the perfect situation for him. Yao Ming has no ego, he is the perfect team player, willing to be the go to guy scoring 30pts in the post or just as happy scoring zero points for the game as long as the team wins. Tracy McGrady say’s all the right things to sound like a superstar but he has wanted to be the number 2 guy for years, leaving Orlando because the burden of carrying the team was more than he wanted. In Houston he has always been ready to defer to Yao Ming, even wanting to defer to Yao so he did not have to carry the load. I think TMac would absolutely love having Amare on the team. Yao and TMac would both cherish the opportunity to let Amare be the focus of the offense.

A front court consisting of Yao Ming, Amare, Stoudemire and Tracy McGrady I think might be the very best in the entire league.

The Case for Kirk Hinrich

Point Guard is with out question our weakest position. As goes Rafer so goes the Rockets it seems on most nights. Why is that when Rafer is not one of the top two scoring options on the team? I think the reason for that is because when Rafer is off he is so bad that on many nights the burden is just too much for the rest of the team to overcome. Rafer managed to shoot over 40% in just six of our losses, of course what should we expect when his F/G average for the season is an embarrassing 38%. What is really telling is that Rafer has shot over 40% just 15 times all year. More importantly other point guards regularly out produce Alston in games against the Rockets.

Enter Kirk Hinrich. He is just more consistent than Alston and more often than not wins his match ups against opposing point guards. He is a better shooter both inside the 3pt line and beyond. He is a more efficient scorer, better free throw shooter, better ball distributer and defender and does not turn the ball over. Hinrich averages 6 minutes a game more than Alston over their careers and only has half a turnover a game more.

Hinrich has played his entire NBA career with young post players that demand little or no double team or post players that paled in comparison to what the Rockets currently have. Understanding this makes Hinrichs stats even more impressive when compared to Alstons. Alston has played with the likes of TMac and Yao his whole time in Houston but has not been able to capitalize on that with improved performances like one might expect.

For those that want better offense Hinrich is a clear cut better choice that Alston. Teams would no longer be able to cheat off of the point guard position to double post players. When Yao Ming passes the ball back out to the perimeter Hinrich is a player that can consistently make teams pay for leaving him open.

For those that are worried about loosing Alstons defense just remember this. Hinrich was on the all NBA defensive team just 2 seasons ago so the man can play defense.

Now for the important stats, how do they fair against opposing point guards?

Rafer Alston
FGA -0.4 less than opposing point guards
eFG% -0.004 less than opposing point guards
Assists Per Game -1.1 less than opposing point guards
TO per game -0.4 less than the opposing point guards
PPG -0.9 less than opposing point guards
PER -2.8 less than opposing point guards

Kirk Hinrich
FGA -3.1 less than opposing point guards
eFG% +0.155 more than opposing point guards
Assists Per Game +1.2 more than opposing point guards
TO per game -0.2 less than the opposing point guards
PPG +1.0 more than opposing point guards
PER +5.3 more than opposing point guards

When you look at these stats it shows that the comparison between Alston and Hinrich really isn’t close and is more of an insult to Hinrich. Hinrich takes 3 shots less a game than opposing point guards and scores more. He hands out more assists than opposing point guards and has a significantly higher PER than opposing point guards.

Rafer only shoots less than half a shot a game less than opposing point guards yet gets outscored by almost a point a game. While both Rafer and Hinrich are both better at protecting the ball, only Rafer is worse than the opposition at handing out assists. What is most glaring is that Refer is significantly worse than the opposing point guards at the all important PER stat.

To put things in perspective Hinrich has an effective field goal percentage of .474 while he holds opponents to .319! That is domination. Hinrich is not flashy and does not make any highlights on ESPN. All you can say about Hinrich is that he is steady on both ends of the court and regularly does his job better then the player opposing him.

 

I have yet to vote in my own pole because I can't decide! Pont Guard is such a glaring weakness and yet Amare is a stud in the front court, a true game changer. I would do either trade in a heart beat I know that.

 

10 million too much even for a chance to be a legit contender for the NBA championship?

 

Do you think a point guard that averages 16 points and over 5 assists a game is only going to get the MLE next year? And why would he leave a young and up and coming team like Atlanta?

And if you would not make the move for Hinrich would you make the move for Amare?

 

Why do you say that?

 

For purposes of this thread that is not an option. Morey has given you three options. Amare, Hinrich or you trade neither because you think we have a better chance at winning the championship now with what we have.

 

Then I have you down as thinking that we will win the championship this year with what we have.