A lot of posters have been hoping for a top-tier PG. If nothing else, Stoudamire would definitely put us in the mix for one this summer.
According to Phoenix publications the Sun's owner wants to get well under the salary cap by acquiring expiring contracts that would probably need to add up $15 million at least, young players and draft picks to rebuild the team. There are several other teams that have much more money in expiring contracts than the Rockets (Sac, Detroit, Portland) and Portland has good young talent to throw in a deal as well. This trade for Stoudemire seems primarily to acquire expiring contracts and Artest's is the only Rocket with an expiring deal in the trade being proposed and nobody's mentioning draft picks in a Rocket deal either. If the Rockets wanted to keep Brooks they would have to give up a draft pick or two along with Head, Artest and Landry to outbid the other teams (several) that are bidding. Clutch also mentioned there's a chance Artest may not be traded but he didn't thing Artest would re-sign after this season so Ron Ron may not get moved as anticipated at least in the scenarios mentioned on this site.
He may not fit but who cares? Like one said, his contract will expire with TMac's in 2010 any way. So we will have a HUG cap space to sign with virtually ANYONE else.
Actully I don't think many teams could offer as much as the Rockets in the form of both cap relief and young cap freindly talent. You are not correct about Artest being the only expiring contract in the proposed deal Luther Head also expires at the seasons end. Head and Artest combine for 9.3 million in cap relief this year. Brooks and Landry are both seen as up and coming talent. Both have cap freindly deals and both expire after next season so Phoenix has an entire year to evaluate both. Plus the bird rights to Ron Artest could be valuable a well. Someone (such as the Lakers) that wants to sign Artest may need to do it via a sign and trade and Phoenix could end up profiting on that end of the deal as well. The two teams that could challange Houston by giving Phoenix both cap releif and young cap friendly talent would be Chicago and Oklahoma. I think OKC could blow Phoenix's sox off with an offer of Wilcox, Mason (about 12 mill in expiring contracts) and Jeff Green (an up and coming star) along with one of their 3 1st round draft picks in this years draft. Depending on how Phoenix views Tyrus Thomas Chicago could throw him into the mix along with Cedric Simons, Drew Gooden (9 mill in cap relief).
By his own admission he wants "to be the featured guy". So unless you want him supplanting Yao as the focal point of the offense (and maybe some do), then no, he doesn't fit. He also doesn't compliment Yao all that well because he gets most of his points rolling into the lane, which Yao tends to clog up. He also doesn't block enough shots and definitely doesn't rebound well enough. That said, I would still trade Artest for him because I don't think Artest fits either.
Amare seems to be extremely injury prone... So the answer is yes, he would fit perfectly with the current make up of the team.
I just feel that you need correcting on that one quote. Amare gets almost 60% of his points from mid range jump shots and has a better jump shooting percentage than Yao.
No, I don't think he fits with Yao.... This team does NOT need another PF, it needs PERIMITER players... 1. A better PG, that attacks the basket and is a good shooter 2. An attack the basket wing player that moves off the ball and hits shots. 3. A SG that is deadly from 3pt land and moves off the ball. Any of the above 3 would work, as would a trade of Landry for a PF that has 3pt range. This team has weaknesses, ADDRESS those, not it's strengths. Amare is more talented but he does not make the team significantly better overall. Pass. DD
Imagine the shots taken by scola,landry being taken by amare. Imagine the dunks, the put backs and the rebounds. And you get someone that can block shots as well. Something that neither our PFs can. If artest can find nothing to complain about the coach about his shots. I doubt amare will complain.
Uh, I believe the combined shooting perctage from Scola and Landry is higher than that of Amare's.... Amare adds barely anything that Landry and Scola don't already do.... Scolandry are better rebounders, about the same on defense, and finish about the same around the rim. And their efficiency is at least equal to Amares..... Just because a player can jump high does not make him more efficient.....Amare is efficient, but so are Scola and Landry.....Amare does nothing to improve the TEAM's efficiency... We need more efficient perimeter players...that is what the team needs. DD
No..Amare is just simply too selfish to fit in with this team. Do you guys remember when he complained about not being the "featured-guy"? The Suns were in 2nd seed in the West that time and he complained about it. He would do the same thing in Houston and take Yao's shots and if Yao shoots more than Amare he would complain. I am not willing to trade Artest for him either. Rockets don't need to be softer and dumber. Amare is a great player and a Top 5 Power Forward in the NBA and all..but he is not worth the risk.
If we had JVG and Tom Thibodeau to teach him defense, Amare could be a poor mans Hakeem. With IdleBrain, I don't think it matters. He has no control over the locker room as it is.
I think Amare is a better match to be on the floor at the same time as Scola than Landry though. Landy cannot really cut to the lane as fast as Amare can and Scola could easily find him while Scola is posting up and Amare cuts. Although they finish differently, Landry and Scola are pretty similar with regard to area of the floor and what they need to score.
Amare wants to be in an uptempo environment. That's not possible in a half-court system with Yao. He needs Nash and wants to be the number 1 scoring option. He won't play any defense or rebound either.
How people can say no makes no sense we are so nonathletic and have been that way for a long time and amare gives us all the athleticism in the world.
Amare does not fit in with this team. He needs to be in a fast-paced team to be effective. Acquiring him would be a huge mistake. The team would give up too many good, young peices and lose much of its depth. Since the team runs through Yao Ming first, what would Amare's role be? Shooting mid-range jumpers? That's not his game and if he couldn't play alongside Shaq, it can't work with Yao. Yao gets more touches than Shaq and the Rox play in a slower offense.
At first when I saw this newsm I thought now way. Absolutely not. But now that I think about it I can see Amare Stoudemire being a pretty good fit for this team. Amare could start, while Yao takes care of the stuff down low, Amare can roam off of pick and rolls. We already know guys will double Yao. Amare would thrive on our team in my opinion. Scola can come off the bench and I think he can thrive doing that also. When Yao isnt playing, Amare can fill in as center and be that 1st option with our 2nd unit out there. This is an opportunity the Rockets cant refuse. If the Rockets and Suns can agree to get Amare here, I would be all for it.
I agree. Scola does not comand double teams. Landry does not comand double teams. Yao does. Amare does as well. With Amare and Yao on the floor who do you double team? Both? Our perimeter players would be shooting open shots all day.
Amare would fit in, if we were playing a video game. He has too big much of an ego to fit in with this team, The Rockets are based on rebounding, defense and unselfish play. Amare represents all 3 of the opposites.
