Lamar Odom * Positives: Scoring machine, plays D, good ball handler, assists, and rebounds. Plays both ends of the floor * Negatives: Crackhead in the making, JR Rider, Wiggins, Lou Lloyd clone. Enough said, I wouldn't make the trade too much downside. Kevin Garnett * Positives: Great attitude, consistently high production, team leader, rebounder, scorer, shot blocker, and plays good D. * Negatives: Salary is too high $21.4 mil, would love to have, if we could get rid of MoTaylor, Rice, Cato, Kenny, and one draft pick. Rashard Lewis * Positives: Home town favorite, great upside, good 3 point shooter for Rudy's type of offense. Plays D. Will not require trading entire team to obtain. * Negatives: Being at home could be a distraction, comes across as soft, and wants the Maximum, which he hasn't earned. I prefer him over Kenny Thomas at this point. I would love to move MoTaylor for Rashard. Iverson * Positives: Big time player that can do it all, no migranes, and plays with intensity for all 48 minutes. Consistent production * Negatives: We must trade Steve in order to land him, Leader, takes worst shots than Cat, and is not a point guard and has no desire to be one. Overall, the Rocket plan appears to be to stand pat and see what materializes next year with MoTaylor and Rice back in the lineup. However, this will r****d the growth of Eddie and possibly KT, Cato, and Torres.
Originally posted by man532 67%? What is with you people and Lamar Odom? What does he shoot, 32%? I'll take a front line of Eddie Lewis and Rashard Griffin, thanks.
Actually Lamar Odom shot 46% from the field in 00-01. His rookie year he shot 43.8%. Those are both respectable and he was banged up this year and started off slowly to damage his % this year. I think 2 years ago is more of an indication of what he can do when healthy. Out of those 4 scenarios I'd X out Iverson first. I think Garnett is the next one because of how much they want for him. Its between Lewis and Odom and I'd choose Odom. He has the most upside, gives us another ballhandler, can play some D, he rebounds well, passes well, and would flow well with our offense. My main concern from him is not his injury or dooby smoking, but rather whether his decline each of the last 3 years in 3pt shooting can be corrected. With penetrators like Steve and Cat along with post up guys like Mo (and EG when he develops) we're going to need a 3 that can at least be respectable from behind the arch. Hell, his rebounding and passing ability alone make him a worthwhile risk. The fact that he doesn't need 18 shots a game to be a superstar is another bonus that would be beneficial to our team which already has plent of shooters.
First of all, I don't think the Rockets can trade for better players. They are crippled by having Glen Rice, his mediocre game, and his huge contract. Somehow, as Rockets fans, you would want Rice to be able to score 46 points in a single game, just like Paul Pierce. They have similar builds. But no, maybe we're just dreaming. If Rice can just score 15-17 points a game for an injury-free 82-game season, I think he would earn what they're paying him. But, if there is indeed a taker for Glen Rice, ahh, I wish, that would be the day. Only then can Houston hope to get better players, and a chance to make the playoffs. If I were to make suggestions, here they are: Trade for players who play defense, who block shots, those players who have long arms. 1. Theo Ratliff 2. Andrei Kirilenko 3. Donyell Marshall Sure Kevin Garnett is big, and yes he can blocks shots. But he has a huge contract. I don't think the Rockets can afford to acquire Garnett. I haven't seen Amare Stoudemire play. Is he a the type of player that plays defense? I have seen Chris Wilcox of Maryland play. He blocks shots. He seems like a player the Rockets need.
Amare is supposed to love to play in the paint (boards, blocks, and dunks....he is a bigman that loves being a bigman). He's a very intriguing guy, but do we really want another project? We have EG and we're trying to be competitive next year and be looking to go deep into the playoffs when we move into the new stadium. The most interesting big man in the draft is Hilario. His skills are compared to Kenyon, except he's bigger (possibly big enough to be a small C like Wallace). He has FT shooting woes (Shaq like), but at 20 he is a good mixture of potential and being ready. He will probably need a year to get used to the competition, but in 2 years we could see some major dividends (and 2 years from now is what we're really looking forward to). Hilario played the US in some tournament and Hilario blocked Jermaine O'Neal 3 times in the game (who does that remind you of....*cough* Kenyon). Obviously foreign players are high risk, high reward but the fact that this guy has good rebounding and shot blocking skills and has the build (about 6-10 250) to play as a C makes him an interesting prospect.
To trade for Iverson or Garnett it will take a lot from our roster i.e any combinations of Francis, Mobley, Griffin, Lottery pick. I say if we can get Lewis or Odom without giving up to much then hell yea go for it but i'd really like to see Francis, Mobley and Griffin grow up together and play together as a trio for quite some time. This is a young and explosive combination with worlds of talent which is still untapped.
It's nice to see almost everyone knows Lamar is the perfect fit. He's just as much a crackhead as Mo is. I don't consider Mo a crackhead. Right now, I think we can get Odom and keep Rice. This is how I see it working: Cato(24)/Griff(16)/MoT(8) MoT(20)/Griff(12)/T-Mo(10)/Odom(6) Rice(20)/Odom(15)/T-Mo(13) Cat(35)/Francis(10)/Torres(4) Francis(25)/Tierre(13)/Odom(10) How's that for a Rudy type of team? So many flexible players. Odom (1,2,3,4,5) Francis (1,2) Griffin (3,4,5) Mo T (4,5, rarely 3) T-Mo (3,4) Torres (2,3) Nice team you got there Rudy.
I'll be extremely content if the Rockets get Stoudamire, Wilcox or Halario. If CD goes with Woods or Butler with the top pick, I sure hope Stoudamire or Hilario fall to 15. If not, I would settle for Ely or Haislip. Man when is the lottery drawing??? Can do a lot more posturizing when you know where each team will pick.
Gentlemen, Rookies don't contribute that much their 1st season, except for Magic, Bird, and Jordan. We have enough 25 and under players we don't need to stockpile talent unless we're making a huge trade. Forgive my error with Rashard. Sane, I think Odom smokes way much more bong than MoTaylor. However, having both of them on the team only increases the chances of drug suspension.
