Bill Simmons NBA playoffs mailbag: Very Interesting Trade scenario for the Rox

Sina has already reported this as if it is a done deal LOL.

 

They used a misleading title only, not really reported. It's very possible the guy read it from GARM.

 

Contrary to popular belief McGrady's expiring contract has hugh value to NO. There are limited few teams that can offer that kind of "one player" get out of jail free card to NO. The only other two that I know of are O'Neal in Miami and O'Neal in Phoenix (trade approval rights I think).

McGrady's contract with a buyout is hugh for these guys. It essentially saves them anywhere between $30M and +$40M. I do not care who you are that is monster money! Especially for a owner in big financial trouble.


ROCKET!!!

 

I would do it. Obviously, keeping Scola would be ideal.

The current roster with a healthy Yao is not enough anyway. Like Morey said, you have to take risks to win it all

We would probably need a year or two to bounce back, even with Morey's magic. One step back, two steps forward...

In a way, if we don't do this trade, we are gambling on the following things to make us contenders:
- T-Mac makes a miraculous recovery (in playing level, not just health) next year
- Brooks improves his defense, consistency, passing, decision making significantly (thats a lot of holes)

 

WTF. why do we have to just give all the talents we have to get CP3?

 

Agree totally on trading Yao. I would trade Yao and probably another player for Paul in a heartbeat. I just don't like the deal being mentioned.

My thinking is, if you keep Yao, you better have a super deep team. I also don't want to break up the Artest/Battier combo. Watching Bryant, Anthony, and LBJ have it so easy this playoffs makes me appreciate what those two guys do on the defensive end. Do you realize Anthony and LBJ just don't do much against this current Rocket team? And Bryant never gets into the paint or free throw line on them. Just having Mutombo healthy would've made the LA series even closer than it was. So plug in a Leon Powe, or whomever next year.

We saw what a Paul, Chandler, Peja, West, and Posey team could do. Get smoked by the Nuggets by 60 points. We would basically be switching out David West for Ron Artest. I don't see how that's better than our current team, plus a couple of new additions after this off-season, without an injured Yao. The latter (minus McGrady and Mutombo's spots) went 2-2 against the Lakers, while the former got obliterated by the Nuggets. Pretty cut and dry there. And those who are saying Posey is close to Battier in terms of contribution are completely out of their minds.

 

NO PEJA. Definitely

 

A lopsided trade for Hornets. Peja and Posey were doing nothing in the playoffs while the Hornets were ready to give Chandler for free during the season. So does CP3 really worth 24 million expiring contracts, a much improved and confident Brooks, 2 good PFs and a potential 1st team defender? That is more or less like the whole team that pushed the Lakers to 7 games in the playoff. No! Remember CP3 lost 1-4 to the Nuggets!

 

CP3-run offense gets exposed too easily. I have no doubt CP3 is a great point guard but personally I've always liked D.Will's game better. With D.Will, you get more options on the offensive end cause he's bigger and can post up.

Also, I hate the idea of taking bad contracts for 1 great player. We already did that we Tmac and it took us forever to unload Juwan Howard's contract.

 

In a word. NO.

 

This is a good point and something the Rockets should be more focused on than the trade being bandied about here. A better deal for Houston would be McGrady for Chandler and something else. That way you retain all the depth and defense you would be losing in the Simmons rumor, while getting taller/longer, and reducing Yao's workload.

 

No way, Chandler is overpaid, injury prone and just plain not good. If he is included with Paul as a bad contract, so be it, we can find a use for him. But a ten million dollar back up center with no offense skills is bad news.

 

What a pathetic trade for Houston. That's why Bill Simmons will stick as a writer and not a GM of the Twolves.

Do you guys care about defense at all? Stojakovic is washed up and yet he's incoming while our best defensive player Battier is leaving. We'd trade 4 our of 5 starters next year most likely.

If we do trade for Paul, Yao Ming needs to be the one getting shipped out, not a huge chunk of our role players that are actually healthy.

 

Chandler can play starting PF ans slide to backup C when needed.

Yao/Chandler combo can do much better than Yao/Cato or Yao/Hayes, and both Yao/Cato, Yao/Hayes did quite well before. Yao/Chandler can make the inside defense of Rockets very tough for almost everybody.

Plus Chandler's contract will be expired in 2 years, right?

 

Lost Battier is a blow for defense. But CP3 is a much better defender than AB, Chandler at PF is better defensively than Scola and Landry combined, Posey is a good defender off the bench.

Overall I don't see how defense will suffer that much, if suffer at all.

 

Why would Posey be the bench player after this trade? Peja is the one who's potentially washed up. I say Posey starts, and Peja comes off the bench for whatever offensive spark he can muster.

 

That's possible, and overall defense would be even better.

Peja can keep defense more honest though. He can't be left open on 3 point line.

 

Yeah, but if Artest is the starting 2 then we'll lack foot speed defensively between him and Stojakovic. To me, Peja is just a bonus in this trade. I wouldn't start him unless he returns to his level of play in 07/08.

 

With two shot blockers inside, peremeter guys getting beat on defense is more afforable than it is now. But with Yao , you always need more space on offense. Peja creates that.

 

T-Mac + Brent Barry +Aaron Brooks + Carl Landry + Shane Battier +Luis Scola for Paul + Peja Stojakovic + David West +Tyson Chandler.

This seems more acceptable to me .