Man, I have no idea what's going to happen. Going after Rubio was smart of Morey, but it's looking more and more like that trade's not happening. If not, I'd still look to trade Battier for a young guy with potential or a draft pick. Keep Brooks and Landry for now unless a package with Battier has a chance of landing an upgrade, like the Rubio scenerio. Barry should be traded as well, hopefully to a contender. If no good prospects emerge this summer, the best thing to do is stay patient and predatory. There's got to be some team in enough financial trouble the first half of the season to make a trade in Houston's favor. (NO has been pretty quiet lately.) But first, Les also has to be able to endure the empty seats resulting from putting out a subpar team. Having McGrady back and playing for his next contract could help bring in some fans, I guess.
The 15th-30th pick, go to Sacramento. We get to keep the pick if it's in the lottery, 1st-14th. 2010 lottery protected 2011-2012 top 10 protected 2013 top 5 protected 2014 top 3 protected 2015 unprotected
The worst thing to happen would be to get in the playoffs as the 8th seed, get eliminated and lose a high draft pick(15th-17th) also.
Here's my take: Sign Gortat 3.6mill x 4yrs Sign Brandon Bass 2.0 x4yrs Trades: Phoenix Tmac/Brooks/Barry/Lowry - Nash/ Richardson Frees up ton of cap room for Phoenix in 2010 to extend Stoudemire and add a Wade and Boozer plus youth with Brooks and Lowry Toronto Scola/Landry/Battier/Cook- Bosh/Banks Toronto gets legit 4 in Scola, Solid young cheap backup in Landry, Veteran in Battier Portland Snt Artest 10mil - Outlaw, Fernandez, Webster Rockets new look: Yao/Gortat Bosh/Bass/Hayes Outlaw/Webster Richardson/Fernandez Nash/Who cares?
Sorry guy. I had Nash/Richardson going to The Rockets but it's going to take more than McGrady's expiring contract and Aaron Brooks to get that done. Kerr is a terrible GM, but he is not stupid. Either Landry or Scola would have to be in the deal + Brooks. I chose Landry because I think Nash would play better with Scola (coming off the bench for David Lee )
I think we need to develop Lowrey to be our starting PG. I think we need to find out where Landry's ceiling is. I think you get rid of Battier, and perhaps even Scola depending on how much faith you have in Landry. I think you get rid of T-Mac (at the trade deadline). I think you build around Brooks, Landry and Lowrey. I think you sign Bosh, Amare, Lebron, or Wade. I think you make an evaluation after next season about Yao. I think you use the chips you have to play with to get draft picks (we seem to be very good at finding talent through the draft). I think we are probably 2 years away from contending again if Yao is healthy and we have one of the stud FAs next year. I think we are 3 or more years away if Yao is done.
The Rockets must try and use Artest as a bait. If they have no intentions of keeping him, why not sign and trade him to get pieces that would help the team. The contracts of Tmac and Cook are expiring thus they can use these contracts to get players who they build around or players who can produce this season. The Rockets have the tools to retool/rebuild and a GM who knows how to use them wisely.
S & T Gorat 6-11 C and Mickael Pietran SG/SF 6-6 FOR S & T Ron Ron & Landry. Both teams service thier needs!
OR Incoming Players Daniel Gibson 6-2 PG from Texas 7.8 ppg, 2.1 rpg, 1.8 apg in 23.9 minutes Maurice Williams 6-1 PG from Alabama 17.8 ppg, 3.4 rpg, 4.1 apg in 35.0 minutes Zydrunas Ilgauskas 7-3 C from Lithuania (Foreign) 12.9 ppg, 7.5 rpg, 1.0 apg in 27.2 minutes Outgoing Players Aaron Brooks 5-11 PG from Oregon 11.2 ppg, 2.0 rpg, 3.0 apg in 25.0 minutes Tracy McGrady 6-8 SG / SF from Mount Zion Christian Academy (HS) 15.6 ppg, 4.4 rpg, 5.0 apg in 33.8 minutes Cleveland Trade Breakdown Change in Team Outlook: -11.7 ppg, -6.6 rpg, and +1.1 apg. Incoming Players Aaron Brooks 5-11 PG from Oregon 11.2 ppg, 2.0 rpg, 3.0 apg in 25.0 minutes Tracy McGrady 6-8 SG / SF from Mount Zion Christian Academy (HS) 15.6 ppg, 4.4 rpg, 5.0 apg in 33.8 minutes Outgoing Players Daniel Gibson 6-2 PG from Texas 7.8 ppg, 2.1 rpg, 1.8 apg in 23.9 minutes Maurice Williams 6-1 PG from Alabama 17.8 ppg, 3.4 rpg, 4.1 apg in 35.0 minutes Zydrunas Ilgauskas 7-3 C from Lithuania (Foreign) 12.9 ppg, 7.5 rpg, 1.0 apg in 27.2 minutes - + the Rocket send a Sign & Trade of Ron-Ron. - Not rebuilding it's RETOOLING = CHAMPS 2010!!!!!!!!!!!!
Get a center via free agency. Use Artest in a sign and trade to get another big man. Sign a veteran to help the team's young back court and wisely use the expiring contracts to get the future foundation of the team.
Brooks + rights to Taylor → Fernandez + rights to Mills & Freeland *Rudy possibly wants out if Blazers get Hedo *Blazers possibly renouncing Freeland & Koponen to have the cap space to sign Hedo Ariza (most of MLE) Lowry + Hayes + White → Gortat (S&T) TE (Francis) → Johnson *Two trades combined give Magic a good bench only 8 players signed while minimising team salary. McGrady + Cook → Harrington + Mobley + Crawford (non-guaranteed) + Hunter (non-guaranteed) *Waive Joe Crawford & Chris Hunter. *Harrington & Mobley both expiring and more trade-friendly than McGrady's contract. Fernandez Johnson Mills Ariza Barry Mobley Battier Harrington Budinger (Leunen/Newley) Scola Landry Gortat Freeland Yao Nelson Lowry Carter Redick Pietrus White Lewis Anderson Howard Hayes Brooks Blake Roy Bayless Taylor Hedo Webster Batum Aldridge Outlaw Pendergraph Pryzbilla Oden
We only gave up the 2009 pick. I'm not sure where people keep reading that we traded a 2010 pick. Plus there are rule that you cannot trade a 1st round pick 4 yrs out or something. So that time frame is impossible
Theres nothing we can do unless you have a time machine. We were pretty much screwed when we drafted Yao.
Short/Long term fix: Center, center, center Long term fix: New superstar/playmaker Also, a solid SG would be nice.
My approach to rebuilding would be to trade McGrady and Battier for multiple players. The idea is that you're not going to win the championship next year, so you try and improve by adding depth and acquiring all of the assets that you can for future trades. Here's an example. It's totally dreamcasting but it demonstrates the idea: 1) Trade McGrady ($23M) to Atlanta for Josh Smith ($10M), Josh Childress (SnT for $8M) and ZaZa Pachulia (SnT for $4M) Childress would become a BYC player, but if you have ATL throw in an additional player in the $750K to $1M range then it works. The Hawks have several players in that salary range so it would seem doable. The Hawks have supposedly been trying to unload Smith's contract and this deal gets them out from under the remainder of the contract and the other two players are free agents that they probably won't sign anyway so why not sign and trade them? 2) Trade Battier to Portland for Fernandez and Outlaw. Looks like Portland just lost out on Turkoglu so Battier might be back in play.If you need to throw in a 1st rounder, then do it. What you end up with is a roster that looks like this: 1. Yao 2. Smith 3. Scola 4. Brooks 5. Landry 6. Fernandez 7, Outlaw 8. Pachulia 9. Childress 10.Ariza 11,Lowry 12.Taylor 13.Budinger 14.Dorsey 15.Barry 16.Hayes 17.Cook C: Scola/Pachulia/Dorsey/Hayes PF:Smith/Scola/Landry/Hayes/Outlaw/Cook SF:Ariza/Childress/Outlaw/Budinger SG:Fernandez/Taylor/Barry PG:Brooks/Lowry/Barry That's a pretty deep roster. There's quite a bit of flexibilty with many players that can play multiple positions. Obviously you've got too many contracts, but you have many trade assets that you can combine in deals. Want to make a run at Rubio? Offer Landry, Brooks and a 1st rounder for Cardinal and the rights to Rubio. That might be hard for the T-Wolves to turn down. After Dec. 15th, you'd have the abilty to create some pretty attractive packages if there's a guy that you really want. If you don't want to do the Battier for Fernandez/Outlaw (or Portland won't go for it), then use Battier in a package to get a shooting guard. Would a deal with Battier as the centerpiece get you Redd or Hamilton? If Yao comes back, then you're roster is even deeper. Of course I'm taking on extra salary and it's not my money that I'm spending. Anyway, that's the types of deals that I'd be looking for. They might not make us contenders next year, but we'd be good and we'd have the assets required to go get a star at a later date. That's the deluxe version. If you want the low end model, then start off by using the $2.6M Trade Exception from the SF3 trade along with a 2nd rounder to acquire one of the free agent centers in a sign and trade deal. I'd shoot for either Nesterovic,Pachulia or McDyess. If I can't get one of them then I look at Brian Skinner or Robert Swift for less. Regardles how you do it, I'd start accumulating trade pieces as fast as possible.
