Yeah, didn't anyone learn anything from BackToTheFuture I,II, and III? If we had chosen Lewis for first round guaranteed money, there is no guaranty he would have worked on his game as much as he did or that we would have been in a position to make all the draft picks/trades/signings we made. (Of course Marty would have found out a way to make everything better, for himself.)
I am sorry to hurt your feelings, but what rick said is that seattle is worried that rashard is so enamored with coming back to houston, that he may sign for the 4.5 exception, making it necessary for seattle to get a player like donyell marshall.
Woulda shoulda coulda. The Rockets definately made a mistake by passing up on Lewis. If they could go back I'm sure they would select him Besides learning that the flux capacitor is what make time travel possible, I also learned that changin any event could trigger drastically different outcomes in the space-time continuum. (I'm a nerd!). Think about it. If we would have drafted Lewis we probably never would have drafted Prizbilla and traded for Collier and an extra #1 pick in the following year because we would have likely been a 8th round playoff seed. Which means we never would have had the extra picks to get Griffin. Also, we wouldn't have won the lottery this year because we would have been slotted at a different lottery seed. So if you really think about by not drafting Lewis we were able to get Griffin and Ming instead. Not getting Lewis was the best thing the Rockets could have done. Rudy T and CD are geniuses!
This is true about our ability to land Steve, EG, etc, if we had drafted Rashard. For example, when we asked for Steve, the Grizz might have said, "We'll take Lewis and Dickerson." Wrong answer, McFly! For example, would Indiana have traded Jalen Rose to the Bulls if Elton Brand were still there?
Let me get this straight, you'd rather have Rashard Lewis over Francis, Nachbar, Ming and Griffin? The Lewis thing is a domino effect, if you take Lewis instead of Turkcan, the Rockets don't have the draft pick to get Francis. And without Francis the Rockets aren't in position to get Griffin, and most likely the Rockets couldn't get Ming, and they definitely don't go after Nachbar since they would have Lewis. People need to stop pounding the Rockets for not drafting Lewis. Lewis probably isn't going to be a franchise player, and in passing up Lewis you get THREE potential franchise player (Ming, Francis and Griffin), and a European player potentially as good as Sacramento's guys. So you would pass all that up for Lewis? Glen Rice might be able to give us 17 and 7. He has put up 20+ his entire career and grabs about 5 or 6 boards per game. If the Rockets knew what they knew now, no way they would pass up 3 potential franchise players, and a quality SF, potentially losing Mobley, just to get Lewis who is good, but not a franchise player at this point, and it is questionable whether he will be or not.
Even if Nachbar does become the next Peja, it will take him at least a few years to blossom while Rashard is the same age but has allready become a star in the NBA.
Rashard Lewis might disagree with you. However, I hope that the Rockets do express interest in Lewis so that it looks to everyone that they are trying to make things right, only to have the Sonics get overly nervous and give Rashard his huge contract. That way, everyone wins. Nobody can come in the BBS griping about how the Rockets didn't pursue Lewis, Lewis himself can't gripe about it, and the Sonics are no longer FA players in the offseason and won't be making the playoffs for several years. Well, maybe the Sonics don't win.
Boki was playing pro ball in Europe when Rashard was still trying to win a high school championship. I really do not think it will take Boki long to contribute.....at a fraction of the cost compared to Rashard to boot. Regardless of the talent level, it is still much tougher competition in the pro leagues in Europe than any high school league. Will Boki put up Rashard type numbers his first year, most likely no. Will he contribute more than Rashard did coming out of highschool, most likely yes.
I remember watching an NBA Inside Stuff feature on Desmond Mason. It said that he was the ONLY Sonic living in Seattle. Soooo, I'm thinking that Lewis not building a house there is not as extremely telling.
I totaly agree with you jack,Lewis would leave seattle because of the money and thos three players take up alot.
If i were the Rockets, and i'm not i would go for it. We talk about salaries and contracts so much but let's face it, the Rockets paid three players last year alot of money and got nothing! I'm talking about Mo T, cato, and rice. If they can pay these players all that money for nothing, they can pay lewis to come over here and be productive. He would add more consistantcy to our limited offense and still keep our team young and ready to run. They should try the nba free agents for a change instead of saving money and getting mediocre cba players. The future is now and we could have a strong young team for the next 5 or 6 years!
I hope you're happy, Roarke, you're bringing me out of lurk mode... Where is this rumour from? I looked at espn's site and saw nothing. If it was on t.v., shouldn't it have been on the web? If it's not just talk, I'd trade just about anybody on the squad for 'Shard (except Griff, Ming, Steve, and Chucky Brown). If we could unload Rice, Cato or MoT, all the better. But I'll believe it when I see a link. Or if Popeye, Doc Rocket or Clutch says so.
B-ball freak hit this one on the head. Chemistry isn't an issue. This team hasn't had time to develope any. Before the draft SF was considerd our biggest need. Now just because we draft Nachbar (nothing against him) we shouldn't jump at the chance to bring in a 22 year old proven player for the MCE?
I think that we still would have been able to land Francis(Lewis might have even been included in the deal). But, beyond that, acquiring any of our other guys might not have happened.
In 97-98, Boki played in TWO games at the professional level while Lewis was in high school. In the four years since, Lewis has played against much better competion. Who cares if he contributes more than Lewis did out of high school? What the hell does that have to do with anything? Last time I checked, Lewis came out of high school 4 years ago. Will Nachbar contribute more next year than Lewis would now? Obviously not.
why not Kato? Cevin is actually a 'reasonably' (sic) paid 84 incher (owed the same as McCulloch or Booth, for example, and less than James will likely get...and Lewis manning the 2 and 3 is 'ok', tho I'd'ruther Moochie for Odom and allowing Clips to get Da Barren w/Mooch and Ely and draft choices...
My point is, Lewis is not a crapshoot. He's a good player. The list of guys worse than him who were drafted #15 or later is a hell of a lot longer than the list of guys who are better. I think you have to play the odds to some extent. It just bothers me that before the draft people were screaming about how bad we were at the SF, and now everyone thinks we have Peja. I think it's ridiculous to assume Nachbar will be as good as Lewis, which is what a lot of people seem to be doing. He has potential, but so do a lot of guys who don't pan out. I have a hard time going along with the idea that we shouldn't sign a good player for a good price(MCE) because we have a rookie who might someday possibly be as good.
Thats a little unfair to compare a 4 year veteran to a rookie. That is my point exactly. People want to compare Boki with Rashard...well if you do that you need to compare Rashard's 1st year with Boki this year. Rashard will require MORE $$$ than he is ultimately worth. Boki will contribute more than Rahsard did HIS 1st year. Boki will also require less $$$ than Rashard and will not want to be the man. If Rashard wants to come here cheap, fine but he WILL require a BIG pay raise sooner rather than later. Do you want to not be able to sign Griffin or Ming long term just to make Rashard happy? Rashard is not worth max $$$ Whether he gets it now or next year does not change that.
I somewhat disagree with you Dennis i mean yeh Rashard has played more years than Boki but they're virtually the same age. Lewis has the advantage of being young and used NBA level players while bOKI WHO IS THE SAME AGE AS Lewis is going to take another year or two to get up to par. By then who knows how much better Rashard will. I say we made the mistake of passing him up 3 times lets not make it 4.
