If the Sonics were smart, they'd see this as their chance to re-build in one year. Here are some players on their core: James Booth Drobnjak Radomanovic Desmond Mason Gary Payton and Shammond Williams can land them Eric Barkley, Zach Randolph, and Damon Stoudamire. Vin Baker can probably land them Stromile Swift and a contract. Rashard Lewis for Mercer and Al Harrington. Here's the new look: Brad Miller/Jerome James/ Drobnjak Stromile Swift/Zach Randolph/Radomanovich Al Harrington/Radomanovich/Desmond mason Desmon Mason/Ron Mercer Damon Stoudamire/Eric Barkley That's great for them. So many new faces, and they can evaluate everyone over a season. It's safe to say that's not a playoff team, but after a year, they'd be a lock for the playoffs. Everyone's open to trade this offseason, they should take advantage.
Why would we have to trade Nachbar if we had Rashard? I'm not real clear on that. Perhaps we could use any of our 3's at 2? MLE for Rashard is a "free" look. It's a lot of money, but it would likely be a year only like Taylor. I think getting a guy that can help us win 45 games in a year is a good deal. Why not Lewis? If it doesn't work out, it doesn't work out. So what.
True, but still, he is awful at defense, and if even YOU had to bet your life on it, you'd say he's never going to be a good defender.
Why not a sign and trade for rice and a draft pick? Rice's contract comes off the books next year so that would clear up cap space enabling the sonics to pursue big time free agents as well as picking up a young player via the draft. Maybe Lewis is playing hardball with the Sonics because he feels that they wronged him in the past. Perhaps coming home to a up-and-coming team like the rockets would be attractive enough to allow Lewis to accept a lower yet healthy salary. Playing alongside Stevie, Ming, Griff and Mobes in a brand spanking new facility in his hometown may be reason enough. Hope so.
Rudy wont trade Nachbar for Lewis (Outsise jumper) because Nachbar is a slasher dunker type that Rudy needs in the SmF position for his new Game Plan! Lewis would become a TALL Mario Ellie !
I guess I'll throw in my 2 cents worth. I believe that Rashard would be a perfect fit for this team & if we could get him for the mid-level, I'd do it in a heartbeat. However, I wouldn't sign him for one year only. I'd offer him a 3 year deal for the mid-level with a player option in the third year. That way, he could opt out after his second year & we'd still have his Early Bird rights. That (assuming my math is correct) would allow us to pay him as much as $8.75 mill in the first year of his new 6 year deal. A player like Rashard would be an integral part of our offensive scheme. If we structured the offense in such a way that it would take full advantage of his skills & then he left next year for more money elsewhere, we'd have to hope that someone would step up & fill the role. Or, we'd be taking a step backwards. As for the log jam at SF, Rice has 2 years left on his contract & is coming off of a major injury. He'll need to be showcased this year. If he's fully recovered & is able to put up numbers anywhere near his career averages, there should be playoff teams lining up to trade for him towards the end of this year. However, if we are unable to trade him this year, then we will almost assuredly be able to trade him next year, when his $9.6 mill will come off the books. Or, we just might let his contract expire (like we did with Walt & Willis) to help keep us under the dreaded Luxury Tax threshhold. Nachbar is signed for 3 or 4 years (not sure which), so I can see Rashard as the starter, Rice as the first off the bench, & the rest of the time (what there is of it) split between Nachbar & T-Mo for the first year. If T-Mo doesn't develop a consistent shot, then he could be used as a defensive stopper off the bench. Rice could also play some backup SG, which would fill our current need & showcase his abilities even more. After Rice is traded or his contract expires, we'd have a nice one-two punch at SF with Rashard & Nachbar. Our lineup in two years might be: C: Ming/Cato/Collier? PF: Taylor/Griffin/KT? SF: Lewis/Nachbar/T-Mo SG: Mobley/Maddox? PG: Francis/Moochie Depending on Maddox's development or what we get by trading Rice, that's a team with the potential of being two starters deep at every position. Way to go Rudy & CD. I say we go after Rashard.
sonics will Sign and trade . . .if they cannot sign him 1. We know they shopping Vin 2. we know rashard and them are not close on a deal RICE OPTION this will allow them to be players in Free agency next year or is rice got 2 yrs? Mo Taylor + Nachbar - they like Euros and need a PF contracts fit Rocket River
Maybe, we should strike while the iron is hot. Let's offer him the full mid-level exception & see what develops. According to this article, Seattle seems to have put the Lewis negotiations on the back burner for now. Unless they are talking to Rashard, this may make him madder. With Houston's reputation of keeping their word when it comes to taking care of their players, this might be all that is needed to get him for the mid-level. As I stated in my previous post, with his Early Bird rights, we could offer him as much as $8.75 mill in the first year of a 6 year deal. From reading the other article, it seems to me that it's more about promises made than the money. Here's the part of that article that I'm referring to: The source of Lewis' displeasure is that he believes that the Sonics are being disloyal to him after he displayed the loyalty they sought two summers ago. Then, Lewis had a six-year, $46 million offer from the Toronto Raptors that he turned down because he believed the Sonics indicated to him that if he re-signed with them, they would pay him in the future. At the time, Lewis signed a three-year, $13.2 million deal with an escape clause after the second season, which he exercised in June. Now, the Sonics are believed to be offering Lewis only a few million dollars more than he had turned down from the Raptors even though he has two more years of experience, including last season, when he averaged 17 points and seven rebounds a game. It appears the Sonics' approach to this negotiation is that no other team can offer Lewis as much money as they can, so they are willing to chance that Lewis will make the sound financial decision of a long-term deal rather than make decisions based on emotion. "It's not the first year of the contract that counts," Sonics general manager Rick Sund said. "It's the size of the total package. "If Rashard wants to go to another team, there is nothing I can do about that." http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/sonics/134497468_soni21.html Sonics likely to lose Watson to Grizzlies By Percy Allen Seattle Times staff reporter The Sonics' youth movement took a minor hit yesterday when backup point guard Earl Watson signed an offer sheet for three years worth $4 million with the Memphis Grizzlies. Once the Sonics officially receive notice, they will have 15 days to match the offer to the restricted free agent. However, Seattle can only offer Watson a two-year contract, which means he won't return here next season. "He was on our list of free agents that we wanted to sign," Sonics General Manager Rick Sund said. "We knew the risk. We targeted both he and Jerome (James) with our exceptions. We used the mid-level ($4.5 million) exception on Jerome and we were going to use the million exception to sign Earl. "Once he signed with another team for those years, it's highly unlikely that we'll be able to sign now. We wish him the best, and he did a good job for us last year." Watson, a 6-foot-1 point guard taken in the second round of the 2001 NBA draft, surprisingly worked his way into the rotation. He averaged 3.6 points, 2.0 assists and 1.3 rebounds in 64 games as a rookie. Seattle targeted Watson as someone who could replace perennial All-Star Gary Payton, whose contract expires after the 2002-03 season. But that was before Watson's relationship with the Sonics soured after the team left him off the playoff roster in favor of Randy Livingston. Despite the snub, Seattle management made re-signing Rashard Lewis, James and Watson a priority. The team accomplished one of its goals last week when James, a 7-1 center, agreed to a three-year deal worth $15 million. Bringing back Lewis, an unrestricted free agent, won't be as simple. The two sides are still far apart. Lewis indicated his desire for a maximum deal of $102 million, though recent reports say he is willing to accept $90 million over seven years. The Sonics, however, are believed to have made an initial offer of $56 million. Only a handful of teams can match the Sonics' offer, which gives them leverage, but that hasn't helped negotiations. And management may wait a few days before dealing with Lewis as it continues trade talks with the Boston Celtics involving enigmatic forward Vin Baker. Sources close to the deal said both teams are in agreement on a swap that would send Baker to Boston and point guard Kenny Anderson to Seattle. The Celtics would need to add another player to even out the salaries and make the deal compatible with NBA requirements, and therein lies one of the major snags. Boston appears willing to part with Vitaly Potapenko, a 6-10 forward/center, while the Boston Herald reported the Sonics are interested in 6-8 forward Eric Williams. Money isn't a factor because Potapenko will earn $5.2 million next season and Williams will make $5 million. The significant difference is on the court. Williams averaged 6.4 points and three rebounds in 74 games last season. He started 30 games and played big at times during the playoffs, lifting his scoring to 7.8 points and rebounds to 4.4. Potapenko, who averaged 4.6 points and 4.4 rebounds last season, slightly tore left knee ligaments in Boston's regular-season finale and did not play in the playoffs. He isn't expected to play again until midseason. Seattle also would like to unload disgruntled guard Shammond Williams, perhaps for Boston guard Joseph Forte.
There is no reason the Rockets shouldn't offer him the MCE. Rice hasn't been healthy in years, so I would count on him being injured again this year. If you can move him, fine, but I would still go after Rashard. I think that Rashard on this team would easily put them into the playoffs. That experience would be enormous for this team. If he walks after this year, I think that Nachbar will be able to step into his shoes with no problem. Even if he doesn't put up the same numbers as Rashard, everyone else should be able to pick up the slack. Most people see Nachbar as being the same type of player as Rashard. Playing behind him for a year will not hurt his development. In fact, I think that watching Rashard for a year and filling in for him could help his adjustment to the NBA game. If we could find a taker for Rice, this would be as good as done, but if I were in charge, it would be done anyway.
backup to mobley now = torres backup to nachbar = morris' third string pf = iwanko I left off rice due to injury and kenny he will walk or be traded. This is why we need lewis for four reasons: backup to mobley gets better = nachbar backup to sf gets better = nachbar starting sf gets better = lewis 3 string pf gets better = lewis
I wonder if the Rockets are actually going to be interested in signing Lewis to a long-term deal. I really doubt that Seattle would be interested in either Moochie, Mo Taylor, or Kelvin Cato in a sign-and-trade. However, what if the Rockets find someone to do a 3-way deal? I think the perfect team in a 3 way would be the Heats. The Heats are dying for a point guard since the departure of Tim Hardaway, and if Sonics are really in a rebuilding state, they could be looking to deal away Payton. Humor me guys, what would you think about this? Heats trade to Sonics: Brian Grant Rockets trade to Sonics: Tito Maddox or Tierre Brown Bostjan Nachbar Sonics trade to Heats: Gary Payton Rockets trade to Heats: Glen Rice Sonics trade to Rockets: Rashard Lewis (s&t) Heats trade to Rockets: Draft Picks Breakdown: Rockets get Rashard Lewis and picks while giving away Nachbar, Maddox or Brown, and Rice. Heats get Gary Payton while giving away Brian Grant and draft picks. Sonics get Nachbar, Maddox or Brown, and Brian Grant while giving away Gary Payton and Rashard Lewis. From my perspective, both the Rockets and Heats improve themselves dramatically. However, Sonics might be getting fleeced on this one. Still, if the Lewis negotiation is going so badly, the Sonics might not get a deal as good as this since they're in a weak bargaining position. If the deal allows the Sonics to match the offer for Earl Watson, that could be an added bonus. Or another option would be to have some of the draft picks go to Seattle. While I don't really know how good Boki is going to be yet, the possibility of Lewis on the Rockets would be a dream come true. This way we don't have to worry about Lewis leaving after one season. The Heats get the point guard that they need. Also, the Sonics get some additional depth at the 1 and 3 with players who have good potentials, and a proven power forward in the West. Cap-wise, some fillers are definitely needed to balance out the salaries, but I think it's do-able. What do you guys think? On another note, the Sonics will have to really like Brian Grant in order for this deal to go through... Brian Grant's contract go all the way until 2007. After the Vin Baker debacle, maybe they won't be so keen on that... I dunno... Still, I think Grant would actually fit in quite well with the Sonics.
I don't know why everyone is so obsessed with next year to the point of hurting our long term sucess. Say we sign Lewis for one year than he bolts. This isn't horrible, but it does take away alot of playing time from Nachbar, who needs to get his feet wet, and if Rice doesn't get hurt he doesn't play at all. This also just delays letting this team play together to gain chemistry with one another. We might be a better team next year but it will hurt the future. If we do a deal with this guy and then resign him this really hurts. It would seriously hurt our chances of resigning Griffin, who most believe will be a bigger star than Lewis with much better D, or in the future this years #1 Mr. Ming. We don't even know if this guy will get much better. Sure he's young, but he's leveled off over the last couple years, and for a guy who doesn't know how to spell Deefinse, it seems like a pretty big gamble for a team that seems like they are headed in the right direction already.
i'm not big on rashard, especially with this whole ego thing he seems to have. he's not that good. but, i would, without hesitation, take him on with the MCE. he guarantees us a better record than what we'd get now, and if he demands too much money later, we let him walk. personally i think nachbar can be just as good, but that wouldn't stop me from having rashard here as well.
I don't understand the obsession with building an all-star team. It's possible to have too much offensive talent on a team - mainly because egos are based on how much you can score in the NBA. Too many egos and too few touches to go around add up to 1 bad team. Nachbar sounds like he is a team player. He may even develop into a good to great player who is content with his role on the team - can you honestly say that you think Rashard would ever match that description? Look - the Rockets are not going to win the championship next year. Why put Rashard in the team when you know he is not going to be part of the future? We will have at least three all-stars on this team in the future between Steve, Cuttino, Griffin, and Ming. I don't want to add a kid who thinks he's the fourth.
BigM, I'm not sure if Rashard has the giant ego or if it appears that way when his agent screams, "Max!" It seems to be the only word agents know, besides "yacht." Rashard's agent is doing his job. I just hope no one actually pays Shard the max.
http://www.tribnet.com/sports/story/1461280p-1579630c.html Mavericks come courting Lewis Frank Hughes; The News Tribune Knowing that free-agent forward Rashard Lewis has been unhappy in his dealings with the Seattle Sonics, the Dallas Mavericks have contacted him about the possibility of arranging a visit to the Western Conference semifinalists, according to sources. Meanwhile, the Sonics on Sunday lost forward Olumide Oyedeji, who signed a contract with the Orlando Magic, and the team is going to lose guard Earl Watson, who signed an offer sheet from the Memphis Grizzlies. The most Dallas could offer Lewis is its mid-level exception, a $4.5 million salary. Lewis could take that and re-enter free agency next season, when six teams are projected to have money under the salary cap. Or, Lewis could accept a three-year deal for $15 million and obtain his Bird rights with Dallas, which would enable Dallas to give Lewis a maximum contract in the summer of 2005. Watson signed a three-year, $4 million offer sheet with the Grizzlies on Friday. While Seattle has 15 days to make a decision on whether it wants to match the Grizzlies' offer and retain Watson, it would be required to get under the salary cap to do so. Frank Hughes
