I donot think we need a major trade now. Though i would not mind getting a real power forward in the last year of the contract for KT..and change.
I keep hearing this but I just don't see it. The only things I've really seen from Griffin are some blocked shots and 3 pointers. What am I missing? I hope I'm wrong but I don't see Griffin becoming a star much less a Garnett type of player. I wouldn't bat an eye to get a major talent like Garnett for the likes of Griffin and neither would CD.
The thing about Garnett is that he doesn't need to be a focal point on offense and he is a good passer. He is averaging almost 6 asts per game and winning is priority #1 not scoring. The Rockets would have the best passing big men in the league with Ming and Garnett. Regarding Griffin. Griffin may develop into a star player someday and he does have the talent but Garnett is a superstar right now. Griffin is still a questionmark. A question to everyone who would do the proposed Garnett trade mentioned above. Would you still do the trade if Mobley was switched for Taylor? It's worse for the Rockets but what if it took that to get it done. Just curious.
I would love to get Garnett, but trading Rice, Taylor, Cato and Griffin for a player we would most likely have for just one season? Think about it, would the Rockets be able to resign Garrnett after this season, if they could then this trade would be the best thing to happen to Houston in a long time. Francis, Garrnett, and Yao would be unstopable, and throw in Mobley and maybe Boki and you have a team that no one could beat period. I like the way Sane is thinking, I think getting Campbell for Cato could realy go down because the Hornets would get younger, and Cato has proved this year he can play in this league. And trading Taylor for Hill might not go down but the Rockets could make this trade look better by adding a future pick, or by adding T Morris. By doing those two trades we could sign Elton Brand after the season. C-Yao PF-Brand SF-Griffin or Boki is Griffin still struggles SG-Mobley PG-Francis That is a pretty good line up
Any trade that gets us a legit, physical, top tier PF to help Ming is ok by me. Better if we get cap room by unloading bad, big, long contracts like Moochie, Cato, Rice, Taylor. Anyone not named Yao or Steve is trade bait, for the right package or price.
NY gets a starting center. That would allow them to move Kurt Thomas from center to PF & drop their current starting PF (Weatherspoon) into the backup role. Since NY has a $4.5 mill medical exception to use, they could keep Othella. But, I suspect that Seattle would want him in the deal to add depth at the PF position. Doleac is only getting 12.7 mpg as the 3rd option off the bench. Kenny Anderson is in the last year of his contract & will drop just over $9 mill off of NY's salary next year. Quite frankly, I'd consider making this move, a sign that Layden is starting to become a GM. How about 3 quality veteran starters for 2 starters? They get a starting center (which they're in desperate need of), a starting SG that is 4 years younger than Jones & brings more scoring punch to their lineup, & depending on whether they choose Nachbar or KT, a starting SF or SF/PF. They also get to break Jones's contract up between Cato & Mobley. Rice will most likely be gone after next year (if not during next year) & with his age, I'd have him coming off the bench to save wear & tear on him. It's my belief that one of KT, Taylor, or Griffin will be traded by the trade deadline, thus giving backup PF minutes to the one that's left & eliminating the need to play KT at SF. T-Mo hasn't established himself yet & is still not ready to take over the starting or backup role. However, a future SF tandem of Butler & T-Mo could be really sweet. While Hawkins can & does play some SF, he's primarily our backup SG. Uh, it does work. Let me help you with your math. Cato: $6,696,000 Mobley: $4,903,750 Nachbar: $1,082,500 Total: $12,682,250 Jones: $11,200,000 Butler: $1,670,000 Total: $12,870,000 I realized that this was a reach, but I decided to throw it out there anyway, because of Webber & Sprewell's friendship. If you'll recall, Webber was all for getting Spree a while back & might be the catalyst that pushes such a trade through. It was just thrown out to be pondered about. You're focusing on the peas & not the steak. Collier & Ostertag are not the prizes. Utah gets a legitimate center in Cato & we get a stud SF that's ready to contribute now. As for Collier, he's a hard working 4/5 that comes to play every time he steps on the court & would make an excellent backup for almost any team (when he's not injured). We could send Nachbar instead of Collier & it wouldn't surprise me if Utah demanded him instead. Ostertag would be an adequate backup to play for a few minutes a game & his contract expires after next year. If he's their best young player, then why is Harpring starting in his place? To answer your question, Utah gets a legitimate center & if they insist, a promising young replacement SF in Nachbar. By the way, I noticed that you haven't posted any trades that you think might work. Would you like to contribute your ideas of what might work, or are you one of those people that always knows what won't work?
If you want to dare to be bold, and live in the dreamcasting world, ponder this... Mobley, KT, and Griffin for Elton Brand, Sean Rooks, and guard choice of Richardson or Maggette (when healthy) Note: Sean Rooks is cap filler, or you can replace Rooks and the guard with Piatkowski The Known: -Olowokandi, Brand, Odom, Dre Miller, Piatkowski, Rooks, and Maggette are all free agents (Brand, Odom, Miller, Maggette are restricted) -Sterling to pay that many free agents? Hah. -Sterling traded a young player (Miles) on a contract with multi-years left for Miller in his final year Why it works for the Clippers: They're struggling this year, and Brand is about to be a free agent commanding near max-max dollars, same with Kandi, Miller, and maybe Odom. Cat gives them a relatively cheap player on a great contract that is close friends with Odom, possibly helping facilitate his resigning for less than max, allowing them to keep Miller at ~max. That sets up their perimeter, and throwing Griffin into the mix gives them Griffin, Wilcox, and Ely, 3 young and talented 4/5 types, plus Wang, and allows them to go hard bargain on Kandi and KT (who provides possible short term 4 solution/depth at the 3), possibly picking up more depth via sign and trade. As far as perimeter depth behind the starters Miller, Mobley, Odom, Jaric will still be under contract, and depending what guard they give up they'll also have either Richardson, Maggette (if they resign him and don't trade him) and Dooling around, plus the possibility of resigning Pike. Why it works for the Rockets: Yao Ming, meet your ultimate front court partner: Elton Brand. Brand is a terror on both sides of the court, and could punish opponents- a nice match for the finesse game of Yao. A front court of Yao-Brand-Rice backed by Cato-Taylor-Nachbar/Morris would be excellent. The backcourt might need some tweaks, but Francis is a stalwart and any of the 3 guards could definitely help. Maggette, Richardson, or Piatkowski could all provide good minutes at the 2, with Hawkins and Moochie coming off the bench. The money saved from Mobley and Griffin, plus not resigning KT should be enough to retain Brand. Caveats: 1. The Clippers must continue to be mediocre up until the trade deadline. 2. Sterling must follow his history of not paying his talent. 3. If Mobley comes in and shows he can adjust to this offense, all bets are off. Note: nothing of Francis and Mobley's relationship. A bona fide team improvement will not upset Francis as far as his relationship with the team. He may miss Cat if Cat were to be traded, but he's under a long term contract, and his image would be ruined if he whined/demanded a trade over any deal that brought Brand in to his team just because Mobley was gone.
NIKEstrad, It's good to hear from you again. Where've you been, or have I just been missing your posts? I like your trade proposal. While I'd hate to give up on Griffin just yet, Brand would be the answer for us at PF, with Taylor bringing a nice offensive punch off the bench. Besides, with Sterling's penny pinching ways, we'll probably be able to resign Griffin when his contract comes up for renewal.
Nike, You must have been reading my mind. I was thinking the exact same thing from a rockets/clippers perspective. I like it for both teams actually and we know how Sterling is about paying players. Even though I don't like making interconfrence trades, I think it would be beneficial to both. I think even though its early in his career, I really don't think Griffin will be nothing more than a low % 14 or 15ppg scorer,10 rebs 2 blks kind of guy. I really don't have a problem with the point perspective, but since he shoots a low fg% he will need more shots than than a big guy would need. Some of the question marks about Griffin game coming into the league are still question marks. His intensity,shot selection and being an avg athlete are still questions. I don't think he'll ever be in the class of Garnett,Wallace or even J. O'Neal because I really think last yr shooting all the 3's and playing outside as opposed to inside corrupted his mindset. Brand would give the Rockets a true power forward who blks shots,rebounds, and score, plus he plays all out all the time and is pretty durable. Brand is Taylor,Thomas, and Griffin wrapped into one player. Also making this trade valuable would be Mobley's low contract vs production and thomas likewise. To really evolve this, i would like to see Taylor moved for Hill as a backup 4 with an ending contract.
Well, it all depends on where the LA Clippers head. If Sterling is too cheap to pay up for Brand, Miller and Kandi, then I'd love to pick a couple of them up somehow... especially, if Francis would consider moving to SF. I have no idea if its possible... But, if they would take: Cato/Mobely/Thomas/pick(s) and give us: Brand/Miller/Piatkowski/Rooks Then, when they lose Olowakandi to free agency, they'd still have an extremely athletic, entertaining, but cheap team: Cato/Ely/Zhizhi Wilcox/Thomas/Parks Odom/Maggette/Fowlkes Mobely/Richardson Jaric/Dooling This would enable them to have some long term low cost contracts, get value for players leaving anyway, a draft pick or two, and the relationship with Mobely and Odom might help them sign Odom to a friendlier long term contract, and have a competitive playoff team, that's still cheap long term for Sterling. But all this is mute, if the guy decides to pay up for all that incredible talent. The other trade I like would be with Cleveland, as previously mentioned, but I'd like to also get Desagna Diop in the deal. I'm trying to figure out why Cleveland would do this, except feeling they are getting a long term good young player in Taylor, and losing an aging veteran and a rookie they are unsure of. Maybe we'd have to throw in a draft pick. Taylor/Collier/pick for Hill/Diop We'd end up with: Ming/Diop/Rooks Brand/Griffin/Hill Rice/TMo/Boki Francis/Hawkins/Piatkowski Miller/Norris/Maddox Then at the end of the year, we could drop Rooks, Hill, and Piatkowski... leaving lots of salary room to resign Brand. That team would lead us to many championships...
Ok, I like the idea of getting Brand or any PF that will help take to load off Yao. He is a trade I thought of, and I went to RealGM to see if it works and it does. Houston Trades Cuttino Mobley Eddie Griffin LA Clippers Trades Elton Brand Corey Maggette Why does Houston do this? Well gettin Brand would realy help out Yao in the post, and teams would not be able to double team Yao anymore becasue they would have to worry about Brand. I think this could realy happen because the Clippers are going to lose both Brand and Maggette as free agents, and this would alow them to get two good players in return. Why would LA do this? Because Odem and Mobley went to school together, and Eddie could become a special player. They would be cheap, and a team of Miller(if they resign him), Mobley, Odem, Griffin, would be pretty good. After making that trade the Rockets would need to move Cato for Campbell, and Taylor for Hill. Then the Rockets could resign Brand and Maggette(who I think can be a very good player) after the season. C-Yao\Campbell PF-Brand\Hill SF-Rice\Nachbar SG-Maggette\Hawkins PG-Francis\Norris Can you say NBA Champions?
Did you even read my post? hottoddie-my posting has been down, and I was giving the team some time to see what fits and what doesn't. Right now, based on Mobley's early play, and what I've seen from the PFs, I'd shop for a workhorse PF like Brand, and a more balanced SG-a more talented Juaquin Hawkins even. But, I'm waiting to see Cat's play when he comes back. leeb-We're on the exact same page, though I'm not sure Cleveland takes Mo's contract. I think an offensive minded big man off the bench may be a nice asset to the team anyway. Sherlock-I doubt we could possibly land Miller and Brand in the same deal.
What about Cato, KT and Mooch for Spre and Eisely? Does that work within the cap? Cato gives them a true center and enables them to play Kurt Thomas at the 4. KT would fit in at the 3 and give therm a little more versatility then they currently have. Mooch would probably be their best point guard...as scary as that sounds. For us, Spre would fill a huge gap at the 3. Eisley could do one of 2 things for us. He could back up Steve and provide a point guard who comes off the bench looking to do something other than dribble out the clock...or Eisley could enable us to trade Cat because Eisely could start and Steve could play the 2.
Again, NY would be giving up their best player, their two best backup big men and a potential mid first round pick for a center, who for his career is an underacheiver, and a backup point guard, who has a high salary and who will probably be out of the league when his contract is up in a year or so. Layden is giving up 1/4 of his team for 2 backups who probably wouldnt help them much. Quite frankly, Thomas is a better player than Cato, and so far this season, hes a better center than Cato too. Why would NY want him to move positions? In the East, you can get away with having smaller centers. Layden would laugh at this trade. You are only looking at your proposed trades on the suyrface The Rockets are about 2-4 years away from being serious contenders for a title. By that time, Eddie Jones will be in his mid 30s. No thanks. We already have Rice, Thomas and Morris at the 3. Caron Butler is a nice player, but how do we find time for him? Nowhere. Cato and Mobley also, IMO, arent Riley's type of player. Both of them half ass it on defense and Mobley is far from a team player. Im thinking Riles wants more for his two starting 3 and 4s than Cato and Mobley. Nachbar is just a throw in and is of no value to Miami. At this point, he probably looks like a bust around the league. Rice will indeed be gone in two years. And a Morris/Butler SF tandem would be nice. Again, Butler could be a key figure in Miami's future. I dont think they are ready to give him up for Mobley, even though Mobleys a better player at this point. Riles has more control over how Butler grows as a young player. He doesnt have the same luxury with Mobley. My guess is, even if CD called Riles and offered him Mobley for Butler straight up (with insignificant throw ins to make the cap work), Riles would not do it and CD probably wouldnt offer that to him in the 1st place. My bad, I thought Mobley was at $7 mil per. If I were a championship contender on the cusp, I think Id rather have Christie or Stojakovic over Spreewell. My solution would be, keep the status quo for now. Thats why Im not proposing trades. Its impossible to gauge what a team does and does not need based on 17 games. This team is far from perfect, but we need a full season of these players playing together to see what works and what doesnt work. Give the Rockets time to become familiar with the rookies and the players returning from injury. Give Steve time to see if he can become an elite player. Give Rudy time to see if he can make all the pieces fit.
Rudy does not know what to do with the guys he has now. Don't confuse the poor guy with mid season trades. It would just give him more excuses for why he hasn't gotten an offense installed yet or why he has to play matchups every night instead of putting out a team night in and night out that the opposing team has to match up with. Please leave it alone and maybe by March he will have a rotation he can be happy with.
The reason I want to do trades is because this team that the Rockets have will never be great as long as they have Kenny Thomas, Mo Taylor, Cato, Moochie, etc. Its not that they are bad players, it is just they are overpaid. We need to drop there contracts before the end of these season so we can be in the Free Agent hunt. I think Kenny Thomas needs to go, and he will after this season or we could try to trade him now. Also Mo Taylor needs to go becasue his contract is insane. Moochie and Cato don't have to go but moving one of there contracts would help. I think these players should not be traded: Steve Francis-He is are franchise player. Yao Ming-He is the next Vlade Divac with more offense. Cuttino Mobley-People might not like him but he is a key part of our team plus he is Francis's best friend and they play well together. Bostjan "Boki" Nachbar-He is going to be a solid player in this league, and he loves Houston and the team. Rudy PLAY BOKI MORE! Other than those there is not a player I would not trade. The Rockets are not set at PF, Griffin, Taylor, or Thomas don't cut it. I think the Rockets should do anything they can to get Elton Brand, getting Brand would make us a younger Kings team. Also it would bring many rings to H-Town.
Kenny Thomas ( or Mo Taylor) Moochie Norris Glen Rice for Ricky Davis Tyronne Hill Glen For Tyronne switches contracts. Wagner is playing big now, Darius is moved to 3 and Cleveland still has Jones who can play 3/4. No strong 4's, with this trade they get one that will be their starter and help them out there. Moochie is actually an ok pg and better than Milt, they need a 1 and Moochie is servicable. Ricky has gotten in trouble with Lucas and was suspended for a few games. This will break up some rotation problems. Moochie Wagner Miles Thomas or Taylor Illgauskas Francis Mobley Davis Griffin Ming
