I have this feeling that RudyT is going to make a move to bring in a new PF

Deckard,

Out of the discussed PFs, the only one I would want more for this team than Brian Grant is Elton Brand. Brand would also fit the mold of 4s that we've been discussing. He's a very tough inside presence that scores a lot of his pts via offensive rebounds and probably has the best hands at the 4 spot outside of Tim Duncan. Good hands is very important for a PF alongside Ming b/c of the lateral interior passes and such that he throws.

I wonder if Elgin Baylor is going to be stubborn and hang onto all the FAs on the Clips and risk losing a bunch in the offseason or if he will be willing to trade some of them. I would not bat an eyelid to make a mega offer to the Clips for Brand.

 

Elton Brand would be great... We would be top 3 in the West if we had Brand... I doubt the Clips are willing to take anyone on our squad other than SF or Yao for Brand. He is a franchise type of player.

Brian Grant is a solid player, but I would not want to give up EG for him. EG is going to be an all star in a few years... and Brian Grants prime has already passed when he played with the Blazers.

 

The thing about Brand and the Clippers is that if they where going to give any of their free agents the max it would be Brand. Hopefully Brand will let them no that he plans on going somewhere else during the offseason.

 

I didn't even want to get into Elton Brand. I guess if we say "wish list" it's OK. If there's one player in the league who I'd want (and I ain't kidding; I've said this for years because I had to watch him as a Bull, this being the Midwest and me not having League Pass), it's Elton Brand.

Elton's a monster. He "works hard" (see Mo Taylor thread). He's a good guy.

Steve, Elton, and Yao? Oh my God. As Jean-Luc Picard would say, "Make it so."

 

Theres a young PF by the name of Troy Murphy who's playing pretty good. I wouldn't mind seeing him next to Ming for the next 10 years.

Houston trades:
C Kelvin Cato (7.1 ppg, 8.4 rpg, 0.5 apg in 22.7 minutes)

Houston receives:
PF Troy Murphy (11.7 ppg, 9.6 rpg, 1.9 apg in 17 games)
PF Danny Fortson (2.2 ppg, 3.8 rpg, 0.9 apg in 10 games)

TRADE ACCEPTED

I doubt if the Worriors would d it but I would.

 

Griffin, Mobley and KT for Brand. Do you think they will take it?

 

Now if I could get you to translate what my wife says, I would probably stay out of trouble.

classic

 

Fascinating how you distill a rotation problem down to one player. Some problems are good to have. The only reason this is not a good problem right now is because of Will's interpretation. btw: Rudy did say team defense has improved, which was pretty much the only thing he named positively.

If Mo and EG were playing solid, and complementing each other, holding down the fort, and if Kenny was only backing up the 3 and being used sparingly against the roughest of the 4s...I think everyone would be looking at this as a good problem to have. It has soured because Mo showed up not ready; EG showed up as a pushover with no offense, and KT's offense is frustrating.

I agree with zzhiggins on minutes. We have to return the PF issue to a good problem to have, and that starts with either EG or Mo playing as we expect them to play.

As for KT's minutes surpassing Rudy's original plan, I continue to think Rudy is afraid to give up what little success the team has shown (team defense), until Mo looks 100% again.

 

Don't think for a second that Brand is not obtainable from the Clippers. They still have Melvin Ely and Chris Wilcox which both could develop into good players.

We would have to let go of something good to encourage them the move Brand but I do believe that they would be willing to look into it. I would hate to let go of Cuttino/Cato but I guess anyone other than Steve and Yao is expandable. Brand is 6-8 and blocks 3.33pg. The man is sick on the offensive boards. Let’s just see what happens with our current three that all added up together can't compare to Brand. Maybe we will find a happy median soon.

 

He sounds more like a guy who doesn't know what the heck he is doing.

 

Im hopping on the bandwagon. I have advocated that the Rockets should go after Brian Grant before Mo was even on the team. Either Grant or Brand would fit in so well with the team it's scary.

I wouldn't mind giving up anyone outside of Francis and Yao for them. Just imagine if we did another trade and somehow got Shane Battier, Desmond Mason or Mike Miller too.

Francis is right. If the team isn't jelling, it's time to bring in players that fit our needs, players that can build around our 1-2 punch of Francis and Yao.

 

You know who else would fit on this team? Mcgrady, Pierce, Garnett.

Actually, at this point, just about any scrub looks good. Bring in Eric Piatkowski!!

 

now we have some serious dreamcasting going on.

I hear Garnett is available, too. That's who I want. He's the best fit because he loves to defer to his teammates, is the best defensive PF and the league's 2nd best rebounder, better than Brand and Grant.

back to reality:

Understand that Grant is a max player, and can't play SF, so you'll have to part with Mo or EG to get him, or you'll be back to your same PF logjam, but now at a $20 million investment. I thought all the dreamcasters said Mo is untradeable right now. How about EG and Cato, then?

Brand will get max and that means a sign in trade to the Rockets would require us to find roughly $6m in cap room or trade exception to land him. Yeah right!

back to real reality:

Maurice, Eddie and Kenny have to step it up. Trade Kenny with Moochie if you want, but please try to get a defensive forward back who can cover the big guys that Mo and Eddie can't.

 

How about Wang Zhizhi ?

 

Do the contracts of Rice and Taylor add up to a max for Brand? Rice, Taylor and and whoever they want (except Francis and Yao) for Brand. Will they do it?

 

It's likely Brand will resign with the Clips, and they will let Kandi and Odom walk. Reason to resign - money. Doesn't mean we shouldn't ask about a sign and trade that would interest the Donald (read, cheap contracts in return). Cato + Griff might do it, maybe it takes more. Nothing happens unless Brand forces the trade (not likely) and then we will have to compete with a LOT of other good offers (Rasheed + DA?). Sure, Brand is a good ticket for us, but about as likely as Garnett.

While we're on the clips...

Lamar Odom interests me. He interests me enough to give up something good to get him in S&T. Odom could feed Steve and Yao. Problem - not a great defender. Problem - not a great shooter. Great overall talent, but...problems. I'd check his market value, anyway. He could be more than serviceable.

Back to PFs - I would like to see us TRY Cato there with Ming. This seems like it should work. I'd give Cato 15 at the four, with Taylor starting and Grif in spot duty. KT back to backing up Rice.

 

pasox2,

The Base Year Compensation rule makes it nearly impossible for us to land Brand at max. We would need a third team to broker a trade gap of nearly $5m. That 3rd team is going to have to be handsomely rewarded for brokering a $5m trade gap.

I'm sure the fascination with landing Brand will inspire dozens and dozens of strange 3-way dreamcasts throughout the year, to result in absolutely zero shot at reality.

pasox2, my friend. Forget Brand. We have no shot. We would need capspace all by ourselves to get that prize. Surely, he is the #2 frontline prize after Duncan, if not the #2 prize overall.

 

This is where we need to Go......SF !!

Odom sounds good to me too......

Forget about all theses 4's, did you see all the turn overs and bad passes against Sac Kings We might as well been handing them the ball and telling them to score.

Now that we have a low post Center, we don't have anyone with a clue how to pass in to him. Spacing is a mess, and then you have PF's at the 3 point line trying to shoot!!

Odom can pass and shoot and dribble......we need a SF, cause we DON'T have one, u can't depend on Minute Rice cause thats as long as he's good for.....so lets try getting something we can use.

 

The only way we could get Brand is if we through in a 7foot 6inch Center that had major potential. Brand is putting up numbers that we all hope that Yao will put up one day. Brand has already stated that he would take less than the max, yet the Clippers are still holding there guns.

Furthermore the Rockets wouldn't go for the trade because Yao is so positive in so many different ways for this organization. If the Clippers would throw in Odom as well, and we throw in Thomas trade accepted.

We would have the power forward we want and need, and the ball handling small forward that we all would love. I know the fans love Yao, and will be very sad if he was to leave, but the wind from the fire trucks in the Championship parade will dry away their tears.

Anyway I don't wish for Yao to leave; I love the big guy, and just about every player that put on a Rocket uniform.