Rockets will hold on Trades. Piaksowski and Daniels expected to sign!

Daniels is really more of a 2 than a 1. His court vision is less then stellar, but he's a great finisher & husltles his ass off.

 

I think CK hit it exactly. Pike would be a fine addition. I am not thrilled with AD--but he does bring some things to the table as a versitle back-up at both the 2 and 1 (I think he is better as a 2 personally). So sign Pike first (or another shooter like Peeler or Leanard), then sure, if AD will sign for 1.5 or 2 million, sign him up.

One another thing these guys do is give us greater trade flexibility. Pike can replace Rice's role, and though neither AD nor Pike can come close to replacing Mobley--if Mobley was needed to make a big trade go down (e.g., some combination of Mobley, EG, Cato or Mot for a star forward) we could live with those guys sharing that SG job for the short term.

 

Here are last year's stats on some of the guards we want, plus one that we might look at, Voshon Lenard. His stats are nice, best scorer of the group and best rebounder and shoots 36.5% from downtown. I know we are looking for better PG and he plays SG but I like him better than Piatkowski. Not sure what he made this last contract but I would like to see him come off our bench and light it up. Also, notice that Barry is the best 3 pt shooter of the bunch. they all have their pros and cons.

Jon Barry
MPG FG% 3P% FT% Off Def Tot APG SPG BPG TO A/TO PF PPG
18.4 .450 .407 .860 0.4 1.8 2.2 2.6 0.8 0.2 1.0 2.5 1.3 6.9

Antonio Daniels
MPG FG% 3P% FT% Off Def Tot APG SPG BPG TO A/TO PF PPG
13.0 .452 .305 .855 0.2 0.9 1.1 1.3 0.5 0.1 0.5 2.7 0.6 3.8

Voshon Lenard
MPG FG% 3P% FT% Off Def Tot APG SPG BPG TO A/TO PF PPG
30.6 .402 .365 .804 0.8 2.6 3.4 2.3 0.9 0.3 1.6 1.4 2.5 14.2

Eric Piatkowski
MPG FG% 3P% FT% Off Def Tot APG SPG BPG TO A/TO PF PPG
21.9 .471 .398 .828 0.7 1.8 2.5 1.1 0.5 0.1 0.9 1.3 1.5 9.7

 

So what does our starting 5 look like? Daniels just doesnt seem like the kind of guard that can be a floor general. He strikes me as more of a Shandon Anderson type player off of the bench. I dont see Mooch on the roster though if we get Pike and Daniels. Do we cut him? All that money we're giving him though. I really want us to keep Mobley. I bet JVG can turn him into a better player. All the players made Rudy their B*tch. Keep Mobley off of the Bench. We would be right up there with Sac-Town in terms of not losing anything off the bench. So what would be our projected roster next season if we got Pike and Antonio Daniels?

 

The Rockets have looked at landing free-agent backcourt help but were quickly priced out of the market for the players who had the option to sign Wednesday. Van Gundy did speak with Seattle SuperSonics guard Kevin Ollie. But with Moochie Norris under contract at least through the 2005-06 season and the Rockets close to triggering the luxury tax, they did not offer a contract competitive with the five-year, $15 million deal Ollie received from the Cleveland Cavaliers.

The Milwaukee Bucks locked up Erick Strickland. The Rockets had interest in Antonio Daniels, but his agent, Tony Dutt, said Daniels had narrowed his choice to four teams and that the Rockets were not one of them, though he added that could change with an offer. Speedy Claxton and shooting guards Jon Barry and Eric Piatkowski, with a $3 million offer from Cleveland, also seem out of the Rockets' price range.

The Rockets' only free-agent offer has been the qualifying one made to James Posey, who has yet to receive an offer from another team the Rockets could not match. The Rockets do have their midlevel exception of $4.917 million to spend, but that would push them into the luxury tax, effectively doubling whatever they would have to pay for a free agent. They are more likely to wait until the spending around the league slows and remaining free agents become willing to play at a reduced price.

-Houston Chronicle

 

Voshon is OK. His FG% is on a low side. His biggest drawback is that he has no upside. What you see is what you''ll get.

All other guys have room for improvement.

 

Until he is traded or his contract expires, our designated outside shooter/gunner is Glen Rice. At this point, it's probably not worth exceeding the salary cap and paying luxury tax for the likes of Pike. Now, say we were one or two pieces away from being true contenders. Then it would be worth it.

 

Do you really want to focus on Daniels' numbers in Portland?

Maybe you should see what he did at the better SA team. He had more minutes and his numbers reflected better.

Portland had him too far down in the roster behind Damen and Pippen.

 

CD made it clear we aren't signing either one of them unless they sign for the min and I doubt that.

So put this to rest.

 

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/sports/1998567

Chronicle reported the following:

1) Antonio Daniels has narrowed his list to four NBA teams, and the rocks are not one of them.

2) Pike is out of our price range.

3) Charlie Ward could be an option for the Rocks...if the Knicks pick up Speedy, and buy out Charlie.

 

that's funny. i just saw this article today...

piatkowski

 

So much for money not being an issue to improve the team.

 

Here we go again/ We will go into the season with the same exact team as last year, and we probly still get to the playoffs but it would've been nice to sign Daniels and Pike

 

The Houston sports media is pathetic. They are either completely out of touch or the so afraid of being shut out they never dare to speak the truth. ( see...how did Rudy keep his job the last five years) If they ever do know anything you can be sure they will not report it until after the approved Rocket press release.

 

Daniel's can have his moments, but is terribly inconsistent. He does bring a big guard off the bench who can defend, though.

Piatowski is nice, but bringing in a guy who play almost exclusively at our position of most depth is a little puzzling. Unless management is less confident in retaining Posey or a trade is in the works involving Rice??

What about Jon Barry?!!


Azim da Dream

 

Jon Barry is strickly a 2, at least Pike is more flexible in that he can play the 3 as well as the 2. Right now the 3 spot is arguably the weakest on the team--especially in the high probability Rice is gone by midseason or does not return.

 

Assuming we sign him, James Posey is a solid 3.

 

Our weakest position is the 4 position. Period, and it's not even close.

 

I think we can finally move past Daniels.

SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER

 

yeah, it's official:
link