If u don't think that a 25 yr old emeka isn't better than a 27 yr old Scola, then I don't know what to say. Saying scola has reached his peak shouldn't be view as a negative. Scola can become a more consistent shooter from 15ft and ft line, which is cool, but he's not going to get longer or taller. Scola is going to have trouble vs. longer more atheletic types like he do now. He has more physical limitations than emeka. Right or wrong, but emeka gives the rox more versitility. Why? He can legitimately back up yao for one. He's put up 15ppg and 11 rebs and 2blks on a expansion team. Not to mention he's younger,longer, and stronger than scola. I like luis, but if u can get emeka for 5yrs and 8m per, but it at least going to cost luis, then that's a upgrade.
http://www.nba.com/preview2007/journey_okafor.html Who was your basketball hero and why? EO: Hakeem Olajuwon, he was a Houston Rocket, two-time champion, he was Nigerian and I am Nigerian. What is your favorite childhood basketball memory? EO: When the Rockets won that first championship.
Boy seeing that pic and thinking of how dominant the rox could become with Emeka. Now the rox have flexibilty in the lineup and bench . U bring in landry, slide emeka to the 5. Sign childress for the mle or give azibuke half and udrih the other half. Now u can matchup with anyone and u have good depth, shot blocking, rebounding, quickness, and size. Like I said I like scola, but Emeka is younger and a better player, period.
Players I want (trying to stay within reason): Maggette Childress Long shot: Artest Calderon Childress is like a mini Battier with more athleticism. Maggette gives us that third scorer. Get it done Morey! Pugs
You know.....I figured that with the quantity of posts you've acquired over time, that you would make some sense. And that you have accomplished...but in extremely limited quantities. In fact, many of the principles you are basing your argument on are more applicable to a video game than real life. You have quite the MAN Crush on a guy who has spent sooo much time injured. Why would you want to waste good talent a player that is injured so often. This of course assuming that either team waste any time or energy on such a weal deal. Think about it from a Morey standpoint...if you have ever listened to him speak about potential trades and personnel movement, you would know by now that he sees everything from a strict risk/reward type perspective. He surely would see that the risk would be off the charts for only limited potential reward. But noooo...you not only want to seeus do some crazy trade to get Omeka, but you think we are going to get Childress? I wouldnt waste my time with this underachieving fella to begin with...I would prefer going after Josh Smith...but even I realize the difficulty in that. You sure know how to work your way around some NBA LIVE though.
Its not dreaming or unrealistic. Its about putting the best possible championship team possible. When I think of Bobby Jackson 6m, Scola 3m, and Head or a 1st, that gives the roz 10m in salary. Just because u have 10m and the thought of emeka playing for the hometown on a discount at 8 m, its do-able. U say limites upside and I agree his ceiling isn't like dwight howard, but its higher than scola. He's a better defender, rebounder, shot blocker and post scorer right now at the age of 25. How good can he be? Probably buck wiliams, 15-10-2 and helping close down on defense. Scola is rebraca. 12ppg 8 rebs . Now if they keep scola, its cool, but I'm all for upgrading.
he played 73, 26, 67 and finally 79 games this season. His young and he comes with a history of injury. You may be looking at his ceiling, as you could see no improvement stats wise from this season compare to his rookie season. His the first choice in offense for his team in his first season, and this year the 3rd choice. And all he do is gives you 14 points, 10 rebounds and 2 blocks. I take scola with his 12/8, while looking to improve other spots via trade with Bjax, head and the 1st round draft.
So, we trade for Okafor, giving up all our tradable assets. Now, what you gonna do in the backcourt? Nothing? Bring in Tony Delk?
My thing is and this isn't to actively pursue emeka for the rox. I do agree his ceiling isn't high, but he has been consistent on a expansion team. The 10+ rebs and the 14 pts plus the 2blks and the 50+ fg %. He had one season when he missed a lot of games, but he's going to play them all this yr. I just want to close up holes. I'm not calling the pf situation a hole as much as anything else. Getting Okefor is killing 2 birds at once. The rox got younger, more atheletic, bigger and a efficient 3rd scorer. He would be the otis thorpe of this team to say. Then they still have they mle in which they could split up and get 2 players. Also, u got a guy that can play center if yao goes down. Its like solidifying the lineup. The question is, would the rox do it? Who knows for sure, but if we were led to believe that Jackson contract gives us a chip to play the trade game, then make it happen.
You're killing two birds with one stone by killing one of the birds that don't need killing. The PF spot is not a problem on this team but an asset. Our problem areas are consistent shooting from the PG spot, a backup 2/3 that can score the ball, and a backup center. We should use our assets to trade or draft that upgrades our backcourt.
He is tired of losing. We could maybe do some kind of contract where he gets like midlevel type money next year and then jack it up to where he should be earning. Because I believe we starting getting better as far as the cap is concerned after next season. Don't know if this is allowed.
You know that if we were to even stand pat, with Yao coming back and the new found team chemistry, a decent 1st rounder, we will be very good next year. Something tells me that if you can't get Smith or even Magette...then don't do anything. I would just hate to see the team write this huge contract for someone that will be oft injured or old and declining. I know the the window of opportunity for TMac/Yao combo is closing, but we just can't do something stupid. I say to heck with Okafor, Artest (team virus), Bibby, Arenas (lil ball hogger) or Brand (who knows how long he'll stay healthy). Let the cap room build for another season and pull the trigger on something really worth our while.
Didn't Okafor turn down a 12 mil per season offer from the Bobcats? What makes anyone believe he would take 8 mil to play here?
I can see him taking less. This is home and we are a championship contender. And I'd love to have him. However, if we have to give up Scola, it's a sideways move. What he adds in defense, we lose by losing Scola's offense. Scola is the better offensive player. Just don't see it happening. Take our current team, trade Head and BJax for a big time shooter/scorer and add a backup center such as Lafrentz and we are a much better team than if we just trade BJax, Head, and whatever for Okafor.
DO NOT TRADE SCOLA !!!! The guy is more than just his stats, he energizes the team.......what is our record with him as the starter versus him not starting? Scola is arguably the most important player on the Rockets....not the best, but the most important to the team's success. DD
I think Scola at his contract of 3.5 mil per is a better overall value than Okafor even at 8 mil. Luis is averaging 10 ppg, and that is with him barely playing to start the year and missing a ton of layups. He won't be missing those layups next year, so I expect his scoring to pick up quite a bit next year.
So here's me being extra reasonable. I think we have enough young talent now that we can afford to sit relatively still this summer. We are looking at 53+ wins without Yao for the last thirty games of the season. That's impressive. With another year under their belt, Scola, Landry and Brooks will all be better, thus, even if we don't change a thing we will be a better team. That being said, I say that best case scenario, is that we "steal" Landry with most of the MLE. How is that a steal? Well, he was way better than expected his rookie year. Given his newfound athleticism, he could be really good, like third scorer, maybe even a star good. If we lock him up to a long term contract now, he could be one of those guys that at the end of his contract, everyone is like, damn, he's such a good deal... Then, a lot of people have been talking about Harris, but what about Marcus Williams? There is no way the Nets plan to keep both him and Harris around because it would be too expensive, and they have a hard enough time finding minutes for Williams as is. The nets are in cost cutting mode and want to be under the cap for when Lebron's contract is up, so I bet we could lure him away relatively cheaply. At the very least, bobby jackson becomes expendable, and his contract could be used as cap space a year from now or in a big trade. We also have a good young pg core of Williams and Brooks. We could give them until the end of Rafer's contract to see if they would develop into a good enough tandem to start and be backup. I know these seem like small moves, but the Spurs and other teams that are successful year in and out don't blow up their teams every season. If we can win with enough youth growing up around our stars, then when it comes time to replace the stars, we'll already have steady veterans in place that know their roles, and we can continue to be good without much of a drop off.
Adelman will also be in China to running a training camp for ANTA... http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120787358981806577.html?
