*In regards to the trade, Antoine Walker will flourish next to Shaq. They are very improved. More importantly, this proves the value of expiring contracts. Miami adds two quality starters in exchange for Eddie Jones' expiring deal. In the past we have seen, off the top of my head: NY for marbury, golden state for baron davis, memphis for bonzi wells, minnesota for sprewell (in exchange for terrel brandon's contract), dallas for jason terry and antoine jamison, portland for sharif and ratliff (for an expiring rasheed wallace).....the list goes on and on. For this reason, I hope the Rockets don't waive their expiring players and hold onto them until the deadline. *While the West still has more depth of quality teams, I think you can now finally make a case that the East's best is better than the West's best. If I ranked teams right now, I would have it like this: 1. Spurs 2. Pistons 3. Heat 4. Pacers 5. Rockets 6. Mavs 7. Nuggets 8. Suns 9. Sonics 10.Cavaliers
I'd rank: 1. Spurs 2. Heat 3. Rockets 4. Pistons 5. Pacers ............etc Sonics won't make the playoffs this year. They've lost too much talent..besides their coach. Rockets, Pistons, Pacers really too close to call although I favor us because we improved and Detroit lost it's coach. Pacers could be very tough. You also left out the Nets. Barring major injury the Nets will give the top 4 in the East a run for their money.
Grizzlies will still make the playoffs. We will be better than last season, much better if we get another inside presence. Don't annoint Miami just yet, they will be terrible on defense and picked up two poor shooters from the field and from the FT line. They would have been better off with a small tweak. That team is going to be some hot garbage in two years with long term money in Walker, Shaq and Haslem.
Some others might see it as a "hot seat" situation for Stan. He has to win, win fast and win big. If he comes out of the gate slowly (especially considering the huge hype that will engulf his team), he could be sent packing.
A lot of this sits on Shaq's ability to keep everyone in line. Last year, his most important contribution was creating a team atmosphere that saw everyone fall in line. With Zo (assuming he returns), Walker, and Williams around, that's a heck of a full plate. How Williams and Wade get along on the court is my biggest question. I'm less worried about Walker. Here's saying that Shaq is on his way to a 50-game season. With a team so deep, I've got no doubts that he'll be quick to sit out games because of nagging injuries. Evan
Eddie Jones isnt an expiring contract. It expires in 2 years. Just a year less than JWill's. That's the incentive. Also, Eddie Jones is still a decent player. Sometimes it is not all about "expiring contracts" but "expiring contracts consisting of decent players." Versus expiring contracts consisting of garbage like we have sans Wesley. As Clutch pointed out in a thread on the Rockets board, the Rockets arent the only team with expiring deals. There are a number of other teams too with them, and there are a lot more expiring deals consisting of decent players versus our garbage.
True, esp with Riley, possibly, waiting for a chance to move back down to the coaching seat. SVG has a ton of pressure this up coming season.
