Any chance that we could try to trade for Brent Barry? And what about PJ Brown?

How about this:

1) Vin Baker/Charlie Ward for Brent Barry

It works salary-wise.

Why would we do it? We would dump two useless players and get one still pretty decent player in return, someone who would possibly have an even further reduced role in San Antonio next year anyway (after they signed van Exel). The Barry brothers could be united in Houston. We can never have enough smart players - but in contrast to Jon, Brent also still has some hops (remember, he won the dunk contest a long time ago).

Why would San Antonio do it? It would be a salary dump for them. Baker's and Ward's contracts expire after this season. Barry has two more years on his contract, paying him roughly $ 10 million.

I think it would be worth it for us.

2) The other trade I would do would be Wesley and Moochie for PJ Brown and a 2nd round pick.

Why would we do it? After the signing of Anderson and the drafting of Head, we don't really need Wesley anymore - we have too many guards, and could be thin in the frontcourt if someone gets hurt. Even though PJ is old, he still seems like a solid defender with a decent shot. Seems to have kept in shape. Yes, his contract is way too much at this point, but after this year, it would be only one more year before it comes off, and it seems that Howard presents a high risk with his heart condition, and Swift was very injury-prone in the past. With the additions of Barry and PJ Brown, I think we could contend for a title this year and next year. We would have no more useless players at all on our roster. Carrying around useless players sucks.

Why would they do it? Salary dump. They would save about 7 million or so by doing this.

3) Finally, I would sign people like Glover and Bowen to non-guaranteed one-year contracts at the minimum to get to a 15-man roster, with a team option for the second year.

Next year, we would still be right at luxury tax level, but after next year, we should regain a little bit of flexibility, with PJ Brown's contract ending.

Roster (with suggested minutes):

PG: Sura (20), Mike James (18), Jon Barry (10)
SG: Brent Barry (24), Derek Anderson (20), Luther Head (4)
SF: T-Mac (40), Ryan Bowen (4, for defense), Glover (4, for offense)
PF: Swift (28), Howard (16), PJ Brown (4), Baxter (IR)
C: Yao Ming (36), Mutombo (8), PJ Brown (4, I know he is a PF, but there are some minutes here - some might say that's too much money for few minutes, but remember, Howard might go down any second, and Swift gets hurt a lot, too)