...I have read that September 1 is the day the recent players we have acquired can be moved. Are we expecting some of them to be moved via trade? (with the exception of Tmac of course..)
honestly i think lue maybe shipped with the addition of sura and ward and i also have this nagging feeling that gaines will surprise us (i hope) and will also get some pt. lue while a decent spot up shooter i just dont like as a pg i saw him play a lot when he was with the lakers (i live in la) and i didnt see anything special to say "man that guy should be a starting pg!"
It seems to me, once the Rockets signed both Sura and Ward, that they have an abundance of guards and three highly-paid forwards. I would think that one of their forwards and one or two of their guards would be packaged together to get a backup big man. I'm with JumpMan in that I have a gut feeling that Howard will never play a game for the team.
No way about Howard. I have the opposite feeling that Dawson considers howard one of our best bargains currently and one of our top 4 assets. Yao/Tmac/Howard/JJ have to be considered our core players. Everyone else, other than Sura, esp. MoT/Spoon are trade fodder, I think. The only way they give up on Howard is if another team desperately wanted him in the trade. But, why are the rockets going to package him for anyone when they are looking at the likes of Deke/Cambell to trade for. The only way you get rid of Howard, is to get something very valuable like a very good starting pg, but I dont see anyone like that out there. You have to remember that other than Yao, Howard is our best big man.
I wouldn't be surprised if Eddy Curry is telling Bulls' management to go get Juwan since Eddy really has no big man mentor on the team. Antonio Davis is not a low post scorer. He has nothing to teach Eddy except how to rebound and hustle. Juwan and Eddy are similar in that they both have had huge expectations levied upon them. If Eddy tells Paxson that Juwan can be the PF while teaching him a lot about scoring in the low post, the Rockets may be able to get a nice deal out of this.
Eddy:"Eddy Curry don't want learn no rebound and hustle. Eddy Curry want to learn how to jack up shots and sign $102 Million contracts. Eddy Curry want Juwan Howard mentor Eddy Curry, so Eddy Curry be happy. You dig." I don't know why Eddy Curry is channelling Karl Malone's r****ded cousin but there's Eddy Curry telling Chicago what's what.
with the exception of T-Mac/Howard/Yao/JJ/Boki/ and Taylor unless we get something exceptional in return, every other player on our roster should be on the market. T-Mac and Yao - Franchise Players JJ - Played great for us last season, and his attitude and leadership are perfect with 2 All-Stars on this team Howard - He doesn't have the huge contract anymore, and he can score and rebound (17.7 and 7 career stats) and his defense is not the worst in the league Boki - We can't give up on him. He showed confidence in the playoff game against the Lakers and I believe the more minutes it'll he'll get better. Taylor - He showed last year that he is the ONLY Rocket with Instant Offense. And he accepts his role as a spark of the BENCH. BUT since he does have that horrible contract if something perfect comes up, CD might have to jump on it. CD needs to find a way to get PIKE, SPOON, and GRIFFIN off our roster...
I'm not convinced that Sura will be seeing the bulk of his time at point. A Ward/Lue combo for 40 mins a night seems realistic, with Sura picking up the odd minutes there in addition to backing up McGrady. Evan
Once the Rockets acquire a backup center, they'll probably be done dealing. And, as always, if things ain't working out in the regular season, CD will make a midseason trade or two.
if we just fantasize alittle bit, we will see spoon coming back in shape, juan +griffin/crap for Tyson Chandler+crap, Dikembe for TE, MoT still in shape, T-Mac as cut as he'll ever be, and Yao whipped back to 309lbs to help with his stamina. then, we win! All feasible, you know.
Curry has no say in anything. The guy is already in hot water with Chicago for getting totally out of shape this offseason, so much that Chicago was shopping him for a little while. Howard will suit up in a Rockets uni this season, no doubt. We know that CD/Les/JVG love vets and thats exactly what Howard is. JVG likes hard nosed players that get the job done. While his contract may not be the huge $$$ he is use to signing, it is a very, very long contract with 5 years remainnig, add that to his age and it becomes a bad contract.
but wouldn't jvg love chandler more? He defends and blocks shots and rebounds. JVG liked Cato, and Chandler is a 7'1 Cato. Have no idea about his offensive skills, but could he be anyworse than Cato?
sorry for double posting, I'm kinda slow and i can't think of everything to write at once. i checked 82games.com http://www.82games.com/03CHI19A.HTM and it says he shot around 33% from the field. Jumpshot imean. It's nothing to brag about, but it's still pretty good i guess. What also stood out is his shotclock usage. For whatever reason (ballhog, bad ball movement, whatever), 47% of his shots have been when there was 10 seconds or less on the shotclock. THat's half of his shots. What's more astounding is that he shoots 50% when that happens. Pretty good if you ask me; maybe someone could analyze the data and tell us what's up because i can't think right now. It's taking me like half an hour to write this **** up.
Overall Sura will get more minutes than Lue or Ward (he was brought in to do that) - as for combinations, I think JVG will probably go with the best matchups or hot hands (he is NOT a Rudy T - with a set rotation each game)
in response to you darkwarrior, i saw a lot of tyson his senior year in high school his jumpshot while nothing to write home about is better than catos. he has decent range for a man his size as well. his long wingspan and freakish athleticism is what is gonna make jvg drools as he could be, if trained and worked properly, a potential dpoy candidate
Given the duplicacy of Taylor and Howard, you're probably right. Personally, I'd prefer to move Taylor and try and get back a Chandler in return. I know the Howard is older, but I think he would be a better balancing force with Yao & Chandler than Taylor would be. Plus, from a statistics standpoint, despite the fact that Howard is much older, Mo has never had as good a season (17/7) as Howard had last year, which wasn't even his greatest. For that matter, in 14 seasons Howard has averaged over 7 boards a game every year except one, Taylor's high is 6.5 and other than that he never averaged over than 6 a game. Minutes per game aside, I just think Howard is a better all around PF that would form the better rotation.
we all learned from the Olympics that a few seasons in the NBA is enough to kill anyone's jumpshot, right?
While I agree that the Rockets would no doubt prefer to move Taylor, there'd be no incentive for Chicago to acquire him. Why would the Bulls pay him $8million/yr when that is the rough figure they would be trying to avoid by not extending Chandler? Howard is our only real trade bait, and if any of the 3 power forwards go, it will be him.
