Artest in....Keep Battier or trade to upgrade pg position?

A lot of ppl in this thread are arguing for an "upgrade" at the point as indicated by the title.

 

I think any trade that brings a starting PG must involve Rafer because:
1. Morey does not like the idea to put his $5M and $2.6M on the bench.
2. Rafer will beat anyone in the practice, that new comer will go VSpan.

However, Rafer is almost untradable because of his salary, ability, age,and the raferness of the Rockets.

The idea is to throw in Battier to move Rafer. That's a huge gamble. Morey's job will be one the line, not mine, so how about Battier+Rafer for Mo Williams?

Realistically, what Rockets can do is to hope Rafer can shoot 50%, Brooks can grow 4 inches, Francis can go back to his 20s, or bring in a backup PG.

 

I honestly have not watched mo williams enough to have an opinion on him. I think that any trade which involves Battier AND Alston for a starting pg would have to net us a pg or combo guard that is significantly better than Alston in our system. From that position, the essentials acre 3 point shooting, defense, and ball handling. Dribble penetration and the ability to create their own shot are icing on the cake. Ideally, I would want a lockdown defender of the 1 who can shoot the 3 at 40%.

 

Mo Williams, is a complete player on offensive end and he only took less than 14 shots (Rafer took 12.5 per game). He plays like a combo guard, but he is smart and efficient. He does not put much effort on defensive end, most other good PGs don't play defense either. Bucks will never trade him for scrubs.

Seriously, who can lock down NBA PGs? How can anyone lock down Paul, Williams, Nash, Parker or AI? These small guys are nuts.

 

Any chance Mike bibby and his 15 million dollar expiring contract can be acquired from the Hawks? He did make the playoffs last year after being traded to Atlanta. The guy fits in Adelman's system very nicely. Plus he only has a year left, could a nice rental for a championship run.

 

This is my first post on here so bear with me. I'm not much on rumors, but I read that the rockets are looking at Luke Ridnour. He's signed for two more years at 6.5 mil per. I doubt if this happens b/c a) he's not an upgrade, b) to make salaries match I think battier would be the man to go c) It really doesn't make any sense.

The rumor was in the Oklahoman (online) and houston was listed with about other teams javascript:newwind('http://newsok.com/presti-has-some-big-decisions-to-make-before-start-of-season/article/3278600?mp=0','138')

 

that's easy, Rafer+Head for Ridnour. They need this move to secure next year's no 1 pick.

 

link Sorry, about the link, I'm a virgin

 

Yeah, now that deal I would do. Might as well get rid of Head while he has some market value, but do you trust francis as the back up point or maybe even as the starter b/c imo brooks isn't ready for either

 

i guess that's why i said ideally...haha. yea you're right there's no such thing as lock down, but lets just say as close as you can get. I actually like rondo's D. No one's gonna stop the superstar guards one on one, but we want someone who will shut all of the other guards down, while giving the superstars the best D that can be played and also always playing help D.

I've always liked Derek Fisher cuz he always plays hard D and is a very good shooter. He may be getting old, but a player of that mold would be good.

 

That is true, but how many role players can you have on one team. Up until Artest came to town everyone was a role players except for two players. Why does everyone here constantly take a stand for a mediocre PG.

No we don't need another star to the mix we just need a better set up man for our big 3. All of the players on the list of JCMOON except for BJ could either create their shot or penetrate and get the ball into the hands of the stars. Plus BJ had MJ and that makes up for everything.

And if you read a little farther back into the posts I have a list of PG's we could trade for and only one was a current All Star in Steve Nash and thats a long shot for us.

My point is we dont have to do anything drastic at PG we just need a playmaker not a spot up shooter that isn't a spot up shooter throwing up air balls.

 

Count me in the very unlikely to trade Battier camp. I think it would be highly unlikely to be able to fetch a PG or combo guard as effective as Battier is a swingmen. Plus with Ron A getting the occasion PF minutes, and Tmac needed rest, it isn't like Tmac, Ron and Battier can't easily all average over 30MPG (in fact if you just divided SG and SF minutes evenly that is 32-32-32--pretty optimal for all 3). And with any injuries or other issues with Tmac or Artest, Battier is a great guy to pick up in the high 30s if he needs to (see Posey for the Celts last year).

Unless we got a sure fire improvement (one of the Chicago guards, some other firesale where the value is high), no trade of Battier.

 

There is no way i trade Battier. The thought of having him and Artest on the floor at the same time gives me nightmares (and I'm rooting for them). I can't WAIT to see this lineup....
PG. Tracy
SG. Ron
SF. Shane
PF. Luis
C. Yao
Who is gonna F#*k with that lineup in the 4th quarter? NOBODY!

PS
Alston will be more than sufficient for what we need him to do... Dribble, pass, and play D. We can worry about an upgrade there later.

 

in my opmion, i would keep battier it will help in the long run with the rotations so many options!! cant wait to see how rick puts the tools to work...sure we are short handed with point guard experience but we got brooks learning the tricks of the trade and im sure he will do his part! barry can put his part to contribute and also with that learder ship role and playoff experience, i know some of that will rub off him to brooks...we also got francis, and from what i have read he workin hard in the gym hope so!! we all know steve has some gas in his tank might not be much but it will be enough...i do think that out pg position is a concern but not so much to trade battier

 

Unless there is a proven point guard that we could land, I doubt Morey will trade Battier and/or Alston just yet. Alston has run this Rockets defense quite well if you ask me, and had it not been for injuries, we might have made it to the "next level".

With assets like Battier + Head, expect a trade at the trade deadline if this new Rockets team struggles.

Btw... Anyone here play NBA 2K8 and/or uses Rashidi's ratings? Anyone know what in the world I'm talking about?

I put the team together and though they became better defensively, offensively they were about the same, and the rotation didn't make too much sense as to where would Hayes or Landry (if he re-signs) fit in the rotation.

 

Only intended to people that want toupgrade Alston

Yao+McGrady+Artest+Scola+Alston+THE BENCH = better championship run than any point guard that yall want and rockets cant afford.
simple as that im not going to lie i wanted tj ford maybe even score A.I.(not my first choice but would be great off the bench behind t-mac)we didnt get neither one... oh well alston it is and im happy he controls this offense great, we want to push for a championship why get a new point guard that has to learn the offense and the players spots on the court, we have something good here lets not get dumb folks alston ran this team last year and will run it next year.

 

I second that...

 

Alright well if we're looking for a back up PG then why not try to get a player like Jannero Pargo.

He is way more effecient from the 3 point line and he also has a sweet J from about 20 feet.

We really need to get the Landry situation cleared up so that we can go after some of the good free agents out there.

 

I say we stand pat. See how Alston/Francis/Brooks holds up. If we are struggling with that, we make a trade with Battier. I think our other positions are strong enough to where we don't need an incredible PG to run the team. With a team that consist of Yao, T-Mac and Artest, we could have Moochie Norris out there and we'd still win games. Ok, maybe that was a little bit of a reach but you know what I'm trying to say.

 

I personally think that landry is a little more expendable now. If he wants to make some money he needs to get checked out by a doctor now. I think that if the rockets re-sign Mutombo after the Olympics then the rockets will be out of money and roster places.