Assessing the value of Rudy Gay and Stromile Swift

You've made a good, well thought out post, but I think we're all getting a bit sick of the topic. Yes, we all wish they'd have included their 24th pick and are shocked that couldn't be worked out.

 

i dont mind gay for shane but i didnt like that we stuck stro in to make the salary matcher, shoulda been juwan imo but tahst just me

 

I will say" The Houston Management SUCKS", as same as I said on June 28!

 

I have always supported our management. but after this draft; I fear I can no longer trust them. And would love to see a good old fashioned house cleaning of our front office including: CD, Morey, and JVG and his intire bitter staff.

If it happened tomorrow it wouldnt be too soon for me.

Right players, right age, right time, wrong leaders.

Let us change the guard now while we still have the talent to win.

 

Slow mile was potential but now he's "known" quantity. He's not even worth a MLE. He's not, really he is worth nothing. He can't beat out Juan and he is a old PF who isn't that good. The worth starting PF in the league. Am I right? So if Houston has the worth Starting forward in the league and Slowmile couldn't beat him out, what logic would allow anyone in this BBS to think Slowmile will start for any other team????

Getting out of his contact was a deal. And sure, the 24th pick would have been nice but this was a fall back and CD got hosed. But don't think for a second Slowmile was wasted in this trade. Should it be Juan instead? West is not that stupid

 

Stro could not get more than the MLE last year...much less "way more". He wanted more but he was never offered anything. He took our MLE over other MLEs.

It is true, though, that he was a decent bargain for a big. I don't like the loss of talent and depth, but I love the loss of him.

I think he probably had decent value to a team that is uptempo and would think he could be motivated one day (I think the Nets would have still wanted him). Problem was that we traded with the one team who knows he sucks (when considering talent vs brains and effort...his production is decent for a backup) and will never get better.

 

If guys like Nene, Chandler and James Jones can grab MUCH more than MLE, why shouldn't Swift? Are you honestly saying those guys are all MUCH better than Swift? It's not like these guys aren't "known quantities".

 

1. And this year the Suns traded away their first round pick cash. So they traded #7 Deng for nothing (Vroman + cash) --> our trade was much better

2. I'm sure CD asked for every singe GM if they need Swift. I'm sure everybody sais 'No!'. It means Stro has negative trade value.

 

It's like talking about wrecking your beloved first car.. you feel like an idiot bc you know there was so many ways that could of prevented it.. etc etc..

so you just try not to think about it.. in fact, you try to erase it from your memory!

while I agree there is nothing you can do about it now, the past is the past, you can't just act like it didn't happen. Granted this was a legitimate mistake, only a fool would make the same mistake twice.. so I don't see anything wrong with talking about it and making sure we make the best decision next time.

 

The #8 pick is worth something. However the #8 pick (with Rudy Gay still on the board) is worth something as well. Additionally when you factor in Jerry West's HIGH Interest level in Rudy Gay....that is worth something as well. All factors should be considered when determining the "value" of that pick/player/interest.

Additionally, I think perhaps it is possible that we fans overvalued Stromile Swift. Perhaps GMs feel Swift has negative value. That's tough to tell. We might not know until Swift gets moved again...which I am counting on.

With that in mind, I feel we would be a lot more comfortable if this was the deal that took place.

Howard+#8(Gay) for Battier+Warrick+#24(Ager).

In fact if we are getting Warrick in the deal they can have Stromile. But in this case Jerry West and the Grizzlies have to "pony up" some assets if they want to swap picks from #24 to #8, especially if their #2 guy on their board, Gay, is available. To Memphis, they didn't just get the #8 pick, they got the #2 pick.

 

One thing no one mentioned is that we have to pay Gay about 2mil/yr of guaranteed money if we sign him. Hence, another plus for us to trade him away is that we don't need to pay this 2mil/yr any more. So this trade also has a bit salary cap relief benefits.

 

Great post, you make some good points man. Personally, I'm one of the few that really liked the Battier trade. I was never big on Gay. He has potential but it doesn't seem like he has what it takes to become a superstar. Perhaps he will, and best of luck to him, but I think Battier is an ideal fit for this team. He is going to contribute big time to our already awesome defense and with Yao, T-mac, and James (hopefully) he'll keep the opponents offense honest.

As for the matter of trading Swift... when Swift was brought in I don't think he had a bigger fan than me. I just knew despite his past in Memphis that Swift was going to do some great things for us, but the sad truth is he was a huge disappoint. He couldn't start over JHo! JHo, while I wouldn't say he was the worst starting Forward in the league, should not be a starter if we plan to win a championship. In limited minutes he'd be great, but we need a PF who can contribute as a legit starter. Swift simply wasn't doing that.

Finally, it is very disappointing that we couldn't at least get the 24th pick out of them for Swift and Gay! Ah well... what's done is done. Go Rockets!

 

Because JVG has a hard on for Juwan. Oh, and Bowen.