As if it hasn't been said enough already, we have about 20 million worth of expiring contracts next year. Contrary to what some of us seem to think, we will NOT get young, athletic talent for any of those contracts unless we are willing to get mentally ill, crazy guys like Darius Miles, who have bloated contracts and frankly I don't see CD and JVG getting near them even with a 20 foot pole in their hands. We have to get younger and more athletic, that's crucial, but in reality, it has to be through free agency and draft. We simply don't have anything fair to offer in trades for other teams young players. However, Those expiring contracts should get us 1-2 experienced, useful veteran players and possibly more draft picks to add more youth. Here are some players who could be our targets: Theo Ratliff To my knowledge, Theo Ratliffs contract is for three more years, at around 11-12 millions per year. Portland should have no interest keeping him, since Pryzbilla is their center and even if they get rid of Randolph, they are not gonna play Pryz and Ratliff together. He would play PF for us, has (or at least had) nice 10-15 ft jumper, and still is great interior defender. Who knows, If Portland is desperate to get rid of him, we might squeeze a pick from them in the process. Raef LaFrenz Has a horrible contract through '09. I really don't want him if there is something better on the table, but he could help us. Can play PF or Center, blocks some shots and can shoot. If we go for him, we definately should demand pick(s) from them Mark Blount Another Celtic. He is definately available as his contract runs til '10. He has a nice 15 footer, can play either PF or C. Maybe JVG could motivate him back to his last season form. We would want a pick from this deal should we take him. Eric Snow If we choose to trade Mike James(doubful but possible since he has some trade value), Eric Snow could be our new backup PG. We had some interest on him but backed off. I think he still has some game left and he is a steady player and a good defender. His contract runs til '09 at about 6 M per season Brian Cardinal Would give us a sharp shooting SF off the bench. Signed a six-year MLE deal last summer but didn't really work out. I think Jerry West would trade him to us. (And before somebody says we should get Mike Miller instead, realistically we have no way of getting him) Shane Battier Has a quite sizable contract til '11 and depending on the direction Memphis chooses to go, he might be available, especially if we give them draft choices. A long shot. Joe Smith Not sure about this one, but I guess Milwaukee could want to get rid of him. His contract is only two years more at MLE kind of money. He is not a JVG type of player but has a nice jumper and could probably help us. Trenton Hassell He would give us an athletic defender at 2/3. Didn't really live up to his contract, and Minnesota could want to get rid of him. Fairly young still, which is a plus. Jerome Williams Good energy guy and rebounder at 3/4. Kurt Thomas I would like him a lot in rockets uniform. Great rebounder, and can play either PF or C. His contract runs til '09. Is rumoured to be unhappy in New York, but don't know if Isaiah would give him up just for expiring contracts. Probably not. Jalen Rose Would give us scoring, but little else. Toronto could trade him to us just to get cap space a year earlier. Carloz Boozer Definately the best talent on the list and young. Probability for this is very small, and I think we would have to give them 1st round picks in addition. Jonathan Bender Always injured. Nice, young talent though and contract is only for two more years. I don't really see this happening but a remote possibility. I'm sure there are more players out there, who we could trade for. And one thing to keep in mind is, that despite his comments about rather winning than making profit, Les Alexander might prefer letting these contracts expire, instead of adding talent with contracts which could push us to luxury tax territory(if there will be one). Spoon, Baker, Moochie and Ward should be offered first, but i think some teams would rather ask for Wesley. I like Wesley and think he can still help us in a lesser role, but if a good deal comes up, we can't hesitate on that. And we definately shouldn't be offering picks in these deals unless we get major talent back.
Some of the guys you mentioned who have bloated contracts will not go to the good teams with contolled salary caps. They will go to teams like Atlanta, New Orleans etc who want to take expiring contracts and free up space for next season. Why would the Rockets take expiring contracts? They are trying to do just the opposite. They got rid of Taylor and they want to get rid of Norris, Weatherspoon and Baker. The Rockets want to trade those players and get some talent in return.
Of the players I mentioned, only Rose, Bender, Joe Smith are free agents in 2 years. For them, yes, their teams could choose to wait and use them as expiring contracts to get talent or they could just dump them a year earlier to get cap space. I'm not saying it's probable but it is definately possible. For example, considering the moves Toronto's GM has made, it wouldn't surprise me one bit if they deal Rose this season for expiring contracts.
All of those teams would love to move those players except Battier and Hassell. Memphis loves Battier and Hassell has a decent deal. But you are right, in general when moving expiring contracts chances are you would only get back older players with bad (long term) contracts and not younger players. So you have to be really selective on which player you would want to add to the team. You dont want to miss on that move.
I think we may try to sign someone with the MLE, or possibly use it to sign some of our own free agents. If we don't, no big deal. The team we had in the playoffs with the addition of Juwan Howard will be a pretty formidable team up to the trade deadline. That's when we will be able to move those expiring contracts and getter a better player(s) in return. I don't think that making minimal changes during the summer will necessarily be a bad idea, especially if what a trade nets us is Brian Cardinal.
Brian Cardinal would be the absolute worst pick up the Rockets could make. A terrible contract for a terrible player. If the Rockets could Carlos Boozer, I think that would be an ideal situation. Boozer is a great rebounder who is strong and shoots a high percentage. I don't think he is a gifted defender, but playing next to Yao would stabilize that. With that said, I don't think there is any chance at all that the Rockets could obtain him. Utah would be crazy to give him to us being in the same conference.
Good post saintja. It's always nice when someone else does the work. Not everyone in your list is realistic to get, as you've noted. I think, even with his very big contract, Ratliff is the best target that can be realistically attained for our expiring contracts.
Good post. I think another guy can be added to the list. Derek Anderson His contract is through 06/07 with about $20million left. And blazers seems willing to deal with him to houston earlier this season. So it is possible to pack one of our bad contract with another servicable player for DA. But if it needs us to give up some draft picks, I will think twice.
Mike James would get you Kurt Thomas. They have an overabundant amount of big guys and need a scorer off the bench. Mike James is that guy. Make it happen. we do this with a expectation in mind that spanoulis will come in and be able to fill the role mike james gave us this year. the rockets were one of the poorer rebounding teams this year. that really was our biggest downfall against the mavs. add a kurt thomas and a healthy juwan howard and all of a sudden our biggest weakness becomes one of our strengths.
Trade one of the only fast players on this team for a slow slug like Kurt Thomas? We would get run out of the building by teams like Phoenix and Dallas.
Man, I'd love Kurt on this team but would you really give up James for him? I wouldn't. He's got a great contract and he's still got many good Bobby Jackson type years left. I say give them Wesley and a pick.
The reason we're getting outrun is because we can't rebound. it is essential for the Houston Rockets to not just not get outrebounded by teams like Dallas but to completely turnaround the rebounding discrepancy in their favor. having Juwan would have helped greatly in that area, and would have probably been the difference in the series, but to have the option of having him come off the bench behind a better rebounder and bigger body like Kurt Thomas, that will really solidify the most important position for this team coming into next year; and help to improve the biggest weakness this team has - which is rebounding. We must become a great offensive and defensive rebounding team like San Antonio to counter the strengths of teams like Dallas and Phoenix.
We got beat on the boards because we were too slow. The Dallas guards were taller, faster, and more athletic than our guards. They were the ones that beat us on the boards by getting all those long rebounds. Kurt Thomas is not going to help us out there. He's a more traditional rebounder that hangs out in the paint to get rebounds. We already have Yao for that. What we need is a Kenny Thomas or Shawn Marion type of rebounder that goes out and chases down those long rebounds.
Pair up one of these guys with Paul Pierce for our expiring contracts and either Juwan or a pick and this is a done deal. The Celts get out from under 2 huge contracts and can start rebuilding, and the Rox get one of the most lethal swing combinations in league history. Imagine if Pippen/Jordan were able to play with Yao Ming. I can see it now.
Against the top 8 teams in the league this year, Kurt Thomas averaged 11.0 points, 11.4 rebounds, and .70 blocks (36.9 MPG). That's pretty good. By comparison, Theo Ratliff put up 5.2 PPG, 4.4 RPG, and 1.8 BPG (25.8 MPG, 11.1 minutes behind KT). Meh. Brian Cardinal weighed in with 6.8 PPG, 2.7 RPG, and .3 BPG (22.1 MPG, 14.8 minutes behind KT). Yuck. Carlos Boozer finished against the top 8 with 17.0 PPG, 8.4 RPG, and .3 BPG (34.3 MPG, 2.6 minutes behind KT). Not bad. Finally, Stromile Swift averaged 11.7 PPG, 3.9 RPG, and 1.1 BPG (20.7 MPG, 16.2 minutes behind KT). Just okay. Looks like KT is the winner to me.
we got outrebounded because their small was bigger than our small. hell, their small was bigger than our big. we were forced - because of Howards injury - to try to match their style. but we can't worry about what other teams do or how they play, we are going to have become a bigger, more forceful, intimidating team around the boards and in the paint. lets make other teams worry about matching up with us and not worry about matching up with other teams. we we're forced to do that in the Dallas series because of injury and lack of options at our weakest position, lets go into improving that in our own way and not in a way that is based on matching up to another team(s) style at that position. and NewJack, whats all this traditional rebounder, non-traditional rebounder talk. rebounding is rebounding, and Kurt Thomas is a rebounder. he'd be the best this team has had in years. we're talking 10 plus rebound in 35 minutes - you can't ask for much better than that. it was unfortunate that juwan was hurt which forced us to use lineups we normally wouldn't use use. for example: mgrady at the four. Bowen and Padgett as our pf's. but it exposed us greatly and showed just how much we need big bodies in the paint to cover Yao's back. Yao plays a lot of help defense and his recovery time is non-existent - he doesn't recover. so having big bodies to clear space and clean the boards is what will put the Rockets up there with San Antonio.
I like the real KT ... Kenny Thomas. You want rebounding, quickness, and someone who isn't too old. Work a deal for Kenny Thomas and Mobley from Sack town. Doubt either would want to come back though (maybe Mobes).
