But how much will you be paying Lewis? I think his projected salary of $12 mil a year or so kind of scares me... yes, he is a good scorer, but what else does he do? And also, he plays the same position as Tracy McGrady. Battier was making plays left and right to save the Rockets ass in some close games, you need that. As for Snyder defending... well, he failed to flourish and stick under Sloan, Scott, and Van Gundy, I don't know if I want to be in a position to have to count on him.
i'm pretty sure all of those guys can be effective in his system too. i think we can agree that these list of names leaves a very interesting (maybe a bit messy) depth chart. adleman likes versatility so guys who can play more than one possition like lewis, james and sarunas will be valued. guys who are stuck at one possition might be out... like howard and rafer.
adelman did say he wanted more 3-4 players. i assume he meant guys who can play both forward positions.
It is absolutely mind boggling that there are posters who won't give up a 10 ppg 5 reb role player for an All Star caliber PF/SF. The Battier love fest reaches a new depth. Put down the glue people and go outside for some fresh air. Battier is a good TEAM defender...he's not an exceptional 1on1 defender otherwise he'd would have been able to crack 2nd team All Defense at least once in his career. Adelman's Kings were good at team defense. You don't win that many games with the likes of Peja, Vlade, and CWebb if you don't play TEAM defense. Lewis creates mismatches and has long arms to play the passing lanes. I gotta get out of here...waaaaayyyyyyyyy too much glue being sniffed.
People are saying with TMac and Kobe, you will need 2 balls on the court. With TMac, Lewis and Yao, you will need 4 balls (two reserved for Yao, but that's another story).
WOW, all this Rockets speculation from a Seattle newspaper!? LOL, Feigen, where are you? What's funny about Frank Hughes' speculation is the moves are the same moves I have mentioned a number of times here (although I am not saying I was the first with the idea lol). Adelman is looking for a 3/4 type player to pair with Yao. Rashard can come home and be that guy. The Sonics will probably move him in a S&T and want to get back parts that can fill out their roster. They have need areas ,but they might not be able to fill those areas with a S&T Rashard, but they can get a quality player in Battier. If we were to move our 2007 1st rounder then this deal would have to be done ahead of time. I doubt that. So likely we would have to move Battier+Sura(to match contracts) and 2008 1st rounder. I would even go so far as to include Head in the deal if that was a deal breaker. If you made the Mike James for Howard deal then you could throw out a lineup of James Snyder Tmac Lewis Yao That's pretty darn athletic! And you have FOUR players that can score 20+ poins on any given night. Quite an upgrade! Even if you did both of those deals we STILL would have the FULL MLE (and LLE) to add depth! You could then break apart that MLE and maybe add 2 solid bench role players.
Rashard Lewis is absolutely *not* a PF. For Sonics, this is an excellent trade to improve their depth. It doesn't matter if Battier doesn't start. They'd rather get a really good role player than just let Lewis walk. Imagine that... Rudy Gay + Stromile Swift + 2007 Rockets 1st round 26th Pick for Rashard Lewis, 20 PPG player. Worth it or not worth it?
Lewis to Battier and a 1st is doable. You simply throw in Sura and the combined salaries are a little under 10 mil. And if I am not mistaken the salaries only have to be within 15% of each other, so if Rashard was willing to take 11 mil a year for 3 years (sounds like he would) this could get done. The key is do the Sonics really want Battier. Not so sure but would love for it to happen.
I don't think Rashard is a full time PF, but he can play minutes there, especially when we have the most dominant C in the league with Yao. You just can't turn down a QUALITY 3rd scoring option like Rashard in this situation. Even though you have to pay a lot, it is stealing talent. And that's the key to good trades. The article says the Sonics like Battier, and while this doesn't mean a whole lot, but the Sonics fans on the RealGM board like Battier too. I have thrown out that trade proposal a couple of times and most fans would easily let Rashard go to add a role player like Battier to their team. BTW, IF we could get this deal done, then it would be Rudy Gay -> Battier -> Rashard. In my option, Gay's upside is Rashard Lewis. Gay might end up being a better rebounder/shotblocker but I dont think he will be as good a scorer. So if the deal is done, we kind of come roundabout on the whole thing, except Rashard is in his prime NOW, with Tmac and Yao, though we have to pay for it on a big contract. But hey, WIN NOW, right?
Newsflash - Adelman's Rockets are not going to be dead last in fastbreak points and near the bottom of the league in FGA's. If you are of the opinion that Lewis takes as many shots as Kobe, I'd suggest NBA League Pass. Great way to watch games outside of Rockets' games. Actually, the new CBA is 25% so Battier + Sura easily works capwise. I'm sure SEA would ask for next years' first and Luther Head. I'd give it to them but not without some haggling.. I'll take that one step further. Re-sign Wells and draft a mobile big like Tomic. PG - James / Alston / VSpan SG - Wells / Snyder / James / McGrady SF - McGrady / Lewis PF -Lewis / Tomic / Hayes C - Yao / Deke / Tomic If you get Wells to take his POpt...or re-sign a non-Qualifying offer to get Early Bird next year...you still have an MLE to put on top of that. I'd be ecstatic.
The Rockets weakness was that TMac was the only guy who could create something off the dribble and he settles for jumper too much. 1. Does Rashard Lewis create off the dribble? Not that I remember... but perhaps he's changed. Anyone followed the Sonics lately can give me a description of his game? 2. Does Rashard Lewis get to the rim and refuse to settle for jumpers? No. Not at all. 80% of his FG attempts are jumpers. 80% of TMac's FG attempts are jumpers, too, and we are compnlaining about that. 3. Can Rockets play effectively with Yao at 5 and Lewis at 4? Possibly... he played about 1/4 of his minutes at 4 and fared well statistically there. http://www.82games.com/0607/06SEA9C.HTM However, I am not entirely sure how rebounding will work with Yao not being too mobile and Lewis not being a natural 4 as a rebounder. The Rockets were best with rebounding beast Hayes up front with Yao. In fact, the best year the Sonics had recentsly were with rebounding specialists playing heavy minutes at the 4 and the 5.
Remember how Yao had to defend drivers and got into foul trouble nearly every game? You'd have to get used to it again. At least this time, with Yao on the bench for an extra 10 minutes a game, Lewis would make up his scoring loss. I think it's a stupid trade, but maybe that's just me not understanding how Adelman is going to remake the Rockets into the Showtime Lakers.
Clutch - I think you are wrong. Lewis is an unrestricted FA and can't be SnT's until well after the draft. It would be foolish of the Rockets to pick for SEA before a deal is done. IOW, there is no way the Lewis end of the deal can be completed until AFTER the draft. Whether or not the Rockets have to give up 26 later is debatable. There are many other options.
That's true. What I would do if I was the Rockets is say Battier+Sura and their choice of Luther Head or 2008 1st round pick. I mean, to include the 2007 1st round pick then this entire S&T scenario would have to be done ahead of time. We would make the pick for Seattle and then the deal would be done in the middle of July when FA signing period starts. Does ANYONE know of a S&T deal in the past that included a pick before FA started? Just curious. GATER, James, Wells, Tmac, Lewis, Yao? WOW! get your motor running! I like Wells in terms of "rebounding" in that lineup, but Wells off the bench might be even better. But still, talk about an offensive upgrade!
I agree... but the scenario outlined by Hughes includes the 26th pick, which means he either doesn't know what he's talking about or the Rockets would send who they pick after the fact. I don't think Battier for Lewis is enticing enough for Seattle, but I may be wrong. BTW, if we trade Battier, can we change your username to GATIER
Jasikevicious is interesting.... but also risky. He didn't really stick either with defensive minded Rick Carlisle or with offensive minded Nelson. He can't keep his man in front of him and doesn't have NBA level handles. Pacers fans complain about him needing picks to just bring the ball up and his shooting % hasn't even been that great. But if Adelman thinks he can make it work with Jasikevicious, who am I to question? Same goes with Lewis and the rest of the targets, I guess, as long as Rick signs off on it. Rick Adelman knows what he's doing... Morey/Lindsey/Les etc-- I'm not so sure about.
But that's because our guards were too SLOW to stay with the people in front of them which put Yao at risk. Battier and Hayes helped take the brunt of some of those fouls, but if we get quicker guards (like Adelman wants) then Yao won't be put in jeopardy as much.
Except Adelman isn't going to have Yao scrambling out to the 3 point line to show in the pick and rolls. He's gonna have Yao playing a 1 man zone and roaming the paint.
