Fail. This a thread about basketball forum. Not sure where you think you are or what sport you are watching.
Just reading through the thread... I'm not sure why some of you are such an advocate for Battier as a starter. Personally the Ariza/Battier combo (with Battier off the bench), in my opinion is optimum. As someone pointed out earlier, Ariza's youth is paramount. Moreover, a true contender's team goes about 7 or 8 players deep. Crucially important in that depth is the sixth man. For us, I love having that be Battier. I don't think a veteran presence coming off the bench can be overstated. He's like another coach down there and still gets solid minutes. I don't see the problem with him off the bench personally. Lowry/Budinger/Battier/Hill/(14) Solid.
Back on target: Marc Stein Could Bosh end up in Houston? "If the Raptors and Bosh reach the expected conclusion that it's time for an amicable divorce, Houston has amassed an enticing cache of sign-and-trade assets. One source, offering one small example, says that the Raptors are intrigued by young forward Jordan Hill, whom the Rockets extracted from the Knicks in the Tracy McGrady three-way deal in February. ... if Bosh indeed proves willing to join the Rockets via sign-and-trade, will try to foist Hedo Turkoglu on Houston as part of the deal. Would the Rockets be willing to take on Turkoglu's contract ($43.8 million over the next four years) and surrender, say, Trevor Ariza in return to clinch Bosh's arrival? The cost of adding Bosh along with Turkoglu would likely be prohibitive for the Rockets, but Toronto certainly figures to try."
I think Battier (if Rockets keep him this summer) will be the perfect 5th option in the stating lineup when Yao comes back. Never looking for his own shot and playing a better man-to-man defense than Ariza. On the other hand, The Rockets bench production has dropped dramatically since landry was traded. Ariza could be the 6th man of this team and run and gun with Lowry and Budinger. A good comparison is this year’s Magic team. Mickael Pietrus has more offense game than Matt Barnes, but he still comes off the bench and contributs in a big way.
I don't think its worth it to include Scola for the acquisition of Bosh. Scola is too dependable. Doesn't miss many games, opposed to Bosh who is very injury prone. I also think Scola and Yao already have great chemistry. But if we can get Bosh without giving up Scola...
It’s really hard to include Scola in any trade package this summer, since he is a restricted free agent. He and his agent will definitely shop around for a better contract. I believe even Rockets get Bosh from Toronto, they should still sign Scola to a reasonable deal. He will fill Landry’s role and come off the bench. A frontcourt rotation of Yao, Bosh and Scola will rival Lakers’ big three: Bynum, Gasol and Odom.
Somebody said the other day you cannot include 2 recently signed players in the same trade. But I'm hearing that the Knicks could sign&trade Lee for Bosh. How is this? I guess I'm wrong about something.
He's absolutely a better passer and can facilitate others' offense better than Brooks. But it's still a big question mark if he's able to stick in the NBA. There's been several guys that looked great in fantastic in international play that absolutely belly flopped in the league. He's not a sure thing.
That wasn't a trade. It could have been done that way but we declined because we signed Ariza with a medical exception for Yao's injury...
Very true. There have been some flops. What keeps everyone going back to the well are success stories like Luis Scola and Manu Ginobili. No question that Rubio would be a crapshoot, but one worth taking, IMO, were he available.
Your premise is correct though. Two guys can be signed and traded for one another. Don't think they can be packaged with other players unless it's two separate deals making up one "transaction".
3 positions seem to be positions where we will stand pat at- SG, SF, C. The reason is because we recently acquired our starting SG and SF, who seem to be valued higher by DM than by other GMs around the league so it's unlikely we would get more in return for them if we trade them away. As for Yao, DM has both said and demonstrated by his actions many times that he will continue with Yao as the centerpiece of the franchise at least through next season. So we're down to moving PG and PF pieces around. Brooks has a high value around the league, commonly perceived to be our best player, while his backup is one of the best backup PGs in the league. Scola is also perceived around the league to be our second best player, while Hill has a lot of trade value as a young high-upside big man who played well in limited minutes as a rookie with us this season. The question then, is how will DM upgrade both positions... To get Rubio, we must give up a non-PG as the main piece going out because Minny is stocked with PG, so we cannot trade Brooks for Rubio. Now the other oft-mentioned trade target is Bosh, and he is a PF. Now I don't believe we will keep Scola as a 8 million a year backup if we upgrade at PF, so Scola might be expendable. Can we get Rubio with Scola as the main trade bait? Probably not, as they also have Love and Jefferson. Can we get Bosh with Brooks as the main trade bait? Maybe... Now this is all a very simplistic analysis, as Morey undoubtedly takes this way of thinking to a level of complexity involving the salary cap of every team in the league, the personalities of every GM and franchise, team chemistry, the rosters of every team in the world and college, etc. These are just the questions floating in my mind right now about this topic.
