Sign Amir to an offer sheet on July 11th and see what happens. Do it for like 3+ mil and see if Detroit has the stones to match it. If they do, you have only lost one week, and you can turn your attention elsewhere. Didn't Morey say he was concentrating on trades more than FA, anyway? Then use that MLE and sign up Amir.....give us some youth & Athleticism at the PF spot that has a chance to really help. DD
ok so whats the big hubbub over amir johnson???? i have never heard of the guy until this recent off season and looked up that he hardly played any games for the pistons this year so why is everyone so high on the guy to come in and be our (starting?) PF?
Grew 2 inches since he was drafted in 2005 so he has size at 6'11 he dominated the dleague. hes a project but would have been a top 10 pick this year,
I think they would consider matching some cheap $3M a year deal to be a no brainer. I don't get it, though. They seem so ridiculously high on this guy even though he's about as NBA proven and accomplished as our (and your's, DaDa) beloved V-Trash.
He is intriguing in some ways, and I wouldn't mind adding him to the roster, but I wouldn't go near $3 mil for him. I know it may take that for Detroit to back off, but I think that's way over paying for him. Maybe offer him a 2 yr. deal starting lower with a player option after the 2nd season. If he proves himself, he gets paid. Any way you slice it, his agent might just push hard enough for Detroit to work a sign-and-trade so Amir can actually play.
the intrigue is because he's super long and athletic at around 6'10. he was drafted straight outta highschool and is just 20 years old. he dominated the DLeague and played well in the NBA Games. he's pretty much the equivalent of a 1st round draft pick, but he's gonna command around $4-5 million
LOL, you wouldn't go near 3 million? Do you know what the going rate for scrubs are in this league? Kapono pretty much got the full MLE and all he does is shoot 3's. Same thing with Radmonovic last year with the lakers. Players like steve blake are looking for fulll MLE offers. And your hesitant to offer a promising young big man 3 mil a year? Detroit will gladly match a 3 million dollar offer for a young prospect big man who can score, rebound and block shots. Big men with potential always get overpaid and thats what we are going to have to do to pry Johnson from the Pistons. Offering the majority of the MLE for 3 or 4 years is probably what would be needed to have a realistic chance at johnson. I know its a risky proposition, but when you have very little assets, all you have are risky options or marginal ones. So pretty much its choice between signing a PF who we know won't be a game changer, like a malik allen or Joe Smith or we could take a big risk and offer Johnson a big contract and hope he becomes the PF we all have been looking for. But imagine if he fulfills his potential, we would have that perfect PF we are looking for next to yao, one who could score, rebound and block shots with the best of them.
Abolutely Sign Him! It's gonna take the Full MLE to get Detroit to think about signing him. We can put a team option for the third, but IMHO, He's a low risk high reward player minus the headaches of some other talents. If Les really wants to win, he should spend the MLE on some talent. We can always trade him if it doesn't work out. Get it done, Morey!!
the seven day wait doesn't scare me off from signing him to a contract. I like his upside and think he would fit well but with such a small sample size it would be a bit of a crap shoot. I guess it depends on their free agent board and how they have players ranked. It might also be the proper time to look into picking up another one of Detroit's 4's for some cap relief. If they say no to cap relief and he is our # 1 ranked FA PF, I say go for it.
LOL, just because others blantantly over pay for marginal players, the Rockets have to? Give me a break. Amir has done nothing in the league. And, he should get paid for that? Sure, he shows promise and could very well BECOME a real good player. BUT, he isn't right now. He is still VERY unproven. And, all those players you mentioned (Kapono, Ramonovic, Blake) all have actually PROVEN they can play at a consitant level. Sure, let's take a RISK on some young kid who we think MAY become the perfect 4. That's exactly what this team needs. And, not every team throws tons of money at young, promising big men. The Spurs (you know the model franchise of the league) only gave a contract to Jackie Butler starting at $2 mil. i wouldn't scoff at a $3 mil offer for him. It's not a break the bank proposition. I just think it's just over paying for him a little.
I would try to sign him it doesnt look like were looking ar signing anyone else right now. The worst thing that could happen is the rockets waste a week and dont get anything even though they have already wasted alot of valuable time in doing nothing.
The bottom line in this day and age for the Rockets is that they cannot afford a proven PF. It is time for us to take a somewhat educated RISK and get a young athletic PF for the future. Hayes does fine next to Yao but doesn't have the tools when Deke comes in and now we don't have JHo for the 20-30 games that Yao will be out during the season. PJ Brown might be a good answer next to Deke as they can at least reminisce with each other about the good, old days. Maybe Landry will be a good PF someday, and I am certainly glad we are at least beginning to bring in some young folks to develop for the future which is one thing JVG did not do for several years. Anyway, I don't know that Amir is the answer but we have plugged holes with cheap veterans for so long that now we are having trouble with the cap. We have to bite the bullet and grow our own sooner or later. If management thinks Amir is going to be a player someday then I say go for it even if it cost the whole MLE. By the time he is "proven" in a year or two we will end up playing against him all year long. Saving a few bucks will not serve us well IMO.
Andray Blatche is pretty much in the same boat for the Wizards, the Nets are offering him a contract starting at 3.9/mil for 4 or 5 years strictly on his potential as a 6'11" athlete with potential and very good all around skills. He was drafted in 2005 out of high school just like Amir and has done nothing to warrant that kind of contract but the Nets are taking a risk and believe if given the minutes he will outperform that contract easily. Considering the amount of money any decent big in this league gets I'd say either of this kids is worth a contract starting at 4mil and Amir definitely is now if another team has it in them to offer him that. Personally I think the Pistons kept Amir out of the spotlight as much as possible so teams wouldn't be salivating over him since he hasn't seen much time in the league. They had several veterans that have been through a lot who they felt would help more than him so they stashed him on the bench. That does not mean the kid is not NBA ready because he is, especially considering some of the crappy bigs out there in this league that get way overpaid. Anyways, there is no player out there that has the potential to outperform their contract more than Amir and Blatche. Someone like Darko who is slightly more proven than the two mentioned above is commanding between $8-$10 million strictly on his potential. That is what this league is about and always will be. You have unproven college, international, high school kids all the time entering this league and if they are a lottery pick it will be a very steep contract. If anything Blatche and Amir are a hell of a lot more proven than a guy like Thaddeus Young.
Get the best of both worlds. Sign PJ brown for the vet's min/LLE and trade for the draft rights to Joel Freeland. http://www.blazersedge.com/story/2007/7/6/224222/1239 http://www.columbian.com/sports/localNews/07062007news164125.cfm
I see where you are coming from. But you need account for the rockets current roster situation. Right now we have a small window for contention, due to tracys questioned durability. We have two max-contract players locked up for the next few years, so we will always be over the cap. We also have very little assets to improve our roster with. So in order to add another with more then marginal contributions the rockets are going to have to take some risks or flat out get lucky with a low first rounder/2nd rounder because thats all we are going to get for the next few years. In the very few minutes he has gotten in the nba, hes shown to have been able to contribute at only 20 years old. Worst case scenario we would have another Stromile on our hands, while best case is the PF we have been looking for to play next to Yao. Its just the question of how much luxury tax Les is willing to pay.
I could definitely endorse hooroo's recommendations. Either these moves or DaDa's move for Amir make the most sense from an affordability/commitment standpoint.
