I like the guy. Great potential but at this point it's still just potential. I would sign as long as we could still acquire a decent veteran because he's not ready to start 82 games for a top-tier team.
I say do it. Let's go for about 4mil per year and see if they bite. He's pretty much guaranteed at least 25min here, so he could always pull a Joe Johnson and demand the Pistons not to match. If they do, we can always give them Snyder/Bonzi, Vspan, and Sura if they want compensation. Should that happen, we'll still have our MLE to sign someone else.
PJ brown is exactly the type of player we need. We need a guy who will throw somone on their head for a rebound in the playoffs. If you know of anyone else who has done this, lets try to sign them too.
You're right..why is everyone getting excited about Amir? He doesn't have any record to show for his NBA career. Limited minutes and limited stats. He plays behind McDyess and McDyss plays behind Webber. Like isn't Amir like the 4th option? WTH is all the excitement about?
Right now, PJ is contemplating retirement. You want to sign him? We need some youth and athletecism at the 4, not old cracking legs like Juwans.....
Amir is averaged 5.9 pointse, 4.6 rebounds and 1.6 blocks, while shooting 54.5% from the field. He did that in an average of 16 minutes/game. He PRODUCED in the limited minutes he had. He's the 4th option on Detroit because he's a young player on a team filled with VETERANS that play his position. It's unlikely, especially with Flip Saunders, that a freshman will take the starting spot from a senior. As far as his 'record' in the NBA... -He had 20 points, 12 rebounds (half were offensive rebounds), 4 blocks, and 3 steals in 37 minutes. -Amir had 6 blocks one night against the 76ers...and all of that was when he was 6'9...he's grown to 6'11! -He domintated in the D-League. He's done everything that needed to be done to take a calculated risk on him. But forget what he's done for a second. Let's take a look at what he CAN do.. -Rebound -Block -Hit the mid-range jumper...has confidence to take a 3 -Finish around the basket well This guy would be GREAT with Yao Ming. Let him continue to develop in a ROCKETS uniform. You can give him PT because he's producing at the NBA level. I'm on board (I think that's been well documented by now). Give Amir Johnson close to, if not all of, the MLE. He's 20 years old. Athletic, 6'11...isn't this what T-Mac ordered? Make Amir Johnson the top priority. I agree with DaDakota, sign him to 4.5-full MLE on July 11th and see if the Pistons will match. If Morey is going to take the "wait-and-see" approach anyway...why not swing big right when free agents can be signed. If you miss...you get the left overs anyway.
What are his moneyball stats? I doubt Morey will sign him b/c he hasn't played enough to be evaluated properly by someone like Morey.
Much ado about nothing. To make sure Detroit doesn't match, the Rockets would have to offer about $4 to $4.5 million or more -- which is not a good risk. However, even if it were, Morey doesn't have the stones to do it.
I don't think Detroit would match the full MLE deal or a mostly MLE deal for the guy and we could pick up our starting PF for the next 10 years by being a little aggressive and taking a risk. I have watched Amir for 2 years he is a very good player at the NBDL level....and IMO already better than Chuck Hayes. Sign him up Morey ! Force Joe Dumars to overpay......and if he matches pick up Webber for a partial MLE. DD
Looks like cluch has his thoughts on the amir johnson situation from the main page. http://www.clutchfans.net/news/1424/dont_expect_spanoulis_to_be_released/ Amir Johnson in Houston? Not likely It's hard to believe that a player who has spent most of his first two seasons in the NBDL is a hot commodity, but that's the case with Amir Johnson. At just 20 years old, Johnson is one of the more interesting free agents available on the market. Amir Johnson Since being drafted with the 56th overall pick in the 2005 NBA Draft, Johnson has grown from 6-foot-9 to 6-foot-11 and has dominated the D-League, putting up 18.9 points per game (62.3% shooting), 9.7 rebounds, and 3.1 blocks a night in 22 games. The power forward is also buried in Detroit's depth chart behind Rasheed Wallace, Antonio McDyess and Jason Maxiell. On the other hand, the Rockets sorely need help at the four spot. So what's the holdup? The problem is Johnson is a restricted free agent, giving Detroit power to match and keep Johnson, and the Pistons have communicated exactly that to the Rockets: They will match any offer sheet that Amir signs. Bluffing? Possibly. After signing Chauncey Billups to a $60 million deal, Detroit has very real luxury tax concerns, and their owner has stated in the past that he doesn't want to pay it. But they don't want to lose a potential asset like Johnson and even if he gets a bigger deal, Detroit could match and try to unload salary before the end of the 07-08 season (when the luxury tax would have to be paid). The Rockets would also be taking a big risk on attempting to call that bluff as signing Amir to an offer sheet locks in the Rockets money for 7 days while the Pistons can consider matching. Other free agent options could be lost during that time.
I agree ... do what it takes, which usually LESs doesn't let his GM do, unless its a superstar big deal. This is the only FA I'm interested in. Unfortunately, Morey said he doesn't want to spend the whole MLE on anyone. That sounds like LESs talking, unfortunately. That's why we've been getting pieces and parts that either don't fit or don't last long. If we're going to be contenders, we have to add some significant pieces. We just don't have the talent, not only this year, but for the next 4 or 5. I don't see any FA who is better for the price. So, if there aren't any other FAs we're after, what's the risk in signing him to a contract? There's no risk in signing, if we're not planning on signing one in July anyway, and if someone wants to be on the team, they can wait a week. MOREy or LESs seems to be the theme of team management ... a little bit of this, a little bit of that, but not what it takes to be a contender ... sad. We can't get a starting PF who will compete with the major PFs in the West, without paying a max contract, which we don't have caproom to sign. So, we have to pick a few at full MLEs over the next few years, IMHO, and hope we get 1 or 2 that turn into rotation players, make a few trades, and draft better. You can't make trades if you don't have pieces of value to trade. Just because Swift didn't work out well, doesn't mean we shouldn't keep trying. This strategy of picking up stragglers hasn't worked the last few years. We should have been farther along in building a team around Yao and Tracy, but we've waisted our drafts, not done what it took in trades, and grabbed FA stragglers. We've got to stop doing that.
What are you basing this on? The draft? It seems to me like he showed some "stones" when he drafted two players that no one expected.
Amir Johnson @ 3M/yr is definitely a calculated risk. I'm torn on whether he'd be worth it. On one hand, a great deal of the developmental work he needed initially might have taken place on Detroit's dollar. On the other hand, 3M/yr for someone out of the NBDL sounds crazy upon first hearing it. I'd have to do more research before I leaned one way or the other. For the folks who have seen Amir Johnson in action, what is his energy/activity level on the court? Is he an active, hustling type PF? Or does he sit back and pick his spots?
I'm not sure if Detroit would match a full MLE offer or not, but that's probably what you'd have to do to have a chance. As I mentioned in another thread, if we make him an offer that Detroit can match without going over the LT threshhold, then they'll defnitely match. If you really want him, then you offer the full MLE and see what Detroit does. If they match, then there wasn't anything that we could have done, so you go to plan B. Having our MLE tied up for 7 days isn't too big of a deal since we'll probably wait until several top guys have signed and the remaining FA options lower their asking price. If Detroit doesn't match, then you got your guy and you don't worry about whether you could have gotten him for $1M or $2M less. Assuming that the Rockets really do want Johnson, I think that it will come down to what Detroit's LT situation looks like. If Billups taking a smaller first year salary allows them to match anything up to the MLE without going over the tax threshold, then I doubt that the Rockets bother making an offer.
The last time the Rox signed somebody who didn't work out using the MLE, they used him as a salary dump with a top 10 draft pick for Shane Battier. Would you be willing to see that again?
