The Rockets made a huge mistake, but the other 2 deals were justified. Mo Taylor performed brilliantly when we signed him for one season, and then he went out and worked like crazy in the summer. To this day, I wonder what kind of Mo we would have gotten. he was apparently SUPER fit and HIGHLY motivated. His commetns that he will go out and improve himself that way again this offseason is very encouraging, and his chemistry with Ming really makes me wonder about trading Griffin regardless of potential. As for Cato, we all know about the preseason. But I think that, in the minutes he was given, Cato performed like a top 10 C this season. Second to ben Wallace in rebounds/minute? Hustle, fire, defense, strength, no whining, and slightly improved scoring? Please. He showed us he can start and should get minutes. Unfortunately for us, we are too weak at other positions as well as salary-cap wise to keep him. I think the way to deal with these contracts is to make TWO 2-for-1 deals, packaging one big contract with one samell one. For example, Moochie can be packaged with Rice. Cato with Mobley. Griffin with Cato or MoT. We have good trade bait. But I'd love to see the Rockets trading Moochie and Cato. Moochie because he sucks and Cato because we can't afford such a great backup. If you ask me, New York is a PRIME candidate for a Cato/Moochie package. What could they possibly give us? Who knows. Maybe it can be a 3-way deal. All I know is, we're not stuck with these contracts. MoT's contract is decent because he is productive, and had a surprisingly good season despite him supposedly needing a year to get back to normal. If he works hard this summer on continuing to rehab, and gets that jumper back, he has a brilliant midrange andinside game. All other contracts are tradeable, depending on how much the Rockets want to trade them.
btw: 07/25/02: The Spurs re-signed Malik Rose to a 7-year, $42 million contract with an opt-out after the 5th season. The 7th season is at the player's option. so next year, he'll be making about 6mill per year, playing about 35 minutes per night, giving 110% effort EVERY GAME, and covering everyone from the 3 to the 5... malik was locked up with the knowledge that david robinson would be gone after this year. tim and malik are the spurs frontcourt from next year forward. they're great friends and complement each other very well on the court. ....i'm not so sure i'd call that a bad contract.
It's actually a terrible contract. The Spurs are a winning organization, and I find it very very difficult to believe that Duncan will move to C, and Malike will move to PF and the Spurs will go to war with that, especially in the West. Spurs will definitely get a more established big man. Malik Rose makes 6+ Million next year, while Mot makes around 7M? I think I'll take MoT for 1 more million.
Malik Rose is an Eduardo Najera-style player. A lot of guys would look good next to Duncan. If Cato's contract is bad and Mo's contract is bad, so is Rose's. I'll even give you the Spurs.....is that all? Only one team in the NBA doesn't have a bad contract? Teams that are cleaning house don't count, a la the Bulls/Magic of a few years ago.
To be fair, Indiana's contracts are all great. I don't think they regret any of those contracts, except MAYBE Ron Mercer. But that's a stretch, because he WOULD be earning his decent salary if there was any PT for him. Oh, wai a sec. Austin Croshere. I guess the Lakers are best in that department then. Kobe and Shaq are both worth more than their contracts. Also, I think the Kings dont' have any bad contracts, right?
oh and sane, you do realize who covers shaq when san antonio plays them, right? malik rose. many times one on one. and TheFreak: if you can honestly equate malik rose with eduardo najera, you haven't watched him play enough. najera has no offensive talent and is 100% hustle. malik rose is a talented player who subjugates his offense for the benefit of the team, choosing to concentrate on defense, rebounding and hustling. make no mistake, when the spurs come out next year the starting frontcourt will be: PF: tim duncan C: malik rose sounds crazy, but it's true.
one more thing: malik rose, given 35 minutes per night next year, will be a double double player. bank on it.
I thought that Moochies contract is only 4 years guaranteed @3.6 Mil per year, the 5th and 6th years are not guaranteed but had a buy out or something like that. Can someone confirm this?
I seriously serisouly dount they'll go into the summer with all that cap space, and will go into the season with a Duncan/Rose frontcourt. Malik Rose is NOT all that on offense. Malik Rose is VERY VERY comparable to Kenny Thomas. I do NOT think he's anywhere near a starter. For all I care, the Spurs can start Mickey Mouse in the frontcourt, because they are our rivals. But I really don't think they will put aside the like of Jermaine O'Neal and Micheal Olowokandi for Malik Rose. In fact, there are several better trades for them as well. Brian Grant, Elton Brand, Rasheed Wallace, Kelvin Cato, Dikembe Mutombo, Calvin Booth, Marc Jackson (would fit nice with Duncan), Jerome James, Antonio Davis. It's very hard to believe that San Antonio will be stupid enough to go to war with Malik Rose at C. It's just unheard of for a contender, and especially a team that usually sticks to traditional players and line-ups./
TheFreak: here's a third team: detroit pistons their largest contract is cliff robinson at $16mill and he's a free agent this summer... have you noticed that these are all some of the better teams in the league?
Sane, jermaine o'neal's going nowhere. olowokandi is not held in that high of esteem in san antonio brian grant? no way. brand? staying in la for the next year rasheed? probably will re-up in portland cato?! cato?! mutombo? i reaaaaaally doubt it booth/jackson? pop would NEVER take a soft, no defending big man antonio davis? maybe. jerome james? don't make me laugh. as for the kenny thomas/malik rose comparison.... they are similar, yes, except for the fact that malik might be twice as strong. seriously.
If Rose didn't play next to Duncan he would look like a rather ordinary but solid back-up 4/5. I think a comparison to Mo or KT is pretty reasonable. I think he is less capable of an individual offensive player than either (Rose gets his high percentage shots by going to the basket when his player goes ot double TD)--but is a better defender and rebounder than Mo and better able to guard a center or bigger 4 than Kenny could. Also, remember Rose is going to be 29 going into next year--he is a couple of years older than Mo. Basically I don't think either Mo or Rose's contract are that bad. 6-7 mil for a good back-up 4 or servicable starter is not terrible. What makes Mo's contract look bad is a totally unforseable injury. The 2 years before Mo signed that contract he was a 15-6 player and shot 47% from the field. I think SA would be much better off with Rose as a back-up, but I think they also need a much more potent guard or swingman going into next season--it will be interesting to see what they try to do and end up with. BTW what happens with Parker, Ginobilli, Jackson and other players they try to sign will determine if they get bad contracts or not.
