CP, I'm less interested in seeing what we can get via FA, and more concerned with seeing what we have in Griffin, Morris, and Langhi. I would rather struggle a little and let our guys learn together than to bring in a player like Rice, who even though he has skills, is not the type of personality I would want around an impressionable group of young guys like we have. I would rather have Walt (sorry Pop's) for one more year and then clear the roster of the dead weight next summer. I don't care if we get Raef as much as I want our core to learn to depend on eachother, not some dried old has been grumbling about not getting paid or getting enough touches. After watching Hakeem and Scottie the past few years, I would just as soon not hear a player equate money or touches with respect. To me that is what Rice brings, more than his brooken a$$ body. Wow, who would of thought that I would finally get fired up on the BBS. Maybe I've been reading too much of Achebe threads lately an dhave decided to polarize the board.
I'm also sure at this point CD is tired of dealing with Dan Fegan... So we just need to get this done one way or the other and then resign or let go of Moochie, I want him back but I'm tired of hearing that Fegan name... If we don't resign Moochie(because he wants more money....gee that sounds all too familiar this offseason) then backup plan enter Sean Colson.... I still don't like the Anderson deal for Rice but oh well. If that happens then Walt must be dealt for White... We are still short a big defensive guard to defend Richmond, Bryant, Richardson, S.Smith unless T-Mo is used there as well as the 3....
Crispee, the one hole -- which you've already acknowledged -- is that we can have cap-space next offseason if we save our money this season. I think it is not unreasonable to expect to have $10 million for outside free agents (if we didn't sign Anderson at all, or traded him for an expiring contract). If this was our cap space's last hurrah, I can see making a trade that was less than ideal. But, we can have another offseason of free agent market play. Why not preserve that and see if we can get a better FA/trade?
CBAs Fact: Being $4.5m under the cap is useless for signing free agents, you must be under by more than the mid-level exception to put you in a better bargaining position. Crisp, If we sign Mooch, Bull and Shandon, and say McCoy won't that put us slightly over the cap so that we would still have our trade exception for a possible sign and trade next summer. We could trade Shandon + the exception for a player in the 9 mil range. (Raef?) I doubt anyone would be willing to take Rice . Also like above and in another one of my posts, I just think Rice is a chemistry killer for a bunch of enthusiastic kidswho need lots of playing time to develop.
One thing's for sure. This off season hasn't gone the way I thought it would. If only they hadn't instituted the Zone defense.
I agree with JV here. I don't think we're at the point where it's "use it or lose it" yet. We have till next August 1, or later (depending on when Francis signs on the dotted line). Rice is still an aging malcontent with bad feet/knees. Or, if midseason something comes available, letting SA walk for nothing gives you some cap space still available. It would be VERY easy to nab something with an expiring contract like Walt's and capspace. If we're going to take on an overpriced contract, I'd much prefer that it be a big man. They are crawling all over the place, anyhow. Though, if they do get Rice, will BahDakota and T-Pooh still think the Rockets haven't acquired an SF ahead of Langhi?
<b>Malcontents like Rice hurt your young stars less than LOSING</b> You must get frontline help by the trading deadline, imso. That largely eliminates cap room next Summer. If you don't, you risk everyone playing another year out of position and in freaking mismatches. A year of Cato injured and Mo' and K9 convering the center spot hurts our development more than Rice ever could. Rice hurting chemistry pales in comparison to how NO FREAKING CENTER hurts learning chemistry in a real system. Rudy has gone much of 2 yrs playing his frontline out of position. I do not think he has the patience to wait beyond the trading deadline....nor do I think it is good for the team. <b>NIKE and JV</b> I've run the numbers. The Chicago Bulls scenario of saving up for next summer can open up some significant caproom; I agree. But that will hurt our development for an entire year. We are not doing that. We will shore up the frontline this summer, or by the trading deadline. We are not risking a Cato injury and playing Mo or K9 out of position again. We will take on an outside contract, thus most likely pushing that caproom next summer to a maximum of $7m, more like nothing (unless you renounce the exceptions). I simply am not considering your GM numbers scenario over a GM player personnel scenario. He has to add something to that frontline. <b>Gene Peterson</b> We lost the trade exception the day we renounced Barkley and Rogers. We have no exceptions for one year, since we created cap room instead.
Crispee, how does trading for Rice shor up our frontline? It doesn't; he's a 3, we need a 5. If Cato is hurt (and maybe if he's not), we'll have 4s playing center whether we have Rice or not. He does nothing for us in that regard. I'm not precisely advocating that we wait till next year, just that we wait for a deal that will give us a decent center. If Rice won't solve our problem, wait for something that will. Trading Walt for White might help, but we don't need the Rice trade for that one. If we do have to wait till next offseason to solve the center position, it'll be easier to do it with capspace than without. And surrendering the capspace before then won't make the going any easier in the meantime. (I should note, however, that I think we'll be fine playing with 2 PFs and no center at all. For the most part, it should be worth it to put talent on the floor over size.)
I am liking this shakeup more and more. Our D will not be where I want it but you cant doubt the amount of points we will score. It felt like we were stagnating around Dream. Almost forced by loyalty to feed him the ball and keep our old style offense. This will be a high powered young scoring team. Rice and White will definitely improve the team versus Walt/Shandon. I am not knocking Walt - hate to see him go. I hate all this speculation - someone make something happen now!!!
HP, errr crispee- I see what you are saying about the cap, but I just don't think Rice is the best answer. I know we will never have much caproom in the future with Cat, Stevie, Griff getting huge contracts in the future, but I just think there may be a better alternative than Rice. Now I like to watch Rice. He is a deadly shooter and has nice moves in the post. But he Rockets want to run. Rice may be able to be a trailer who can pull up for the 3, but I can't see Rice wanting to run the court too much. Also I know the zone could dramatically change defensive strategies but Stevie, Cat, Rice, Mo-T and Collier. All I can think of is the old Nuggets teams who scored 130 a night, but usually gave up 140. We would have an offensive juggernaut but what good will that do when we couldn't stop a decent college team. Maybe if we had an eraser in the middle, but hey let's face it there's none out there. Maybe Griff will someday help there but for now he's a rookie with an attitude. You know what that meas. Lots of phantom fouls called on him. Now I know we don't have much use for Shandon, but I think we could get something more benefial to our team than Rice. I just don't hink he fits.
JV, I never said Rice shores up our frontline. Forget Rice. I am saying we will not take maximum cap room into next summer, because Rice or not, we will shore up our frontline with something. I really believe we spend $5m plus Moochie, Bullard, and two minimum contracts, at the very least. If you try to take maximum caproom into next summer, you are setting up Mo' and K9 for a whole nother year of playing significant minutes out of position. That completely ruins our development. Rudy won't do that. He will buy something by the trading deadline. Rudy won't wait for LaFraentz, if he can build a team of shooters around Griffins defense and just buy some average workhorses.
