uh...every single one of those players, save battier would arguably be the best player on the pistons if they were playing for detroit. how do you figure? besides, although artest is a headcase du jour he has been known to step up as a leader. honestly he may be just the player we need.
Battier is a nice player to have off the bench to shoot a corner 3 or take a charge, but that is really all he can do. He is a good locker room influence also. But if giving him up means getting a Rashard Lewis or Ron Artest you have to do it.
I'm late to this and Chad Ford doesn't win me over as a newsbreaker of any kind, but if that's all that it takes to get Artest, WHY NOT? You can literally run a lineup of: Yao Battier McGrady Artest Alston and it would work despite not having a big bruiser at the 4 spot. But this all seems like a leak done to drive up the asking price for Artest. Typical NBA GM: "WHAT??!? Houston's getting Artest for what now?!? Get me Petrie on the line right now! I got more attractive garbage to throw at him"
Why do ppl think it would take the MLE to get Francis??? Why would he ask for more money...he is a bought out player...it wouldn't matter... -V
Steve Francis is reported to be giving up $5 million a year from his Knicks contract in order to complete the buy out because he believes he can make that back as a free agent with a MLE deal. So, yes, it will likely take at least the majority of the MLE to get a bought out Francis. He isn't getting all his money.
If you're gonna start a tweener like battier at the 4 spot, why not swtich it with Artest. Ron is more of a ideal 4 then shane. we could allways send battier to miami for someone like Haslem.
Link? If that's true, SF3 will be the first one that's willing to give up 29% of his outstanding contract for a buyout.
But there willl be some limit as to what they offer. It's unlikely for them to offer anyone very valuable because if Ron blows up, you'd lose your job because you just traded the farm for nothing... Now if you just lose a role player or two and a low 1st rounder for nothing, that's fine, but it looks bad when you trade great value and receive nothing. Even if he doesn't blow up, he is likely to opt out of his deal at the end of the season and demand more money... now if you traded a valuable piece for a 1 year rental, you also look bad. Anyone trading for Artest would be gamblin on 1) he doesn't go crazy and 2) they are able to re-sign him to a reasonable deal. What are the chances of that? I like the Rockets odds better than most because they have Adelman.
If Coach Adelman truly believes he can tame Artest again, who am i to disagree. the rockets must be going after ron with Adelmans blessing. i'm pretty sure he knows how ron's complicated mind works.
there's a reason adelman handled artest and bonzi at the SAME time. phil can handle rodman. why? they're "player's coaches". they let the players play. unlike JVG, who stands up and dictates EVERY DAMN PLAY, its freakin annoying. u make one mistake (unless ur yao or tmac) its a wrap. w/ adelman, he lets u play. he doesnt stand up and dictate every defensive set. he doesn't dictate ever offensive set. players are allowed to play and have fun. this is the reason why he will be an upgrade. we dont have a young team where we need constant coaching. we are a veteran team
I'd be thrilled if we traded that rumored package for Artest. We'd still have parts to possibly pursue a trade for Mike James and still have the MLE and LLE to add more depth. Not to mention Battier becomes a whole lot more expendable with Artest added to the roster, and while I'd hate to see him go, he has to be our most desirable asset in trades. But hell, with Yao, Artest, Battier and McGrady, it might not hurt us so much to have Alston as our PG. I'd certainly still be interested in pursuing James or Francis though. It would also be interesting to see if Bonzi comes back with Adelman and Artest on board. Hopefully he'd come back in shape with the right attitude. A team of: Yao Artest Battier McGrady Alston with physically fit Bonzi, Mike James (or) Steve Francis on the bench would be unreal.
Artest makes more sense to me on a talent level than Rashard does. He effects the game more on a defensive level than Rashard plus he allows TMac to move back to the three on a full time basis. Plus...one reason that Sac may want VSpan is for additional salery dump. If the guy really wants to go back to Greece then they can release him or buy him out from his contract and add his salery dump to that of Bobby Sura's. That would be a nice chunk off of their salery cap. Starters: PG - ? Mike James? SG - Ron Artest SF - Tracy McGrady PF - ? C - Yao Ming Bench: Battier Hayes Luther Head Novak I think that is a good start to a good team.
Actually, JVG gives a player plenty of rope as long as you prove you deserve it. He always gave McGrady plenty of rope. He gave the vets from 04/05 plenty of rope, too... Barry has said as much. He doesn't give as much rope to guys like Spanoulis, Snyder, Francis, etc because they screw up.
Sweet do that trade and then do Battier + Alston for Lewis at ~12M (whatever the max was while avoid BYC issues). Bonzi takes his player's option. Sign Francis to veteran's minimum after he is bought out. Trade Howard for Mike James. Sign Mikki Moore to the MLE. Resign Deke or Jake to veteran's minimum or near it. Use LLE on SG/SF type for depth even though Artest/Lewis/TMac/Bonzi/Novak can all play SF and TMac/Bonzi/Head/Francis/James can all play SG. That's 14 players, leaving one spot open for an injury pickup or undrafted rookie. Yao/(Deke or Jake) Artest/Moore/Hayes Lewis/Bonzi/Novak TMac/Head/LLE guy James/Francis/Lucas Hands down the best team in the NBA.
