Let us know if Lopez responds. I wrote Feigen twice in the last few weeks on a few topics and he responded both times.
Wow...WTF.....we are looking at Jason Williams now. What ever happened to those calims that Houston is sucha n attraction to all these Free Agents that CD made.....I guess its money thats more appealing.....duh. As for williams...thats not an upgrade even if hes a true Point....We don't need a true point that'll jack a three on 3 on 2 fast break.
Kind of a silly and pointless article. None of the 2nd tier free agents have settled for the MLE with new teams--including the Rockets. Given the run on 1st tier and 2nd tier SGs with most of the under the cap teams and that Atl/NO/Char has stayed away from the PFs free agency has played out excellent. All 4 guys who I thought were real possible: Swift, SAR, Marshall, and Evans are still one the board, and another I didn't even think was possible is in the picture: Walker. It looks like we are real confident we land Swift, Walker or Marshall, nothing has lead us to think we won't get one of them. BTW If pushed I'd take Swift (starting at about 7mil) + JW or Cardinal (preferably) for James + expiring contract + pick (1st with Cardinal, 2nd with JW). JW or Cardinal are way overpaid, but they could play roles. Cardinal would be Bowen/Padget rolled into 1, and JW would largely take James bench aggressive offense PG role. Wells I have no interest in at his salary and I don't see why Memphis would want to take back his salary in a S&T either. Memphis should just cut him loose. Memphis is not going to put in Posey just for the heck of it, who has a shorter and much more reasonable contract than Cardinal.
I think all of us are paranoid about getting left at the altar and having to rely on Juwon Howard, whose health is a huge concern. That's all Lopez is writing about, too. I mean, for a sports columnist, there's not much to write about right now (no NBA signings for another week, no football camp, etc.), other than that Chad Harville sucks.
I think that CD is under orders to keep the payroll under control. We all talk about the expring contracts here. But, Yao is due for a max raise. And since the Rockets are already paying McGrady max money, then the payroll could very easily get out of control. Howard isn't making chump change either. If Swift is given a lot of money, it puts the Rockets in a dilema. The Rockets will suffer the consequences of the Luxury tax. Then the big problem is that Swift has never really proven himself in the league. Swift is supposed to be able to play center and power forward. And so is Gasol. Why didn't Swift ever start along side of Gasol. Of course he could turn into Jermaine O'neil. But seriously, there is a posiblity he could be as good as he will ever be. I think that the Rockets should not concentrate too much on potential at this moment. Especially now that the Rockets have been able to get out from under all those bad contracts. And there are a lot of bad contracts coming off the books this year. How long did the Rocket fans try to get out from under Mo Taylors contract? What about Kelvin Cato? Yao and McGrady need to prove to the league that they will win regardless of who the Role players are. Just like Joradan and Scottie did; then everyone was willing to take less money for a chance of a ring. Shaq and Kobe proved that they could win regardless of the role players. Same thing, FA were taking less money for a chance of a ring. Yao and McGrady haven't proven that they are an elite tandem yet. Don't mess up the cap space Caroll Dawson!!!! Even if it mean upsetting your coach, your fans, and John Lopez
Memphis would save almost $10 million with the deal, because JWill has three years left on his deal, averaging over $8 million per. James has two years left, averaging $3.6 per. Wesley and Ward are expiring contracts.
The best thing that could happen to the Rox is Swift going to NJ.Why? SAR can become our target and we'll get a player who is consistent night in and night out . With T-Mac getting 25,Yao 20 and SAR 17, no other team could put 3 players on the court together that could duplicate that. Not only that, SAR would give the Rockets a chance to rest McGrady some by sliding him over to the 3 and bringing in Howard along with Barry. If the Blazers would do a sign and trade using Spoons 7mill for 4 yrs and a future 1st, it would be worth it. SAR is 28 and has at least 4 very good yrs left because he is a skilled player and not just a atheletic guy.
Not so! Lopez has just echoed EXACTLY what I've been thinking for 2 months now. Basically, I have been looking at what will happen to this team if they don't land Swift or anyone else and it definitely could mean a fight for the 8th playoff spot. Everyone else appears to be making moves to improve while the Rox are standing still. If they can't get a difference-making PF this year, then at least they could do something to solidify the PG spot so that T-Mac can concentrate on playing the 3. I have to admit that the Lakers & Minn worry me especially if the ZenMaster can actually make contact with Kwame's consciousness and get him to start playing serious ball. The West just keeps getting tougher...
I believe that it was posted elsewhere that Memphis never trades within its division and besides: why should they help us out by taking a bunch of guys who can't get any playing time here off our hands? And getting Donyell Marshall is not the answer for the 4 spot either. It's time to face facts: the FA market for PFs just isn't there this year and this position will continue to be a weakness for the forseeable future.
And yet in another thread you said the best move the Rockets could make is no move at all. So which is it? "No move at all" or getting a "difference-making PF"?
G**damn, I know I'm just another fanboy on this site, but I think what I wrote has merit: just because we don't see what's going on doesn't mean nothing's going on. Someone once posted, Where's our smoke screen? MAYBE the smoke screen is already out there. CD cannot possibly be sitting around waiting to see if Swift just signs for the MLE. There is always plan B, C, etc. Antoine Walker. Shareef. Et al.
Basically, the Lakers made out OK on that deal. They get to look at Kwame for 2 years and if he doesn't pan out, well it's no skin off their nose. While that's the sort of deal I'd like for the Rox to make, I realize that they really don't have much to offer other teams via trade in way of players. The Lakers were able to offer the Wiz Caron Butler while the best we could have done is to offer them Bowen or Spoon. (Come to think of it, I wonder if Atkins' "Ask Kobe the GM" crack punched his ticket out of LA?) There's no way they (LA) would have even considered Ward, Wesley, Sura, James, Moochie or Baker. We simply don't have the pieces to deal nor the cap room to be major players in the FA market.
I said that IF they can't get a difference making PF at this time, then perhaps the better move would be to address the other problem spots like the logjam at guard rather than to go out and reach for a body (Marshall, Walker) to fill the PF spot because you just never know what the landscape will look like come trading deadline or year's end. I don't want to see them go out and get another Mo Taylor, Adrian Griffin or Charlie Ward only to end up 2 years later having to move them because they didn't/couldn't produce. Their actions in the past have painted them into this corner and there is simply not going to a quick and easy way out of their current predicament. It will take at least 2 years to get the proper mix of players around T-Mac & Yao. That's why I advocate a bit of patience here - what I want to see from this organization is some smart thoughtful personnel moves and not the gambles that have characterized the past 10 years.
Climb the hill, Hillboy. The Rockets were in the first year in JVG's system and they got 51 wins. Even if they stay pat, they'll be at least as good.
The only reason micah posted that was to show Laron Profit being signed and traded in the deal. Kwame was a restricted free agent and the Lakers were limited in what they could offer; that deal has no bearing on us. But way to take the usual doom and gloom approach, anyway. You could have thrown a "CD is incompetent" for good measure. PS - Even if the Lakers and Minnesota move ahead of us, we were 5th last year. That'd put us to 7th, not 8th. And the West isn't getting better everywhere - Memphis is going to lose Swift, the Kings lost Mobley, the Lakers lost Divac, and the Sonics lost James and possibly Daniels. Minnesota is going to run basically the exact same team, except they're going to lose Sprewell. The Suns may be losing Joe Johnson, or at least paying him a ransom. Hell, what Western team so far this year has improved its talent? Considering we're in the final 3 for Swift, we're in as good a boat as anyone.
Nike, that was no "gloom and doom" post merely an observation. I am simply being realistic here and that's exactly what JVG and the rest of the Rockets braintrust are doing right now. They know that everyone in the West is trying to play catchup with the Spurs and they also realize that both Minn & LA will do whatever it takes to get back to the playoffs. It would be a mistake to summarily dismiss the efforts of your competition to get better just as it would be a mistake to overestimate the talent on this team because it clearly needs upgrading. The big question is how to go about doing just that given the (a) current salary cap situation and (b) unbalanaced personnel makeup of the team. Now, what I find interesting about what LA did is that they were supposed to be so "cap tight" they were not able to make any moves yet somehow they were able to land a big man (if in name only...). Even in his current condition, Brown upgrades their frontline - how much so it remains to be seen. From what I've read, there were still GMs in the league who felt that they could still "unlock" his "potential". Who knows what the ZenMaster might do with him? Sure, they are rolling the dice here but it's a good gamble on their part. As for my feelings on CD, yeah, I still feel that he should be gone. I have absolutely no faith in his abilities as GM and this is a direct result of the Eddie Griffin debacle. If Rudy T can be let go after all he did for this franchise then Dawson should have followed him out of the door. Instead, Uncle Les rewards him with a two year contract extension. The Rockets find themselves in the fix they are today in no small part due to his "efforts" over the past years. THAT said, what is important to keep in mind is that from now own, the Rockets' organization cannot operate as it has done in the past. They simply have to make smarter personnel decisions if they want to entertain any hope of becoming champions.
