Sane - I pondered Doc Rockets comments as well. Let's toy with a Stromile possibility assuming he is left unprotected. The Bobcats take Stro and have his Full Bird Rights. In essence they are not limited by the salary cap to re-sign him and can pay him up to max money (although it would be foolish to do so). But clearly the Bobcats can pay Stro more than anyone else (DEN, UTA, SA) is going to pay. But the Bobcats as aelliott has pointed out, are reluctant to take on Francis's salary. Enter the Hawks who have plenty of cap space and would love to have Francis to fill Philips Arena. The Hawks take Francis, send CHA their #6 this year and Boris-Diaw (rookie scale 4 years at $6.6m) and CHA sends us the #4 (Livingston or Deng), and a re-signed Stro (say $7.5m just under what Rashard makes). Obviously, the trade needs to be balanced out...other picks, Chris Crawford (excellent shooting PF/SF tweener), a resigned Stephen Jackson, a re-signed Bobby Sura, some of the 'Cats expansion picks, future firsts...but it is very doable. And it takes up very little to none of the TE because ATL has cap space to absorb Francis and their pick is only 2 lower than CHA. dconover - Leaving the current roster intact and signing say Brent Barry who wants MLE $ for 4 years this is my estimate of the payroll: 2004-05 = $56.5m 2005-06 = $61.5m (assumption: Yao and Boki get their team options and Mobley takes his player option). We don't have any cap space potential until 2006-07: Francis + Taylor + Barry MLE = $29M + Yao + Boki extended + Mobley if re-signed + Cato and/or Taylor at more reasonable re-signs Just my opinion, but I just don't see the Rox as a major player in the FA market for awhile.
Can anyone tell me about Etan Thomas? I keep heaing his name as a desirable free agent. He looks like another C and I dont know why we want another C as a PF. Judging by his looks, it seems like he is slower or slow as cato and cant guard the PF position. Tell me if im wrong, because we dont need another center unless we ship out cato.
when damon jones started (26 games): 28.3 mins 7.7 pts .435 fg% .449 3P % 7.6 assists 2.7 rebounds 1.7 TO not to bad...
It took a while for Jones to actually get up to playing at this level but he has finally shown he can do the little things you need him to do as a point guard. He doesn't try to over exert himself and do too much which is always a plus in my book. Can't hurt he is a fellow Coug....
Got this from a site With a restricted free agent, the original team has the right to match any offer made by another team. If the Rockets had Player A as a restricted free agent and New Orleans offered a 5-yer, $10 million contract, the Rockets would have 15 days to decide whether to match that offer and keep Player A. An unrestricted free agent can sign with any team. But the Collective Bargaining Agreement encourages unrestricted free agents to re-sign with their original teams. In the case of Jermaine O’Neal, the Pacers can offer a seven-year contract with a 12.5 percent annual pay increase. Any other team can only offer a six-year contract with a 10 percent annual raise. The bottom line is the Pacers have the ability to offer up to $30 million more than any other team.
yeah, he is from houston i think he was on our team during the summer a year or 2 ago, didnt make the opening night roster though
Yeah that happened to him on a lot of teams before he ended up sticking with a team. I think he deserves it.
Exactly what I was thinking. Charlotte wouldn't be reluctant to pick Francis, they'd be reluctant to KEEP him. Golden State would put some nice pieces together in exchange for Francis (Troy Murphy, Speedy Claxton and another contract). The Wizards would probably offer something like Larry Hughes, a big man, and Chris Laettner. As you mentioned, Atlanta might be willing to give up some nice pieces too. Boston would probably give up 3 picks and Ricky Davis. Your idea sounds great with Atlanta. The #4 pick, Stromile Swift, and shaving 5-6M off the cap is very nice. Do we get a trade exception for the difference between Francis and a re-signed Swift? I don't think draft picks count for anything unless signed. If so, could we combine our TE with the new TE? If not, can we at least use them both in the same 3-team deal? Yao/Cato Swift/MoT JJ/Boki (Maybe Deng) Mobley/Pike No one/ (maybe Livingston) We'd still have oue TE, the new TE, the 4.5M contract, and the rest of the players available for improving the team. However, Swift and the draft pick are SOLID building blocks for this team, we'd just need one more veteran to help Yao in scoring. My realistic dream for a Rockets team looks like this: Yao Swift Rashard Lewis JJ Any half-way decent PG (NVE, Stoudamire, Penny, Raul Lopez, etc) I really don't think it's out of the realm of possibility, Swift and Rashard are ot untouchables on their team and their value is not high. Neither are any of those PG's. For example, if we send MoT to Boston for Yogi Stewart and Chris Mihm, then turn around and trade Yogi, Mihm, and part of the TE to Golden State, they'd gladly give up NVE. He's not in their plans anyway, they're rebuilding, and they need some security up front since Dampier and Foyle are both FA's, while Claxton is terriffic at PG. We just mentioned how it's possible to get Swift. All that leaves is Rashard. If we get Charlotte's #4 pick in the Swift trade, I'm pretty damn sure we can turn that into Rashard Lewis in a trade with Seattle.
POTENTIALS Carlos Arroyo, Jazz Gordan Giricek, Jazz Quentin Richardson, Clippers Etan Thomas, Wizards Brent Barry, Sonics Rafer Alston, Heat Stromile Swift, Grizzlies IF WE'RE LUCKY Manu Ginobili, Spurs Erick Dampier, Warriors Marcus Camby, Nuggets NOT A CHANCE Kenyon Martin, Nets Rasheed Wallace, Pistons Carlos Boozer, Cavaliers Kobe Bryant, Lakers Steve Nash, Mavericks
Did you not see the stats this man put up last year? If there is a chance that a guy who averaged 12 ppg, 12 rpg and 1.85 bpg is available, you can't pass him up. I think we could work something out. Hypothetically, I say we could trade Taylor to the Warriors and then start Dampier and have Cato back up at the 4 & 5. Or, if you can somehow get Dampier and keep Taylor, I say bring Mo off the bench to backup 3 & 4. Just think how much muscle that would give Yao!
Just to add to this...Dampier was a rebounding monster. He earned his minutes as the starting center and put up a soild 12ppg/12rpg. He's also a very good shot blocker. Now...athough Cato has moved to the PF spot (25min), and has less minutes than Dampier(32min), it's important to note that Dampier starting actually produces offensively with those minutes, i.e. he can hit a 10-ft jump-hook! He's also very good under the basket for offensive put backs. He has an nice touch and soft-hands (opposed to Cato). His acquisition would definitely be an upgrade to our backup center position (or PF, sometimes). He reminds me of a, "poor mans" Zach Randolph, albeit bigger. Though, obviously, not as proficient a scorer. But still pretty good.
All that stuff's accurate, except that he has soft hands.. But that doesn't change the fact that he won't come here under any circumstances. Here are the reasons: 1) We will not pay him anything close to what he wants to play a measly 25 minutes a game. He doesn't have the offensive game to play next to Yao any longer than that. He does NOT posses a jumper, although he's more polished than Cato in the post, and that's not saying much. 2) He's an FA. Do you really think an FA Center will sign with a team that has the second best C in the league? 3) The Warriors are trying to rebuild and would be absolutely stupid to take anything we can offer them in a sign-n-trade. Aside from Yao and Steve, there is no player on our roster who would work in a sign n trade. 4) Dampier will not take a paycut. He's already getting paid around 7M, so why opt out and sign for less? Even if we got through all these things, I wouldn't sign him. He won't do any better than Cato does at PF. Why would we lock him up for ages on a obscene amount of money, when we're just beginning to approach the end of Cato's contract? Common sense says you don't tie up 9M/year for the next 5 years on a C to play PF, especially when you have Yao.
Barry's agent is on record as a 4 year deal for MLE $...$5m. IMO, not too much for a guy who has shot 56% inside the arc over the last 3 seasons. Unless Arroyo is very deep in Sloane's doghouse, we don't have the $ UTA has to bid on Arroyo who is not worth our entire MLE IMO. JVG will not bid on Alston because he plays for his bother. Damon Jones would be OK if we couldn't get Barry but hopefully we won't overpay for him. He's a 12-18 mpg player tops and not worth much more than $1.2m. Of course, Jones had such a good playoffs vs DET, the Bucks may offer him more given TJ is undergoing back surgery.
My own wish list: PF (dreaming...) Kenyon Martin. I know, he plays in the east, but he is a quality, quality PF with an attitude. I'd pay him, not max money, but close to it. (reality) Brian Cardinal, see eponymous thread. SF/SG Not a lot to choose from here, I guess one of the Barry's, or maybe Wesley Person to fulfill Pike's role, if WP has anything left in the tank which he may well not, I really haven't checked. Fred Hoiberg could fill this role too. Don't forget about Rodney White either...the Rox loved him coming out of college. Might be worth taking a flyer on. PG Like steve or hate him, The Rox need either a back up or a replacement for him in a bad way. Damon Jones I can live with; Mike James had some decent games for Boston earlier this year too. Not a lot of high profile guys, but I'm just playing the %'s. Also, it's glaringly obvious that the Rox have no[/ii] depth. We have one decent bench player in Mo-T, and that's it. Pitiful.
last summer i ran into damon in nyc. i told him he should come to the rockets we could use a back-up PG (even though we still had moochie at the time). his reponce was something like "aww man i would love to play for them, thats my home in the offseason." if the rockets want him he will sign here even if it means taking a little less $.
How about: Joel Przybilla, Hawks Avery Johnson, Warriors Tony Massenburg, Kings Damon Jones, Bucks Robert Horry, Spurs
