It'll be tough to get Griffin, but we should be looking at at least around 15 mill of space next offseason, if we don't use the exception. ------------------ The more lefties on your team, the better. Collier is Seven Foot and Left Handed. How can you go wrong? Trade or bench Kenny Thomas.
Nomar, Gascon, etc. I think pretty much every sane member of this fine BBS will not deny that Austin Croshere in just a solid role player at this point and is not going to be a savior. I think a lot of us are starting to get used to off-season's of acquiring superstar-type impact players year-in and year-out. Gylde, Sir Charles, Pipsqueek (cough), and St. Francis were all player either brought in to help lead us back to the promised land or be a cornerstone for the future. We need to realize that we cannot expect Rudy T and his team to pull off blockbuster deals every year, and we should settle for comparitively small, yet progressive moves by adding some pieces to the main pie. You say that Croshere isn't much of an upgrade from our present frontcourt and probably shouldn't even start. Fine, thats a matter of opinion. But, keep in mind that championship teams of the recent past did not have superstars or even all-stars in both the frontcourt and backcourt. The Bulls, like mentioned, were one such case. Having Luc Longley and Dennis Rodman as your starting C and PF respectively, I don't think they were that much more offensively imposing than our very own Cato and Thomas. The Spurs, had that world-renowned Twin Towers roaming the paint, but the backcourt was filled with hard-working role players like Mario Ellie, Avery Johnson, and Jaren Jackson who knew how to fill their role. Look at our very own Rockets. In '93/'94, the first championship year, all we had was Hakeem as our lone star, but we had a multitude of special, clutch role players that came out when needed and comlimented each other perfectly. The key to building a winner, in my opinion, is not dreamcasting our way by inserting a superstar player ala Webber in the PF slot(though you would not hear a complaint from me ), but to develop chemistry, trust and a team mentality between its players and have a well-defined role for each. I respect and understand your argument Nomar Garciaparra, and I agree, I would only support landing a Croshere if he isn't too expensive (which he probably will be), so the chances of him actually coming here are dim. I think he just made a courtesy visit to explore different teams in case the Pacers don't sign him. I think signing Bo Outlaw is more likely, and more practical. Azim da Dream ------------------ We don't live for the destination. We live for the journey.
Nike: i guess lewis and croshere would be nice, but i dont think we have the cap space. And plus, what are going to tell rashard, "Hey, we already have Austin Croshere, so you and him can work out what positions to play." Most people want a sense of job security and most people want to know exactly what they are going to be doing. Haven: The HELp that we are going to get, is either a trade, free agent, and the draft. I dont think,( for the billionth time ), that its a good idea to sign croshere, then trade him next year. Dr.N----: So your telling be that Croshere is a 3 that lifted some. He is a tweener. Plus, I never said that Croshere is a 3. You also said that we cant solve the PF problem through the draft. okay, would you rather have say curry, woods, haywood, griffin, etc., or croshere. MManal: If we are over the cap now, and have to pay Mobley and Croshere, then have to resign shandon and francis in the next few years, how can we afford rashard lewis, who will probably demand the max. Even with Hakeem retiring, THERES NO ROOM!!! Hottodie: I hope that Croshere will be improving, (but i doubt he will ever be nothing more than a bench spark plug,)because i have this feeling that we will get him. (against my opinion) Speed: Well... its true. Sorry, but the pacers are gonna suck. Very much. New Jack: If Egriffen is the next TD, why is he sitting in favor of Austin Croshere!?!?!?! Azim the Dream: Those years are irrelevant. What matters now is who can beat the Lakers, and the Lakers have 2 superstars and 1 Allstar. Plus, im not really dreamcasting, i was just using him as an example of what we could do. Thanks for understading the point of the topic. Croshere isnt worth much. OH and, you know who Nomar is right? it sounded there for a minute as if you thought that nomar garciaparra was my name or something. ------------------ Starting at shortstop, for the Houston Astros, Nomar Garciaparra.
hd-- If I can be permitted to speak for my BBS brethren, Shandon Anderson did exactly that last year and we're hoping that Croshere will do the same thing. Utah wasn't in the finals the prior year, but they were a much better team than Houston was. Coincidentally, Croshere and Anderson have the same agent. Don't know if lightning can strike twice, but... ------------------
Rocketbooster: That smacks strongly of bias against white people. Collier and Langhi DO NOT have similar games to Austin Croshere. Croshere can shoot, sure, but he's also a banger, and the man can board. He's also more athletic than either one of them. The only similarities I can see, in fact, would be the color of their skin, and the fact that all of them can shoot the 3. Would you rather draft people who shoot bricks all day? ------------------
sorry guys, i accidentally posted the same thing twice. i thought the first time that it didnt post, so i did it again. ------------------ Starting at shortstop, for the Houston Astros, Nomar Garciaparra.
Unless we totally blow our money, and both Croshere and Lewis demand the max (highly unlikely), we'll have enough for both. I don't think wanting a defined position is the case anymore, as things are quicker paced, and up and down the floor, if they're both good defenders with enough strength (or at least one of them with toughness, like Croshere) it'd work. ------------------ The more lefties on your team, the better. Collier is Seven Foot and Left Handed. How can you go wrong? Trade or bench Kenny Thomas.
Nike's right, if we don't have enough money for Croshere AND Lewis then I think we've done a bad thing with our money (remember that the cap does increase...) Nomar; You obviously missed the point of my post. Croshere WAS a tweener when he came out of college, hence the fact that he put 20 pounds of muscle on, and now he's not a tweener - due to the fact that he has a PF's body and CAN BANG. As far as saying that Croshere and Lewis play the same position... I think maybe you should watch them play, (if you have then I apologise for saying that). Lewis is 6'10 for sure, but he plays as a SF or a SG. He's not a PF. Croshere is 6'9 and plays rough and tumble with the big boys. I've never seen him play SF in the Pacers lineup (I watched a good number of Pacers games) and he's not quite quick enough to match up with the quicker little SF's in the league (not to say he's not quick, just not as quick as Spree or Russell or Odom). But he IS strong enough to match up against the stronger PF's in the league. If it's SO easy to get a dominant PF in the draft, why didn't we manage this year? Or are you saying that we're going to be the worst team in the league? TANKING DOESN'T HELP!!!! ------------------
Well, I must admit that I dont really know much about the cap. But, its like this. Right now, we are over the cap. Then, we resign Mobley. But we will be even more over the cap. We can do that, because he is our own free agent. This thought just hit me, the only way we can get Croshere, is through a sign and trade. The exceptions we have, are TRADE exceptions. We cant use them to pick up free agents. And even if we did, then our salary would be, our over-the-cap figure this year + Mobley's new salary + Crosheres salary. Even with Hakeem, and the cap increase(which i think is minimal), theres no room to sign Lewis. And to contradict Nike, i think, Lewis WILL demand the MAXIMUM SALARY. And if Jalen Rose is worth MAX, sure as hell Rashard Lewis is. And as to your comment about finding PFs in the draft. Come one, Nike, somebody, back me up on this. Next years draft has like 80 awesome power forwards. And plus, we have multiple picks to package. Think of what Orlando tried to do this year. We could package 4-detroit + 14-us + 13-milwaukee + 11-orlando to move up to 2. sumpin like that. ------------------ Starting at shortstop, for the Houston Astros, Nomar Garciaparra.
Just to bring some sanity in here Nomar; Kenny Thomas was an awesome PF at college. Dan Langhi was an awesome PF at college. My point is this: Why not take a guy who has just played out an impressive season in the NBA and who looks like he has a lot of potential to be better than take a guy who has never played in the NBA and who is too thin/too short/whatever! The BEST PF's will be gone early on. As far as packaging a pick or 2 to move up, as it stands right now, we have 1 pick in the NBA Draft 2001. That's right. 1. Now we are owed a pick by Milwaukee, and should their pick fall between 11-29 then it's ours. That looks likely (but not guaranteed) - so that would give us 2 picks. As far as the other picks we are owed, the other teams still have a few years left, so they probably won't give it to us next year unless it's a REALLY crappy pick (see 25-29). And if we get a REALLY crappy pick we'd probably convey it to Vancouver as we owe them a fist round draft pick either this year or next year. Now you tell me what team in it's right mind would take those crappy picks in exchange for a quality big man. Bearing in mind that a quality big man is probably what they were missing (along with a lot else) which is why they were such a bad team. Package our pick (let's say number 12), Milwaukees (let's say 19) and a crappy pick via Orlando (let's say 26, otherwise they wouldn't give it to us...) - is THAT going to be sufficient trade bait for picks 1-5?? As far as the salary cap goes. We can sign Mobley for up to 4.1mill (although if we pay him that much I'll get VERY ANGRY) - we can offer Croshere a 2.4million dollar contract for 1 year with a "team option" for a second year, meaning that we would up his money. There are a few players coming off the Rockets cap next season, one being Don McLean, another Matt Bullard - these guys are worth 6mill in capspace between them... not to mention Hakeems 16mill.. if we can clear Wizards 6mill then I would imagine the rockets would be in a scintillating position to offer Lewis some money... go look up Davo's home page for more info on who we are paying... I'm afraid I don't have the URL right with me now (in a bit of a rush - will post it later) Rose is worth a lot of money this year simply because there are teams with a lot of cap space and nobody to sign (Hill/Duncan gone) - so Rose is the next best option... McGrady.. what's with that!!! Anyway, you don't like Croshere mr. Nomar, I'm not here to make up your mind for you and I can't force you to like him, but I enjoy debating about it gotta rush! ------------------
Jalen Rose also just came off an 18 ppg season, where he led his team in scoring, and it went to the NBA Finals. Jalen Rose also can play PG/SG/SF, and is proven. Lewis will HAVE to have a breakout season to be able to get the max. Even so, if we signed Croshere for anything less than 7 million, Lewis would be very attainable, salary wise. ------------------ The more lefties on your team, the better. Collier is Seven Foot and Left Handed. How can you go wrong? Trade or bench Kenny Thomas.
