[Denver Post] Rockets Still interested in Wells...

That's a hell of a theory, man.. one I'm willing to think about some more, at least

 

610 reported this afternoon that he was currently in Charlotte and he still intends on visiting Miami.

 

Doubt Miami has much cash to offer him. They do have the full MLE, but these guys are cheap and close to the luxury tax limit. They were looking to unload DA's contract on some other team (failed) and all he makes was 2.5 mil. I really don't think MIAMI is gonna venture into tax territory for Bonzi.

As for CHA, they have all the cap room in the world, but I'm not sure they are gonna offer a big chunk for Bonzi, either, in a long term deal. He's getting older, and not exactly the big splash player they look to spend money on. These guys have been pretty cheap, too, and reported to be losing $ even with a low payroll.

Then again, Jordan just sign on, maybe he wants to make a move now.

 

If the Bobcats are under the minimum salary requirements, then it might make sense for him to go there. Think about, sign him to a one year deal and you still have your cap room for next summer. He gets to showcase himself because he will get loads of touches, and try free agency again next summer. At the end of the season they both part ways.

Win-win for both parties.

 

How can they be cheap AND at the luxury threshhold?

 

I'm thinking Charlotte throws a monster contract at Bonzi for one year, and outbids everyone since they HAVE to spend money or get penalized for being under the cap.

Charlotte gets

1) a good player to help them this year
2) he comes off the books next year so they can still sign a prime free agent or two

Bonzi gets
1) a big payday this year
2) a chance to inflate his stats and try the market again next year.

While I know that his value will probably decrease next year in the flooded FA market, Bonzi might not be thinking like that. Besides wherever he signs, it is going to be short term and he'll have to deal with the big FA class no matter what. It really seems that it is win-win for him to sign with charlotte.

 

LOL! Beat me to it.

Great minds...

 

Unless they think long term damage to a young teams approach, mentality and character isn't worth good production and a few extra wins in a 1 year player rental.

I am not sure if it is so risk free for the Bobcats. Miami, Houston or Denver--teams with vet leaders maybe just seeking another piece for immediate returns makes more sense to me for Bonzi.

 

Clarification... by "cheap" I merely mean that they are highly reluctant to take on even a fairly modest salary (because they don't want to pay the tax penalty).

It makes sense because if they do go over the limit, they not only have to pay the dollar for dollar tax, they also lose out on about 2 or 3 mil worth of tax distribution money, I think. For ex. If Bonzi signs a $5 mil 1 year deal and that takes the Heat 2 mil over the tax limit. The move may end up costing the Heat 5 mil in salary, 2-3 mil in distribution, and 2 more mil in tax and making him effectively a 9-10 mil player.

 

I dont think Bobcats will sign Bonzi Wells.

Bobcats is a young team. So, what's the point to bring in a 1 year player that's not in your team's future. For a young team, u want to bring in a veteran that can be a locker room presence or a help for the young players. Bonzi is neither of both. Bobcats are also likely to give its young players more minutes on the SG & SF spots. Bonzi is not a one man wrecking crew that can push the Bobcats into the playoff. So, why bother.

I am 99% sure Bobcats wont sign Bonzi. It must be Bonzi's rep call Bobcats and they just said "Hey, come down and we'll talk".

 

Very simply, the east is good at the top but not great on bottom 5-8 playoff teams. With this signing + getting Morrison they could become a playoff team, which besides earning them extra revenue, it will help them sign more free agents next summer because they would have become a winning organization.

I hope they don't sign Bonzi because I believe he could be the piece that makes the Rocket's playoff run (along with healthy TMac + Yao) into a Championship Run.

A lineup starting of Span/Alston, Wells, TMac, Battier, Yao would be perfect to go along with a solid bench (head, snyder, novak, mutombo, howard, span/alston). We would be 9-10 deep.

 

don't bobcats have like 7 mill left? imo, ely would probaly be signed for 3-5 mill which leaves bonzi like 2 to 4 mill? we have 2.1 mill left... i think it all depends how much they sign ely to.... if they sign him for 5mill, bonzi goes to us .... miami and denver are out of the picture imo. don't think he would come for us... especialy when you could do what mike james did last season. put up big stats in a bad team. if we do sign him heres our lineup/

rafer/vspan/lucas
bonzi/head/snyder
t-mac/snyder/bowen/novak
battier/howard/hayes
yao/mutombo

i think thats a poor shooting team with rafer and bonzi, but i still like it better than snyder or head starting. head could be our 3 pointer specialist. hes the only guard that can do that.

 

I thought Bonzi would have made his decision by the time I check the forum this morning (HKT). So no news is good news or bad news?

 

Don't Bobcats have 17 players under guranteed contracts already (including Ely)? They may want to trade away a couple of contracts instead of cutting them and taking a loss on their contracts. That is the only reason I suggested the trade. If not their first pick, how about swap ours with theirs, plus Ely and filler? Or just their 2nd round pick?

 

Hey, I agree with everything you've said. From how defense is hard work, to shooters legs being tired, and to Duncan possibly being burned out from the spurs' style of play. You're on target. We definitely think a lot alike.

But I disagree on one thing, Van Gundy doesn't push his guys too far. They certainly have to work because he's a meticulous coach, but they don't go past the brink. There's a noticeable change in intensity from the preseason and the regular season. Once his players earn his trust he lets them play at their pace on offense. Just look at the '04 season. Our guys were white hot from 3 and they looked like they had a lot of fun. They got to improvise on offense because guys like Wesley, Deke, James, and Sura were going to get after it on defense. Did you hear JVG complain?

I know you think he pushes too hard early on in the season, but maybe you've only seen him coach in Houston. Every season he's been here, we've had a pretty bad start. In '04 we were 6-11, we had to push hard or that season was over. Last year, Tmac went down along with a bunch of other guys so our only hope for the playoffs was to push. And his first season here we had a nice short start, but were struggling around 7th to 8th place in the conference all season long. No time to relax. And he knew in his mind that he didn't have much time to "fix" Steve before the playoffs came around. Let's face it, our guys played stupid sometimes. When he coached the knicks, they sucked offensively. But it didn't matter, he let them play because they'd play hard.

JVG only pushes hard when he has to.

 

For someone who (actually) knows, if Rox did an SnT with Sac using the TE what are the rules about trading him?

 

We need more news!

I keep checking this thread hoping someone posted something new. Even if I've already seen the latest post, I still keep checking.

 

Would someone be kind enough to post what is said on the Houston TV News.
especially Fox News, late Weds. Thanking you! Y

 

Yea...we all did this for the Mike James possible signing. I didnt want to get excited and keep checking but its hard to stop checking every 30 mins.

 

Here's the thing. JVG, even going back to his Knick days has been very stubborn and tunnel visioned on his way or the highway. We finally saw that start to change at the beginning of the 2004 season when we got out of the blocks slow and he sat down with McGrady privately and they talked their way through everything and he agreed to open up the offense to TMac. There is no way that JVG lets McGrady fire up 25 footers with 20 seconds left in the shot clock until they came to an agreement. From that moment on, he let McGrady have his head offensively and let him take all the heat checks he wanted to take. And that team built a great offensive chemistry. He didn't have to push hard then. He had to lay off and let them find their game offensively. He finally yielded and trusted a superstar player. I don't think he had ever done that before. He made the adjustment.

Now, JVG's team have notoriously gotten off to bad to poor to average starts, never anything real good. Even when he had those good teams in NY, they didn't set the world on fire. And his teams notoriously roll into the playoffs with half the roster spending more time in the training room than on the court. Go back to NY. I watched plenty of those terrible Knicks Heat games where they just butchered one another for 48 minutes. Go back to McGrady last year. Van Gundy's teams have all been worn down come playoff time. He still needs to make some adjustments in the way he does things. I'm not down on him. I'm for him. I think he will make those adjustments. I'm convinced he can win championships. He's the best defensive coach in the NBA and he's the best coach at drawing up plays for his offense in crunch time. I think if 111 stays healthy, that we have an excellent chance to win a championship within the next 2 years and after that who knows. If JVG doesn't burn everybody out first.