Do we expect some roster changes? Cat will stay...

The most tradeable asset is Glen Rice and his expiring contract.

 

Only moochie and RIce must be traded.
No TAylor
No Mobley
And NO FRANCIS!!!

___________________
AUpa GASOOL

 

Griffin's D isnt that bad. He was second on the team in blocks only behind 7'5" Yao Ming. He also averages about 2 more rebounds than MoT. If he can score consistently, and work on his inside game, he will be fine. Keep in mind he is only 20. Look at McGrady, he was drafted a year before Vince. He didnt become a super star until after he was traded. Give him a little more time. Mobley on the other hand, time for him to go.

 

Don't be so sure. He hasn't watched the tapes yet.

 

have you seen rice/cato/taylor's salaries? I think we'll be having a hard time trading them.

 

Yes..they have outrageous salaries....but we're not the only team with overpaid players. And not all trades have to be 1 for 1..

 

Jason Collier is out! Moochie, Taylor and possible Cato as Bait. The rest will still be Rocks.

 

Rice is a good comidity cuz hs contract is up and teams trying to save $$$(lose a contract) will trade for him. Cato is a great backup. Andcat will stay cuz he plays D (AI only scored 8) But yes he needs to lose some minutes. Also so does the 3 gaurd for nachbar to get experience. ANd EG needs mo time better rbounder and blocker then taylor. YEA MOOCHIE GONE

 

Are you trying to become Moderator Boy?

 

Francis and Mobley will remain intact as our backcourt. Gollum must be and is confident in his coaching ability. Thus, he must believe that he can maximize their talents and make them play team ball. Mobley will adjust to Gollum better than Francis will. There is a significant amount of potential friction btwn Francis and Gollum, and Gollum will not back down (thank god).

We may be willing to pay a little more per year for Posey under Gollum. Posey's role will increase. Hopefully, he'll see some time at the 2.

Rice/Taylor/Griffin/Cato . . . I can see any of them traded for a starter quality PF. Rice in particular.

 

Rice can be traded. I would also try to trade EG. If he plays better next year, he is going to be expensive to keep, and if he doesn't play better, what is the point of keeping him? Rox needs quality F, and that should be addressed asap.
Tylor seemed OK out of bench in the latter part of last season. His trading value is not that high either.
Cato is great to keep. But his trading value is high too. Since Cato is only playing 12-15 minutes per game next year, I will rather get a quality F who can play 35 minutes. Package Cato+Rice or Cato+EG, and try get a good F, such as J. Marshburn. Then you can start SF, Cat, Marshburn, Posey, Yao. That looks good to me.

 

well we might want to actually start a PF in our lineup.

 

I don't think Eddie is all that tradeable considering that he is in his rookie contract and as such, couldn't draw us anybody with anywhere near his upside and Rox management knows it. Going into his third year (which is a telling year for most players) he has a chance to show us what he is made of. If he proves to be a superstar, we can ride him until he deserves a salary that we can't afford and THEN we trade him for some solid pieces to put in place around Yao, Steve, and Cat. If he proves to be a solid PF that we can afford, that is also an acceptable outcome. EG makes what, $3-4 million? Who can we trade him for that is at that salary?

Here is my take by position:

C-I believe that we have one of the strongest center rotations in the NBA and it would be a mistake to ship out Cato. If Yao continues to emerge, Cato might even be able to play in a twin tower with him for muscle and rebounding. If Yao struggles again, we still have the center covered.

PF-I think we have to stand pat for at least the first half of the year to see what Eddie learns over the summer and how JVG chooses to use him and MoT. I think that Eddie has what it takes to become a very good PF in this league and I hope that he will emerge with a little work. EG already has the instinct for blocks and JVG will preach defense.

SF-This is where we have some issues. I like Posey here because of what he adds on the defensive end, on the fast break, and in general hustle. Rice's expiring contract is attractive, but so is his scoring off the bench (if he can stay healthy). Hopefully Nachbar will be able to start showing us something here.

SG-We have the best off guard rotation in the entire world, the problem is that they start together. I like moving Steve to off guard and moving Mobley to the role of bench firepower.

PG-We also have an incredible backup point guard in Steve Francis, who will certainly play some minutes alongside Cat. That means that in my mind, we have to think about a serviceable PG. Several are available, but will any of them sign for the midlevel exception?

Does anyone else cringe a little at the thought of pursuing Payton? Don't get me wrong, I would welcome him with open arms, but it did make me cringe when I heard someone mention it.

 

How about Cato straight up for Malik Rose? They have the same contract, but Cato could play center for the Spurs (keeping Duncan at PF) and Rose could play PF for us.

He cannot be immediately traded to a team that is over the cap without either including other contracts to the point where 1/2 of Steve's salary is 15% of the amount traded, or involving a third team that can take on extra salary. If we traded him to a team that is under the cap though, that is not an issue. I am actually in favor of keeping the team intact, but I just wanted to point out that we have quite a few tradable commodities. I forgot to mention Yao also, but I think he is really an untouchable.

 

I don't like this one because then who backs up Yao? Does he play 48 or do we trust that Collier can take over the role that Cato had?

 

It looks to me like he promised to win the championship IF he has "championship-caliber players".

If Jeff thinks we don't have enough talents, he will want management to bring them in.

 

I think the key is Posey. If Posey stays, Nachbar might as well put up a for sale sign on his house. I think Hawkins will play more next yr also if he's back. I don't think we will see Francis playing as much 2 guard this season either. Ideally, I would like to see Cat to th bench and start a lineup of Francis ,Posey,Morris,Griffin and Ming with Mobley and taylor being the first 2 off the bench when Ming and Francis goes out, but that just me. Regardless of what many may think and I don't have the actual numbers, but I'm not sure les is ready to pay the luxury tax. I'm pretty sure, the Rockets are pretty close to it with Francis extension kicking in.

 

Trading Rice would be nice, and would help our roster (say, adding EG); we need to bolster our roster, especially with, say, the Timberwolves maybe trading Brandon (expiring contract) for Eddie Jones (McHale's recent comments about trading Brandon sounded rather positive).

But I read from time to time that Les wants to avoid the luxury tax. So will we trade or keep Rice?

 

Can COLLIER be signed and traded for a secound round draft pick that we can give to the KNICKS to fulfill our obligation for GUNDY? Is this possible?

 

Would anyone do that?

<B>No Chance</B>