I'd take the Paul deal, even though I love Scola. Two good starters for one superstar is about as good as you can do. We certainly can't sign anyone as good as Paul, so trade is the only surefire way to get a player of that caliber.
The sad part about this proposed trade is that even despite the fact we lack size, I'd want Curry bought out. I don't even want him coming off the bench instead of Andersen. How sad is that? Talk about wasted talent. I would HATE to see Scola go - but can you imagine a tandem of Bosh/Landry at power forward? And scarier still? When Yao comes back our the bulk of our big minutes would be Yao/Bosh/Landry - with Hayes coming in some to play defense. We'd still have a wing rotation of Battier/Ariza/Budinger and a point guard rotation of Brooks and Lowry. That is a terrifying team. I'd gladly do this too. I'd be sad to see Brooks and Scola gone - but Landry is ready to start and I have complete confidence in Morey's ability to find us another quality big man. I would LOVE to see guys like Landry and Trevor Ariza playing with Chris Paul.
I like the Chris Paul deal (T-Mac/Brooks and the New Orleans garbage). That might actually benefit both teams, the Rockets gain very strong point guard and scorer. Peja could be sent to another team, we might could use Songalia for his size (since we technically only have one true center on the team active), while Posey might be a good option for us to help defend some of those Western wings. He'd be fairly useful off the bench, since we'd be losing T-Mac and Chase isn't really be much of match against the likes of Kobe, Melo, Durant, and etc, if Shane is injured or in foul trouble. He's lost a step or two, but I think he might actually be able to do a little something for our team (but that contract though). Only thing that I hate about Paul is will he buy into the system. Yet, I don't think it would be a problem after winning a few games, though. C - Chuck Hayes PF - Luis Scola SF - Shane Battier SG - Trevor Ariza PG - Chris Paul Kyle Lowry Carl Landry Chase Budinger James Posey David Andersen Darius Songalia Jermaine Taylor Mike Harris
Oddly enough, the trade sounds very enticing by itself, but when you list the entire roster, I really feel like there would have to be a major shake-up in the starting 5 to give Paul the opportunity to fully use his talent. He's very good at creating for others, but the people he's creating for are so offensively inept that it's almost not worth it. Our second unit would basically be the same, so I guess there really isn't room to complain. I really feel like we would have to bring in a David West type player (are there many out there?) that could run the pick-and-pop with Paul all day long, similar to what they do down in New Orleans.
this. why is everyone so hellbent on trading some of our guys... guys who are showing day-in and day-out that not only can the play hard, they actually have talent. get yao ming back to health, spend as much money as we can next year on a legit swing man and this team can beat ANYBODY.
Obviously you don't consider this the Bosh deal unless you expect he will re-sign with the Rockets. I don't see any reason he wouldn't. We would be able to offer him the most money. He'd be living in his home state. And, with his addition and the return of Yao, (not to mention what other miracle moves Morey makes in the draft, free agency or via trade) we'd be contenders again.
I'd think CP would be great for someone like Landry and Chase. As strange as this sounds, I even believe that you could put him on the floor with Lowry on many occassion, especially if the other team isn't strong in the backcourt or undersized, since CP is capable of defending some SG. It would be unpredictable how it would work out with him starting with Battier and Hayes, and even Ariza. They are all offensively challenged players, and only good at one particular thing at certain spots, Hayes (passing), Battier (passing and sometimes hitting the occasional), and Ariza (who can score on occasion). I think we would need a very athletic guard or forward in there somewhere. Someone who can get to basket and has decent mid-range game. Doesn't have to be all-star player, but someone who can keep the opposition on its toes. Here's one thing I didn't mention, which is that the defense would get a few notches better going from Brooks to a top 5 defender at the PG position. Our defense improves, tremendously when Yao comes back next year. At nearly 4 positions, we'd have a player who is arguably top 5 to 8 at their position. Yao-CP-Battier-Ariza, left out is Scola who is very scrappy player is gives an all out effort. I think CP brings what T-Mac does, except without the same shooting range, passing skills increased. Also, I don't necessarily see that has to be either or or for most games, where as we are only running motion or CP's offense (which is what would be on certain nights). Given the level of competition, I think motion as we are right now can beat most teams, then we rely more on CP's offense against tougher opponents or teams who are solid defensively.
And you seriously think that all three of these things will actually happen? 1> T-Mac comes back at something close to his old abilities. 2> T-Mac suddenly becomes healthy and durable. 3> Yao suddenly becomes healthy and durable. As long as you're in dreamland, can you bring Olajuwon back healthy and close to his old abilities, too?
It just feels like the tandem of CP and Yao won't work. Has Paul ever had to play with unathletic, slow, massive centers clogging up the paint? Playing with West and Tyson gave him the freedom to drive into the paint without the extra defender playing off of the Hornets' center/PF. But I guess players like Paul are too good to pass up anyway. I can't see a scenario where you don't pull the trigger to bring him in, knowing full well that the Rockets organization and Morey could easily surround him with exactly the kind of young talent that would complement his game very well.
No. But Magic Johnson played with an unathletic, slow, massive old Kareem Abdul Jabar. That worked out pretty well.
I guess I'm missing the problem here. So if Chris Paul drives the lane there's an extra defender in the paint? If the defender comes over to stop CP3, then he just dumps the ball to Yao for a sure two. If the defender doesn't leave Yao (most teams won't) then Paul gets to finish. What am I missing? Sounds like a pretty good "pick your poison" type scenario. Additionally, if teams were to continue to double Yao (which most teams do), then that automatically means that there's a man open for CP3 to find with a pass. I'm not seeing the downside here.
Why do people always say "Oh we have Scolandry, which is much better than Bosh/West etc" You are comparing 2..2 again...2 players with one guy.
In my mind, it seems like Chris Paul simply plays better with more athletic, up-and-down types of centers that flourish in today's NBA. Maybe I'm wrong, maybe I'm not, and as I said earlier, you trade for Paul regardless because he has the talent to adjust his game accordingly.
Has Paul ever had trouble playing with any center? Okafor isn't really and up and down type center and Paul seems to do fine with him. It's similar to Dwayne Wade playing with Shaq in Miami. Wade is one of the best at getting to the rim and you could make the same argument that Shaq would have clogged up the middle for Wade. Instead, just the opposite happened and Wade took advantage of the attention payed to Shaq.
I'm not a fan of that starting lineup with CP3, but you'd have to admit.. they'd get a TON of steals with Hayes, Ariza and CP3 on the floor together. That'd definitely lead to more fast break points.
It does matter how good Scola/Landry is. The point is that putting your limited resources into Chris Bosh is wasteful when PF is your best position. The idea is to improve the team, to win more games, and bringing in Bosh in exchange for Landry or Scola would only marginally improve the team. The Rockets need to use their resources to improve at positions where they're lacking, not positions of strength. They need to get as much bang for their buck as possible, and getting Bosh doesn't accomplish that. That isn't because he's not a great player -- he is -- but because of what the team already has at his position. So how good Scola/Landry is, is the deciding factor. People are so infatuated with Bosh's talent that they're not looking at the big picture. Winning is the goal here.
The problem here is "Scolandry" is actually two people, while Bosh is just one person. Its ok when both Scola and Landry are content with playing 20 mins a game, and if they keep on making 6 million a year combined. But Scola is due for an increase next season and so is Landry. How much is the going rate for these guys? A very conservative rate is 6-8 million per player, and that's 14 million on average for Scolandry versus 18 million for Bosh. For just 4 million more I'd rather have Bosh and backed by Hayes, he's more consistent than Scolandry and when Yao comes back he's basically the perfect complement to him outside of Dirk.
