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Darius Miles is the SF version of Stro Swift. You look at these guys and you say, "that's a NBA player". They have all the physical tools you could ever want. But there's no talent there, no feel for the game, and not much fire. Yeah, they have better basketball skills than the average guy at the Y, but that's because they have professional coaching and practicing is part of their job. But there's just not that much innate ability to go with the physical ability. As a result, they're fools gold.
Darius had cursed out his coach, gotten dressed at half time without asking the coach, taken himself out of games because he's not feeling well, and missed practices, flights, and team functions. How will this help our team? Is it any wonder so many teams have given up on him. And these are bad teams too - Clippers, Cleveland, Portland... Why would these teams who need all the help they can get give up on this guy? Rockets should pass.
No one has mentioned Martell Webster. I would trade our #8 for Webster in two shakes of a lamb's tail.
Okay, Have we not learned anything from our dealings with Stro this past year? Talent only takes you as far as your attitude let it. Actually, I'm wrong to even compare Stro to Miles. For all of Stro's faults, I don't think he's a bad guy. I even think he tries hard most of the time, but rather, just doesn't get it. Miles on the other hand, is known to be a bad teammate on top of being an underachiever. There's a reason why year after year Portland can't win, even with amazing talent. There's a reason why they want to dump thier whole roster. In short, they never put a priority on good fundamental basketball, character. Telfair recently had an incident with a gun, and I've already talked about miles. As far as I'm concerned, those two players are not fit to where Houston's uniform. Randolph on the other hand is an interesting thought. I think I've heard negative stories about him as well, but I can't say for sure. His numbers are excellent, and certainly he's one of the best young PFs in the league (was drafted as a freshman). That being said, be very careful of taking a jailblazer into your house. They may just freeload, and rape your daughter.
hmmm, not really.. I wasn't high when I typed this .. I actually think Darius is an "alright" player and since I dont think we are getting anything good from the draft (I am sure Gay, Aldridge, Carney, and the rest will be gone before 8th)... I think it's a "not bad" trade, it's kinda risky, but well... but now I think it's kinda stupid because I agree with u that we should get rid of Howard... just get rid of his fat contract and his slow "fakes"... I hate Juwan... 8th pick for Darius ?? u r right... I think I wasn't alright when I typed this.. but I wasn't high, I was probably a lil sleepy.. u know, it's the last day of school and I just finished 2 hard tests...
The only thing that really intrigues me about this article is the possiblity to facilitate a 3 team deal for somebody that might be interested in Randolph or whoever but doesn't have a top 10 pick. Since Isiah is still in power, let's give him one last coup de grace trade to kill the Knicks franchise: Rockets get: David Lee Travis Outlaw #20 pick from the Knicks Portland gets: #8 pick from the Rox Mo Taylor Malik Rose New York gets: Zach Randolph Darius Miles #31 second round pick from Portland We get a "reverse the curse" 1 for 3 deal to exorcise the demons of the Eddie Griffin Debacle, and help our depth with young promising athletes. Portland gets to clean house and gets the top 10 pick that they want so badly. And New York answers the question, "How do you top the worst team ever assembled?" You can also do this deal without Miles and Malik Rose and it would still work capwise, but adding Miles just seems like more of Isiah's style. He's forever comparing trades on a one for one basis, and Malik Rose for Miles is a good deal from a talent standpoint. Another deal that might work is with the Hornets: Rockets get: Travis Outlaw #12 pick from the Hornets #31 second round pick from the Blazers Portland gets: #8 pick PJ Brown Hornets get: Zach Randolph We move down a bit a get an athletic forward who could possibly be a defensive stopper with his length and quickness, and another high second rounder to increase our chances of getting a hit at the top of the second round. Portland gets the draft pick they want and move out Randolph's contract for an expiring one. And the Hornets get a lowpost scorer that they might want. The Hornets are the only ones who would hold this deal up, but lowpost scorers don't grow on trees. And I could imagine Randolph and West playing the high/low game to good effect.
The only safe team player on the Portland team is Joe Pryzbilla and he would make a good addition to the Rockets as Mutombo is on his last legs.
I would do something like this: Rockets #8 for Trailblazer unprotected first rounder next year I'd even do it if they want to put a top 5 protection on the first rounder next year (if we don't get their first rounder next year, we get their unprotected pick the year after) Have they traded away their draft pick next year yet?
Now your talking (but only if the pick is unprotected). Portland is almost guaranteed to be the worst team in the league again next year, and it will be a deeper draft. We could end up with Oden for the Twin Towers II.
you forgot stephon marbury (coney island, brooklyn, ny product). an all star despite not fulfilling his true potential as a pure point guard.
m_cable, that really is a very interesting deal you laid out there. I could see something like that happening. I could see NY wanting to do it. In their minds they increase the talent level. And the Blazers get expiring contract and a top 10 pick. The Rockets get a hard nosed player in Lee, a nice long, athletic YOUNG SF in Outlaw, and the #20 pick. And what if the Rockets were able to get someone like Ager at #20? That would be a pretty sweet draft haul!
No, no, no, no, no. Neither of those players has given any indication that they will even be rotational players and then we drop to #20 pick.
I totally disagree with you on Lee not being a rotational player. He's got the size, quickness, and enough athleticism to be exactly the kind of combo SF/PF that the league is going towards. And he's absolutely money from the baseline. I'm not sure if he actually missed a shot there all season. Larry Brown was a fool by screwing around with the lineups and not giving Lee and Frye consistent minutes. There's no doubt in my mind that Lee can be an excellent rotation player in this league. Not an allstar or even borderline allstar, but a big time contributer on a championship caliber team. And for someone that is such a proponent of Darius Miles, I don't know how you can be so down on Outlaw. They're practically the same kind of player: long, athletic, potentially a shut-down defender, and unimpressive on offense. Outlaw can catch and shoot a bit and make a mid-range shot, while Miles has one effective move where he drives the ball, and gets a shot up in the paint. Miles has a bad attitude, big contract, and doesn't seem to give a damn. So I'm much more willing to give Outlaw the "could use a change in scenary" excuse. JVG supposed to be such a great defensive teacher, if he could harness Outlaw into a matchup defender off the bench, then this deal would be a slam dunk. Especially if Gay and Roy are gone before #8.
Ya'll remember when Rasheed Wallace got out of Portland? He was a good player in a bad place. So is Zach Randolph. #8 for a 19 and 9 guy is a good idea.
