ESPN insider(mention of rockets as a possible landing spot for Maggette?

11.8% from 3 on the season

 

although i would love to add these quality players (especially when Yao is out)...
we must realize that:
1. losing 3+ players now, with the Rox having great chemistry, could be devastating.
2. losing quality players who want to play for the rockets (kirk snyder, juwan howard) for those who might come to the Rox only to escape their prison team now might backfire as well.

i know im going to be bashed for saying this, and that 98% of clutchfans will flame me, but Chuck Hayes is overated. yes, i said it. you all say, "he hustles, he tries so hard!"... but, isn't that what we said about Ryan Bowen? I know alot of you liked him too, but when it comes to a championship caliber team, there is no place for them. Don't throw hayes away, but with this guy who has little potential to play better than he has so far- trade him. I cannot stand his constant fouling... YOU want the Rockets to get the championship- and i will tell you now, that with Chuck as a starter for this team, it ain't gonna happen
( im ready to be flamed now )

 

I'd prefer this not to happen. Everything is clicking with everybody now. No need to create a logjam at his position. When Yao and Bonzi gets back they will be hell to pay for the rest of the league.

 

(there) I need to be able to edit my posts, I hate grammatical errors, esp when I make them, they're an eyesore

 

I agree with everything else in your post, but how in the world is Chuck Hayes overrated? Is it his lack of offense? His height? His defense?

I'm assuming you mean only by clutchfans members, which is fine as fans always overrate or underrate their players temendously. But you must admit the team performs very well when he's on the court, and despite his fouling, he's going to be a very valuable asset come playoff time, especially against San Antonio. Case in point - the rockets were outrebounded by the Spurs 51-36 in their loss at home, and Hayes didn't play. But when they beat the Spurs, and Hayes played, and the team outrebounded the SPurs 38-33 and blew them out of the building.

 

Why bring in magette while we have Bonzi! Same situation except Magette is not much of a troublemaker, but pretty much the same, injury prone, both are good on the post up and can drill shots on the perimeter. But Bonz cost less!

 

hm...bonzo-sura-billy for bibby would work right? holy crap that would own everything ever invented...lol

 

Bonzi right now is scoring less than 1 point per shot. For his career, he's in the 1.15 points per shot. Maggette is over 1.4 points per shot for his career and he is once again over 1.4 points per shot this season even with his poor shooting. Dude racks up the fouls against, gets to the FT line, and is deadly from there. When you put that kind of player on the floor combined with Yao and McGrady racking up the fouls, we may get to the bonus at the 8 minute mark of every quarter. Talk about automatic offense.

I think we HAVE to trade for Maggette if the Clips would take our first round pick and expirings for him.

 

You couldn't be more wrong. Chuck Hayes is a force of nature. People like you focus on minor things like fouls while ignoring what he brings. 7 rpg in 22mpg. Awesome defense against power forwards in a league full of good power forwards. Great hands. Great help defense in the form of charges. Toughness. Pretty adept finishing around the rim (though he blows a few and people like you hate him for it). All for what price? A million per season?

He's exactly the type of guy that is crucial for championship teams. Do the names AC Green, Horace Grant, Malik Rose, and Udonis Haslem ring a bell? You probably think they're overrated too.

 

We are going to need Chuck Hayes big time tomorow night. He is the only guy that we have that can matchup half way decently with Boozer. Boozer will eat everybody else alive. We need to hope that Hayes doesn't get into foul trouble and can get major minutes against him. We match very badly with the Jazz anyways even with Yao. Now with Yao out and Okur standing out there at the 3 point line forcing Deke and Juwan to come out on him, we are going to have our hands full. We've got to get Juwan out high on Okur and hope he can stick him, put Hayes on Boozer, and then bring help from McGrady, Battier, or the point when Boozer posts up.

A lot of people do not understand this yet, but Hayes is our BEST post defender. Deke is essentially a help defender. The blocked shots are great. But one on one, Hayes is our best post defender. Any talented big will go up high, isolate on Deke and then shoot it over him or drive right past him for the bucket. Hayes is the one player with the lateral quickness and low base of gravity that can give interior post up scorers a hard time.

 

If Bonzi is boffo then Bonzi is gone next summer. Or the full MLE is gone for him. If Bonzi is bonzo then he's likely still gone and did nuthin' while here. Maggette has a body of work and future for Rox if there were a deal to be made.

And, BTW, the deal would very possibly have to include GS' Junior. Nellie apparently doesn't want CM. Senior supposedly lusts for Junior. The math says a three-way must happen. So, with Warriors' financial woes expirings of Bonzi/Sura might make sense for them to rid themselves of Juniors bigbigbucks and littlelittlebang.

 

I am a Bibby fan - but not with our roster. Too shoot first/no D. However, get me 'Dre and I'm a happy guy. The same expirings + a draft choice might do it, but is that too steep a price? And where do you move Rafe?

 

Bonzi+Sura... not bad.

 

yes, overrated by clutchfans. and lets look at this situation, come "playoff time":

Dallas Mavericks
PG Devon Harris / Anthony Johnson
SG Jason Terry / Greg Buckner
SF Josh Howard / Jerry Stackhouse
PF Dirk Nowitzki / Austin Croshere
C Erick Dampier / DeSangana Diop

Houston Rockets
Rafer Alston / John Lucas
Tracy McGrady / Luther Head
Shane Battier / Kirk Snyder
Chuck Hayes / Juwan Howard
Yao Ming / Deke Mutombo

I do believe that we are better suited to handle Dallas than in previoud years. But I do ask you- Who will guard 3 prolific scorers Dallas has?? Terry can light it up spontaneously and dangerously, Josh Howard is playing superb, and Dirk is Dirk... Do you think Hayes can get points when guarded by Howard or Nowitzki? Do you think Hayes can get rebounds from Howard and Nowitzki? Can he even stay in and not get fouled out guarding those players??

You are assuming we trade Hayes for 0. I am saying we need a forward who has speed and can score. It will help now- it sure looks like TMac's offense w/o Yao is speed based, and it will help later- even when Yao is back, someone has to defend against speedy forwards. You cant presume that in a series of best 7 in playoffs, we can get the mavs to slow down to our pace.. it ain't gonna happen. and Great Hands? that is too far of an overstretch..
I don't have time now to match him up with others- but note that i do not think he has a chance against Phoenix. Great- Rockets are playing swell, 4 game winning streak. But to win against quality (sadly quality means speed in the western conference), we need a strong fast and scoring forward to help out battier and yao in the starting front court.

 

1. Philly is swearing up and down Dre is not available.
2. Bibby has had a better defensive PER at PG than Miller the last 2 full seasons (I didn't bother checking back any further). If it's defense you're looking for, Miller's not the guy to provide it.
3. Bibby averages 14 FGA/game for his career in 36.8 minutes a game. This year, Rafer is averaging 12.4 FGA/game is 36.5 minutes. Given Bibby has never gotten to play with talents like TMac or Yao, I don't think it's unreasonable to imagine him being able to tone his game down next to TMac/Yao.

It's idle speculation, anyway, as I doubt we shift PGs mid-year. More likely to look for a backup PG. Perhaps try and get a Darrell Armstrong (no idea if he'll be out there),Steve Blake or the previously mentioned Chucky Atkins. If we're desperate, guys like Earl Watson or Troy Hudson (long contracts) can likely be had.

Another team to watch may be Orlando. They're going to be way under the cap, but may look to clear even more room. A trade that may make a lot of sense (at least imo) would be Arroyo for for Sura or the TE. Arroyo makes $4m, so either would work. Once Jameer Nelson comes back, they have him, Dooling, and Diener at the point. Orlando would clear away an extra $4m off next year's cap for a player that is more or less superfluous. The biggest drawback with Arroyo is he can't shoot.

 

I simulated the entire season on NBA 2k7 w/ Yao, Tmac, and Maggette and we went 82-0. Just kidding. Someone send me a 360 and 2k7 and I'll do you guys the favor though.

Seriously? Tough call. The only people I'd be willing to give up is Bonzi and Sura. Sura only because it doesn't look like he's coming back. Bonzi just because he hasn't been on court w/ them a long time, so it wouldn't be a big change. Right now the chemistry looks great and I don't want to disrupt it. And I think Maggette would be an upgrade. It's no knock on Bonzi, but I think Maggette would bring more to the table.

I wish I were a fly on the wall during practice though. If it looks like Bonzi is genuinely gelling and the rest of the team thinks he's fitting in, then I'd keep him. But I have no idea what's in Tmac & Co. minds so I would vote to pull the trigger on the deal.

 

Except v TeamUSA.

 

Then donate.

 

Chuck Hayes is no Ryan Bowen. Bowen was just a spaz on the court at all times. I never thought he could do crap. He couldn't play D (overrated) and he couldnt rebound. If you are offensively inept, those are things you must do. Bowen couldnt do either, that is why he is no longer on this team. Chuck on the other hand gets rebounds and plays solid D. That is all the rockets need a PF, not an offensive machine. How different is he that Udonis Haslem? And didnt the Heat win it all last year. Their team is built very similar to ours.

 

He and KillBill will be friends.