Nice piece of research RC... Maybe there is something to this after all! Get ready for a flood of replies to this thread!!!
That would certainly change my opinion of him. And I agree that he would certainly make us a better team. But.......... The idea underlying your info (which is appreciated) is that there would be some type of understanding that the Rockets would pay him more down the road than the Sonics are currently offering. This seems unlikely because -- (1) $60 M/ 7 years is a fair deal and I wouldnt want Houston to lock itself into more. He is not a max contract player. (2) Houston is about to give Steve the max and has two more players in the birth canal -- EG and Ming. And Cuttino will want a better deal in the not so distant future too. Who disagrees with this and why?
It's a shame Boki had the injury this summer and wasn't able to show the front office whether he'd be able to handle big minutes this coming season. I hope we don't sign Rashard and then end up w/ an NBA ready Boki wasting away on the bench. Personally, I get the feeling Rashard would just be using us to get a big contract when salary cap frees up for a lot of teams next summer. We don't need someone padding their stats at the expense of teamplay.
Pretty much my thinking as well. I'm just hoping that if this does happend, one or all of those players would care less about money and more about winning. Maybe Steve could start it? Ok he'll probably get the max.
I agree with you. Look, when every team in the league is scrambling to protect themselves from the luxury tax next season, I just can't see Les saying, "Oh, hell, yeah! Give Lewis $80 million" especially after they drafted a small forward who could be as good as or better than Lewis at some point AND are sinking max money into Francis. If everyone here is so jazzed about Lewis, what do we all do when he is averaging 14 and 7 and making $9 million per season. Would you pay Kenny Thomas $80 million??? I wouldn't and I wouldn't shell out the cash for Lewis either. Don't get me wrong. I think he is talented and I think he would be a solid addition, but how in God's name are you going to distribute the ball between Francis, Mobley, Griffin and Yao let alone Lewis? I am just not convinced we have any business doing a sign-and-trade with Lewis for more than $50 or $60 million. Now, if he wants to sign here for 3 years, $15 million, you do it in a heartbeat. But, that seems like a long shot.
Having Lewis and Nachbar is awesome, if it happens, in part because of their contrasting styles of play. I'm trying to figure out where Rice fits in all of this (not to mention Morris), but it's a problem that would be great to have!
So far I haven't been a big Rashard fan, and I'm not exactly convinced we need him, but with him and Rice, I hope it would mean the end of Rudy's small ball 3 guard line up. If it does that I'm all for bringing Lewis on board. j
Just when I gave up hope on Rashard the dirt rolls in. How awesome would it be if we got Rashard. Could we fit him on the squad with Rice and Boki? Will we really be able to get Rashard enough touches with Francis, Mobley, Taylor and Ming on the floor? thanks again oeilpere!
I honestly think we should pass on Lewis, I think the money can be better spent on a 2 guard, which is something we need!
Hmm...this got me thinking. Do we want a sweet-shooting veteran who's about 6'8, has playoff experience, and can play the 2? What if he costs nothing? (sort of.) Well, here you have him...its Glen Rice! He can play the 2, and has all the things mentioned above. Now, if only he could do that...
As far as I'm concerned, completing a great starting lineup is more important than keeping Taylor, Moochie, Thomas, and Cato, who all have trade value. If we are really trying to build a championship team, we can draft guys or get CBA guys to play those roles without a big problem. I don't know what that means for the luxury tax in the future.
Interesting. I never thought about that. But also I am not convinced that Boki can't play minutes at the 2. I may be way off base, but I think he has the quicks to do it. If I am wrong...then when the opposing 2 goes right past Boki they'll run into Griff and Ming. Instead of the Twin Towers we could call it the Great Wall.
It would be pretty good to get Lewis, and if we don't oh well. Hopefully Nachbar will show he was a good first round pick.
Yeah, I could have added him, but figured he'd be better at backing up RL in that case. Then Rice could take the minutes at both the 2 and 3. Maybe the 4 if things get real desperate. (if Mo, KT, and Griff go out, AHH!) I think Rice and Boke could do ok at the 2, especially if its at backup. I don't know many backup 2's who are all-stars, so defending won't be that hard.
a contract is only of a minimum 3 years if (i) the player is on a rookie scale contract or (ii) the player is involved/contract is signed as part of a sign & trade. a MCE contract can be for 1 or more years. If Rashard is happy with teh MCE then i'm more than happy for him to get the starting 3 spot. If we would get hit with a ugly contract, let him walk.
RC, There is just no way Rice can play the 2. He can barely move around enough with those big braces on his knees to play the 3. At this stage of their careers Boki is much more mobile than Glen. I don't know if Boki at 6'9" can really play the 2 either but who knows until we see him play. If Lewis would sign a one or two year deal with us and with no promise of a big contract at the end of the deal then I would do it in a heartbeat. It would be great having him at the 3 this year so we don't have to start two rookies at once. Having said that I would still like the flexibility to make Boki our starting 3 at some point in the future if he is all that he is advertised. Rudy and CD have proven over and over that they will keep their promises to players so I would hate to see them back themselves into a corner with Rashard by making big promises to him. A couple of questions to ask ourselves are: 1. Does Boki have the potential to be significantly better than Rashard? 2. If the answer is no then do we really want to pass up a chance to get a proven commodity like Rashard even at the expense of Boki? 3. If the answer to the first question is no then do we want to bury Boki in the bench with little chance to prove his worth while Rashard gets all of the starters minutes? IMO, unless we think Boki is going to be significantly better than Rashard then we should go all out for Rashard since he has already proven himself at this level and he is about the same age as Boki.
It seems to me that our absolute first priority this season should be to make the playoffs. That gives our future stars some playoff experience and it ensures that we don't have to give Memphis a lottery pick (what a disaster that would be!). I think Lewis signing to a one year deal would go a long way toward accomplishing that goal (it strengthens us at our weakest position and knocks Seattle out of the playoffs in all likelihood). After this season, we can let the cards fall where they may. Just my opinion.
We signed Anderson to a two year contract for less than Utah offered because he wanted a chance to start. We signed MoT to a one year MCE. After Hakeem left, we used our cap space to sign Mo to a 6 year deal. We no longer have cap space, so Lewis would have to be here 3 years before we would have Bird rights and could go over the cap to resign him.
