Today's ESPN NBA Insider... Chad Ford Today's NBA Insider was a good look at what teams are interested in making trades and moves in the coming days and weeks. While the comment at the ROX was nothing more than a dig at how terrible we are and how no one is coming to watch the games... there were a couple comments of note: Word out of Memphis is that Jason Williams and Bonzi Wells are on the block and that Memphis is looking for a big man that can score. Of course... my initial reaction was MoTaylor... MoTaylor... MoTaylor. If we could send MoTaylor, Lue and cash/draft picks to Memphis for those guys... it would almost perfect for the ROX. Assuming that Memphis would do the trade (and I think that Mo's ability to score in the post does have value in the league if not to us ROX fans)... we would look like this: PG Williams/Sura SG TMac/Bonzi SF JJ/Bonzi PF Howard/Padgett/Spoon C Yao/Deke An upgrade... Yes. Are we still weak at the pf spot.. yes. But to have two tough guards who can run with the ball and create in Williams and Bonzi... would really strengthen our team. Of course... I don't think that we could get both of them from Memphis. Maybe if we traded Yao (joking... sorta).
The Grizzlies are not going to be interested in Mo Taylor. The "big" they are looking for is someone like Eddy Curry. They are looking for a CENTER to pair with Pau Gasol. If you want Bonzi/Williams then we would have to do a 3 way trade with another team. I think Bonzi would be an interesting addition to the Rockets. It would give us more athleticism and someone that can break down the defense.
Great points. Re: Mo's scoring in the post .....it seem this year that Mo has had his stuff blocked more than he has actually scored in the low post. I am thinking that achilles injury may hamper him the rest of his career.
I posted this elsewhere - but it bears repeating the reason we are not "running" has nothing to do with JVG (he has been letting the offense take the early shot) the personnel can run... (Sura, Tmac, JJ, etc) the team has energy... BUT YOU CANNOT RUN IF YOU DON'T GET DEFENSE REBOUNDS - you MUST get the rebound and make the outlet pass to start the brak the Rockets cannot afford to send the guards running since they ALL HAVE TO STAY IN TO HELP CLEAN THE GLASS (that is why Sura has rebounded as well as Howard and Mo T COMBINED in the past 2 games - he has to stay in to secure the ball)
You're not getting Bonzi AND Williams for that...even if they did want a PF. Which, as Deuce pointed out, they don't. Regardless, I don't think they'd take Taylor in the first place. How would he get off the bench behind Gasol and Swift? (yes, bonzi would be nice here. can't happen though)
While we're at it we should trade Charlie Ward for Jesus Christ, I hear he's available and a helluva rebounder, look no further than the whole Easter day thing.
Few teams have the luxury of paying a backup PF $9 MIL. Hell, as a starter, Mo isn't even worth $9 MIL. Thats why he is almost untradeable unless you take someone else's garbage in return. I'd be thinking Joe Smith or Raef LaFrentz instead of Bonzi Wells.
Absolutely. I was just going over some of the contracts in the NBA, and believe it or not, there are only a couple that can even objectively be considered worse than Mo's: Eric Snow Jamal Mashburn Adonal Foyle Alvin Williams
If we did get this deal (pipedream) done, I'd like to start Wells and have JJ backing up him and TMac. Williams as starting PG is good. We still haven't solved the PF problem, though. Maybe JVG should reconsider last year's solution, start our backup C as PF. Playing Mubomto alongside Yao?!
They need a center more than a PF. Even if they decided to trade for a PF, why would they want one that is softer then their current starting PF (Gasol). Mo only gives them depth off of the bench. Nothing more. West is not stupid. No way he does that trade.
Snow and Mashburn have at least been good players at some stage of their careers, and in Mash's case if he wasn't injured then he would still be a very good player...... Foyle is in the same league as the Mo contract, neither have done nothing ever to contribute torwards a winning team
name a few "CENTER" in this league who can score in the low post and are gettable for Williams and/or Wells. while some of our fans pipedreaming, you think West can convince Paxson to believe that have JWill & Wells to back up Hinrich & Deng is something worth giving up Curry? eventhough they prefer to trade JWill for a center, they might just end up with a 4 who can post up and score in the paint. I think Swift must be included in the package for them to land Curry, maybe Swift+Wells for Curry+Pike?. then a Howard+Lue for Williams deal might make some sense for them: Curry, Wright Gasol, Howard Posey, Battier Miller, Pike Watson, Lue they got the low post scoring they covet (Curry+Howard) and able to start Watson and Miller as they wished and got Pike+Lue as bonus to fill the back up positions. while JWill might not be our idle PG, he's surely an upgrade of Lue or anyone we have at the 1 spot. Howard is useless when he's on the same team with Taylor so no lose for us. if we could trade Taylor plus maybe our 1st pick (should be #10~#15) for a reounder like Fortson (James would be a throw in then) we'd be in the playoff. while not a good fit in JVG's system, Taylor might be the perfect 6th man on the Sonics. our starting 5: Yao Ming, Fortson, Jackson, McGrady, Williams. we keep Yao, T-Mac, JJ and add rebounding, passing, 3pt shooting, fast break, and most importantly, excitment to our game.
While it works under the cap, I don't think the Spurs would trade him for Charlie Ward (whom they gave up on last year) or anyone other than Yao or T-Mac. It would be nice to have a real PG and someone to teach Yao French, but the Spurs know what price they'd pay if they washed their hands of him. Hmmm...I wonder if Charlie Ward signed with the Spurs last year because of the opportunity to play behind greatness?
i get the feeling jwill won't ever be considered as long as les is doing business with "yao's sponsors".
LOL, actually no! I dont think West can convince Paxson to make that deal. I was just saying the Grizzlies are LOOKING to add a center. I didnt say they would be able to OBTAIN one with that trade package! The killer though is that Swift CAN NOT be traded! He signed the one year tender offer over the summer and will be an UNrestricted FA in the offseason. The time for the Grizzlies to move Swift over the summer and they didn't do it. So Swift is out of the picture now in terms of trades. The only thing the Grizzlies can do now is over the SUMMER do a sign and trade with the team of SWIFT's choosing. Or Swift can just walk somewhere else without the Grizzlies getting any compensation. I am not sure the Grizzlies will get the center they are after. They wanted Curry or Dampier and it looks like they will get neither.
2 players I want from Memphis: Jayson Williams Stromile Swift (except he can't be traded) But a JWill/TMac backcourt could change the whole team around.
clarification from the CBA gurus required.... couldnt Swift be had with a s/t? I realize he signed a one year and is supposed to be a FA after this season, but if MEM wanted to use him in a trade, would they have to sign and trade? not that we have a chance....this is just for my clarification.
R2K - RealGM lists Stro as an Unrestricted FA for the summer of 2005. That means he can sign with whomever he wants at whatever he wants. Unfortunately, the Rox only have the MLE which is less than what Stro currently makes and obviously less than what the Grizz can pay him. And probably well less than his market value considering what Boozer, Okur and other bigs got this past summer. If the Grizz felt they were truly going to lose Stro for nothing, they may be inclined to take a moderately bad contract with perks...a shorter contract and future picks. But they don't have to and they could dare Stro to sign for anyone's MLE rather than SnT for a deal they didn't like. Other mitigating factors are the Rox TE which expires June 30 which is earlier than start of FA signings and (more importantly) that the current CBA expires some time after the current season.
