I just have a hard time believing that Jerry West is going to do a firesale of his team to a DIVISION RIVAL! And this is Jerry West we are talking about! If he makes any salary slashing moves that would deplete talent I just dont see him moving the talent to a division rival but rather an eastern conference team. I have a hard time seeing West work with us on a S&T with Swift coming here. And the guys that West would love to move are Jason Williams, Wells and Swift/Watson in S&Ts. I think West feels his core is Jones, Cardinal, Battier, Miller and Gasol.
I actually dont see New Orleans as too big of a factor. Sure they have money. But they are also Clippers east. They are going to be VERY stingy with their money. I dont see them forking over 6+ million for Swift. They already have PJ Brown there for 8M and they love him. They have Maglore. I agree that getting Swift is a longshot with our MLE. But I think it is an even LONGER shot that Jerry West would do a S&T with us sending Swift to a DIVISION RIVAL.
"these two would be a fearsome defensive tandem, locking down the paint and improving on an already excellent interior defense." Completely disagree. A Yao/Swift combination is not gonna strike the fear of god in opposing teams and stop them from driving the lane. Guys are not afraid of taking the ball at Yao, they know he can get in foul trouble and tries to take the charge alot instead of trying to block a shot. And Swift doesn't have this intimidating reputation either. I think your overrating his impact. He's never been a full time PF in this league. He's been splitting time since he arrived in the NBA.
I could sort of see NOH being big contenders for Swift. He is a hometown kid which would make him a fan favorite and they have lot's of money, and probably no "big" name to spend it on. No FA is going to sign w/ NOH just like what happened to ATL last season, but I could see them going after Swift like ATL did w/ Harrington. I wonder if NOH and Mem would do a Swift for Magloire straight up, maybe w/ some fillers on the side. Totally agree. West is too smart to deal w/ division rivals and not come out on top. The only incentive is to deal a bad contract w/ Swift and try to get expiring contracts in return.
Rudy loved this kid, really wanted him on the Rockets, that is enough for me. Bring in Malick to show him how to play hard all the time. Malick + Swift......all the athleticism at the 4 spot you need. DD
ATL got Harrington in a S&T deal that sent Stephen Jackson to Indiana. Harrington wasnt a FA that year. I dont see why NOH would want to Swift over Magloire. Swift is a natural PF and Magloire is a natual C. Centers harder to obtain. I certainly can see why Memphis would love Magloire, but no way NOH trades Magloire for Swift, hometown or not! Just because NOH has lots of money dont assume they will spend it! They gave away Baron Davis to SAVE money. Why do that if you are going to spend it again? The Hornets are stingy, and my guess is they will spend SOME money, but not all of it.
If West believes that Swift is an albatross (i.e. underachieving and overpaid), he would love to trade him to a division rival. In fact, he'd probably prefer it.
Well allow me to rebut. People can talk all they want about opposing teams not being afraid of drive on Yao and the rockets, but the fact is this team was the best defensive points in the paint team in the league for a reason. JVG's style is all about funneling players to help defenders. And Yao did a better job of going for the block instead of charges in the latter half of the Mavs series. Intimidating reputation or not. If you have two sets of long/tall arms protecting the basket, that can only help the interior D. And not having a big reputation can be a benefit, because they can be surprised by a weakside shotblocker. Most of the best weakside shotblockers (including Hakeem) use their quickness, and reach as their main weapon against unwitting shooters. If players are charging down the lane intent on taking the ball straight at Yao, then they could easily miss Swift coming in from the side. Yao could do his usual, hands straight up and moving backwards routine (which annoys me to no end, but whatever) while Stro comes in and swats the ball away. I don't know about you, but I was pretty satisfied with the tandem of Yao/Cato last year. They should have seemingly had all kinds of problems on the defensive end, but it just goes to show what can happen if you put two pretty decent shotblockers/shotchangers on the back line.
About Swift and New Orleans. It's pretty much a perfect match. They could probably sign Swift and resign Magloire and still need some more salary just to reach the minimum NBA payroll. They'd still have plenty of room for some backcourt players. Swift is from Louisiana, so he'll be attractive to management as a local draw. And maybe it's attractive to Swift if he wants to be closer to his hometown. I'm sure he favors the fact that NO is one of the few teams with the means to sign him to a bigger contract than the MLE. And NO isn't going to reject Swift because of PJ Brown. Brown is a million years old and his deal is over in two years. If they think Swift is a player worth having, then "last legs" Brown isn't going to stop that signing. In fact they would have a decent big man rotation of Swift, Magloire, and Brown. So this PJ is a non-factor. The real factors are whether NO has some bigger targets to go for, whether Swift is willing to play for the MLE, and whether West is willing to deal to a division rival. I guess we'll see what this "more than one person" quote from Bucher has any substance behind it.
"Intimidating reputation or not. If you have two sets of long/tall arms protecting the basket, that can only help the interior D. " And nobody would disagree there. But you still make those guys vulnerable if you allow too much stuff in the lane, which was the problem against the mavericks. You shouldn't NEED both interior players to be a shot blocking presence to be an effective defense. We should be thankful that we have one tall big man who stands 7'6 and if he still needs that much help on the inside, then there is a problem. Some of the best defensive teams over the past 20 years didn't really have a true great shot blocking presence. With the knicks, JVG had Ewing, who was obviously tall and could get a good reach, but he was never considered a truly great shot blocker. I still maintain the rockets need more help with their perimeter defense more than anything. It causes less dribble penetration into the lane and better rotations out on the perimeter when you double team.
I agree. If we had a perimeter defender that can at least "slow down" dribble penetrators, that would be a big boon as well. Guards that can stay in front of guys enough so that they aren't coming in full speed at Yao would have helped tremendously. And depending on how this whole Swift situation plays out, we could still be in position to upgrade our backcourt. I'm not saying that getting a guy like Swift would be the be all and end all. I recognize that he has weaknesses, and that there would still be work to be done at other positions if this team is to be a legit contender, but he would be a big step in the right direction.
Swift is still young enough that I feel he still has time to work on his jump shot and other aspects of his offensive game. He is athletic so he can still get pts off of rebounds and on fast breaks (like how Amare gets a lot of his pts). I am glad the Rockets are looking at Swift. Getting him or SAR should be their top priorities this off season.
A S&T with Memphis is not out of the question. You guys have about $17 million in expiring contracts so you can get some things done. Although, intra-division trading is rare, it might be more doable in a three way. Hard to say what direction teams are going. I can tell you the Grizzlies are not looking to dump salary, they just are not looking to add salary. We are looking at about $56 million next season and probably want to stay within that range depending on where the luxury tax line is. It seems that Slary cap will come in at about $51 million, so the the luxury tax will probably be around $62-65 million. We are probably in the same financial situation as you guys. We will spend when it looks like we can make a title run. Until then we will stay lower than the luxury tax figure.
