Marshall is better than Howard and Mo but he isn't a solid defender. I would retain the 1st round pick. I also think he can walk if he gets an offer that exceeds the MLE.
The pick is garbage. We're not going to play anyone young. Marshall is a legitimate veteran that can start at the 3 and slide to 4 RIGHT NOW. Screw the pick, do what it takes. Use the TE. Take on Rose too, if you get to dump Mo and/or Spoon & Ward. Look at the new team : Yao Howard Marshall Tmac Sura bench : whatever. Deke Barry Bowen Padge Wesley Yeah - bench guys. Still, they can help in limited minutes, know their jobs. That's the way it should be. Maybe Jalen? That's his real role - offense off the bench - going back to Indiana. All those guys starting can really play. It spreads the floor with decent spacing. The role players know they are role players. We're big in the backcourt, and rebounding is MUCH improved up front. Go for it. 1 move like that can really change things. Here's the deal. Right now, we have 3 shooting guards, Yao, and 1 forward that plays small. This change will really open up the options for Van Gundy. He is smart, even if I don't like him. He can win with that. Marshall does a lot for the team. -------------------------------------------------------- Plan b - try to get in on the action with a third team. I'd like to get Brent Barry or Malik Rose or Rasho Nesterovic, if San Antonio wants to dump them. Is there a way to send some stuff (pick, TE, player?) to Toronto and take back something they don't want? Brent Barry would be nice on the run with Tmac. Rasho or Rose would play well on the low block, if Yao can back up to the right elbow.
It'd be great to get Donyell Marshall, but I place little stock in the chance, because you KNOW Toronto wants to unload Jalen Rose in the deal. Not that I'd mind Jalen Rose for the 2/3 spot; expensive, but can pass and shoot the 3, has some height, and, for this team, would be relatively young. But Les might not want to pay that bill. You'd think SOMEthing would give, what with Mo Taylor and his "flu."
ok here is a trade deal: Rose + Marshall (19.8M) for Taylor + Weatherspoon + Ward + Gaines (17.35M) + picks Yao/Mutombo Marshall/Howard/Padgett Rose/T-Mac T-Mac/Barry Sura/Wesley Basically we are trading picks for Marshall & taking on about an extra 9M in salary for Rose (over Taylor & Weatherspoon's contracts). I suspect the Rockets will have the 16th-23rd pick. What are the odds of landing a good player in that group? I'd say less than 20% chance. Deal the pick. But I doubt Toronto would do this.
micah- It's actually simpler than that. Marshall fits within the Rockets' trade exception. Taylor/Spoon for Rose works straight up. Taylor and Rose have equal lengths of contracts, but Rose's contract is pretty ugly- upwards of 15-16 mill in the next couple years, which would be motivation for Toronto to get out of it. In addition, Rose has actually been playing pretty good basketball- averaging 20+ in his last 10 games on good percentages. Throwing in Ward/Gaines is extra money the Raptors would probably rather not pick up, not to mention roster slots they don't have at the moment. A deal like this makes the Rockets an extremely dangerous team this year, potentially a title contender, imo. I'd see Rose/Marshall similar to what Rasheed Wallace for Detroit last year. The problem is, if it doesn't work, we lose even more maneuverability in the next couple years.
Nikestrand, completely forgot about the trade exception. You are right they wouldn't want those two extra guys. And you are also right about their roster, I count 18 players. So you like it? I like it because we get Rose for Taylor & Spoon who are just sitting on the bench eating up caproom and not producing while Rose would play and produce for us. Then this offseason we could go after Swift or keep Marshall (but only a 3 year deal please, he is getting up there).
It's definitely tempting but I think I would rather be able to have some flexibility the next few seasons.
After reading this and what people after you have posted, all I can ask is: have you people gone mad? The pick is garbage? Tell that to an NBA GM and see what they say. You can't live off of trades and bringing on garbage free agents alone. Youth is essential and in case some of you haven't noticed, we aren't getting any younger. This is a deep and talented draft we're looking at. Not very top-heavy, but pretty deep. There are some great PG prospects, some decent PF's and a certain Houston native being compared to T-Mac all within our grasps. To trade that pick for Marshall, a guy that could walk at season's end is simply foolish. I do agree finding a way to use the TE is important but not at the cost of taking garbage like Jalen Rose. Yeah, having Taylor on our roster is nothing short of horrific but adding a guy like Rose isn't the answer. Rose isn't better than Sura, doesn't play as hard or shoot as well as Barry and isn't as good of a defender as Wesley. How is he an upgrade? I think by now it's pretty obvious JVG feels T-Mac is better suited playing the 3. That said, where is the sense in trading for a guy like Marshall to play the 3? You could play Marshall at the 4 and get about 7-8 PPG and 5-6 RPG---basically what we're already getting from Howard.
Must be this guy http://www.nbadraft.net/profiles/geraldgreen.asp He is projected as top 10 pick though. No way Rockets would get him. Besides there are only enough shots for 1 T-Mac on this team.
don't base everything on NBA draft .net (I know they have a deal with CC BBS) - but I saw three different 2005 draft boards and they don't even know if Green will go pro - so say he will do a year at Ok State first to improve his standing
