For those of you who wants Swift bad, pray with me!

Rest of the 1st round. Jamaal Magloire is the closest to a "premium player" in this draft (and Michael Redd in rd 2).

13. SG C. Alexander, Fresno State
14. PG Mateen Cleaves, Michigan State
15. C Jason Collier, Georgia Tech
16. SF Hidayet Turkoglu, Turkey
17. SF Desmond Mason, Okla. State
18. SG Quentin Richardson, DePaul
19. PF Jamaal Magloire, Kentucky
20. PG Speedy Claxton, Hofstra
21. SF Morris Peterson, Michigan State
22. SF Donnell Harvey, Florida
23. SG DeShawn Stevenson, Wash. Union (Calif.) HS
24. C Dalibor Bagaric, Croatia
25. C Iakovos Tsakalidis, Greece
26. C Mamadou N'Diaye, Auburn
27. C Primoz Brezec, Slovenia
28. PG Erick Barkley, St. John's
29. PF, Mark Madsen, Stanford

 

If he was a 20-10 player I would be really excited. Five years at 9-5? He should be a MLE player. The future of the Rockets does not depend on a 9-5 guy. His dunks may make the the highlight reels, but, remember, five years, nine points, five rebounds. Not terribly impressive.

 

Exactly. I think everyone is up in arms for swift because he posterized Yao Ming. If the MLE isn't enough for him then let it go. I would hate to think he can't feed his family with an extra $33 MIL.

 

The Rockets already have their 20-10 player (Yao). All they need is someone who can be a solid 3rd option that can pitch in about 13-15 points and +7 rebounds, which Swift is more than capable of doing, as shown by his numbers when given playing time.

http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?t=98621&page=7&pp=30

 

Really, that was not the greatest of drafts. In any normal draft Kenyon Marting get selected between 7 and 15. This draft he was selected #1 overall

Swift has so much talent. But the situation just was never right for him in Memphis. Swift can still redeem that draft class!!! He just needs more playing time under a tough coach like JVG.

If Swift can give the Rockets 14 pts. and 8.5 rebounds while getting 2 blocks; then the Rockets have the Powerforward they need between Yao and McGrady. Let's not forget how Cato Thrived under JVG. Swift is younger and more talented. The Memphis people say that Swift is unmotivated. But the talent is there.

And all this talk about Memphis refusing to do a Sign and Trade for Swift to Houston tells me that Memphis knows that Swift is what the Rockets need. Come on, if Swift wasn't that good, then Memphis would do a sign and trade so that the Rockets would get stuck with another over inflated contract.

Swift will help the Rockets and CD, JVG, Rocket Fans, Swift, West, and all of Memphis know this. That why Swift was the primary FA targeted by the Rockets.

 

• The negativity regarding Swift befuddles me. Any contract for him at under $7 million/yr is a good deal for us. That is not an outrageous signing by any means. We've seen already from last summer and now early this summer that the market has become outrageous. $7mill/yr for a 25 year old, athletic big man is a bargain in this day and age. Cap space has become pretty much useless nowadays with the new CBA geared towarads helping teams retain their free agents, unless you want to be a fool and outrageously overpay such as Cleveland with Larry Hughes. If you can tip toe the luxury tax, S&T deals or use of the MLE is really the way to build a team. It has been said with disdain that he only averages 9pts and 5rebs - well, what the hell did you expect? If he averaged double that he would be asking for the max. With no trade assets, and the power forward free agent pool looking very weak for the foreseeable future, this summer really is our only chance to upgrade at the '4' for quite some time.
• I actually think Swift will end up in New York. Judging by his quotes, it's easy to decipher that Houston is his destination of choice. However, Isiah is the only person crazy enough to give him the $9mill he seeks. Another thing I don't understand is the fans' perception that a player (with few exceptions) would take less just to play for a winning team. Obviously, it's preferrable, but if I was a FA I would always go for the money, the reason being that unless a cornerstone, it's highly unlikely that any player lasts with the team he signed with through the life of the contract. If they see a chance to improve, they'll ship your ass out the first chance they get. Similarly, any cellar dwelling franchise can easily be rejuvenated within a season with a lucky draft pick (ala Carter in Toronto).
• I would be downright shocked if Memphis agreed to do a S&T with us. I don't understand this idea that Memphis is so desperate to dump Jason Williams or James Posey that they would just gift wrap Swift to a conference rival. West isn't an idiot, while a headcase, Williams is still a major talent. If he really wants to shake things up, he'll package some of those guys in a 2 for 1 possibly with Pau.
• I think it's funny that Stro said it would be nice to play alongside Yao and McGrady. I can't see how the guy could have any respect for Yao whatsoever - he's completely eaten his lunch every time they've matched up.

 

new york can only offer the MLE also. i think their total salary is near 100 mil.

 

Come one. This happened one time. Yeah Swift posterized Yao and it was pretty viscious, but it happened one time. Most of the scores Swift have gotten on Yao have been open jumpers. Which is actually surprising because according to 82games his shooting percentage on jumpers is pretty atrocious. But for some reason he always seemed to make them against us. Might be the reason that some people on the board have the mistaken belief that Swift actually has a midrange game.

 

http://www.nba.com/games/20050413/MEMHOU/boxscore.html


Y. Ming C 33 10-16 0-0 8-9 4 5 9 0 5 1 4 28
S. Swift 5 1-2 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 2

Well, maybe not everytime

 

right, and from what i hear Memphis wouldn't really desire anything from a S&T with the Knicks either. So, it seems appearent that we win the MLE battle vs. New York or any other team for that matter. The only other team I see realistically competing (other than the small chance that Mem would still S&T with NY so they at least get something) would be New Orleans. They could offer him the money and the location (not to say that New Orleans is better than Houston, just that he went to LSU), and if he signs with them, then it is obvious he has no desire to win after all.

 

Or it could also be the fact that some of us watched him against other teams and for more than 1 season. Go back into 82games and look at Swift's jump shot %age in 2003-04 (Hubie)...the %age that season was better than Abdur-Rahim or Antoine Walker.

 

After what Beltran did to the Stros, I'm not keeping my hopes up

 

Okay.

2003-04: .386 eFG on Jumpers
2004-05: .282 eFG on Jumpers

Check my comments about swift here: http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?p=1871233#post1871233

I'm more supportive of landing Swift than a lot of people on this board, but the numbers don't show that he can make jumpers with any kind of consistancy. Now I know that 82games is not the be all and end all, and it may very well turn out that Swift just has a crappy turnaround jumper, or he can't shoot with a hand in his face. But at the VERY least, Swift's midrange game is questionable.

That doesn't mean that I don't want him on the team, quite the contrary. If we can avoid paying him 10+ million per and/or taking on Cardinal's or Williams' contract, then he would be a worthy addition.

 

Just keeping you "honest".

I used to be more optimistic but lately I just don't see a SnT happening with the Grizz. But if it does, it's definitely not going to be much above $7m because Swift is BYC in a SnT above $7.2m.

 

Its midnight wheres my stro!!!

 

Great, if that's the case, we are getting a teammate who has no respect for one of our centerpieces. Exactly what we need.

 

• 
  Thats good to hear. We need someone to keep Yao from eating. Have you seen how fat hes gotten?!?!
  

 

Where did you hear this? I'm thinking the exact opposite.

The Knicks have 2 big expiring contracts in Tim Thomas and Penny Hardaway (who is also a hometown guy). Both of those guys are better than Spoon/Wesley/Baker or any of our expiring deals, their contracts are also more significant. The Knicks have also never been shy in taking bad contracts to get deals done, so I could see West being able to dump Cardinal, Wells, Posey, JWill, or whatever unwanted contract to them w/o much hesitation from Zeke. Also, the Knick's picks will always be higher than ours.

The main kicker is that the Knicks won't be competing for a playoff spot w/ the Grizz. West knows what we are missing, so I don't see how it would be beneficial to them to give it to us. They can get better packages dealing w/ the Knicks. But it's up to Swift and agent to decide where they want to go.

 

Like I said. I didnt ask the question, nor do i know how much credability Hollinger has towards this, but it was simply "what i heard".

 

Not to stray too far into D & D Fourm issues, but do you really pray for players to sign with your team? That seems to me a bit like praying for the hot chick you met yesterday to get drunk and put out for you.