No way the Spurs give up Parker for any combination of MoT, Mobley, Cato, and/or EG. Given how talented Parker is, the fact he's a true PG, and how inexpensive his contract is the only players I'd trade him for are Karalenko or Gasol, and that's if the Spurs got Kidd. Utah and Memphis may not make the deal but that's the only deal worth making. I wouldn't trade him for other second years with cheap contracts like Richardson or Jefferson. Arenas would be okay in a trade for Parker if the Spurs got Kidd but he's a RFA, untradeable. Arenas is going to cost more than the Rockets have. Denver's rumored to have him in their sights for $6+ million. Besides Arenas has more of a SG than PG mentality and wants to score. So with Arenas and Francis you'd have two SGs same as you have now though Arenas is more talented than Mobley. Ford? You'd be the first team in the NBA history maybe to have two sub-six foot starting guards.
We don't have a sub 6 foot starting Guard. We don't have a sub 6 foot player, period. Like I said, teams that are looking to go further in the playoffs get veterans not rookies.
How's Tito Maddox? He is 6'4", 190lbs. If the system is right, we do not need a top-notch PG. Ron Harper and D. Fisher are average PGs. Of course Pippen handles some of the PG duties for Harper. But if Steve is moved to 2, he can handle some of the PG duties as well. Iverson is a small SG, but he has tons of steals. Can Steve be as effective at SG ?
I don't quite get why people who don't like Steve at the point want Arenas. His game is almost the same as Steve's.
The reason is that Cat and Steve play similar style, both of them are close to a SG. Another way to improve the team is to get a pass-first SG, like a Hardway today, D. Christie etc. and then let Steve play the PG.
MManal - That's why I phrased my comment that I was "skeptical" and it would have to be the exact fit. And by "exact fit" I meant things that worked cap wise and value wise for both teams. The problem IMO with Miller is not his ability but what happens downstream when the Rox need money for (in addition to Francis) Miller, Griffin and Yao? I love Eric Snow, but he also has contract concerns. The Rox would have him at a reasonable price for 2003-2004 but he has a player option for 2004-2005. The Rockets would have his Bird Rights but would they go over the LT to keep him? Could they keep him? Tinsley would be interesting. He's contract friendly but he and Francis would leave us a pair of 6'3" guards! We'd better hope EG develops. I'm just going to throw a couple names out real quickly of experienced cap friendly guards - Jeff McGinnis - 6'4" and lost in Portland, $3m current contract. Bobby Sura - 6'5" combo guard, good open court decision maker and passer. They're not as exciting as Miller, Snow, TJ, etc but I think they may be more realistic. The more I think about it, the more I see RT & CD being loyal to Cuttino for turning down Toronto. Plus (I know, I know, its a minority opinion) I'd rather have a point forward.
GATOR- I like the thought of bringing in McInnis. He had two good years for the Clippers averaging around 14 points and 6 assists before going to Portland and getting no PT. He could be a player that could be had for cheap I assume since Portland doesn't seem to want him. Maybe he doesn't fit the jailblazer image that they seem to like.
Point forward won't work especially with 2 shoot first guards and a center who also needs the ball. Plus there are not many good point forwards around anyway.
McInnis has one more year at $3.6m...very affordable. In 2001-2002 as a Clipp he had 6.2 apg with only 1.8 TO's...! Like I mentioned before, not as exciting as a Miller or a TJ Ford or an Eric Snow...but I'd love to have him now even as a backup PG. Off Topic - The Jail Blazers are going to have an interesting summer. They are well above the LTax and have only have 6 players under contract - Rasheed, Stoudamire, Anderson, Patterson, McInnis and Randolph (plus Kemp).
LMAO. First, GP is the one more likely to leave. Second, Cassell is a me-first whiner. We don't need another dribbler who plays no defense.
How would it not work well? Pippen is doing a good job of it with Por. The fact that the 2 guards are shoot first, is why a point forward is useful. If you had 2 guards who didn't shoot much, then why would you need a point forward?
Cuttino + Rice (or Cato) + EG and change for Caron Butler + Brian Grant (or Eddie Jones) + change and picks if required. PG - Francis SG - Posey and/or Eddie Jones Point Forward) Caron Butler / Tmo / Boki PF) Mo T and/or Brian Grant C) Yao / Cato One of these days, I'm going to make a convert out of you!
And this opinion is based upon...? No offense, but I do not believe you are able to watch the Heat games from your distance. Butler has the handles and the athleticism to perform this function. His assist to TO ratio is not that great but it is nearly identical to Lamar Odom.
I doubt this is going to happen. Although I hope Steve is really considering it and not just mouthing it... who could we get for the point then?
ptw1 You are arguably the only one who sounds dumb (or stupid if you prefer) as well as infantile on this thread. You sound you jsut arrived from Mars - have you heard of Allen Iverson, Calvin Murphy before?
Odom is getting 3.5 assists to 3.0 turnovers. Butler is getting 2.5 assists to 2.32 turnovers. Shane Battier gets 1.3 assists to 0.82 turnovers. James Posey gets 2.2 assists to 1.81 turnovers. All fairly similar AST/TO ratios, but Odom is the only point forward of the group. I like Butler a lot- he's a stud swing man, a good shooter, solid slasher, tough defender, but he's not the guy that allows Francis to slide to the 2. I think if we don't make it to the playoffs this year, Steve will be moved to the 2, and Mobley will be on his way out. I think the only reason we don't see more Steve at the 2 now, is because we lack a competent PG (ugh, Moochie). Of course the only way this works is if we get the PG that can allow Francis to slide to the 2, and follow the Philly model. Who will be our Eric Snow to SF's Iverson? I don't see it being a rookie (TJ is gonna be good though), or unproven prospect (pass on Raul Lopez). I see us making a play for Dre Miller with Mobley as S/T bait, or if Kidd is San Antonio bound, Tony Parker, and also check on guys like Tinsley and Snow himself.
No way SA trades us Tony Parker even if they sign Kidd. The last thing they want is to trade a 20 year old with huge potential to a team in their division. They know how good he is and would never allow him to come back and haunt them for the next 10 years, especially not for Mobley. Jamaal Tinsley is a wretched offensive player. He's a good passer but terrible shooter. Maybe in 3 years he'll develop a decent medium range game (which is necessary for every good PG), but for now we'd be playing 4 v 5, possibly 3 v 5 if we resign James Posey. You don't need to be a super scorer, but teams have to respect you. Philly won't trade Snow unless theyre rebuilding. Theyre just talented and good enough playing in the East to believe they actually have a shot.
Gater, I agree on the potential cap implications of a player like Miller or Snow if he opts out in the future. This type of acquisition would have to go hand in hand with unloading Cato for contracts that would expire at or before Yao and Eddie become FAs. You may not be able to get immediate FAs for Cato, but a player(s) with 2 or so yrs left would be fine. There are plenty of center starved teams that could use a Cato. The Rockets really wont need a backup center as good as Cato next season once Yao is consistently playing 35+ MPG. As far as the point forward issue goes.... Once this team drafted Yao Ming, that basically eliminated the potential of a point forward working. The team already has 3 players that need the ball in Francis, Mobley and Ming; a 4th would be disaster. What I am envisioning is Francis becoming a semi off the ball player that scores a great deal with a true point running the show. Boki would eventually provide an excellent off the ball threat at the 3 spot that understands the game.
NIKE- It wasn't my intention to move SF to the 2. My thinking was Posey and/or Eddie Jones at the 2 and having Butler relieve Francis from some or most of the ball handling chores. If you think about it, the "Philly format" (like MManal stated) is not that much different from what Francis does now. Iverson does not continuously run SG screens, he dribble penetrates and kicks out (sometimes). I guess I just need to realize that mine is a very minority view...but I still think a Point Forward and a good defensive SG (or combo PG) is preferable to moving Francis to the SG entirely. Purely my opinion...mostly intuituion...but I don't like SF at the 2. And I'm not convinced the Rox will trade Cuttino. If the Francis to SG move backfires, it will increase the "hate" postings to another level.
