Well...you could always trade away all the players besides Francis and Yao and pick up 8 minimum wage guys.
I would love to have Oakley replacing Collier's spot on the team. Collier's worthless anyways and with Oakley, he doesn't even have to play. Someone elbows Yao or Steve, put Oakley in. And who cares if he gets suspended. He would be our Maurice Lucas and that's an underestimated role in today's game. Think of the presence on this team and in the locker room. If we assume everything will be built around Yao, he'd love this guy and vice a versa.
Dude, shut up and make some more wallpaper! I use your work daily as my desktop a lot. I appreciate the effort you must put into those things. Thanks. What's odd about Maddox is that you look at the guy and he seems like a nice guy, but I guess looks don't tell the story. I still say to this day his game sucks and he was no better than Tierre Brown. His potential may be better, but his jumper and decision-making when in the paint were absolutely horrific from what little I saw him play. Anyway, back to the Doc Rocket Decryption contest...
Doc, any chance that Les will be willing to go over the Luxury Tax a little to close a deal? He needs to sell a LOT of suites and seats in the new arena. And, any hints as to who might be brought on as an assistant coach (or two) to shake things up and take over if Rudy has further health problems next season? Or winning problems? (assuming he's not bumped upstairs)
I have to think if we move Steve to the 2 any SG we acquire would be through FA (no trade). A Jon Barry type would make a lot of sense. L. Harris or Voshon Lenard are a couple of other decent eastern back-up 2 guards who are FAs. Reggie Miller too (the Pacers have a lot of work to do this offseason, maybe Miller is out an available for the MCE¡Xtalk about a guy the Spurs could use) I have a hard time seeing us having the value out there for two major moves landing the likes of Brand and Payton caliber player w/o involving Yao or Steve. Players with at least some market value we could put on the block.... Mobley (good-modest value) Griff (good-modest value) Cato (modest-low value) Mo (modest-low value) Boki (modest value--decent prospect at cheap contract) Posey (would be good-modest value but teams might just offer MCE) Rice (modest value because of expiring contract) Someone the caliber of Brand would require Cat, Griff, plus more. That doesn't leave much for a trade for a PG. Likewise, for GP I think you have to start with like Cat, Griff and Cato or the like--not much left to trade for a 4 with. I think our best bet is finding Milwalkee or the Clips desperate, on the verge of losing their big man FAs for nothing, and getting players lower than market value. Brand would be a prize, we can only hope. Some other 4s of possible interest: ¡K..West¡K. Swift (trade, is FA next year) Campbell (FA) Malone (FA doubtfully had for MCE, thus likely S & T the only way) Howard (FA doubtfully had for MCE, ¡K.. S & T) TD (he is a FA ya know, S & Tƒº) Clarke (FA, maybe MCE) ¡K..East..... J Oneal (no chance other than S & T) Ratliff (FA or S & T, has player option in 03) Coleman (FA, yuck!) Kenny Thomas (FA, yeah right?) PJ Brown (FA doubtfully had for MCE, ¡K.. S & T) Of these I think the most plausible are Swift, Howard, Brown or Ratliff, none of which should take more than either Griff or Cat + salary filler, or maybe had for less (Ratliff for something like Cato, Boki). Campbell or Clarke could probably be had for the MCE but neither is a thrilling signing as a starter at least. How about 1s in the East? Personally, unless we get Payton (possible) or Kidd (all but impossible w/o Francis) or Alvin Williams (possible but difficult) I have a hard time seeing how our back-court will be better next year taking on a new PG and losing Cat. I wouldn¡¦t overpay for Payton (not Griff and Cat unless we get someone else of future value) given his age¡Xthough I would explore to see if Milwalkee is asking for the best offers. Crawford is intriguing I admit, but remember he has less NBA point guard experience than Francis so I wouldn¡¦t expect immediate results. Also, how is Crawford¡¦s defense?
Thank you 'Doc' very stimulating news! Its enough to get the wheels and cogs turning! If the Forum speculation as to the players, then my fantasy needs for the Rockets will be fulfilled and all my many posts on what the Rockets need to do ,will have not been in vain. I do think that Moochie could be packaged and save Les some money. If he gets the players we are thinking about then he must realise that he is going to go over the cap!
Has anybody ever considered a Barkley type signing to land Malone. Sign him for one year at the MCE them give him around 10 million for year 2. That's one way we could get him. I hate Karl by the way.
How about that kind of deal for J Oneal or Brand. The problem (I think is they would have to wait 2-3 years) before we have Bird Rights and can give them the max. Oh, and of course with Brand, the Clips can tender him the initial offer and then match--though this could be a dangerous road for them (better off trading before it gets to this point).
Im not an expert by any means,so take my advice with a grain of salt. Doesnt cassell make close to 10 mil a year? If yes,then if anybody still wants him,ah nevermind. Let me break it down s-l-o-w-l-y. Look at it from Mings perspective. His contract is up in 3 years and he can walk if he sees no future in the rockets. All of you posters on this thread want a 40 year old Malone,and a 37? year old payton. They already suck. malone has a great offense to play with,on our team with iso,iso,iso he will be badly exposed. Same goes with payton.But thats not the issue. The issue is this. Griffin has about 15 good years left in him(so to speak) Mobley at age 28,has about 7 years left. Why would you guys want to trade away 15 years,and 7 years,for only 1 or 2 years max from malone and payton? But ,you know that the contract the rox get payton for wont be just 1 year. It wil be an assinine 3-5 year deal so he can suck up more cap space. When mings contract is over,malone will be 44 and suck a$$,payton will be 40 and suck a$$,and there will be no mobley or griffin to rebuild upon. So ming will wonder why the hell he should stick around a rebuilding team in 2006. Think about that guys. Ming also said what he likes about the rockets is our youth. If we trade away our youth for vets,then say adios to ming.
I know. Williams has all kind of problems feeding the post. He has a good assist to turnover ratio because he is not a playmaker. Talk about a SG in a PG body. If you think Steve and Cat are redundant, adding an injury prone Williams is twice as bad. Also, Odom seems to be high on many lists. Shouldn't his off court problems (weed smoking, etc) throw up red flags? I guess in today's NBA that is the norm.
PG From the EAST............Sam Cassell = Vet PG SG From the EAST............Michael Redd = Execellent Shooter PF From the WEST........... Brand or Malone = Tough Inside Prescence to protect Ming Now, the question is what would it take to get them? Would Moochie and Mobley be enough to get Sam I AM and Redd? Cato and Griffin for Brand? Taylor for Malone?
Moochie's contract was never "bad" because of the amount it was "bad" because of the length. Moochie is owed $15.5m for 4 more seasons. Ironically, the length is a huge advantage when trying to "cut" Moochie! For example... A contract buyout is amortized over the remaining life of a contract. It would be a very generous proposal to offer Moochie $5m right now (which also allows him to try out for another team). The $5m is amortized over the remaining 4 years at $1.25 per year. This reduction of ~$2.25m in total team contract value gives the Rox some cushion when approaching the LTax and may make using a portion of the MLE a more viable option.
I dont know for sure the price. But,man,I could have sworn I heard on 610 last summer that the bucks made a bad mistake resigning cassell's contract extension for about 10 mil a year. Maybe that didnt go through. Either that,or maybe the story was cassell wanted 10 mil,but the bucks only offered half,and made cassell mad. I dont remember the whole story. Someone with access to players salaries please speak up. Also,I read on sonic forums that payton wanted close to 16 million a year for 3 years at 45 million. Thats why he was traded. After,taylor,cato,moochie,rice,I doubt Les will pay that much again for a semi-star. Btw,Odom doesnt want close to max. About 6 mil per year will be enough to sign him outright. Thats why Doc didnt hear anything about posey. Cuttino is GONE. Posey is GONE. Steve is the SHOOTING GUARD and boki/morris hold up the sf. They are probably debateing whether they should sign odom. When Doc said miller,I was totally surprised. After Miller choked on those two free throws,I didnt think the rox would have any interest. Unless francis is included. francis/mobley/griffin/MLE for brand/odom/miller miller/odom/morris/brand/ming Gater,can this lineup be done?
Whew, by the time I got through this thread, it has already grown to 4 pages. Talk about the power of Doc Rocket! Maybe we should make this thread a sticky, so all trade talks can be referred back to here. OK, we are getting rid of three guards: Mobley, Moochie, and Maddox, and getting (at least) two back from the East. It has to be a starting PG and a capable backup SG for the three-guard rotation to work well. Also, the starting PG must be a pass-first guy. Does Cassell qualify? I doubt it. He needs the ball as much as Francis and Mobley do. From Doc's second post, Malone seems to be "the PF from the West." If that's the case, we'll get him not by trade but by FA signing. How are we going to get rid of Moochie? Cut him and get Maloney back? Oh my! Got to ship him as baggage with some sweetie baits. Do we have enough value to trade for two star quality players at PG and PF. Not really. How about one star and one role starter? Mobley and Griffin should give us one near-star guy, like those Clippers. And Rice and some changes might get us a decent starter and a bad contract. But if we can't move Moochie in a trade, then we'll have too many bad contracts. Man, this is blowing my mind. Good thing we have a whole summer to figure it out.
