m_cable, cool post. also, nice idea that you're repeating these FAQs. makes for one-stop shopping on getting up to date with the Rox! now, if you could indulge me on more talk Coaches often want 3 PGs to make more certain that they'll have 2 healthy PGs for running practices throughout the year, particularly defensive oriented coaches. They want one PG for the home team and one for the scout team. Some coaches say, "ah, I can still run a decent practice by sliding a SG over," while others subscribe to the theory that they can't simulate opponent offenses without their a dedicated scout PG. What's my point: well, mainly to add more than a "cool post" reply, or sumpin like that. Oh, I remember my point: just because we have 3 PGs doesn't mean JVG will ever have 3 on the active roster at one point. He might. I primarily see Lucas as a practice team PG for studying the opps with the assistant coaches and showing up for practice ready to run the opposing team's offense. That said: when everyone is healthy, I can still see him getting time as backup when we are playing against the lightning fast quirts out there. But I'm pretty sure JVG's "insistence of having 3 PGs" is more about running practices using 3 PG rotations.
Well I wouldn't say it's a waste of time. These guys get NBA coaching, and run NBA sets, which is something you wouldn't get at Fonde. Novak for example got to show off his off-the-ball movement ability, coming off picks to catch and shoot jumpers. No way would he get that kind of oppurtunity Fonde. Setting a staggered screen to get a guy an open jumper? I don't think so. Also summer league isn't just about working out our draft picks, but is also an organized venue to scout for roster additions. Two free agents from our summer league last year ended up making our team (Baxter and Hayes) and a guy that was on Minny's team, one of teams in our league, was John Lucas. So it's hard for me to say that this wasn't useful exercise for our team. I have other opinions on the subject, but I'll expand on them later. As for your other questions: IF SURA IS UNABLE TO PLAY AND RETIRES IS HIS SALARY ON THE CAP? That's a very good question. I need to add that to a future FAQ. The short answer is that if Sura doesn't play another game for us and has to retire for league accepted medical reasons, we can petition to have him come off the books one year after his last game. It's a bit more complicated than that, but that's the basics for now. I THOUGHT THE FIGURE WAS CLOSER TO THE $4mm MARK? Hoopshype shows our commitment to the 06-07 season at about $56 million without V-span's ~$1.7 million. The luxury tax is set at $65 million. So $7-8 mill sounds about right. WHO IS WORTH 3/12mm (OR 5/20mm)? I bet Wright could come for that 3/12 mill figure. I don't see him getting full mle money for any amount of years. And possibly Ely could be had for one year at the rest of our MLE with a player option for year two. With Othella going to the bobcats, Ely could be odd man out with the bobcats not looking to match. Fred Jones might get done for 5 years 20 mill. Not sure if I want to shell out that much, but it's an option. JJ HAS BEEN PUBLICLY PROMISED THE FULL MLE BY WIZ. WHAT ABOUT BASTON FOR A WHOLE LOT LESS THAN LO OR ELY? Well I guess we can cross off Jeffries of the list. I'm not familiar with this Baston fella though.
I've heard one GM (not CD) say that you typically want 3 Cs and 3 PGs on the roster (though not neccesarily on the active roster, much less the active rotation). Basically, the idea is that these are the positions that require some specialized skills (achoring the defense for C, setting up the offense for PG) that you want a starter, a backup, and a injury insurance in case one of the top 2 guys get hurt. If you only have 2 Cs or 2 PGs, if one gets hurt, you might have to play the other one huge minutes or get stuck playing an undersized PF at the 5 (less of a problem vs. smaller teams, but a killer if you play against Big Z, Yao, or Shaq) or playing a SG at the 1 (a problem unless that SG has good court vision and passing instincts) for a big chunk of the game.
1. Hoopshype included Charlie Ward's 1.5 mil on that list... he's actually off the books already. Medical retirement, as you mentioned. I also think they reached a buyout with him. So, it's more like 55 mil without JL, Kill Bill, and Novak. 2. My guess, judging by CD's interview, would be that they are pursuing trades which may well make a Ely/Wright type acquisition unneccesary. These guys might be backup plans, but there hasn't even been any rumors about them (like there were with Banks, etc, even before MJ signed with Minny). If that Mihm/Howard/Head deal is actually being pursued, I'd have to guess the Rockets wants a backup PG back in the deal (again, I'm on the Sasha bandwagon).
I totally agree with you. We'll probably sign Lucas as our 3rd point guard and he probably won't suit up all the time. But that section of my comments were more about getting a legitimate back-up PG. That was something that JVG really seemed to stress in his most recent radio interviews. And looking on the roster, I don't know if you can say that we have a legitimate backup (all Rafer jokes aside). So I was just wondering if JVG can live with some combination of Luther, V-span and Lucas playing primary back-up PG minutes or whether we're still in the market for a PG.
Yeah if Howard gets sent out for Mihm and Cook, then our frontcourt would pretty much be set. Mihm would backup at C and play PF against some bigger 4's and Cook would form the main rotation with Hayes and Battier. But I was hesitant about commenting on that deal since it's come up empty so far. The lakerspride guy comes in, says that deal is imminent, but two days later we haven't heard a peep about it. No rumors, coming out of LA, which is strange since they have rumors about anybody and everybody. To be honest, I don't see the Lakers trading for Juwan's contract not matter how well he would perform in the triangle. Juwan's value is as a salary dump for an even worse contract. I don't see getting a couple expiring deals out of a trade.
Yeah... I don't see it realistically happening, either... but apparently they are high on Luther Head (who seems a great fit for the triangle). The thing is, if it happens, I don't see the Rockets get back anything valuable... probably giving up Juwan and Luther for just Mihm and McKie... and maybe one contract they want to dump anyway and can't really trade for much value. They'd probably throw in a 2nd round pick and some cash along with Luther and Juwan just to get a spare part like Cook or Sasha back. I know I'm dreaming... but as much as they are paying Phil to coach that team, I don't see them just waiting around for the supposed bumper crop of 2007 free agents (and even that's looking thin nowadays with all the bigger names already extended).
Van Gundier, To have 3 PGs or 2 was a bigger issue back when your IR was actually supposed to have injuries...rather than a place to stash insurance players; that is, back when it was rarer to be carrying 15 contracts. Even still, I find some coaches are not too worried about carrying only 2 PGs who they deem worthy of playing. If one goes down, it's not that hard to find a stopgap vet PG off the wire, much easier than probably any other position, certainly easier that the C position. I'd guess he'll base this on how well he feels we play defense at PG...ie, stop those quick farts who screw with us all the time. Meaning, I'm sure he's more worried about stopping penetration than scoring/play-making from the PG position, given how important it is to keep Yao's fouls down and given the other scoring options we have, respectively. Not sure how that plays out in whether we are still in the market for a PG, but, until we see Lucas against NBA competition again and what Billy can do, I think it is safe to say that PG remains our weakest position. Especially since Luther is a better SG than PG, imo, and my gut instinct is Spanoulis probably is, too. Last year, Luther seemed to only play PG out of necessity, but proved he can play defense there. Based on following Spanoulis' progress through euroleague websites over the past two years, he was supposed to be a PG more exclusively, but seems to play more SG now. Not sure if that is an indictment of his PG skills/instincts or a tribute to his ability to actually play two positions, and not just out of necessity. All that said, if you would to tell me I could only trade to shore up one position, my take is PG by committee leaves a bad taste in my mouth, but I can swallow it; likewise I can swallow this PF by committee and by small lineups, too....so, trade based on talent, not position. ...sigh, I think that last sentence of mine just depressed me. I'll have to go read your post again to cheer me up.
Thanks. I am not as positive about summer leagues as you, obviously, but so what...I appreciate your points. Baston is in Israel, a former NBA washout who is supposed to be NBA developed as a back-up 4/5, and willing to come back to the States cheaply. With his (alleged? presumed?) hunger I wonder if he's worth a look see. BTW - I hope your Lux Cap figure is ballpark. That would give Rox opportunity to take back contracts to make up for talent deficiencies in trades. Keep these coming, you're doing well with them!
m_cable wonderful job. as with the kirk snyder analysis, this was very informative. I have a question however. So now that we have our combo guard, do you think we go after a backup sg/sf, a starting sg, or a starting pf?
I don't think we neccesarily disagree. I think what Van Gundy meant by 3 PG wasn't 3 guys who are all worthy of major playing time and making significant money. That didn't work out very well with Denver having Miller, Watson, and Byokins and Watson wasn't happy just sitting. The 3rd guy is most likely a kid like JL or an insurance vet like Pargo. The problem with the Rockets last year was that they had one halfway decent PG in Rafer and no one else really of quality. They had to scramble big time when Rafer went down, and even after his return they ended up having to give quite a few minutes to Brunson. You need 2 quality guys and an insurance. This way if one of the top guys go down, at least you have some sort of choice between your insurance guy (who knows your system and might just step up and produce) and someone you can get from trades or FA signing. Also, while it's probably easier to get another decent PG in the market than another C, it's not easy enough for you to just count on it. I mean, Rocket had to get Brunson and they were not alone. Why do you think New Orleans volunteered to take the remainder of Moochie's contract?
Depends on where management wants to go. Are we still in the market for a backup point? Can starting caliber players be brought in on our budget with our assets. I'm sure backup PF/C is on on the list, and probably a solid defender that can guard SGs. If I had my guess, I'd put our needs at backup big man first, then a utility swing defender, and then backup PG if we can afford it.
My virgin eyes are hemorrhaging! Good post if JVG was a character in the movie Kill Bill, who would he be?
That's easy: Pai Mei Just like Pai Mei, JVG is a cranky, demanding, authoritative teacher with an intensely, pissed off demeanor and the ability make a person's heart explode by hitting five specific pressure points.... err.... Okay maybe it's not a perfect analogy, but it's close enough.
I wonder if Matt Haryasz will end up being the 15th Man/emergency big on the roster, if they ended up making some moves. He looked decent in the summer league and has had a good college career. Seems he needs to work on his body, though.. a little skinny.
Good job, m_cable! I was actually scraching my head why would Rockets be able to sign V-Span before reading this thread. Oh if JVG is Pai Mei, who would be Elle then? David Stern? Morey? Clutch Fans? Or someone else?
