Errr, just WHEN did SF become a "top five PG"? Anyway, you are dead on about the insanty. All these folks must think that CD has been cloned and is now working all over the NBA as GM and that his clones are ready to make the same dumbass deals that CD has been making around here for years. Oh and forget about Wallace, he'll command far more than the Rockets can and will pay - Malik Rose is along the lines of someone the Rox should be looking at. Cat needs to shut up and go off somewhere to practice hitting his open shots.
BINGO! Well said. Of course you are guilty of trying to interject logic and practical sense into the discussion but on the whole, an excellent post.
On Charlotte; This is what would go down, if I am correct. Not saying that it will. Charlotte's salary cap is 2/3rds that of the league, about $30 million. Expansion draft is June 22nd, two days before the NBA rookie draft. The rules are here. Assuming the Rockets want to move SF3 and MoT's bad contract (Spoon may be more realistic, but I doubt he's the one JVG wants gone) essentially for the #4 pick, here's what would likely happen. -In the expansion draft, Charlotte takes Maurice Taylor. Houston recieves a $8.4 million trade exception to replace the lost player. Charlotte later waives Taylor to remove him from their salary cap but has to eat the $27 million remaining on his contract. -The Steve end of the deal is trickier. He can not be dealt simply for the #4 pick in the draft (before the draft), since picks do not count towards matching salaries. The trade would need to take place after the Rockets select (Deng?) through Charlotte and the rookie wage of ~ $3 million would be packaged with an additional $8 million of expansion draft salaries for Steve. -End result? Charlotte = Gets an All-Star Combo Guard to draw fans, making a little more than a third of their salary cap. Stuck with an addition $27 million tab for the waived Mo T. Houston = Recieves the #4 (Deng, probably), 3 or so overpaid backups making a combined $8 million, a $8.4 million trade exception to go along with the $7 million trade exception from the Glen Rice deal, and go from a Team Salary of $51 million to $43 million. Now, the biggest obstacle in this scenario. We will not be the only team trying to take advantage of Charlotte in this manner. Phoenix and the Clippers in particular are gunning hard to free up a little more cap space for Kobe, and Orlando is dying to unload Hill on them. While Charlotte could draft these players, they still must pay in full anyone they waive. That will add up FAST. Since they have such a small cap, they can not hide huge contracts on the roster. We will have BIG competition to be the one or two lucky teams to unload an overpaid player. The team is already on record saying they are not willing to pay off a near-max or max contract because of the financial hit. The question will be if Steve is enough of a carrot for them. If pulled off, we would be in a position of being a big player with the two TEs. I'd say the chances of this all happening is remote. If the team does not have player waiting to be brought in, it would be an absolute disaster. Evan
On the Mario/Rose incident. Rose undercut Mario on purpose, and Mario broke his wrist. Rose didn't even apologize for his dirty play. Perhaps subsequently he has, but that was one thing that made Mario the maddest. Jalen didn't even have the class to apologize. I hate Rose. Trading Steve for just #4 pick in the Charlotte deal sounds bad. If we can't get a good deal for Steve, then we shouldn't trade him. Steve isn't untouchable and most certainly we should look into possible trade deals for him. But I don't think this should be a 'we must get rid of Steve at all costs' type of thing, where we lose him and get only half value back in retrun. I'd be happy not trading him, or trading him if the right deal was available. These deals are not the right deals. If these things end up freeing up some money for a free agent that we know will sign, then that might be another story too.
The talk in Dallas is that the Raptors might make a run at Steve this off season. Wait, that's Steve as in Steve Nash. He's canadian, they can sign him without taking away from their current team and keep their draft pick. The reason Nash leaves the Mavs is because he wants one last, long term deal, and the speculation in Dallas is that they might not give him as long a contract as he wants, 6 years. Take that for what it's worth. Great thread, Doc. Thanks for all you contribute to this board.
Only way I trade with Toronto is Vince Carter or Chris Bosh would have to be in this deal Thats it. I can see what Toronto would be trying to do Steve Franchise and Vince Carter plus Chris Bosh and Cato would be freakin great in the east.. They would be the most exciting team in the NBA Steve and VInce would live on Sportcenter top 10 plays I can see it know... p.s. Please don't make this trade Houston will REGRET IT!!!!! NO WAY I WOULD'NT TRADE STEVE TO BOBCATS FOR DRAFT PICKS. if i trade steve francis i would have to get a simaliar star (Brand,Amare Stoudemire, Caron Butler, Lamar Odom, Rashard Lewis) or a Superstar( A.I., T-Mac, Kobe, Vince Carter) I can't beleive the front office would even consider trading a player like steve for Jalen Rose+trash or Draft Picks..Francis gives us 20pts10rbs6asst 2stls a game plus he plays his heart out for this team. and he put HOUSTON back on the map along with Yao Ming so NO NO NO NO NO NO NO we can't trade STEVIE FRANCHISE that wouldnt be wise. i know steve does commit alot off turnovers but he was learning a new system this year..
He was brought in to win immediately. He didn't do it. So no, he hasn't done what he was brought in for.
Given how tough the western conference has become, I think he did a fine job on bringing us back to playoffs in his first year. If we are still eliminated from first round in 2005/2006, then we have problems.
TheFreak, if you think that there is anyone that has ever lived who could have coached the rox to a title this year then you are completely out of touch with reality.
Great stuff. I want JVG to be here next year, and I want him to be gone after that. I've always said that we shouldn't keep him too long - just long enough for the team to learn defense and discipline properly. I was happy that we replaced Rudy with JVG, and I am happy with what JVG has done. I would be even happier if Rudy is brought back after next season - he can finally lead us to a championship, and unleash a system that will make an improved Yao dominant. As for the deal, I thought about it some more.... I just wouldn't do it, unless the pick is top 3 and we know it. Any of Okafor, Howard, or Deng would be terriffic. However, if the pick is not top 3, then I wouldn't like it.
Pete is a very streaky shooter. Actually he is one of the most inconsistent shooters in the league. He can easily make his first 5 shots and then miss next 15. He can also easily in long shooting slump without any specific reasons. I don't think he'll become the consistent contributor that JVG are looking for this Rockets team.
I think we can do better for a 2 time starting all star that the 3rd and 4th best players on a team that didn't make the playoffs in the weaker conference. And I'm not sure that a mid lottery pick will give us any help in the next few years. I don't think we'll seriously consider this one- there will be better offers...
I think Rocket River made an excellent point. If Van Gundy may not be here after next year, then why are we rocking the boat before we know what type of system we will be rebuilding around?
We are playing much much better defense. We won more games this year than last. We made the playoffs this year and didn't the last few years. Sounds like what we brought him in for...
Bashing JVG? You? No way... Don't mind him Hayes. He misses the days of Stevie ISO'ing and Moochie dribbling down the shotclock. I guess the lottery was your favorite part of the last 5 years of the RT era?
The GARM is going to file a medical malpractice class action suit against Doc Rocket for raising our collective blood pressure to stroke level. DR deserves a laurel and hardy handshake. Seriously, thanks for the info, Doc. I think this off-season is going to be as rowdy as the summer of the Yao Ming draft. No one in his right mind can really propose realistic trades until we know the draft order, assuming we want a draft pick with a current player(s) in a deal for SF3.
