I agree that the 1st rounder won't be worth much, but those 1st rounders serve as "insurance". In case some mishaps happen to us and we are in trouble, we need picks. Buying insurance almost always is lossing game, but it saves you big time when that 1% happens. If we trade "protected" 1st rounders, then it is differnt and it will be totally fine.
It's my understanding that the TE can't be combined with other exceptions or players to acquire another player. However, it can be used to trade for a single player, whether he's a FA or an existing player under contract. As DaDakota pointed out, if we were to trade the TE for Battie straight up, we'd get our backup center. If Cleveland is under the salary cap (& I believe they are), they can then renounce the TE, which would give them the value of Battie's contract (~$4.8 million) in additional cap space to increase their offer to Boozer. It'd be a win win proposition for both teams.
I like the idea of trading with Seatle. We will get two stiffs that suck, but their cheaper and would come off the books sooner. I like that Utah trade too. If we could get both option one and three to go down I would go crazy, this would be the best offseason ever. C-Yao, James, Potepenko PF-Howard, Potepenko, Padgett SF-Jackson, Boki, Harping SG-T-Mac, Barry, Jackson PG-Arroyo, Lue, Barry We don't realy need Harping, so maybe we can just get Arroyo for the TE? Anyway their is no team in the league that is going to stop that line up, except injuries.
If a late 1st round pick has no value, let's just trade all our 1st round picks. Why not? We don't need the draft. We'll just keep overpaying for 30+ year old role players. Why risk giving out a guaranteed contract. Detroit was stupid as heck to draft Tayshaun Prince a few years ago. Heck, why pay him $2 million, he could be a bust. It's better not to take a chance. Why draft anybody? Let's just build through free agency.
Hottoddie: Trader Ainge of Boston might have some Rocket solutions as far as big men. They must cut back somewhere. Take a look: C, Mark Blount, 7-0, 250, 11-30-75, Pittsburg 99 C, Ernest Brown, 7-0, 245, 5-17-79, Indian Hills CC C, Chris Mihm, 7-0, 265, 7-16-79, Texas 00 C, Michael Stewart, 6-10, 230, 4-24-75, California 97 FC, Raef LaFrentz, 6-11, 245, 5-29-74, Kansas 98 FC, Kendrick Perkins, 6-10, 280, 11-10-84, Ozen HS of Port Arthur F, Al Jefferson, 6-9, 265, 1-4-85, Prentiss HS in Mississippi They also have a spare point guard: PG, Marcus Banks, 6-2, 200, 11-19-81, Nevada-Las Vegas 03 Trading Nachbar, IMO, would hurt us in the long run, so let's figure out a deal that helps us player wise and capwise while still appealing to Ainge. I would like to acquire RFA Chris Mihm, but Perkins may be the sleeper.
I think we can get Elden Campbell and a pick from Detroit for the TE. With that deal, Detroit can go ahead and renounce the exception, and comfortably be able to re-sign both Okur and Wallace. Right now, the deal they're offering Okur is not as good as Phoenix and Utah will offer, but with this deal they can match these offers. Campbell becomes our backup for one year then comes off the cap. We get a draft pick to compensate. The capspace is very valuable to Detroit.
We're built. We're not building. Re-building is over. I know we've been doing it for so long that you can't imagien being out of it, but it's over.
At the end of this month, Campbell will be 36 years old. Don't you think we can get a better value with our T-E? IMO, this helps Detroit tremendously and doesn't do much for the Rocks. Even getting a future #1 from them is not appealing because it will almost be a second rounder .... and it's a future pick, which won't help us in the here and now.
Why? 1. Late first rounders dont cost as much and you can lock em in for 4-5 years cheap 2. We have a young team, and if we get Brent Barry (who is 32), we are going to need a young PG to groom under him. Plus another youngun to groom under Jackson. 3. The insurance thing mentioned earlier. Lets say Yao breaks his hand or something, and we fall into the lottery. I want that pick.
Yeah, I don’t see the point in throwing in 1st round draft picks, even if they are going to be low. If these teams are willing to give up these players for a late first rounder, they’ll probably give them up for nothing. These draft picks can be valuable to the Rockets. Not because there’s a ton of talent late in the first round. Because it gives them a young player that they can shape and mold into the player they want them to be. Just like the Lakers have done with Rush, Fisher, Walton, and George. These are not talented players and they probably won’t have much success outside of LA. But they’ve been molded into the type of players that fit in LA and have contributed.
Originally posted by Locke 1. Late first rounders dont cost as much and you can lock em in for 4-5 years cheap. The point is that, yes, they can be locked in for cheap, but why lock in a mediocre player? That player has the team locked in rather than vice versa. 2. We have a young team, and if we get Brent Barry (who is 32), we are going to need a young PG to groom under him. Plus another youngun to groom under Jackson.. We have two. Their names are Reece Gaines and Mike Wilks. Wilks has experience running the team under JVG, and Reece has the pedigree. 3. The insurance thing mentioned earlier. Lets say Yao breaks his hand or something, and we fall into the lottery. I want that pick. Injury and rotation are the prime reasons for having quality backups. Injuries generally are not permanent, but airplane crashes and car wrecks occur. You can't really plan for that. As long as the first rounder is lottery protected, then the answer to your first question is answered again.
I agree with your lottery protection statement....I could live with that. I dont buy that Gaines or Wilks are the future PG of the Rox. However, this Greek kid is supposed to be all that and the kitchen sink, so maybe that's CD's Master Plan. Mediocre players locked in....well, its hard to tell how our scouting dept in the past two drafts. Actually, if you look at our last picks over the past few years, its difficult to grasp if we are good judges of talent in the draft. 2004 1st - traded 2004 2nd- Spanoulis...we'll see 2003 1st - traded 2003 2nd - Badiane (sp?)....I have no idea 2002 1st - Yao....no brainer..even my dog woulda drafted him #1 2002 1stb - Boki...showing some promise, fingers crossed 2002 2nd - Maddox...loser 2001 1st - Griffin...wasnt really scouted, and blew up (still worth the gamble, imho) 2001 2nd - Terrence Morris...Happy Birthday, Stevie 2000 1st - Collier....played well last season for Atl. 2000 2nd - Dan Langhi....Vandy players never pan out. 1999 1st - Kenny Thomas...GREAT PICK. 1999 2nd - Washington and Hamilton....bleah. So maybe we should just build on free agency.
I think its still quite possible that SEA will use the TE with us in a sign and trade of Barry, if they decide not to match or exceed our MLE offer to Barry. Either way, we should sign a backup center, such as Brian Skinner with our 1.7 mil exception, and wait for good deals, like we did last year, when Jim Jackson showed up. If we get Barry, I think we are fine at every position, except for PF. Unless we can get a bruiser PF, who adds some muscle and defense in the paint, and can keep opponents off of Yao, then we should keep Howard. If there was some way to get Ronald Murray from SEA, I think he's an up and comer. I'd also like to do something to get Duhon from CHI, who drafted him in the second round. I still believe he'd be good for us long term. I'd love to move Taylor or Spoon somehow. I don't see Spoon going anywhere. SEA might be interested in Taylor, if we took some bad contracts off their hands, such as Booth, James or Potapenko. There might be some kind of deal where we get Barry, Potapenko, James and Murray for Taylor, our TE, and a future draft pick, but I doubt it. Otherwise, we might be able to use our TE and Howard to get Brian Grant from MIA. But, that's a pretty stiff contract to take on, even unloading Howard's. But, he's the only bruiser PF I see that's a possibility to start for us, and MIA really wanted Howard in the past. If we're looking at the next 3 years, that would be a pretty strong group, with a mixture of intelligence, youth, veterans, depth, and unselfish hardworking guys. Yao/Skinner Grant/Taylor/E.Griffin/Spoon JJ/Boki/A.Griffin TMac/Pike/Gaines Barry/Lue/Wilks or Duhon
Can anyone help me out with the numbers on the trade exception and how the trade exception actually works?? It would start at 6.9 mio., right? How much would then, e.g., a five or six-year contract be in total? In other words, how much can the amounts escalate per year? Could we use the trade exception in a sign-and-trade, and what would be the other team's incentive to agree to such a trade??
Okay, here is an idea : 1) Trade Taylor and Weatherspoon and Gaines and a 2nd rounder to Miami for Brian Grant. I think Miami would do it because they desperately want to get rid of Grant, and they might think Weatherspoon's and Taylor's contract might be easier to trade separately. Plus, Weatherspoon's contract runs a year shorter than Grant's. Grant is a power forward that does not score much, but is a good rebounder and defender, which is what we need, I think. Also, he can play backup center a bit. 2) Get Brent Barry for the MLE. The rumored offer we made to him, if I am not mistaken (????). Seattle would not have to agree to this, right? The MLE is not used in a sign-and-trade, as the trade exception would be?! 3) Sign another veteran backup point guard as insurance for the minimum (1-year contract). My choice would be either Brevin Knight or Charlie Ward. Mark Jackson is simply too old at this point. 4) Sign some backup center 7footer for the minimum Someone like Jason Collier or so...someone who comes cheap, but is a big body to guard and foul and wear down the opposing center. I guess we can't get Brian Skinner that cheap... Team and Minutes: PG: Barry (26), Lue (18), Knight (4) SG: Jim Jackson (20), T-Mac (20), Barry (8), Piatkowski (IR) SF: T-Mac (20), Jim Jackson (14), Boki (14), A. Griffin (IR) PF: Howard (26), Grant (22) Padgett (IR) C: Yao Ming (36), Grant (8), Collier (4) If I am not mistaken, we would still have the trade exception to work with, too...
