Carl Landry has playing out of his mind lately, but in all honestly he's just a Chuck Hayes that can finish around the basket. Heres my breakdown comparison of the players of whos better at what. Defense(Drawing charges, man on man defense, team defense): Chuck Hayes> Landry Rebounding: Hayes = Landry Passing: Hayes > Landry Offense(Jump shooting, Free Throws, Finishing) : Landry >>> Hayes Theres no doubt the boy can finish, and he has a so-so jumpshot(perfer Scola taking those shots any day). Thing is, he can't create for himself or for his teammates. He'll never be the player that draws double teams and open up other players. He won't out rebound other PFs. He might develop his defense in stopping them, but thats about it. For that kind of ability, I doubt any team in the league is willing the spend MLE+ money. Look at Varejao, he has proven to deliver in the playoffs hustling, rebounding, hitting shots when need be, and can only ink a 3 year 17 million dollar contract.
Couple things: Yao injury might be the biggest help in getting him back. We'll likely make playoffs still but won't go far if anywhere at all in them. This will leave him with a taste in his mouth but a thought of we could win it all next year with Yao healthy. Money isn't everything. While the Rockets have to be close on the dollars he'll factor in quality of team too. If the Sonics, Memphis, Miami etc. offer him a few hundred thousand more he'll probably stay because those are the worst teams and don't look like they will compete for quite a while. The team we have to be most worried about and I don't know their cap situation is Milwaukee. He is extremely loyal to his home town and while at Purdue has said it would cool to go to the Bucks and make them good again (don't have links just the memory of him saying it on local TV at Purdue). All his family is up in that area too and Houston is a long way away. I fear Milwaukee and Chicago the most. There's a thought. Ben Gordon is in the same boat as Landry. Gordon obviously has much more value on the market but maybe both teams realizing they can never keep the one they've had sign and trade as a swap (Rockets giving up something else also to make the deal work money wise).
Landry's a lot more than Chuck Hayes on the offensive end. You get the ball to Landry anywhere near the basket and it's a dunk if he's not fouled immediately. His free-throw shooting needs work, but it's already miles ahead of Chuck's. Landry also has a decent midrange jumper and a reliable little hook shot. He does need to work on his offensive game obviously. Post up moves, a turnaround jumper, better ballhandling so he can slash to the hoop, etc. But all this will come in time. The guy's just a rookie after all.
A good scoring Chuck Hayes is a very good PF. If Hayes could score he would be a legit starter. Teams will likely look at Landry as a guy one year removed from draft that has shown all kinds of potential. If I were a GM I would approach him with the thought process of he's a 1st round talent prospect that has already gone through the rookie struggles of adapting. Based on how much team's value first rounders I won't be surprised to see a team give up a MLE and then some for him.
Thanks to those helping to clarify the Gilbert Arenas rule - I think that may be a prominent deciding factor. I do believe the floor for his services will be $3.5 mill. Maybe he is undersized, but he's been a dynamo off the bench - over 7 and 5 in 15 mpg for the season, over 10 and 7 in just more than 20 mpg after the ASB...hitting with fair range, moving well without the ball, decent defense, strong effort on the board, getting to the line....when you extrapolate those numbers over just 30 mpg, you're looking at a solid starter. Evan
Sounds like he'd like you to rep him. As for extrapolation, I do not know that the numbers will work that well if/when Mandry (using the other poster's nickname for CL) gets 30 mpg.
A factor to consider is that restricted free agents do not often get their "full market value" due to their restricted status. The RFA's team can essentially "chill the bidding" by threatening to match any offer for its RFA. Few teams will want to tie up their cap room (or their MLE) for 7 days (or more, if you count the time it takes to negotiate the original offer sheet) and risk losing out on other free agents. What this means is that the Rockets may be able to play their cards so that no other team even makes an offer to Landry. This will enable the Rockets to re-sign him at far below his value on the open market. Sure, it sucks for Landry. But such is the nature of restricted free agency in the NBA these days.
come on guys, we all love Landry but hes no franchise player. no GM in their right minds would pay an undersized sophomore more than MLE. only a few teams will be under cap this summer, they will be chasing Artest like, we should lock him up toss away the key before that chase is over.
