With free agency just an hour away i would like to propose my ideal non superstar situation for the rockets. Before i continue, there have been no rumors that i have heard of concerning these players, so this is strickly fun speculation. The first aquisition would be to go after Gerald Wallace. He is making a modest ~$10-12 million each season for the next 3 years, which to me is underpaid. Now looking at last years charlotte squad a big piece that they were missing was a solid bruising PF and a veteran leader. Felton did all he could, but they were just missing that natural born leader. So as much as i hate to do it i would offer Battier/Hill for Wallace. I believe that charlotte has enough depth at the wing position to fill the void of wallace, and in return they get that veteran they desperately need as well as a legit PF. Their two power forwards last year were Tyrus Thomas and Boris Diaw, not exactly your convention 4. If that is not enough, we may be able to sweeten the deal with taylor or future draft considerations. After that our main focus would be to try to sign a legit backup C. With the lack of minutes and opportunities after he was traded to the Mavericks last year, i believe that we can scoop up Brendan Haywood for a little less than the full MLE, but if need be i think he is worth the MLE. Then, as long as Les is still a man of his word we will match the lowry and scola contracts. This would be our squad for next year: Brooks/Lowry Martin/C-Bud/Taylor Wallace/Ariza Scola/Patterson/Jeffries Yao/Haywood/Hayes Not only do we at least get an equal defender in return in wallace, but with his abilities to guard anywhere from a 2 to a 4, we have a very versatile player with many different lineup combinations. Our starters would be scary, but thats not the best part. Look at that bench...The second unit would be hands down the best in the league. I thought that last year Lowry n Bud played extremely well together, then you add in another fast paced, running player like ariza into the mix. As well as adding the Patterson and Haywood. Our second unit would be a up tempo crazy hard to match up with tank, not to mention, (Besides C-bud) they are all total beasts on the defensive end. I think that we could basically play the hot hands. If brooks n martin arent having a good game, let lowry and cbud take more minutes. The biggest apple aint always the sweetest. I think we should stick with these, under the radar, in comparison to the huge FA around. And for those of you that love battier(seems like very few nowadays), i am a huge fan, and this would be tougher than seeing landry go for me. But we just have to keep making the team better, transaction by transaction. Please Discuss..... Peace!!!
Excellent post. That idea is realistic, and would make us an instant contender. Are you the second coming of Daryl Morey?
umm wallace played powerforward for the cats, and he is easily their best player and he is underpaid. i know jordan drafted kwame brown at one point, but away wallace for an unproven rookie and an aging vet would be nearly as dumb. they already have steven jackson, what would they do with battier, and they already have a "work in progress" pf in thomas. in other words, not gonna happen.
i think they would have to offer all ny picks to sweetin' the deal. When NY gets jacked this summer our picks will be highly sought after.
So Wallace's Charlotte's best player, and he's underpaid. And Charlotte's a playoff team who took on salary last year to compete. Obviously, this must mean Charlotte want to get rid of Wallace as a salary dump. Your logic is flawless.
Thomas is a FA now, so theres no reason to believe that after 2 months with the team, that he is their guy at the PF position. secondly, if the Knicks strike out in free agency, which with reports, it seems very possible, that pick is looking pretty good to them. Yes wallace DID play PF for them, but a very undersized one. His natural position is the 3, anyone will tell you that. He has the same frame as lebron. And just b/c ur the best player and underpaid doesnt mean you are untouchable. I.E. Kevin Martin deal. As for steven jackson, he is a SG, so i dont c how it would affect Battier at all.... I do see where you are coming from, but also with their nucleus they are clearly not going anywhere, even in the east. Especially if all these superstars go East, (Miami, New York, New Jersey, Chicago). They need a beast PF, (could be Hill), vet leader, and one good draft, which they can get from us via knicks. Looking into the Charlotte situation deeply really makes me think we can pull this off.... But you know this is all just my speculation.
Forget Wallace because there is no chance, and getting Brendan Haywood for the MLE is a pipe dream. Other than that, the OP was interesting, especially for considering under the radar FAs. We need a backup C who is a true C, not a converted PF like Andersen. There are several I would consider (Fesenko, for example), but they are not moneyball players so I won't even go there. Brad Miller? Well, I'm not sure how much he has left in the tank. The same is true for Chris Mihm. On the backup SG front, I would love to acquire a backup for Martin. I have no faith in Jermaine Taylor, although Bud can play there with Ariza as SF. I think Antoine Wright might fill the bill, although I wish we could get Marco Bellini from Toronto. Rudy Fernandez would be ideal, but he would be unhappy if he had to continue as a second banana.
Wallace has been their for years, they already struggle to sell tickets, who are the fans gonna show up and see if they trade him for that package? They dont have the rookie of the year to fall back on. Wallace is 6'10, how is that undersized for a powerfoward. Is he getting pushed around by KG or Rahard Lewis? Im guessing hell have trouble guarding Antwan Jamison or Curly Sue when they play the cavs. When has Steven Jackson ever played the 2? He is 6'8-6'9, he played the 3 with the warriors and is playing the 3 now in Charlotte.
trade ariza,jefferis and 2011 pick,cash for al jefferson trade battier,hill and taylor and 2012 pick for iggy sign mike miller with SOME of the mid level exception sign brad miller low level exception or vetran minimum brooks/lowry/filler martin/miller/filler iggy/chase/filller scola/patterson/hayes yao/al jefferson/andy plan c and the good thing about this is say if yao doesnt come back to forum likehow tracy did us last season yao has a 17 mill exprieing contrat to draft for anothe big time player
I dont know where you are getting ur stats from. but espn, and nba both have wallace listed as 6-7. IDK bout you but that to me is an undersized PF. plus his playing style is that of a 3 not a 4. Jackson is 6-8, but played the 2 when he won a championship in San Antonio. Just bc ur tall for your position doesnt mean you dont play the game like your position. Height doenst determine position, playing style does, I.E. Magic Johnson. Playing the 3 in golden state means nothing. There was a time last year when they played Maggette at C and had 4 wing players around him. Don Nelson's system means nothing when considering prime positions. And he plays the 2 in Charlotte, so i just dont c how theres an arguement here.
i thought wallace was taller, he sure plays like it, your right there. still dont see why Charlotte does this. makes no sense for them, they have a great player on a reasonable contract, kings had already figured that martin and that evans couldnt play together, and landry was having a great year. wallace is a fan favorite in charlotte, unlike kevin who had fallen out of favor with many fans in sacramento. kings not been performing well the past several years, while the cats just got into the playoffs for the first time in their history. yeah im sure they really want to trade their best player to create cap space im sure their fans would understand.
I like your idea but I think a cheaper option would be Ronnie Brewer. He shoots a high percentage, hustles and plays d. When k-mart goes down, we have our solution at the two. Hopefully his injury last season wasn't too serious and I really hope the griz dont know anything that we don't know about. But I could see Morey offering him a contract around 4 yrs/18mil with part of our MLE.
i think stephen jackson is better than G. wallace but thats just my opinion SJ can play the 2 and 3 too.
