No, not Halle Berry. There's been a couple of posts lately, that have suggested trading Francis. Not that I want to trade him, but it made me start looking at other options, besides trading him for Andre Miller. So, I've come up with another wacky trade idea, with a twist. If we were to trade Francis, could Cat play the PG position effectively? I know he played it in his first year & wasn't real effective, but with his maturation, could he play the position now? This is probably a question that Crispee could answer more effectively. After all, he's in love with Mobley. If Cat could make the transition to the PG spot & we were lucky enough to land the #1 or #2 overall pick, would you do this deal, if it were agreed to by Memphis? First, we have to assume that we get the #1 or #2 pick in the draft, that Memphis gets the #4-6 pick, that any pick before ours, if any, would be for Jason Williams, & that Memphis wants Yao Ming. Would you make this trade? Houston sends Francis/Cato/#1 or #2 pick to Memphis. Memphis sends Battier/Wright/Dickerson/#4-6 pick to Houston & releases us from the Francis obligation. This trade is assuming that Rocket's management is comfortable with Dickerson's rehab. This would give us a lineup of: C: Wright/Collier/Stoudamire or Marcus? PF: Taylor/Griffin/KT SF: Battier/Rice/T-Mo SG: Dickerson/Torres PG: Mobley/Moochie/Brown Memphis would get Francis & possibly a franchise center in Yao Ming. They could put Francis in as the SG, whether he likes it or not. Winning might possibly change his attitude towards playing the SG position. Houston gets a solid center, a young & very mature SF, & a SG that can light it up when healthy. Would you do it?
No way I would trade Francis. He is our future and he is what wee will build around. It's very hard to get special players like him. You don't trade them when you get them I think.
No way, I don't care too much about Dickerson or Wright. And I really don't think that Mobley is a PG. In my opinion, he's much more of a shooting guard than Steve is. However, almost anything that could land Battier in Houston would be a good thing. If the Rockets did get a higher pick than the Grizzlies, what about the Rockets pick and Kenny for Battier and the Grizzlies pick. It would all depend on how much Memphis wanted Yao Ming, Jason Williams, or whoever. But I'd definitely do that trade.
Bad trade for the Rockets. Basically we are giving our most talented player and our higher pick to a team thats worse than we our for there second best player and lower pick. I have a feeling that moving Cuttino back to the point would be a disaster.
If I was a Memphis fan! What are you crazy? We are trading away the best player. That is never good in the longterm.
There is a reason Battier is playing SG - he sucked as a SF. The team would be much better just picking Ming and adding him to our existing team than trading and having three starting-caliber shooting guards and a decent but injury prone center.
This is exactly what I would do. Trade Francis for Ben Wallace. Yeah it sounds bad, but let me finish. Offer Kenny and our lottery pick for Payton, if it's a #5 or 6 pick, I think they would bite. What would our lineup look like? Center- Ben Wallace, Kelvin Cato, Kevin Willis P Forward- Griffin, Mo Taylor S Forward- Rice, T Morris S Guard- Mobley, Torres P Guard- Payton, Norris, Brown What I see one of the best defensive teams in the league, of course that is just on paper, but Payton, Griffin and Wallace? That's defense. With Wallace and Griffin in, Torres would be my first option at S Forward. I would guarantee that he would put up better numbers than any Rocket's small forward has in a long time. Payton would be the vocal veteran leader that this team needs. Would he let Cato, Mobley and Taylor know that they are slacking on D or not hustling, yep. Also, the Rockets would probrobly still arguably have the best backcourt in the league and have the best defensive Center, Power Forward combination in the league for many years to come. I think that team is ready to battle for a championship.
why would that trade have to assume that we get the first or second pick, because just trading francis for those 3 would be getting screwed on our end. it's almost what we traded to get steve.
Pennywize, I am liking your proposal a bit, but Rice at SF, surely you are not serious? And, how old is Payton? I would love to see Gary and Cat play together, that could be interesting. Wallace at center is a significant improvement. What about Taylor and Griffin playing together? As a fantasy trade, I think I might like it. In reality, unlikely to happen, but that is true of most posts on this board. Still fun to talk about.
Wait, I forgot about K.T., I don't want to trade him. I say would should get Wallace AND the aging Payton for Steve. Now we are talking.
I agree with 'baud, if you have the #1, you just take Ming (if he's the real deal). Now would I trade Francis for a shot at Ming -- yes.
You don't suppose it has anything to do with the fact that Gasol has been playing the SF position & Dickerson got hurt, do you? Injury prone?!? Prior to this year Wright had played in 340 of 378 possible games. That's a 90% ratio of the games available to play in. He's only played in 38 of 71 games this year due to one prolonged injury. The only prolonged injury in his career. Here's the link to his career stats & games played. Also, remember that 98/99 was a strike shortened season & they only played 50 games that year. http://www.nba.com/playerfile/lorenzen_wright/index.html?nav=page
The concerns that I have with taking Ming are, the uncertainty over whether he'll be able to compete at the NBA level &, even more so, the uncertainty of China letting him come over here & letting him play a full career here. If he turns out to be a premier player, China could use him as a pawn in any future political games & the team that has him would be screwed. As we all know, politicians & governments can screw up a wet dream. However, having said all of this, if the Rocket's were able to get him & management decided they wanted him, I would get as excited as anyone else on this board.
Rice does play small forward, but like I said in my last post, if we were to have Wallace and Griffin defending the inside, Torres I think would be our best S Forward. Payton is 34 years old and he's still putting up better numbers than Steve ever has. We need a veteran who is still in thier prime to lead this team, he has shown no signs of slowing down. Next year Griffin should be ready to take most of the minutes at the P Forward spot, we have no idea how Taylor is going to look when he comes back. A starting lineup like this would be great!!! Center- Wallace P Forward- Griffin S Forward- Torres S Guard- Mobley P Guard- Payton I agree this is all unlikely, but the Rockets have some real good trade bait and should be able to put a contending team together next year.
I agree with Rimbaud. However, if the team were just desperate to get rid of Francis for some bizarre reason (like migraines) and Golden State was in a position to draft J. Williams, I'd offer them Francis and Mobley for Williams and J. Richardson. That would give us as much firepower and more defense -- and fewer headaches. Oh yes, we'd still have our #1 to get help at center or SF.
That is a good team, but is it better than C-Griffin PF-Gooden* SF-Rice SG-Mobley PG-Francis ? *replace with Ming, Stoudamire, Woods, Wilcox, Jeffries, Marcus, Sampson, etc... I think that if we trade Steve Francis, we should receive more than a good defensive/rebounding center.
