If you were GM what would you do?

Van Gundy's radio interview last week indicated the the point differential with JB on the floor was good "crazy." I don't see us not re-signing him on that basis alone.

 

I like Bobby Simmons, but am not sure he is the right FIT on this team. Those of you that like Simmons, are you comfortable with him at the 2 guard spot in terms of guarding quicker 2 guards? To me that is a HUGE criteria of adding someone next to Tmac. That's exactly why we did the Wesley for JJ deal.

In adding to this team, I would keep in mind that Tmac is our 3 and that any SG we get will have to be quick enough to guard 2's. Guys that will be willing to chase around the Ginobili's or Rip Hamilton's or the world.

 

As to resigning Barry and Deke

If the Rockets sign 3-5 players they must get rid of someone. I don't see them just cutting Moochie, Spoon, Ward, and Baker. Quite frankly I would consider releasing them, freeing up cap space after next year, and freeing up roster spots for younger talent. After all the offseason moves are made by the Rockets then I would consider resigning Barry and Deke for one year. Both can contribute currently but we need some guys to play for the next 10 years.

 

Yao/Deke
Chandler/Warrick
McGrady/Miles
Mobley/Barry
Daniels/James

I'd try to make something like this happen.

 

Yao/Deke
SAR/Marshall
Tmac/Marshall
DA/Barry
AD/Sura/Spanoulis

+ Mooch,Ward, - untradeable.
+ 2 roster spots - pick? Badiane? journeyman vet?


1) SAR/DA - sign and trade for Howard, Wesley, V. Baker, Spoon, pick.
2) A. Daniels for M. James, Bowen - sign and trade
3) Marshall - full MLE
4) Vet exception - Kittles? E. Watson? - a guard.

 

1. Resign JB and Deke for the veterans' minimum

2. Bring back Bowen for the league minimum

3. S/T Spoon, Moochie, 1st round pick to POR for Shareef Abdur-Rahim

4. Trade Juwan Howard and 2(?) 2006 2nd round pick to NYK for Malik Rose

5. S/T Baker, Wesley to Sacto for Cat Mobley

6. Offer the MLE to Antonio Daniels

PG - Daniels / Sura / James
SG - Cat / Barry
SF - T-Mac / Bowen
PF - SAR / Rose / Padgett
C - Yao / Deke

Hey, dare to dream right?

 

I like that, but how about something like this, assuming we draft Francisco Garcia as our poor man's Tayshaun Prince:

• Draft Francisco Garcia
• Trade Bobby Sura to Seattle for Antonio Daniels in a S&T
• Convince Stromile Swift to take our MLE and start here.
• Trade Wesley, Spoon (expiring contract), and future 1st for a S&T Joe Johnson.
• Bring over Spanoulis
• Resign Barry and Deke, Padgett takes player option

PG: Daniels/James/Spanoulis
SG: Johnson/Barry
SF: McGrady/Garcia
PF: Swift/Howard/Padgett
C: Yao/Deke
Ward, Baker, Moochie
You would then let the expiring contracts to expire to help pay for Yao's raise.

You get younger/better than Spree with Joe Johnson. I can see Phoenix doing this too, since they will be strapped for cap space after signing Amare to max. Although S&T for AD might be tough with Sura, maybe AD can force one if he likes that roster enough. Mike James's offense/quicks is something we need off the bench, not a bad back. Garcia gets decent rookie minutes spelling McGrady off the bench. Padgett will see very limited minutes, but he can provide some shooting from the 4 in a small lineup.

Me like

 

If I was GM here is what I'd try to get done.

1)Draft SG Rudy Hernadez.
2)Bring in Spanoulis.
3)Send Mike James or David Wesley to NY for Kurt Thomas.
4)Resign Barry and Deke.
5)Sign and Trade Wesley or James to Seattle for Daniels.
6)sign Donyell Marshall with MLE.


If that didn't work out I'd go to plan b which would be this:


1)Draft Wayne Simiean.
2)Bring in Spanoulis.
3)Sign and Trade Mike James or Wesley to Seattle for AD.
4)Sign Donyell Marshall with MLE.
5)sign Voshon Lenard.

if either of those plans are a sucess, the Rockets will be a better team.

 

If, & that's a big if, Memphis were willing to trade with us, I'd do everything I could to get Battier included in the deal. Battier can play both the 2/3 positions, plays tough defense, has a nice shooting percentage (44% FG & 40% 3pt last year), blocks shots (.96 per game), & steals the ball (1.14 per game). All of this, while turning the ball over less than once per game (.96 per game). I'd much rather have Battier over Miller & Posey.

Imo, the only things we really have to offer of interest to another team, are expiring contracts, trade exception, draft picks, Mike James, Sura, Padgett, & Bowen. And, I'd really like to keep Bowen as a defensive specialist off the bench & Sura because of his "Gamer" attitude.

With this in mind, there are 2 trades that I'd love to see the team attempt to make this off-season. I'm not sure how the dollars will match up at this time, especially with the upcoming BYC status of Swift & any changes in the CBA, but here goes.

Trade #1

Houston trades Spoon/Moochie/Padgett/3 #1 draft picks to Memphis.

Memphis trades Swift (S&T)/Battier to Houston.

Since our #1 picks should be consistently in the 20's for the foreseeable future, I believe it's going to take at least 3 of them to even get Memphis to take note of our offer. Spoon & Moochie drop off the books at the end of the year. Padgett is a solid offensive threat off the bench & they get 3 additional #1 picks that they can keep, or repackage in another subsequent deal. Perhaps they'll combine their #19 with our #24 & one of the future picks to try & move up into the top 10. This trade is not likely to happen, but if I'm CD, I'm going to try & find the right combination to make it work.

Trade #2

Houston trades James/Wesley to Seattle.

Seattle trades AD/Fortson to Houston.

With Radmanovic & Collison at PF, Fortson's salary is too high for their 3rd string PF. Add to that, the problems they've had with him & they are probably going to want to move him. Wesley's expiring contract allows them to get his salary off the books at the end of the year. James offers them a more offensive minded PG (ala, Brent Barry) than AD has been.


Now's the time for us to finish putting this team together. All the expiring contracts will do nothing for us, if we let them expire, except to allow Les to stay under the dreaded Luxury Tax (assuming there still is one after the new CBA is worked out).

Yao's max contract will take effect the same year as the expiring contracts come off the books. Thus, we'll not have any extra cap space to pursue FA's.

If we're able to pull off these 2 trades, losing 3 #1 picks won't hurt us. First off, they'll be in alternating years & secondly, they should be consistently in the late 20's. Also, we'd still have the MLE this year to use on a FA, if we felt we needed anyone else.

Battier gives us a 2/3 that plays perimeter defense & can nail the 3pt'r. He's a consummate team player & will come off the bench, if it helps the team. He's 26 years old.

Swift gives us an athletic, shot blocking, rebounding, defensive presence at PF & (as has been alluded to by others) can slide over to the center position when a quicker player is needed. He's 24 years old.

AD gives us a better defensive PG than we currently have & adds more size & a veteran presence to our back court. He's 30 years old.

Fortson gives us our enforcer. He's proven that he's not afraid to lay a lick on someone. Rather than having Sura (a valuable part of the team) put a hard foul on someone like Josh Howard, JVG could send Fortson in to send a hard message. It wouldn't take long for players to realize that roughing up our Franchise Center would have a price tag attached to it. I'm starting to tingle all over just thinking about it.

Just 3 years ago, Fortson was a consistent double-double player. He was a terror on the boards. He had a serious injury in GS. Then, he went to Dallas's run-n-gun offense & didn't fit in. This last year, he ended up in Seattle &, for whatever reason, started getting into all kinds of trouble. He's still relatively young & I believe that with JVG's help defense system, he could re-emerge as a stud & the comeback player of the year. Fortson is 29 years old.

Our new lineup could be:

C: Yao/Mutombo/Swift
PF: Howard/Swift/Fortson
SF: McGrady/Battier/Bowen
SG: Battier/McGrady/Barry/Sura
PG: AD/Sura/Ward

You know, this GM thing is easy. But, I guess that's just my opinion.

 

toddie- If we're talking about 3 first rounders, I'd rather send them out of the division and get Chandler.

3 first rounders was the price for a max contract to Kenyon Martin, I find it hard to justify for Swift, Battier or not.

You are not clairvoyant.

 

If all it'd take to get him is this year's pick & 2 future late round #1 picks, then what's CD waiting on?

I have to disagree with you. Maybe I'm putting too high a price tag on Chandler, but my thinking is that it'd take 3 1st rounders & a talented, young player that we don't currently have. If I'm wrong, then CD needs to make that happen.

We could then use some of our other expiring contracts, or the MLE, to make some other deals

However, back to the original proposal. All things being equal, do you really believe that it'd take less than 3 alternate year #1 picks to get Swift/Battier? What do you feel would get the job done? Keep in mind that we'd be dealing with a much shrewder GM in West.

 

This is unbelievably overrated. I don't understand why people think West in basketball, and similarly Billy Beane in baseball are infallible, and anytime you make a deal with them, you're gonna get screwed.

What has West done in Memphis exactly? Built a playoff team that hasn't won a playoff game. Congratulations!! Van Gundy put it pretty well- getting to the playoffs is pretty easy, but taking steps up once you get there (to home court advantage, winning a series, etc.) is much more difficult. Everyone in their right mind thought the Cardinal signing was nutty, except the West fanatics who swore West knew better. A 9-4 season later on 37% shooting certainly doesn't prove West's point.

When West signed Cezary Trybanski, there were those who would have you believe he just picked up a super talent under the nose of 28 other GMs. Who is Cezary Trybanski? My point exactly. West is not some uber-genius. He hit big on Kobe Bryant and got lucky with Shaq wanting to come to LA. Where is the praise for the Toronto GM who drafted Carter and TMac? West is a good GM. So are Carroll Dawson and Kiki Vandeweghe.

Trading 3 future #1s is an expensive price tag. That was the price for a restricted free agent with an all-star resume (granted, borderline all star). Swift is an unrestricted free agent whose best season to date is sub 12-7. If we're trading 3 #1s, Swift would need to be a proven commodity. He's been injury prone and even when healthy, hasn't been a world beater. Memphis would jump at 3 #1s- I'd take my chances on hitting one solid role player with at least one of those picks.

As far as the original proposal. Battier's contract makes things screwy. He's a positive player, with a semi negative contract. Memphis has a lot of answers they have to do themselves before they can fairly evaluate their situation. I will say, if that's the asking price for Swift/Battier, and the asking price for SAR/Miles is closer to Wesley/Spoon/1 pick, I'm going to Portland.

 

If all it took to get Chandler was three first round draft picks, I'd do it in a second. Heck, everyone knows NJ was screwed when they didn't get a player in return. They should've pushed harder for Nene and dropped one of the picks. It's not like they'd miss Nene anyways.

And does anyone's plans include signing Robert Horry? I think he's actually an improvement over Juwan in a lot of ways. He plays better defense, passes better, shoots 37% from the three, and would be cheaper. Yes, he's older, but he still makes smarts plays and would hopefully be backing up a much better power forward. I'd love to see him come home.

 

For real. 3 #1 picks seems ludicrous to me for a bench player - which both Swift and Chandler are. Especially when adding in some valuable expiring contracts or good players. Way too high.

 

Okay, I'll concede that West may be overrated &, perhaps, 3 #1 picks is a little high. But, unless we include a solid young player, I still believe that a couple of expiring contracts & 1 #1 pick won't get it done for both Swift/Battier, or SAR/Miles. I'd hesitate to send James, because I believe that we'll have to include him in any deal we make with Seattle for AD. Would expiring contracts/Padgett/2 #1 picks get it done? I don't know. Just throwing mud on the wall to see if it sticks.

I consider Battier to be that solid role player you mentioned & we wouldn't have to take a chance that we might get one in the future. I don't believe that you're going to find a more mature, upstanding, team player, with his skills, than Battier. Imho, he brings perimeter defense & better offensive skills than Miles. Miles is an athletic freak & is very disruptive on the defensive end, but his offensive game is inconsistent at best & he has no 3pt shooting range to speak of.

As for his contract (correct me if I'm wrong), it's my understanding that any trade will require the traded dollar amount to be equal to the average annual salary of his new rookie contract extension. In other words (for example purposes only), a 6 year $48 million contract would mean his trade #'s would be $8 million, even though his 05/06 salary is $4.9 million. Is that correct? If so, while it'll be tricky, I believe that it can still be worked through.

SAR vs. Swift. SAR is hands down the better player. The problem is that we already have a SAR, in the form of Howard. Even though SAR would be a marked upgrade over Howard, we'd have to find a taker for Howard, & with his age & long contract, I believe that we're stuck with him for the duration. I agree that we should trade for SAR, if you can move Howard. Otherwise, they are redundant players.

Swift gives us a PF similar to Cato, but with softer hands & a better shooting range. He also gives us the option of playing him at center when we need someone quicker than Mutombo. Other than Cato's inability to shoot from anywhere but under the basket, the combo of Cato & Yao was very effective. With Swift's athleticism, shot blocking ability, rebounding, & better shooting range, we might be able to take it to another level. At the very least, the combination of Yao/Swift & JVG's help defense system should make us a defensive nightmare for opponents.

You've got me with the injury prone comment. However, Miles has missed a lot of games in his brief career as well. Both Battier & SAR come to play every night.

I believe we need a better PF, a starting caliber SG, & an upgrade at the PG positions.

Imo, Swift gives us better defense at the PF position with just enough offensive game to keep the other team honest. In my trade proposal, I'm banking on JVG's system making Swift a better player.

Battier gives us a 3rd scoring option with very solid perimeter defensive skills & a player that knows his role is to support Yao/McGrady. He can hit the open shot & has a solid 3pt shot. Unless I miss my guess, with Yao & T-Mac's passing skills, Battier should get a lot of open looks.

Throw in AD/Fortson & we should have a very good team next year.

One other thing, in regards to salaries. I know that Battier's new contract is for 6 years, but I'm not sure for how much. However, Miles contract pays him ~$6.75 million next year & escalates up to ~$9.75 million in 5 years. Since I don't know, I'm going to have to assume that Battier's contract is very similar.

SAR made ~$14.625 million this last year & I can't even begin to imagine him settling for the MLE. So, with his skills, I could see him commanding a 1st year salary of $8-9 million, or higher, if some team loaded with cap space decides to step up big. While Swift's agent might think he's worth a huge payday, I can't see anyone offering him more than a $6-7 million first year contract, unless some team gets real stupid. Swift's 24 years old & SAR is 28 years old. Neither one is over the hill, so which one do you take? Would SAR agree to a 3 year deal with a team option for a 4th year?

I guess it's rather obvious that I'm sold on Battier/Swift, but I wouldn't be disappointed in getting SAR. Miles, on the other hand, I could do without. But, that's just my opinion.

 

The talk of trading multiple #1 picks for the likes of Stromile Swift or any form of a deal involving Darius Miles is nothing short of sheer lunacy.

 

With all this talk about Swift and Chandler, I'm suprised that Nene is not being talked about more. The most successful moves the Rockets made this past season were the ones that nobody really saw coming. Nene would be a great fit with this team and would give us some of the youth and athletecism that we're so desperately in need of.

On the other fronts, I think we can be pretty sure that Barry and Deke will be brought back. Both sound like they'd take our offer and both were valuable assets last year. Yao and T-Mac are sure things and I don't think we can/will move Juwan.

I'd really like to think that Sura's perfect form tackle of "Jaws" earned him some loyalty but that way of thinking didn't work so well for Boki. And for James, we were too proud to have picked him up to send him packing again after half of a season. That, and his offense off the bench is too useful on this team.

My point (yes, there's a point) is that JVG has talked about maintaining the chemistry we had last year and the best way to do that is to keep the team the way it is. Remember, the way this team is currently assembled, it would have been on pace for a 57-58 win season with a full schedule to work with.

I would be very suprised if the roster that starts the season doesn't include all or all but one of the above (Sura, James, Barry, T-Mac, Howard, Yao, Deke). The rest?

Expiring contracts are going to keep us busy for the summer. Since they don't really do us any good (we'll still be over the cap when they expire because of Yao, or something like that, correct me if I'm wrong) I'd expect us to send them where ever they will bring us youth and athleticism in return. Again, I don't know how Denver feels about trading Nene to a rival but I'd pay very close attention.

I wouldn't be suprised if we deal our pick as well seeing as JVG is apparently allergic to rookies. I'd also be willing to bet that Wesley is going to packaged off somewhere. His replacement? I'd kill to have Posey back. I'd maim to get Mikael Peitrus (I'm sure that's spelled wrong). I'd be plenty happy with Mobley back. Essentially, a younger, taller version of Wesley.

I guess I'm obliged to take a stab at the roster so here goes:

Yao/Deke
Nene/Juwan/Padgett
T-Mac/Posey/Bowen
Posey/Barry
Sura/James/Spanoulis

I wish

 

I would completely retool this team by dumping big contracts whereever I could, anyway I can and trying to sign a bunch of players who are young with star potential or slightly older but hungary to be part of a winning team to cheap contracts and build up a glut of talent.

Then I'd trade away some of these guys for really good players who aren't looking to grab attention.

One's thing for sure, I wouldn't set my sights on a championship next year as this team has too many holes to fill, instead, I'd plan for the year after....when I'd be in a position to identify that "final missing piece" and fill it with a bigger name.

 

1. Sign a PF (Stro, Chandler, Marshall, SAR).

2. Draft a young swingman (Miles, Garcia, Fernandez, Winston).

3. Resign Deke and Barry for 1 year Vet Min.

4. Attempt to dump some expiring contracts, hopefully for some picks (Howard, Baker, Spoon, Mooch).

05-06 Roster:

PG: Sura-James-Spanoullis
SG: Wesley-Barry
SF: TMac-Draft, hopefully Fernandez or Garcia
PF: Swift-Howard/Padgett if Howard can be traded
C: Yao-Deke

 

You know, it may jus tbe crazy enough to work.