Keon Clark is now available ... should we try to sign him?

The Rockets don't need Clark. We already have Ming, and it would be a waste of money to get Clark, just to get Clark as a backup center. He will demand too much money.

 

Dont need him, Dont want him

 

If I'm Keon Clark, why do I sign in Houston?

They just drafted their franchise center in Ming, and they've still got Cato, who despite his shortcomings is still an adequate back-up, so Center is out.

They traded for Eddie Griffin last year, plus they've got Kenny Thomas and Maurice Taylor as well at the 4.

There's no time for Clark on this team either now, or in the future, and thus, no reason for him to consider us.

 

Cato is a servicable bakup whom we're allready paying a large amount to. Signing Clark who soes the same things as Cato on the floor to the contract he will demand is pointless.

 

Exactly. There is no way that he'd want to play in Houston, and there is no way that the Rockets would want to bring him here, even if he did.

 

Collier,TMO,BROWN for DREAM

 

You guys are idiots. MIng wont be dominate in this league until like 2 more years, Keon Clark is a very good starting center. Granted he will get bodied by shaq and duncan, but he will take advantage of many teams by drawing them out to defend him and use his speed to get by them. it would be a great pickup if we can get him cheap.

 

drawing defenses out normally takes a jumpshot...

 

Clark makes Ming look like Shawn Kemp in terms of body thickness, especially lower body.

Griffin can draw defenders out just as easily.

Mo Taylor has a much better midrange shot as well.

So does Kenny Thomas.

 

Keon isn't a Center, he was playing PF with AD at C even though boxscores say otherwise.

Griffin will be a lot better than Keon will ever be, concentrate on developing him.

 

greg why are calling people idoits? thats not nice

I think you presented your point well, BUT was it right? Im not sure if it was right.

as stated before hand, Griffin can draw the D outside, we know Cato aint much, but he can get that lil Alley-hoop, from Francis and it does raise the butts out of the seat. Besides we have Taylor who is a shooting stud, and Kenny has the speed you mentioned.


I think everything is capible of bringing we already have

 

NO NO NO. Toronto is not signing him because he does not have the work ethic. They believe he is looking for a big payday and he will resort back to being lazy. Can you say CATO?

 

let him go to the knicks and be a bust there.

 

There is no room for Keon Clark in Houston. Although I agree that Ming won't be very effective this season, he still needs the playing time out there to take his game where it needs to be.

 

FYI, this one's been posted already.

http://bbs.clutchcity.net/showthread.php?s=&threadid=38213

 

Don't call anyone who disagrees with your OPINION an idiot please.


I completely disagree with you. Clark is like Ratliff, can't play C in the West.

Besides, Cato and Ming is perfect. Just because he'd be a good player, doesn't mean everyone else will roll over and die. They're under contract, and will play.


I hope by "cheap" you mean 4.5M, because that's the cheapest we can have him for. NY offers 4.5M, and so does Houston. HMMMMMMMMMMMM? Go to the team without a C in the East, or the team with 2 C's in the West?


Anyone else getting more worried about the Knicks? Did Layden remove a stick from his butt? If he signs Clark, I would put my money on New York winning the East by miles.

They should send Allan Houston and Weatherspoon to Seattle for Lewis. Then sign Clark with the MCE?

Clark
McDyess
Lewis
Sprewell
Eisley/Ward/Frank Williams

 

This RocketGuy from HoopsWorld should probably go into comedy:


http://www.hoopsworld.com/article_593.shtml

The Rockets Report
by The Rocket Guy
HOOPSWORLD.com
Jul 23, 2002, 1:30pm


CLARK A BETTER FIT FOR THE ROCKETS

Naturally all of the talk about the Rockets and free agency is related to Rashard Lewis this week. Lewis has repeatedly said he would like to play for the Rockets and he has voiced his displeasure with the way the Sonics are handling negotiations. The Sonics finally made their deal for Vin Baker yesterday, sending him to Boston in a 7-player deal, but they didn't clear enough money to get close to the maximum deal Lewis is expecting from them. The Sonics are expected to offer Lewis everything they can, which amounts to roughly $4.7 million a year. Is this enough to retain Lewis? Rashard said he would be happy to play in Houston for the $4.5 exception the Rockets hold, so $4.7 may be enough to keep him in Seattle. Rashard has had plenty to say about the way he has been treated by the Sonics, but in the end it's all about money. The Sonics have the most money to offer, and 90% of the time the highest bidder wins. Besides, the Rockets would be better served to look at a newly-released free agent.

On Monday the Toronto Raptors rescinded their offer to restricted free agent Keon Clark, making him an unrestricted free agent. Keon Clark spent the bulk of last season making up for the absence of Hakeem Olajuwon, something he could do in a slightly different capacity in Houston. Clark, who has spent his 5-year career bouncing back and forth between Toronto and Denver, had a career year last season, averaging 11.3 points, 7.4 rebounds, and 1.5 blocks in 27 minutes per game. When the playoffs started, Clark stepped up his game. He started at center in all 5 of Toronto's playoff games, averaging 35 minutes per game and posting averages of 13.4 points, 8 rebounds, and 1.6 blocks. When the Raptors were facing elimination in Game 4 of their best-of-five series with the Pistons, Clark scored 19 points and grabbed 16 rebounds to help the Raptors live to fight another day.

Which of these players would help the Rockets the most? The $4.5 million exception could be enough to land either one, so let's play GM. Rashard Lewis is the better player if taken at face value. Lewis is a true small forward, not a tweener, and he is comingoff a career year, as is Clark. Lewis averaged 17 points and 7 rebounds per game, though his stats dropped off a bit in the playoffs (13 points, 4 rebounds, 37% FG). He is a good finisher, but is very much a three-point threat as much as anything else. He would help the Rockets implement the up-tempo offense that is the key to their making the playoffs, but he would also throw up a few road blocks. The player who would suffer most in terms of playing time if Lewis were to become a Rocket would be Eddie Griffin. Griffin is expected to get most of his minutes at small forward this season, and if Lewis is starting and playing his customary 36 minutes per game, that doesn't leave a lot of time for Griffin. Switch Griffin to power forward, right? Yeah, except we already have Mo Taylor and Kenny Thomas fighting for minutes there. Then there's Bostjan Nachbar and Terence Morris, who also play the three. Don't get me wrong. Lewis is the best free agent on the market. With him in the lineup we would not lose every time Steve has to sit out with a migraine, which is an important consideration. If Steve is healthy, though, we have added another scorer who doesn't do much of anything else.

Every team needs role players. We've been talking about this on the message board for weeks. The Rockets had Mario Elie, Robert Horry, and Chucky Brown, to name a few. The Lakers have Horry, Rick Fox, and Derek Fisher. These are the guys who are capable of stepping up for big games, but will do the dirty work even when they're not the focus of the offense. The Rockets don't have a strong supply of this type of player. They have lots of guys who could start, like the Blazers do, but they lack the guys who go out and work hard without worrying about their scoring average. The starting lineup features 2 guys who think they are Michael Jordan (Francis, Mobley), one who should be starting and won't be happy on the bench (Kenny Thomas), a small forward in a power forward's body (Mo Taylor), and a serious underachiever (Cato). Eddie Griffin is destined for greatness, not a mere role-player's status, and Moochie is convinced he is Allen Iverson with a chia pet on his head. Where are the role players?

Keon Clark is a role player. He will work hard and produce in whatever capacity he is asked to fill. He can start at power forward or center, if need be, but he is equally satisfied to come off the bench and spark the second unit. He is a banger. He rebounds, blocks shots, and will provide some tough competition for Cato and Yao Ming in practice. More importantly, he would be our only big man with any real playoff experience (16 games). Cato saw some garbage time minutes in his Portland days, but in 8 minutes per game he averaged 2 points. He hardly counts as a grizzled veteran. The Rockets are one injury to Cato away from having no experience at the center position. I, for one, would feel much better knowing we had Keon Clark ready to step in.

The Sonics have finally made their deal for Baker, so they now have their focus squarely on re-signing Rashard Lewis. That may or may not happen - but the Rockets would do better to look in a direction of weakness, which is the center position. The last thing they need to do is sign another small forward, no matter how good he is.

 

I don't think you can instantly dismiss the idea of picking up a shot-blocking center for cheap. Maybe he won't want to come to Houston, but you have to invite first before it is even a possibility. Yes, we have 2 centers and 3 power forwards who would be somewhat discombobulated with the addition. But, KT is semi-expendable as it is, so it wouldn't be terrible if he got bumped out. If we could trade KT for a guard and add Clark with the MCE, I think we'd be doing alright.

Griffin can block shots. To a lesser extent, Cato can too. Yao Ming might be able to. Taylor can't and Thomas can't. Clark can. How much would it help our offense to have center-power forward tandems of Clark-Griffin, Yao-Griffin, Yao-Clark or whatever. Plus, Clark can genuinely swing from center to power forward. I think Griffin may be able to do that as well, but, in most cases, you have a center too slow to play power forward or a power forward playing small at the center position. It would be good to have a guy who can play multiple positions, even if they are well-stocked at the moment.

One caveat: if the guy is, in fact, lazy or cancerous, I would pass. If he wants a big contract or we'd have to trade someone (besides KT), I'd pass. But, if we're talking about him coming for free (in that we don't have to trade talent for him) at $4.5 million or less, why not?

 

Oh, man, somebody went and quoted a TRG article here.

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