The injuries to the knee are the key. Healthy knees? Landry is justifiably a hot commodity in the upper range of the MLE market. The fact remains that no one, including the Rocks, know how that knee is going to play out. Having that injury in the second half of the season not only hurt the Rockets, but must have had Landry's agent pulling his hair out. Unlike Scola, Landry has to have his knees all the way back to be effective. We all saw that. Without that explosion to the rim or to make a play on defense like he made against Utah, Carl is just another undersized PF. I think he's going to have more trouble getting the bulk of the MLE (or the entire thing... highly unlikely!), then some might think. He has a big question mark hanging over him. Bad luck for Carl and probably good luck for the Rocks when we sign him to a new deal.
I think the Rockets are willing to go the full MLE for Landry and you're right. Landry is right up there with Horford. I think it's safe to say that he's exceed his rookie expectations. http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/Carl-Landry-461/ NCAA Tournament: Stock Watch (round of 32, Sunday games)--Stock Up March 19, 2007 After having faced three major tests over the past two weeks-- Ohio State’s Greg Oden, Arizona’s Ivan Radenovic and Florida’s duo of Al Horford and Joakim Noah—we can now say with some confidence that Carl Landry can match up with players who are bigger than him and still do what he does best. He’s played extremely well in all three of those matchups, and has helped himself tremendously in the process. And although he might not even be the 6-7 he’s listed at, Landry, that doesn’t seem to bother him in particular from being productive and helping his team out. (Actually in shoe's he's 6-9 and without shoes 6'8" because they didn't bother to update his height from Freshman year at Purdue) Not a highly touted player out of high school, Landry had to go through the junior college ranks first before landing at Purdue. He clearly has a chip on his shoulder because of that, as it’s clear that he is just as good of a basketball player as all the players he’s matched up with lately, even if he doesn’t have the size, athleticism and upside to be considered a top draft prospect. Landry showed off his outstanding post game against two of the best defenders he’s ever faced at the collegiate level. At times he had his shot blocked, but he kept going back for more and was rewarded for his efforts by his teammates on the way to an 18 point performance. He scores his points with a great combination of smarts, strength and finesse, establishing position deep in the trenches and carving out space from which to get his shot off. He has great hands, outstanding footwork and great touch around the hoop, as well as a sweet turnaround jumper he can go to if he can’t back his man down. Landry also showed off somewhat of a perimeter game, coming off a screen and knocking down a one-dribble pull-up from about 16 feet out. Landry might never have to face two shot-blockers simultaneously of the caliber he went up against today in his entire career, but he still got his, mainly thanks to how patient he was with his moves and counters. Defensively, things didn’t go as well. He didn’t respect Al Horford’s mid-range jumper enough, and was punished for it on a couple of occasions. Horford also showed no mercy using his strength to just bulldoze his way through him on his way to the hoop, and Landry didn’t show too much resistance, probably to avoid getting in foul trouble. Considering the fact that he was going up two projected top-5 picks, though, this is pretty understandable. He did do a good job as a rebounder against those two, pulling down an impressive 5 on the offensive end. So where does that leave him as a draft prospect? That’s a good question. The European leagues are littered with players in his mold (and he would be fantastic there), but the NBA has lately shown a fondness for the virtues of the undersized power forward as well. If we’ve learned anything over the past few years, it’s that guys like this cannot be counted out. His numbers in college (19 points, 7 rebounds, 60% FG%) are similar or even better on a per-minute basis to those of Craig Smith’s, a player he somewhat resembles, so at the end of the day it wouldn’t shock us to see him doing well at the pre-draft camps and showing that he was being underrated coming out of college yet again, just like he was after junior college and high school. Craig Smith?? Pffft! Landry is wayyyy better than Craig Smith.
I also liked what Noah and Horford said of Landry after their Florida team took down Purdue in the NCAA tournament. "The Boilermakers gave Florida a taste of Big Ten basketball, and it went down about as well as Castor Oil. A plodding tempo. In-your-face defense. The kind of body slamming usually reserved for a mosh pit." Landry finished the game with 18 points and 10 boards against the bigger Florida frontline. His effort was inspiring, so much in fact that he earned the respect of Florida stars, Joakim Noah and Al Horford. All three players embraced on the court after the game. It was almost as though Noah and Horford were warriors showing respect for a worthy fallen opponent. Noah later went on to say "I give [Landry] a lot of respect. He's a warrior. There was not a single play when he gave up going for the rebound or for the shot. I feel bad for him because I know how hard it is to lose in the tournament."
If his value turns out to be the full MLE, I think the Rockets should try to move him in a SnT preferably in a package for a legit pg. I agree on the uncertainty with the knee. If we get him for 2-3 mill, that's fine, but at 5 mill with max raises each year, it could eventually turn out to be another poison contract ala Cato, Mo Taylor and Juwan if the knees don't hold up.
I like landry, but I think he and scola are too much alike. I hope brand eto, then the rox can s&t landry and package him with rafer for tim thomas. I think thomas versitility to shoot 3's, post, and put the ball on the floor from the 4 spot would be huge for the rox. Basically getting a odom type to backup the 3 and 4 positions. He's also performed well in the playoffs.
I don't disagree with the descriptions of Carl's play and potential to improve, but I just don't believe anyone will offer him the full MLE (unless money doesn't matter to that team.. who knows? there are a couple that could afford to take the chance) simply because of his knee(s). I hope no one wants him that badly, because it'll hurt us in the pocket book to match.
I don't believe anyone is going to offer him the MLE either and if they do I'm not sure Houston should match it. You can extrapolate his minutes from last season and come up with All Star numbers but the fact remains that he didn't actually those play big minutes and put up those numbers. Just because he put up 8/5 in 16 minutes doesn't mean he will put up 18/11 in 35 minutes and teams know that. His efficiency was amazing but we have all seen players who become drastically less efficient when their minutes are increased. I'm not saying that will happen with Carl but it certainly could especially when teams learn his game and how to defend him. Injuries are another issue with him. I know the knee injury last season was classified as an accident but guys who have one accident often tend to have more and more of them as their career progresses (see Tmac's elbow and knee this past season). It also took him much longer to recover than everyone was originally told so he could end up being injury prone and a slow healer He didn't look but 75% or so to me in the playoffs. It is possible he will spend half his career nursing knee problems. Food for thought before the Rockets consider locking up that much money in a player who will be 25 before the season begins. Again, great guy and a great young player with a huge upside but I don't feel comfortable giving too much money to ANY player based on half a season of play.
The guy has Shawn Marion potential. I guess everyone was willing to throw A. Stoudamire on the trash heap after his knee injury too.
I'd be reluctant to spend the whole MLE on Carl. There's only so many teams than can/would throw "more than MLE" money at the FA's this off season, so that means we might get a bargain on a guy who holds out too long.
A phantom knee injury at that. No surgery was needed for Landry at the end of the season unlike T-Mac and Battier.
I understand that alot pf people say hes not worth the mle, but if it comes to that to keep him, i would. He hustles n brings alot of energy to the game which the Rockets need. Also he has tons of potential to be something special. Also dont forget, when Yao went down, Landry got alot of playing time, so we really didnt see Landry n Yao on the court as much at the same time. They could complement off each other n could take some load of Yao n Tmac for some interior scoring n rebounding. I personally think Landry, with him trying to improve on 3-pt n passing, he should work on his defense n blocking as well. If he does that, who knows he could be the next Marion.
I hope he stays. If he gets that three point shot I can see him becoming our new Robert Horry. I haven't seen that much hustle in a long long time. If he can get that three and turn into an horry type of player then we should have our 4/3 that we've been looking for. He definitely has the heart and skills to be one of our better defenders in our league.
I am so happy he is working on his 3 pointer. If that guy can shoot the 3 at 40%, and I am convinced he can with work because he has good shooting form, then he will definitely be able to see some minutes at the 3 position at times and will be very, very valuable to any team he plays for.
First and foremost, the Rockets can't SnT Landry easily because he goes BYC on any contract starting at over $750k. Secondly, no way on this planet is the guy worth a full MLE. The Rockets are crazy if they pay him that much. He dropped in the draft because of knee problems. He struggled during the season due to knee problems. He's another knee problem from being essentially worthless. The best way to handle it is wink-wink. Draw the line at the bi-annual exception (~2m) for 1 year. If he produces, the Rockets have his Early Bird Rights and can pay MLE type money next summer without using the MLE on him. $3m for Landry is borderline crazy. You've effectively taken yourself out of the FA market by giving him $3m of the available $5.5m.
Agree entirely. Morey falls in faint. Though on the sign and trade bit, the Kirk Snyder trade exception provides a little more possibility-- you could trade Landry for a pair of ~2m players, using the exception for one of them.
I think that´s true, and even if he´s agent tries to come up with all sort of offers or whatever the Rox can always ask for the official offer to match, i don´t see many teams offering real money to a player with knee problems both in the NCAA and in his first year as a rookie that also bases his game on athleticism. I will say that Landry will take something between 3 years 7.5 to 9 millions at most, many might thing Morey is a genius if he does it but i think Signing Landry to a 3 years 7.5 millions is a very doable deal.
Strategically, shouldn't another team offer the full MLE just so we'll have to use ours to match? It's dirty but if it works, someone will be doing it, right? I wonder if he wants to work on a three because it's something we could use, or because he thinks he can shoot them efficiently? I know its a cynical question but still. It is his job so maybe he has an interview mentality. Who knows... I can picture him shooting threes at a good percentage. I want to see it first before we go all in.
