SAR would be an ideal pickup. He is a versatile player that can play SF or PF. He has a polished offensive game, he can hit jumper with ease and has a nice post game as well. He isn't a shotblocker or a devastating defender, but he is a good rebounder and is mobile enough to stay w/ mobile PFs like Dirk and KG. Swift is my #1 choice, but a deal isn't likely w/o some sort of S&T since we only have the MLE. Signing SAR to the MLE and trying to deal JH for a more athletic backup would be nice.
Agreed. And as for SAR, I like him, but as a 4 and not a 3. Tmac has the 3 locked down in JVG's offense. JVG doesnt want Tmac guarding quicker 2's so that means that the SG has to do it. With SAR at the 3 that means Tmac has to guard the quicker 2's and we dont want Tmac wasting his energy running around after those guys. Getting SAR would be interesting. But ideally I would like a quicker defensive type PF next to Yao and get my "3rd scoring option" from the 2 guard position.
What bothers me about swift is that against Phoenix, he should have showed better in that type of game. The yr before he did nothing against Sa. Also, Swift has never been able to stay healthy for a entire season. If i could get SAR and had to take Patterson, I would do it. They can keep Anderson.
A year ago I wanted Steven Hunter to be apart of the T-Mac trade. Now, it seems like he may have found a home in Phoenix. If we could get him, I think he's could play a suitable 4 for us -- quick, long, athletic and seems to complement Yao in the low post since he wouldn't demand the ball.
Ever heard of the expression "beggars can't be choosers?" There's talented, All-Star calibur PF's out there with diminished market value yet there's those clueless fans out there that think a guy like SAR wouldn't be a key acquisition because of the typical answer, "We need a shot blocking, athletic, rebounding PF." As if SAR wouldn't be an automatic upgrade in 2/3 of those areas. Sooooo WHO is this missing link? WHO is this apparently obvious choice that we would by pass essentially a sure thing in SAR to acquire and take a risk on? WHO is this guy that will accept our MLE? Stromile Swift, eh?? Forgive me, but give me the sure thing in SAR.
I'm not convinced that Swift is the answer either but he is better defensively than SAR. SAR just doesn't like contact and can't defend. The jury is still out on Swift. If I had to bet money I would bet that JVG goes after Thomas for maybe Vin Baker's contract and then tries to get AD with the MLE and then uses other expirings/draft picks to get a swing man.
Yes, if we got a Kurt Thomas, Theo Ratliff, Carlos Boozer, or some big rebounding, defending PF to go with them. I'd still rather have Daniels, and some combination of Miles/Pietrus/Wells/Cat/Ratliff/KurtT/Nene/Camby/possibly Swift.
The one thing the rox have in their favor is expiring contracts after this season,mle and the attraction of playing with Ming and Mcgrady. Peep this: Daniels will want probably the full mle,SAR will probably want somewhere in the 7m range and Raja will be about 3m range. The rox could trade Ward and Spoon for a sign and trade of SAR. They could try to do a sign and trade for with wesley for daniels and give him 4 yrs like SAR.They could use 3.5 over 4 yrs for Raja with the mle. Howard could go back to the bench as well as Sura or move Sura because Daniels is a upgrade and use his 3m as part of sign and trade. I like James as a backup and we still need to find a way to get T-Mac some rest without the offense going into the dumps.
To be honest, there is not a PF vet that I'm unconditionly sold on, least of all may be SAR. That is not because he is a poor player, he is certainly not. As I said before, we have JVG, for better or worse, and IMO SAR doesn't fit in to his style any better than the rest. Swift may be the one that does, but we may have to settle for trying to draft a PF and that doesn't fit into JVG's style well either. Its like JHo is a Tahoe and SAR is a Tahoe with some extra options. They both do the job they were designed to do very well. However, neither is a sports car and a Corvette would 'em eat alive on the race course. And, neither is a Hummer which would eat 'em alive off the road. I know it is a weak anology, but give me a break. I think JVG is more the problem than the available PF's. There is little evidence that he changes his style to fit the available players, but rather attempts to find players that fit his system. That inflexibility cost us early last year and made it difficult to catch up until CD found some of his type players for him, albeit they were second string. IMO this inflexibility has cost Yao some time also.
Shareef is the 'tweener' type player that does not suit either of the Rockets needs at SF or PF. If the Rockets were to go after a SF and move Tmac back to SG, they should go after an athletic, defensively strong, perimeter oriented player who can make good entry passes to Yao. A young Robert Horry is what immediately comes to mind as the pefect player for the Rockets at the 3. If the Rockets were to go after a PF, they should go after a tough, physical defensively strong rebounder who can enforce the weak side on defense. Shareef doesn't fit either of these needs. Instead, he is kind of in between the two and I have always thought of him as a 'soft' player, which has just been compounded by his recent injuries. If we play him at the 3 we lose speed, atheletecism and defense. If we play him at the 4 we lose defense, rebounding and toughness. Granted, Shareef is a good offensive player, but will he work well with Tmac and Yao? He does not shoot the 3 particularly well, he has an average post game and he is not an exceptional passer by any stretch of the imagination. His strength lies in the midrange game and being able to expolit smaller SFs or slower PFs. This is nice, but his faults far outweigh his strengths.
This year's free agent crop is very diluted, and I think Rahim might get some serious coin from one of the teams under the cap. The question is whether or not he's tired of losing. Interesting note is that he's never played a single playoff game in his 7 year career. I'm thinking the only way is through a S&T with Portland. Unfortunately we don't have anything they want. Maybe if we take Derek Anderson or Theo Ratliff back in the process we could make it work. Otherwise, I don't see him signing for the MLE under any circumstances.
Some of you youngsters may not remember a guy name Larry Nance. Nance was a better shotblocker, be was the same type of in between player. A guy who play the 3 or 4, post up, rebound shoot the midrange shot. Thats the problem of the rox now is that they have no one other than T-Mac who can put the ball on the floor and shoot in between. Everything is either post up or kick out for the 3. Maybe i'm just being ignorant, but i think he could really help this team stay out of those scoring droughts. I guarantee everyone that if SAR is on this team, teams would go small alot less like dallas did in the playoffs. If teams could go small and had a guy like Howard or Daniels trying to guard SAR, it would be a done deal. Let me break it down on this basis. Rox vs mavs: Daniels v. Terry McGrady v Howard SAR v Finley Howard v Dirk Ming v Dampier Who and where are the biggest mismatches? How would they adjust? How would they defend McGrady,Ming and SAR. Let me open it up again. Rox vs Spurs Daniels v Parker McGrady v Manu SAR v Bowen Howard v Duncan Yao v Ming Do you still not like the matchups?
I wouldn't mind Shareef although I'd rather have Donyell Marshall or Stromile Swift..or even Badiane But yeah you've been wanting him since the Franchise days! I wanted him too back then..still would love to have him here! No to Darius Miles or Zach Randolph or Chris Anderson
Credit for trying and thinking outside the box, but nope. Finley would turn SAR every way but loose on the perimeter and bowen would make him disappear. BTW:"I knew Larry Nance, Larry Nance was my friend and SAR is no Larry Nance". LN was 6'10", had major Hops (probably the best in NBA history for a man that size), and quickness, but not a great shot.
I'll go against the grain again and say the reason we talk so much about needing a new PF is because of Juwan Howard's absence, not his poor play. IMO, his injury has caused many of us to forget how well he was playing before he went down. It took a while, but once he found his place this team started crushing people. He flowed in our half-court offense very well. His rebounding went up and we were called a championship contender. If SAR and Swift are not big upgrades over JH, why should we waste precious resources going after them? We would do better upgrading our backcourt and improving our perimeter defense. Wesley has an expiring contract AND he can play. We should package him plus a draft pick (or whatever) for a better player. If we don't add a starter who knows how to feed the post, the offseason will be a major disappointment. I'll like what Sura does, but neither he nor Mike James has any chemistry with Yao. We can't have that next year. A PF upgrade is NOT our biggest need; PF depth is the need. Our biggest need is a better/faster/younger starting backcourt with at least one player who can zip it inside where/when Yao wants the ball. Just this addition by itself will greatly improve Yao's effectiveness and the team's success. Over his last 20 or so games, was JH really that bad? Not at all. During the playoffs, was our backcourt really that bad? Yes. Besides Yao improving himself, what is the most sure way to make him better? 1 Add a post passer to the starting backcourt. 2 Add someone to the starting backcourt who will reduce dribble penetration by the other team. 3 Add a starting PG or SG who can take it to the rack and dish to Yao for a slam. There is more but I'll keep it short. Too much of this burden is on T-Mac. I'm sorry, but some of the comments about using SAR at the 3 are unbelievable. You gotta be outta your mind! And if he "can't rebound" and "can't play defense" what in the world do we need him for? JH can already hit the mid-range jumper and his post moves are decent, not great. Since we have Yao & T-Mac, at best we are looking at a 3RD scoring option at PF. JH is a good 3rd option. How much better do we need? I realize my opinion is a very tiny minority, but this horse has been beaten into road kill.
