[Mark Berman] Bonzi Is Staying

the thing that scares me about this rumor is that they mention the rockets aquiring the 40th pick. morey was talking about the solid talent available in the 40-45 range in the draft. that was really odd considering we have the #26 pick.

however, i highly doubt that bonzi will be traded.

 

those 5 have taken up about 135/144 possible minutes at the 1-2-3 positions.
so there's at least 9 minutes left for the super scrub. Snyder maybe? Head really does absolutely nothing that James can't do better. Novak's not a 1 or 2 and will have to play at the 4 i guess. VSpan might not come back.

actually i don't see why both Rafer and MJ have to play at least 25 mpg. one of the two is going to be seen as the superior option as the starting PG, and the other one will just have to get the shaft. also i see Battier playing more than 10 mpg at the 4 unless the Rockets pick up a bona fide PF. for the MLE, it's very unlikely that they can pick up a starting caliber big minute PF. T-Mac supposedly's losing some weight this offseason, but if Matrix can start at the 4, i don't see why T-Mac can't play as a point-power-forward for a few minutes when the Rockets go small with Yao out of the lineup. that's when they really go uptempo.

 

Cook+Vujacic (or Turiaff)+#40 for Bonzi+Head? I don't think the Rockets would do that. Sure they are interested in a 2nd round pick. And they are interesteded in improving their PF spot. But I dont think they would move Bonzi+Head for that. They could potentially buy a 2nd round pick. And Bonzi on his current contract has good value.

I think a more realistic scenario (or maybe just my hope) would be the Lakers trading their #19 pick for Head and #26. They move down 7 spots but get a guard in Head that would be a good player in their triangle offense and they still keep a 1st rounder. The Rockets move up in the draft to get a more impact player.

 

Great news for us that Bonzi stays. He is a great player. He will be so important commin' off the bench to score points and carry the team

 

He said that the Rockets want Turiaf instead of Vujacic. That would be fantastic. I'm a big fan of his. He would make Chuck a little redundant though. Cook, Turiaf and the #40 for ****** and Head. I would prefer to swap first rounders, but I'm ok with it. What's the rule on trading Bonzi though? Is there a waiting period?

 

bonzi, luther, #26 for cook, vujacic, and #40 is just bad. that heavily favors the lakers. all of our pieces are more valuable than thier pieces.

this rumor must be an offer from the lakers. if the trade were to balance out just a bit, i think we can have a nice deal with them. let say something like:

head, billy, snyder, #26 for cook, turiaf, vujacic, #40.

 

actually, Bonzi at the 4 is a very intriguing possibility, at least some of the time. at the 2, he definitely poses a mismatch since most SG's have no chance of guarding him in the post. yet even as fat as he might be, Bonzi should have no trouble getting around traditional PF's to get to the basket, or even drawing them out of the paint to contest his mid-range jumper. he's also a decent rebounder. i think he's has a better chance than Chuck Hayes of being a Charles Barkley (with less rebounding) type player as he actually has a very good offensive game.

but i don't think the Rockets should spend their MLE on a swingman. heck, between T-Mac, Bonzi, Battier and Snyder, they're loaded at the wings. i think a backup center who can play some PF is more pressing. maybe a more skilled, better rebounding and defending Juwan. which is probably hard to get with the MLE. really, they don't have anyone besides Deke and maybe Jake and those two can only play center.

 

I think I would rather keep Billy, Snyder and the #26 than Bonzi. I would require Turiaf though. I think he would be a close to ideal 4 man to put next to Yao. Just look at what they did last year with Chuck at the 4. Now imagine what they could do with a taller more athletic version. Cook would bring a change of pace with his ability to spread the floor. I couldn't care less about Vujacic. He's soft and he's pretty bad to begin with. I'd let them keep him. Like Morey has been saying, I think we can snag a solid player at #40. Head and Wells for Turiaf, Cook and the #40 would also bring some balance to the roster.

James/Alston/Lucas/Billy
Mac/Snyder/#26
Battier/Novak
Turiaf/Cook/Chuck
Yao/(Turiaf)/(Cook)/#40

 

I'll be the first to say it. I don't care if he gets paid or not, I don't want to see him on the floor again. I don't care what he does. I saw enough of him fumbling the ball out of bounds, fumbling the ball to the opponent for an easy fast break, getting blown by on defense, giving up uncontested layups for a career. He's kaput, he's done. He needs to retire or go be someone else's problem. He doesn't deserve minutes over players who are could improve like Head or Snyder (or even as much as I hate to bring him up, Spanoulis).

 

Exactly. Bonzi is an absolute zero in my eyes. If we can get anything for him of value, I'll be very happy.

 

HERE HERE!

 

That's awesome we're keeping him, he will end up starting in Adelman's system before the all star break, watch and see.

 

Well at least you have an open mind and not judging Bonzi's total worth on last season. Good to see you are flexible and willing to take risks in order to yield possible high rewards.

http://www.nba.com/games/20061104/DALHOU/boxscore.html

He equally had a fast break steal and dunk against Dallas at the 19 second mark. Demonstrated a quick spin and dunk to the baseline. He showed glimpses of other steals and spot up shooting. I say, with adelman this can work.

 

Can't wait to see what happens Thursday with the pick. I wonder if the Rockets will make a trade that night for a PF.

 

good he'll play extra hard next year because its contract year and he knows if he don't the door will close on a big payday...........so thats very good for the rockets and for such a cheap price.

 

Sooner -- Bonzi will be playing for a juicy new contract, either with us or another team. He will be playing Bonzis to the Wall!

 

rockets mgmt = pu**ies

they should never have given that loser a chance to stay...should have traded him to who they wanted to help the team.


morey and company made a big mistake on this one.

 

OK... how do you propose they not give him a chance to play and trade him given he has a player option? Since you are clearly not a p***y, you probably have some good ideas about how to accomplish such a thing.

 

That may very well be true, but is that the type of guy you want on the team? I was willing to give him a chance last year, but he couldn't have done any worse. Let's say he plays great, are you going to give him a multi-year deal so he can sit on his butt and take it easy for the life of the contract? I'm certainly not. I want players that love to play the game for the sake of playing the game.

 

I'm excited to see Bonzi come back and be the person that was pounding the Spurs in last year's play-offs

Here's my projection for starting line-ups:

Rafer Alston (I'm not crazy, just don't play him major minutes)
T-mac (Because he's T-mac)
Shane Battier (To cover the leading scoring wing player)
Chuck Hayes (For now)
Yao Ming (Because he's Yao Ming)

When it's time for T-mac or Yao to be on the bench this is what it should look like:

Mike James (Someone to create his own shot)
Bonzi Wells (Because he's a bruiser on the inside and can rebound well)
T-Mac//Shane Battier (Let's face it, either or both are going to be on the court on a constant basis)
Sean Williams** (Monster shotblocker/alterer, can make up for defensive liabilities of some is. Steve Novak, Luther Head, Bonzi Wells)
Dikembe Mutumbo (Because he's still a force to be reckoned with on the defensive end)

**DRAFT SEAN WILLIAMS

This should be the line-up barring that we keep Luther Head or VSpan (He can play PG/SG with Bonzi shifting to SF)