Mo Williams available... Could he shore up our PG spot sufficiently?

Mo Williams is 25. Not much risk of him being over the hill.

 

Once again we have people talking about a player whom they've watched play 2 or 3 times. Before people make opinions, buy the league pass to gather data and then make a opinion. Don't read someone else thought and make it yours to fit in.

Here's my take from the 15 games or more I've seen him. He fits the criteria the rox should get. He's a young pg who's a consistent scorer that increases the Rox chances of winning a ring. He can get a quality shot without yao or tracy and knock them down at a high percentage. Good passer and ft shooter. Really good finisher, avg defender. As stated he makes 8m which isn't a lot for his production vs his age.

Now, what is the package? They want expirings and players. The Rox need to get to 6.8m which is easy to do. The can go Jackson and Brooks or Jackson, Francis or Jackson and Head. After that move, they can entertain offers for Rafer. Rafer to the clipps for a 2nd pick or to Orlando for Dooling in s&t @ 3yrs 3m per. Trading for Williams still keeps u in the LeBron derby plus if the team is really good, that makes the Rox very attractive to that class.

When the Rox play well its because Rafer would avg 17 ppg on 42%. How good would they be if they had 17ppg on 45% every night. I would wait till the trade deadline to make this happen. If they wanted a draft choice, if they cough up Charlie V, we could do that and let landry walk.

 

lee, we actually very much agree overall. Williams is a guy who can create his own shot and create for others, and does it extremely efficiently.

However, I don't think you necessarily pick up Williams with the idea of moving Alston.

First, the market for Alston can really be all over the place -- he's good, not great, and about to turn 32. He's only got 2 years left at 5m per, but really the market for a guy like him could be all over the place. There aren't many teams that would see Alston as an upgrade, but he does have his virtues.

Second, if you theoretically trade Jackson and Brooks for Williams then give away Alston, you're left without a dependable backup (apologies to Francis). It's just like last year, where Williams is forced to play 40 minutes plus per game instead of Alston.

I would keep Alston and Williams, bringing Williams in as fire power off the bench. Bring Rafer down to under 30 mpg, give Williams the rest of the point guard minutes, and Head's former minutes at the 2 guard. Basically, use him the way the Mavs use Jason Terry.

 

^ i agree with the above, especially if all you can get is a 2nd round pick. but i would shop alston to see what you could get, especially in a scenario where you don't have to trade Brooks...not saying Brooks will grow into that competent backup, but he might, and if you could trade Alston for a competent backup 3/2 then I'd do that.

 

It's funny when good players who fill a need become available, some people actually say no and then they wonder why the Rockest can't get out of the first round or have a hard time scoring. The Rockets are no where near the elite teams of the nba. I'm sorry Rafer is not going to get the job done. Mo Williams would be a definite upgrade - especially if all they want are some expiring contracts, a throw in player, and even a pick. I'd much rather have Mo leading the team in the playoffs than the alternatives.

 

Nike- Williams is a much better player than Rafer, so why would u bring Williams off the bench? Rafer is a backup on a good team. As for trading Rafer, its because since the Rox get their starter in Williams and we know about the luxury tax, that's why I mentioned Dooling as a sign and trade @ 3yrs and 3m per to backup williams or get the 2nd from the clipps in a salary dump and sign Stoudimire for the veterans minimum or a guy like Steve Blake for cheap. If the bucks want the 1st rd pick, the rox should ask for Charlie V. then they can let Landry walk and split the mle on 2 players like Ricky Davis and Chris Mihm.

 

he is a baller. im all for it, just depending on who we give up

 

So the reason why the Rockets haven't acquired a third scorer is that management think about getting a guy then decide against it after reading negative comments about him on this board?

 

Whats our no.1 goal for this off-season and the past few off-seasons???

Upgrade at PG!

So forget Miller...Artest...we need to get Mo!

 

Go get him! Don't be cheap!

 

I think something else people are missing is the pnr play. Right now, the pnr can onry be ran by tracy and the big. Why? Defenses don't respect rafers mid range or ability to get to the rack and finish. Williams opens that option and allows tracy on some backside action. Willams only shot 25% of his total shots beyond the arc. If u look at his shot zones in page 2, you will see the very good mid game and finshes at the rim which puts a lot of pressure on the defense. Not only that, he shoots 38% when he does let loose. Imagine the looks Tracy and yao would get wiiliams as well as the looks williams would get those 2. Plus he's getting better every yr.

 

I've posted an argument word for word like that, kudos

 

I really struggle with whether or not to bring in Mo, even if it's just for expirings and a late round pick.

If we brought him in though, 2 things definitely need to be sorted out first:

1. Morey better make sure his talent is worth the contract(duh).

2. He should be brought in to be a starter. That would likely mean the end of Alston unless he's able to suck up his pride.


If he is worth the contract, then the loss of cap flexibility and loss of the wishful thinking of landing some star for expirings would not be a big deal because we should be able to move him(if we need to) if he does shine his talent in the bigger stage of Htown. If he isn't worth the dough, then of course he becomes a pretty big damn albatross.

I do accept that Mo might be the best we can do with those expirings though, and I'd rather do something than nothing ...

 

CriscoKid- I look at it 2 fold. The Rox upgrade the talent bigtime with a young player who is still improving and it still keeps u in the Lebron derby. In nba money, he's compensated about where he should be. He makes 8m with certain escalators and he 25. The Rox window would be opened up longer because of his age and production. Is he as good as Artest? No, he fills a huge need that can't be ignored. Rafer is a backup on a chamionship quality team. Brooks isn't ready although I like him and Francis is done. I like the potential and production of this move. Now the Rox would have 3 guys that could get 55-65 points without shot conflict. I think people get glassy eyed and think Rafer turned the corner after a few good games, but we know what Alston is and I don't think he can cut it.

 

So i guess giving the ball to tracy and standing his no shooting ass around is setting up the offense? The pressure from opening tip with Williams starting is what will get the Rox off to good starts. Sometimes people amaze me

 

You definitely wouldn't pay this kind of money and bring Williams off the bench, unless you got him and he wasn't working out as the starter. If that happened, I would be wondering why the hell we paid that much for him. Seriously, the main problem I have with the guy is 6 years at $51.5 million (with a player option in years 5 and 6, btw). Are there other alternatives out there if we're going to lock in a contract of that size? There's no question in my mind that we need to either trade Rafer for a much better 1, or have Rafer do what he's should be doing, IMO, which is being the first point guard off the bench. It's just that after some of the moves we've made in the past signing guys to long contracts based on a wish and a prayer, I want to be damn sure we trade for someone worth that kind of jack.

I liked Williams better when I didn't know how much he was making and how long he's going to be making it. Of course, we might get him, discover he's amazing and perfect for our needs, and then have him opt out 2 years before the end of the contract! That would be a problem I'd like to have.

Here's some interesting stats from 82 games...

http://www.82games.com/0607/06MIL3D.HTM

I was hoping to post them as an image, but you have to visit the site or know more than I do. Not hard!

 

Rafer is not a terrific passer and only passes at an above average level on some occasions in my view,but I agree with all the other points you have made on this post.

 

I don't say this a lot, but u obviously have a low level of basketball understanding by your comments or you're looking up stats and have a limited viewership of the guy. A energy guy? Please tell me you're kidding. I've seen this movie you're trying to sell to me. Its called Francis is better than Bibby,Davis,and Miller because he plays on a winner. The notion that the guy isn't a huge upgrade over rafer is a joke in itself. The deal in Utah, he was a guy that came out too early but has gotten better every yr and is 25.

Since u seem to like stats, go look up and tell me the last time a team has won a ring with a pg shooting under 40%. Rafer is a backup on a title contender. I'm not going to fool myself and call him a poor passer, because he's not, but how many penetrating passes does he make? How many transition chances does he create? So now we're down to half court play. Williams is a far superior pnr pg, mid range shooter,finisher at the rim and ft shooter. What is u basis for energy guy? He's instantly the 3rd best player on this team, plus he's 25.

I read every post and it amazes me some of the posts uninformed posters make. By the way, how many Bucks games have u watched to make ur assumptions?