I am starting to think the rockets will play him as a 3/4 although he can play 2, IMO. If we can find a solid 2 to play alonside Tmac then that would be great. I am just not sure who we can get with MLE and don't even think about a trade cause we have no assets now. The TE's may be our biggest assets but we will probably use those when it is closer to the trading deadline unfortunately.
I have a feeling Wilcox will get complacent when he gets his long term contract. He never played that hard until his contract year(last year) and now he expects to get payed like that. What BS.
Sounds like the growing movement is that Battier is going to play some PF for us, most likely in crunch time when we sure as hell don't want Juwan out there. In that case it simplifys our Free Agency strategy. We weren't going to get a decent big man with the MLE or our trading assets. So we'll throw the entire MLE at Mike James since he gives us the 3rd option that can get his own shot which we desparately need. After that, I'd go for Jared Jeffries in a sign and trade for our 4.2 TE and hopefully just a 2nd rounder (or better yet Bogans). Jeffries is exactly the kind of defender that we'd need off the bench. He's a great perimeter defender with his length, and he can defend the 2/3 and the 4 in a pinch. And an overlooked aspect is that he would be a terrific double-teamer. With his size and length, if you stick him on a weak offensive player, he could be very disruptive as a help defender. I'm still not happy with our PF situation, but if Battier, Howard and Hayes can man the position, then James and Jeffries would be a huge boon to our backcourt and SF positions.
Summer League Update: Darius Washington Patrick Beinlein http://www.oregonlive.com/sports/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/sports/1151645118165620.xml&coll=7 http://www.statesmanjournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060630/SPORTS/606300327/1018 Juwan Howard & Rafer Alston for Zach Randolph Steve Blake would work under the 125% +/- 100k rule. Juwan is recognised as a good character and community guy. He's probably the type of vet Portland would want to give their young guys direction. Blazers 1. Alston, Jack, Dickau (+Spanish Chocolate in Europe) 2. Dixon, Roy 3. Miles (Most likely to be traded), Outlaw 4. Juwan (+Joel Freeland in Europe), Aldridge 5. Pryzbilla, Raef, Korean Guy Rocks 1. Blake (MLE) 2. McGrady Head 3. Battier Rybo Novak 4. Randolph Hayes 5. Yao Deke
Ely would be a good pickup because of his ability to backup the C position. We might have to spend our 4.2 TE on him, and we'd probably have to give up one of our few assets (Luther, picks, maybe v-span), and we'd probably lose out on a utility defender. God, we are so freaking tapped out. I can't believe managment actually thinks we can get put over the top this offseason.
Even with Battier and Mike James, this team still won't be able to compete in the West. Sure, they will win more games - I guesstimate somewhere between 43 & 52 - but so what? So they can slip into the playoffs as a 7th or 8th seed and get blasted out in the 1st round...again? Would that qualify as a successful season? Would that be enough to justify what they just did? What evidence exists to makes anyone here believe that they simply won't botch this up as well? After all, they've already admitted they made a mistake LAST YEAR when they signed Swift only to end up dumping him for next to nothing so why should I or anyone here believe that whomever they sign won't end up the same as Stromile?
?????????????????? Now I am puzzled. There are only 2 players that I would even consider in this FA class that could possibly play the SG effectively, and once again, they would be tremendously undersized and one of them has a reputation for not playing defense. Care to comment further?
the rockets for lack of a better term are low on fuel. we have freaking 2 powerful components, but no freaking juice. i say if possible pickup a wilcox/ely/evans or maybe even our old friend CATO. add depth with K. rush and whoever else plays decent d and can hit an open shot this roster is a video game roster (you don't need depth in nba 2k6).... lets fill em in...
Bonzi Wells anyone? If we agree that SG is a need, Mike James isnt who we need to target. I want a backup PG that can score off the bench as much as anyone, but James isn't a 2 guard. Of course Wells can't hit the 3 pointer that well, but at least he can hit all the other shots.
if someone...can hold down the 4...chucky and juwon, maybe sign CATO cheap. i'm all for bonzi...but we can't sign him. He kicked some ass in the playoffs and he's gonna be asking for some $$$. He'll laugh at the MLE.
Who's going to go over the MLE for him? I mean my first thought was that we had no chance at him either... you know what nevermind. After trading his buddy Swift and doing who knows what behind the scenes, I doubt Bonzi wants a part of this organization.
I'm assuming you want us to trade for James and use the MLE on VSPAN and Songalia? Remember we only have one MLE, a TE lower than the MLE, and no tradeable assets that have a salary anyone would want.
Portland exchange draft pick to get Roy... It was a rumor Howard for Miles and Roy... Is it still possible?
