I think I liked the BBS more when you weren't posting (busy following the Mavericks, I assume). Your doom and gloom rambling can get even more annoying than some of the poster's misguided optimism. Anyway, this team definitely needs to add a decent PF. Amazingly, there probably aren't any available free agents who would be an upgrade over Juwan. We may have to address the issue by trade, and considering that we have no trade assets, that could be tricky. I really hope the Battier trade was part of a larger plan. Because it now seems like the team has no direction. Last offseason we tried to address team speed and athleticism, now we're back to getting reliable veterans... It's just frusturating.
Harpring?????????? I'm stunned. I figured after we acquired Battier that would be enough. Man, I love Harpring, and I am absolutely convinced that he is a Van Gundy type player. But where is the quickness?? How does he help our perimeter D? However, you stick him at the 2/3 and stick Battier at the 4, that is a couple of tough hombres out there on the floor. I just can't imagine Battier at the 4 for extended minutes. I am still puzzled.
How are we going to pay for all that. James will take at the least the MLE, and V-span will need part of the MLE as well. I do like Songaila though. He could be a target for our TE as well.
rockets should for broke. all these players are reportedly being shopped and the salaries of rafer & juwan make them possible scenarios: portland: randolph (+blake) denver: k-mart (+hodge) nets: jefferson (+padgett) seattle: rashard (+ridnour) utah: boozer (+mcleod)
Trying to stay in the realm of possibility, I like this: Sign Mike James to MLE Sign Cato to vet min Work a SnT with the Bulls for Songaila Leaves us with: James / Alston / Hollis Price (Someone has to make it off the summer league T-Mac / Head team, right? ) Battier / Novak Songaila / Howard / Hayes Yao / Cato IR: Deke Lampe Bowen
That's how I feel. I'm not entirely opposed to the deal right now, but there has got to be a lot more that gets done to this team and I don't see how they are going to do it. The way I see it, to compete in the West for a title we need to add: an upgrade at the 4 a backup PG a starting caliber SG And I just don't see how we have the assets to get that done.
i really think Battier trade was just the begining of another re-tooling of the roster. We have lots of options out there. IMO, these include Wilcox Evans Ely Jumaine Jones Flip Murray Van Horn (NO) Demarr Johnson Cato Wright K. Rush James and a slew of others. I know these names dont' jump out at anyone, but we're not looking for superstars. We're looking for guys who play D, can hit an open jumper, ect... people need to calm down. it's not really that bad. The trade was a step in the right direction. Just finding the right "pieces" is the hard part.
was that directed at my post? randolph, k-mart, and boozer all had major injuries last season and latter two missed most of the season. they've all been reported to be malcontents who don't have easy relationships with their respective coaches. being max contract players with they're going to be very hard to move. rockets can offer them servicable salary dumps in rafer and juwan.
Rashard and Jefferson are pipe dreams. Pass on Kmart and Randolph. But Boozer actually intrigues me. He can grab boards and stick foul line jumpers. Juwan and Sura (and maybe a draft pick) for Boozer would save Utah a lot in future committed salaries, but I don't know if it's enough for them to bite. And I'm not that wild about dumping Rafer. Our backcourt is thin enough as is.
I'd do Juwan and Sura for Boozer in a heartbeat. That wouldn't SOLVE the PF position but it would sure upgrade it. Then we could direct the MLE at the 2 guard.
It's possible that Battier is not a starter, he's the 6th man. And it is about team defense, execution, match-ups and chemistry. If Yao and TMac are healthy I think they will surround them with tough, hard nose players who have high bb IQ and can hit shots. Where we need quickness is on the point to stop all the penetration, they don't like all that penetration to be easy into the lane. Their defense is designed for teams to have to shoot over it. IMHO
James wants more than the MLE and Toronto would love to get assets back, like a Luther Head. Under the rules, could we trade Head plus the trade exception for James who signs with Toronto for MLE plus money?
why don't we through in bowen for kicks...the jazz would have to be isiah r****ded to do that trade. although i'd love to get rid of juwon....
Boozer's going anywhere. And really, whatever we have to offer wouldn't be worth it for the Jazz. Boozer's signed through '09. Sura's signed through '08, and Juwan's signed through '08, with a player option for '09. I think swallowing K-Mart's contract would be our best option, and I detest Kenyon Martin. Even then, I doubt we have anything the Nuggets would be interested in (though for whatever reason they do seem to like Juwan Howard, and have wanted to bring him back since his big contract expire). It's frusurating to think that going into last year, we had something like $22M in expiring contracts. Then they waived Spoon and traded James, then traded Mooch for Lampe... I was really hoping they'd use that money to bring in an impact player midseason, and now the team basically has no tradeable assets.
At this point there is only 1 position we are set at - the 3. Needs in order: SG - We still do not have an natural 2 with any size. TMac is a 3 IMO. PG - Head can play the postion but it would be nice to have a real backup. C - Deke can't last forever and Howard at the C?? Please no. PF - We have Howard and Hayes here. Ok but an upgrade would be nice. Last on my list of needs though. I think we spend the whole MLE to get James. He doesn't have the SG size but he can play the SG/PG role and provides the offense off the bench we badly need. Right now the bench is Hayes, Head, Deke, Bowen, Novak. I don't expect to see Novak on the floor except at all. If James isn't possible, I'd go after Wells first (he's more of a 2) or Harpring (a 2/3). Try and get VSpan over here. Sign any vet min player if you can. Fill in with CBA players and lets make the best of this.
No, I wasn't directing it at you. However, do we really want guys coming off of major injuries who are on gigantic contracts? I'd prefer a guy like Songaila. I just saw this on RealGM: Evans' Trade Could Help Re-Sign Ben http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060630/SPORTS03/606300398/1051 Maybe we could take Evans salary off of Detroit's hands with our TE. I certainly like him better than Stevenson.
Our trade exception isn't that big. We got one that's 4.2 million, so James' salary would have to be equal or less than that, and that's less than the MLE. Otherwise Toronto would have to take back salaries and there's nobody on our roster that they'd want. If James wants to do a sign and trade he's going elsewhere.
