Another alternative is the Wizard's Jared Jeffries. Jeffries is 6'10, has the size, length, and athleticism to play four and can be had for cheap.
Neither Magloire nor Jeffries would be cheap at all and we don't have many assets to offer them. Besides with Howard and Battier taking most of the 4 minutes with Hayes as a physical/bruiser alternative I don't think he have a big need for a 4.
I think the ideal situation for the rockets going into the season is to have a scenario where JHo is the 6th man that provides a scoring option off the bench. Given, Yao, TMac, James, in the starting lineup, and Howard and Alston off the bench (or Alston in SL and James off the bench), I think we will have enough scoring options. Ideally, I think we should try to land a defensive stalwart at the 4 to bump howard to the bench, and I think cato would be perfect in that role. The downside is that the starting lineup would be slow with both yao and cato, and cato would often clog the lane with yao. the rebounding and defense though, could prove invaluable. For those who were excited about going the other way, with an offensive-minded 4 like a Radmonovich or Tim Thomas, I dont understand why Keith Van Horn's name isn't being thrown around more. He is 6'10" and would spread the floor. Granted, most of his play has been at the 3, but he is a very similar player to the other two, albiet slightly more of a defensive liability.
We pass up Rudy Gay because we want to win now. So then we trade for Ike Diogu, someone who will take time to develope into a solid starter. That makes no sense at all. So yeah, it sounds like something that CD would do.
Posts like this should be grounds for being banned. And it would be at my other forum..... But anyways, in no way is Chandler better or more valuable to any team - especially a team like the Rockets who desperately wanted a player like Battier - than Shane Battier. I liked the trade I saw earlier, of Pietrus and Murphy for Howard, Alston and a first round pick. I haven't checked to see if the salaries would match up, but if they did, and the Warriors are dumb enough to do such a trade, I would go for it in a heartbeat.
Who was the big guard on Miami this year? 6'4" Dwayne Wade? Sometimes NBA GM types get caught too much in height etc.....it should be more about ability and production. DD
Using Wade as an example isn't really fair because he's so good. How many 6'4 SGs besides Wade play like 6'8? How many 6'4 guards haul down key rebounds late in tense games like he does? How many 6'4 guards make Chauncey Billups eat the ball when he backs them down, butts them away and tosses up his (expected) easy layup? Wade is a borderline freak of nature. Your point is true, but height/size do matter most of the time. Wade is an extreme exception to the rule because of his hops and strength.
I am beginning to think that once MJ is signed, we might be done. How often have we used our trade exceptions in the past? We might be in a win now stage, but we have plenty of guys who can play the four. All of this "who can we get for this and that" is getting pretty out of hand. Last time I checked we weren't so good at cherry picking pretty good players from pretty good teams and just inserting them into our squad, carte blanch (especially after this trade we made). Even if some of these guys are on the block/or free agents . . . we certainly don't have enough $$$ or assets to even think about making some offers. Things like this happen when you have two max guys on your roster a bunch of injured, old guys, and trade away the two best guys to use as bait. We will have a good roster going into the season. Lets just see where that can get us.
I am hoping we get Mike James through the S&T and then throw the MLE at Jared Jeffries. Jeffries would give us even more athleticism and length at the 4 primarily but also at the 3 and 2 and even at the 5 in an uptempo game. Jeffries would also give us the flexibility to deal Howard.
Actually, Magloire is reasonable. Howard + Alston (+draft pick) for Magloire. Sounds possible. The Bucks may be interested in a veteran 4 and a capable passing PG after they lost Ford. We have a solid starting 4, and Mike James, with JLIII, should still stuff the PG position. We might also go for Marcus Banks, either with MLE or TE, depending on which James left off. NOW THIS RULES::: C: Yao/Deke/Magloire PF: Magloire/Chuck Hayes/Steve Novak/Shane Battier SF: Shane Battier/Steve Novak/Ryan Bowen/Tracy Mcgrady SG: Tracy Mcgrady/Luther Head/Keith Bogans PG: Mike James/Marcus Banks/John Lucas III (Sura?) We could go small with Battier, T-MAC, Banks and James, with either Yao or Magloire on court. We could go big, which is pretty obvious.
I think the first priority we should be looking for in a PF is someone that can defend Dirk, Duncan, Garnett and all the other PFs in the league during the playoffs without being an offensive liability. I agree that we do not need another banger inside to clog up the middle offensively, but we do need one defensively. For all of RyBos flaws, he did a pretty good job of guarding Dirk during the Dallas series 2 years ago, but was just such an offensive liability it undermined his efforts. The second someone that can spread the floor for Yao and T-Mac by hitting mid-range jumpers and possibly 3s. Battier actually sounds like he fits this pretty well, but is just a little weak on the rebounding and seems a little short to guard some of the better 4s during the playoffs. I've been impressed with Murphy's rebounding and 3pt shooting, but if Dirk and Duncan are lighting us up because he's not quite as sharp defensively, then the rebounding and 3pt shooting won't do much good.
Jared Jefferies would be great if we can land him. He's athletic with good size and has all the tools to be a great complement to Yao and McGrady with the right coaching and mentoring. What I want to know ... given that we were willing to give up on Swift. Did the Rockets ever explore trading some combination of Swift and the 8th pick/Gay and/or another player to Golden State for some combination of Murphy, Pietrus, and/or the 9th pick? It's possible Golden State just wouldn't have wanted Swift and his contract, but then again, he could've played the center position for them at times and perhaps fit in better with their up tempo style. I know they wanted Gay and there was much disappointment when the Rockets took him at 8. And clearly, they're willing to go with potential over immediate impact given that they went with O'Bryant at 9. Maybe it would not have been possible to pull the trade off, but I have to say, I think having Murphy and Pietrus instead of Battier could be interesting, or perhaps if we had Murphy and, say, Marcus Williams (or any of a number of players taken 9 and after). Not saying they could've or should've pulled it off, but just wondering if they really tried. Golden State has made trades in the past that made the other team much better off, so why not try to continue that history with them?
IMO if the rockets really want to get a PF, Randolph can be had cheap. The biggest stumbling block will be to match his salary up to 25% and then hoping the change of scenery helps his attitude. Portland will do just about anything right now to get rid of him and Miles. Miles to me is a no way jose type of guy. I think Randolph can change it around with a change in atmosphere that the Rockets could provide. I think they need a backup center almost as much as a PF though (Cato??).
Randolph sucks!! He is a fat chucker and before I was thinking of Drew Gooden but now he and his agents says they want around a Nene sized contract!!
Zach Randolph will make $12M this season and $17.3M in his final contract year of 2011. Even if we had $9M in contracts (75% of 12M) we'd be insane to do that. Beyond the speculation that a change of scenery would help him, Randolph's range doesn't help Yao. Given the contract value and fit differences, I'd be willing to tip jar bet the majority here would rather have Miles and go with a Battier/Miles/Hays/Novak crew than bring Randolph on board for $12M.
GS didn't really need Swift. Even without Murphy they're loaded with bigs (Foyle,Biedrin and Diogu, Taft). Their main front court need was a big body to matchup against some of the bigger centers. Swift doesn't fill that role for them. If nothing else, O'Bryant is big. Additionally, Murphy makes almost $8M/year which is $3M more than Battier. In order to trade for Murphy, we would have had to send more than just Swift's contract to them. If they don't really need Swift and they'd have to take back additional salary, I doubt that they'd have done that deal.
