Tierre is a free agent and he's putting some nice numbers in the summer league. Rockets should sign him ASAP, or else he'll be gone. I know it's just a summer league, but the point guard has become the weakest position in the league after center. I can't believe Chauncey Billups got $35 mil in these tough times capwise. Travis Best and Jeff McInnis(!) are two of the hottest free agents out there and there are at least 3 teams that are absoltely questionable at PG (Wizards, Heat, Minnesota). Two teams started late first-round rookies last year (Indiana and SA), two more will be doing it this year (Atlanta and Golden State). The Clippers will start somene named Jaric unless they trade for Andre Miller or Baron Davis which will open up holes in Cleveland and NO respectevely. Utah and Seattle have virtually no backups for their aging PGs. Rod Strickland is still getting work and he's calling for more than the minimum. If the Rockets sign Tierre for a reasonable contract, they'll most likely be able to get something valuable in return, such as a first-rounder for example. Then they can let Tito Maddox be their third string PG and learn from Steve.
I cannot really argue with your logic. Brown should be as good as gone. It is just a little to risky to move Mooch and then have Francis get injured. It is a real good position to be in though.
I'm thinking more like Tierre playing the 8-10 measly minutes behind Francis, while Maddox develops his skills as the 3rd string PG. Mooch and KT have to be out of here. Maybe we can get our hands on a mid-first rounder or a veteran defensive minded SG. Maybe even a project.
No team is going to trade a first round pick for someone expendable like a team's 3rd string PG. Why? Because players exactly like Tierre - with either more talent or more potential, but equal overall - are out there waiting to be snatched up for the minimum. Case in point: Damon Jones. He was signed for the minimum by Detroit to backup the PG spot. No backup PG is worth a first round pick, just because of the wealth of PGs out there.....just look at all of them in the summer leagues.
Torres has been really dissapointing, and I elected to keep Maddox. But I don't know how he'd fare defending bigger SG's. I was hoping for someone bigger. A bruce Bowen or Abdul-Wahad type of player.
with: ming-cato-collier moT-griff-kt rice-nachbar-Tmo cat steve-mooch we have 12 players on contract. i believe that os will be resigned. but will ride the ir the whole season barring injury. there is not enough room for two more guards on this team after os. well, technically there is. we are allowed 15 and tierre can play 3rd string pg while titto plays 3rd string sg, but thats not the point. we all know that only one will make the team. rudy and cd did this on purpose. they took a pg in the second round to challenge tierre to work out this summer and improve his game. they will most likely both make it to training camp, and even preseason. this is like a great heavywieght fight. it will come down to the wire. my vote is for tierre. i think his "push the ball up" mentality is what we need.
Smoothie, tell me how on earth it's possible to have 9 people in your frontcourt rotation? Even 8.... BTW, Wahad makes around 6M for around 4 more years. Not exactly cheap. They say Ira Newble is an EXCELLENT defender. Anyone seen him play a lot? I we can get a deal like Wahad, Avery Johnson and Wang Zhi Zhi for Mooch, KT, Rice and a future first...I'd be ecstatic.
ew that trade is bad. its too much to give up for bench players. johnson would be a good mentor for steve but i mean, come on...wahad and johnson would never play. we would lose a good backup in mooch, a solid shooter whos coming off the books in two years, kt who is a great player and a future first round pick...all for scrubs/players who couldnt crack our lineup. thats a bad trade. i think torres unless he improves his play, is gone. it seems like tierre and tito are really dueling, that looks like its fun to watch.
Sane, I saw a few Hawks games last year....Newble is more of a frontcourt small forward type....I think he's 6'7"-6'8".... I'd much rather get the other Hawk.....Dion Glover.
That trade is terrible, for several reasons. 1. Defensive-minded 2's are not valuable unless they can score, too. Perimeter players simply don't affect the entire court enough to change the dynamic of a game defensively. And limited evidence suggests that even the best defensive perimeter guys only reduce the opponent's PPG by 2-3... which is not enough to make up for the lack of scoring involved. 2. Avery Johnson is finished. 3. Wang Zhi-Zhi wouldn't see a whiff of real minutes behind Ming and Cato. So, you're trading one of the best back-up PFs in the league, a decent back-up PG, and a future 1st (valuable) for basically nothing. Oh, and Abdul-Wahad's contract lasts longer than Rice, meaning you have ot keep the dead weight longer.
Also, the Rockets might want to watch Tito Maddox closely during the summer, because he really has nice potential as our backup PG. I've seen him twice so far, and is really impressive as a pass-first type PG with good height.
I'm a Rockets' fan and STILL I see you guys as BIASED. I thought you were going to say the Mavs would laugh in our face. KT has no place on our team, will require an extension or will walk and Rice is barely decent but is mostly potential cap space. Thats what a Mavs fan would tell you. They'd also tell you that Avery Johnson's mere presence on their team makes a difference, that Abdul Wahad is every bit as good as Bowen when trying to slow Kobe (check Kobe vs. Spurs) and that Zhi Zhi worked INTENSELY on his game, which, wasn't so bad to begin with. So they're giving us, a starting C on MOST teams, one of the most respected, infuential, expereinced floor generals, and boy is he a leader, along with someone who can slow Kobe and T-Mac from EXPLODING on us each and every time for someone who we'll let go or trade for a crappy pick, a backup PG with a long contract that he may or may not deserve and washed up Glen Rice? But you want to know something? The truth is right between their logic and your logic, and that's why I think this deal is fair. Remove the future pick, and Cuban may not even entertain the offer. Don't you realize how much Avery Johnson will help Steve Francis mature? Avery Johnson is the EPITOME of leadership, team-play, and being a true PG. There's no one better than him that Francis can learn from. Don't etll me he can't play enough. There's only 8 or 10 minutes behind Francis. What about Zhi Zhi? How much more comfortable would Ming be? How much better would our C rotation be? How many more Chinese fans will we get? How much more runnin n gunnin? Then Abdul Wahad. He'd do wonders for us. You're right, perimeter defending isn't that effective. But it sure as hell blew us away last year, and believe me, Kobe wouldn't have gone off for 40 points on around 60% shooting had Abdul Wahad been guarding him. Please, think of it like a neutral fan. The Mavs ain't getting that much either.
Wang to Houston is impossible. Dallas already got Bradley headache( NVE too). You cannot dump players to them . Actually, they also need Wang. Wang is a "mistry" and having a lot space to improve. His salery is only $70000. His popularity is real money. I think Dallas and Golden state both love to have Wang.
But they also have Lafrentz (Steve Nash too). He's getting his payday, and i doubt there's ANY way they'll sign both Lafrentz and Wang to anything they'd agree on. It's one or the other. We're not giving them problems, we're fixing them. By trading them Mooch, we're giving them their chance to trade NVE ("headache") and a solid backup F who they can re-sign or let go by the end of the seaosn. Glen Rice will do almost nothing but relieve cap space. Aside from that, you have to think about this: Dallas' starting 3 is Najera. Rice isn't that invaluable to them. For a while Johnny Newman started the 3 for them. If Rice is in fact in good shape, he may even crack the starting 5.
Trading for mentors is a bad, bad idea. People try it all the time, but it rarely ever works. There are tons of old, retired point guards who you could hire as a special assistant coach for 1/10th the price. And without parting with anything. Steve isn't going to respect Avery Johnson. Steve isn't going to learn from him. If you really want to help him out, get someone like Kenny Smith to work out a little with him. That'll do just as much good, without a price. Wang Zhi-zhi has shown absolutely nothing. Zip. Zap. Zero. He can shoot ok. That's it. He has no place on the Rockets. Of course, then you proceed to chop logic. The fact that Wang would supposedly start on most teams is significant... but it's also not significant that KT is probably worth more than his value to the Rockets? Contradiction. Abdul-wahad... is probably the worst signing of a plethora of bad signings for Denver. I can think of an excellent reason why perimeter players might not do as well against SA - the Twin Towers. Kobe burns supposed "defensive SGs." Dough Christie got nailed, etc. Bowen didn't look like much against him either, to be honest. I see 3 players that can have utterly no use for Houston coming. I see a valuable back-up PG, PF and a 1st rounder leaving.
