didnt catch that mispelling there. i agree tho about the MLE. i dont believe he is worth more than that either. only reason i even support getting the guy is because i believe he is the best we can get for that offer. even if he's not kick-ass from the start he can always learn
Nowhere in that article does it state he'll settle for the MLE. He does say its "not a monetary thing" but that doesn't mean he's gonna accept a salary vastly below his market value in the prime of his career. If the Nets (or any other team) get him, it will almost certainly be through a sign and trade.
If the Nets do sign SAR for the trade exception, teams ought to look at how the Nets sold themselves to SAR. They did a hell of a job marketing and schmoozing SAR that included the following from what I understand. - Focus on one guy and not bring in every Tom, Dick and Harry for a look. Make the guy think he is your only true love. - Have your superstar players meet him. - Put together a film presentation on the team objectives and timelines. - Show the player his family is an important consideration and the area would be great for them. - Have the owner meet him to emphasize how important he is. I still think it will be about the money but I really think the Nets did an exceptional job in selling SAR on their team.
Good post Tiger. It seems like the Rockets tried to do the same thing with Swift so hopefully we impressed him enough that he will sign with us. SAR has been #1 on my list this off-season as far as power forwards go so I would like the Rockets to atleast give him a call and bring him in for a visit before they assume they cant get him.
That in a sense is a bit misleading becuase most of his rebounds are off long rebounds etc. His style of PF is not the banger type rebounder that will go and get loose ball and work for that extra rebound. He is like Walker in that sense. They don't get too much in th emiddle of the mix and fight for boards however both of them average over 8 rebounds cause they get a lot of long rebounds and are athletic. So that's why i say he doesn't have a mentality of being a rebounder you know.
tiger0330 - Thank You!! Throughout all of the various threads I've been reading on this board over the past few weeks, especially for supporting SAR as the Rox primary off-season acquistion, I am grateful you took the time to express the same thoughts I've been having. I've been reading on HoopsHype and elsewhere the intense, focused and comprehensive NJ Nets effort to woo SAR to join up. The GM even flew, on the very first NIGHT that teams could have direct contact with players, all the way to Portland. Since then the team has done all of those other things you mentioned. Unless the Rox are doing something spectacular (and that's an adjective not often attributed to Les, CD, or JVG), behind the scenes, then we've missed the boat on a GOLDEN opportunity to get the best FA PF on the market for what amounts to chump change in 2005 NBA $$$ If and when we wind up with either SoMild Swift, or An-tween Walker, and the team chemistry (not to mention win totals) head south faster than a G.Bush I.Q. test, I'm going to be far beyond PISSED!! I've got far greater trust in JVG than this time a year ago, but I have ZERO trust in CD. The only trade that CD made (of his own doing) that had a net+ for the ROX was Drexler. Since then, CD has sucked, and without JVG telling him who to go and get, CD would have sucked again last year. The guy is just not a very good judge of talent. I'm now climbing on the Donyell Marshall bandwagon, because he's a poor man's SAR. He's a little older, but he's not broken down. He's a very solid defender and above average scorer. He's not a banger, and I say we bring in one person who's scoring won't matter to BANG (like Evans or James). If we wind up with An-tween, I predict we'll get more use out of Raef than we do out of Walker....
I dont know why the rox aren't making a strong push for SAR. He's 28,consistent and a hardworker. He's a good rebounder and scorer from post,mid pst and out to 20ft. He goes to the ft line 4.5 times a game and makes them at 86%.A good rebounder makes the defense good because it limits the offensive oppourtunities. What is it not to like .
aren't the rockets doing pretty much the exact same thing with stromile swift that new jersey is doing with SAR? i hardly think their efforts at enticing a free agent should be put into question, it's just obvious that they don't have a strong interest in rahim. why i don't know as he probably would have the most immediate impact of any available 4.
I would compare CDs effort at getting Swift like getting married at the Love Chapel in Las Vegas and the Nets effort in getting SAR like having a Royal Wedding at Buckingham Palace. If it was then Swift would have left town saying its not about the money.
As opposed to the 4 rebounds a game? Now that stat is not misleading at all. I'm not knocking stros game, he does have the potential. Abdur Rahim, however has cashed in on his potential, I'm sick of having potential players. In the past it's only worked out one way for us, and he looks to be more of the same after 5 years in the league.
I don't really see the part where he says he "only wants the MLE." But I'm probably being just knickpicky. However, I don't think we can compare the Net's and Rocket's recruiting process. SAR has been making MAD CASH for a long time now, he's been making 15M per year for the last 6-7 years. Stro has only played for a rookie contract and for 1 year @ 5M. SAR is not strapping for cash like Stro is, so SAR is only in it for the situation and place.
Which part of "the rockets are not interested in SAR" didn't anyone of you didn't get? He wasn't mentioned at all in the FAs the Rockets are interested in. The Rockets took no action to woo him. SAR was not interested in Houston. I think that was made very clear. Now would SAR be good for the Rockets. Sure but can the Rockets afford him? No. SAR wants MORE than the MLE and will get it. Simple. "It's not all about money" is pure BS because he knows he'll get it anyways. The Rockets cannot offer more than NJ and they didn't want to anyway so it's not in play period. There will be no SAR this season. The better question is. Will it be swift or a walk-away?
You may be right, but let me ask you this question. How much information has been coming out from the Rocket's organization? Since JVG took over, most of our business dealings have been kept under wraps. Are we to believe that they're suddenly going to have an open door policy about their business dealings? If it hadn't been for Doc Rocket's comments about JVG wanting Swift so badly, I would've been willing to bet any amount of money that the show with Swift is just a smoke screen.
i could certainly see SAR helping our team, but publicly doesn't seem like we are that interested add him to the Nets squad and they will be around the mark again
Even without Doc Rocket's comments, I think it is fairly obvious that the Rockets are going after Swift and Walker, and they are using both of those guys as leverage against the other one and to get West and Ainge to move in their direction. The show with Swift may not be a smokescreen and JVG's first priority may be to get Swift, but if they cannot land him, they aren't going to be stuck without anything. They are playing their cards right and they are going to be fiscally responsible. They will eventually get the right players around Yao and TMac. It is just a matter of time. Those players have to want to come here and play with our guys and fit into the team concept and the salary structure. If Swift wants some monstrous deal, I don't think it will happen because we need other pieces besides him. We can't afford to pay him $10 mill+ because we won't have enough dough to get other quality contributors here. I think CD will make a move in Boston's direction. But if Swift does want to come here and he will play for a reasonable contract, then CD is going to use the Boston situation to help pressure West into doing a S&T. There's no incentive for West to do business with us unless he can't get a better deal from somewhere else. And it is more advantageous for him to just let Swift walk than to just S&T him to us by himself, that is, unless Swift tells him that he is going to sign the MLE with us. In other words, West is going to have to be put in a corner to work with us. I'm pretty sure that the speculation about West wanting contract relief and talent upgrades is correct. Isn't that what every GM wants........except Baylor? And it's pretty obvious that West does not want Swift, White Chocolate, Bonzi, or Lorenzo. And it seems like he is not overly enamored with Battier and Posey. And everyone is wondering why he signed Cardinal. So CD is just playing his cards right now in the most effective way to get the best possible talent match here. The only way West does business with us is: 1. He can't find a better deal 2. If he doesn't, we will get the better end of a deal (eg Swift signing for MLE) 3. If he does, he can dump some of his bad contracts and hope that they blow up in our face (eg Bonzi, Jason W, etc.) 4. If he doesn't, he loses Swift for nothing, he is still stuck with his bad contracts, and we go get our man in Boston and continue to improve relative to his situation. So the question that should be asked is this: 1. Who else in the league is interested in taking on Jason Williams and Bonzi Wells or any of Memphis' players that would be available? Atlanta or NO can sign Swift outright if they want him and he wants them. Why would they do a S&T when they are trying to rebuild? Besides that, they have nothing to trade with and they have no reason to want Memphis' junk. Yeah, Atlanta could use a PG, but are they going to trade a bunch of spare parts and expirings to take on Williams' contract? I don't see it happening. New Orleans is in the division, they have young talent at the PG and SG spots, they are rebuilding. They have no reason to take on Memphis' contracts. The Raptors are wanting to dump Jalen Rose and he may be a lux tax casualty. And they would probably like to dump Alvin Williams, Eric Williams, and Rafer Alston, all who have had attitude problems and have bad contracts. Does West want any of that???? Chicago has AD expiring. Do you think West can talk them into trading AD for his junk? Nope. Only thing happening with Chicago is if Curry or Chandler gets an outrageous offer that Chicago doesn't want to match and they decide to do a S&T to another team. In that case, does Memphis have anything that Chicago wants besides maybe Gasol? If they would take Gasol for one of Curry or Chandler, does it fix Memphis' problems???? I suppose the Clippers may come into play if Sterling decides that he wants to save money and have a salary dump of Brand's and Maggette's contracts. But if he did that, we could save him more dough than Memphis. Can't see the Clippers and Memphis doing business. New Jersey could decide to dump Kidd's monstrous deal for West's garbage. How likely is that? They're getting ready to sign SAR. They won't need Swift. They sure don't need Bonzi. And would they want Jason Williams? No. Knicks? They are sitting there with a bunch of huge contracts. Penny and Tim Thomas are on expiring deals. Maybe West could convince them to deal. But supposedly Isiah is now stockpiling draft picks and young players. I would think he would be looking to dump salary for quality players or dump salary for more expiring contracts. Would an exchange of Penny and/or Tim Thomas for some combination of Williams, Wells, and a resigned Swift make sense? Maybe a S&T Swift to NY for one of their expiring contracts. If so, Swift is going to have to sell out for the big dollars to go to NY. I really don't think the boy wants to go there. They are atrocious, no chance of winning for a long time, and he would be out of his environment. I think Swift wants to stay in the south, either take the big bucks if it is offered from NO, Atlanta, or get to Houston somehow. However, NY is a possibility. CD knows this as well. That's why CD is muddling around with Boston, because Isaiah is supposedly interested in AW too. If they do pull off some deal with Swift, then AW is going to be available. There is no other significant market for him. Orlando seems to be in no mans land right now. They don't seem to have a need for Swift to be willing to do a S&T with West and take on Bonzi and/or Jason Williams. If they want to dump Stevie, they can get much better elsewhere. They have no need for Williams. Philly may be a possibility if they drop CWeb with the lux tax waiver clause, and then they could do a S&T with Dalembart. I just can't see them dropping CWebb though. I guess maybe a resigned Dalembart and Mashburn to Memphis for some combination of Swift, Bonzi, etc.?? But Philly hasn't expressed any interest in that. And Swift is not going to be effective at the 5 spot. Doesn't make sense. I don't see him accepting a S&T there, unless once again, he is a sell out. The only other realistic possibility for West seems to be Minnesota with Cassell, Wally, Spree, and Kandi man. Maybe Kandi, Cassell, and whatever for Lorenzen and Bonzi?????? Minny may be interested just to shake up the mix with KG. I'm sure they'd like to dump Kandi and Cassell, and possibly Wally. But I would think there is more market for them than West's boys. In a nutshell, it looks like West's primary trading partners would be the Knicks unless by some miracle he can shake something else out of the trees. I don't see it happening. I'm sure he's doing whatever possible to not do business with us. That's understandable. At the end of the day though, he knows that he can't stop us. He knows we have the core. The best thing he can do is to jam us up as much as possible with bad contracts. And he knows that he has to really rebuild that team for it to be a contender. Gasol just isn't gonna get it done. I'm okay with Walker. So, if a S&T can't be worked out with Swift and West or if Swift won't come here for the MLE, I'm ready for CD to pull the deal for Walker. The only thing with the Walker deal is we still have to go find perimeter help. I am still really crossing my fingers that Swift and Bonzi fall into our lap and we can then take our MLE and go get Daniels with it. We really need 3 upgrades, both backcourt spots and the 4. Right now, I'm not worried about the 4. I think we are going to get either Swift or Walker. I'm worried about how we are going to acquire our backcourt upgrades.
