Speedy Claxton is an under 6 foot guard who can't shoot past 18 feet. Honestly Moochie would look mighty fine if he faced the collapsing defenses Claxton got to face--the main reason Claxton played so much is Parker was stinking up the joint and it took so long for Pop to realize Kerr was still alive. I'd rather take a flyer on Hollis Price for 400K or whatever than pay big money for a guy like Claxton. I do like JB for the vet min--by all means offer it to him though I'll be he gets similar offers from other teams that rank higher on the immediate contender list. I do like some kind of B. Grant deal. Yes he is way overpayed, but he will be productive over the length of his contract (what most don't realize is he is 3 years younger than PJ and only 6 months older than Kurt Thomas) and other than that he is a great fit (defense, rebouding and decent offense). I think Cato/Mooch for Grant/#2 or MoT/Mooch for Grant would be pretty sensable deals. I like the latter especially (Grants contract is worse $/productivity than Mo--but atleast you shed one other bad LT contract), plus Yao/Grant/Cato/EG would make for an awefully solid group of interior (4/5) players. Mo would be quite a decent PF in the east as well. Also, I would certainly offer PJ Brown an 2-year MCE level deal as well. It is hard to offer his more years than that though, otherwise you are paying big money for a guy who will be 37+ years old. I think as with the JB case many teams are going to pursue PJ (with 2-year MCE level) as well.
Then who do you plan on bringing in with Rice's contract? You have to realize that since his contract is so large, and the fact that Rice isn't a very good NBA player anymore, the only type of player your going to get for him is one that is overpaid and plays for a team that is trying to get under the cap next year. The Rockets can't just let Rice's contract expire next offseason, then use that money to go get a big name free agent, remember, Francis's max deal kicks in next year and that paired with Mo and Cato's huge contracts, we will still be over the cap even with Rice's contract coming off the books. So do you think that it really helps the team to just let Rice ride the bench this year, or play at Boki's expense, and then let him walk next year with nothing in return. I agree that Rice's contract is valuable, but you're not going to get a star player in return. Here's a quick list of guys we might be able to get for Rice's contract plus a little. Shareef Abdur Rahim, Glen Robinson, Eddie Jones, Brian Grant, Antonio Davis, and possibly Rasheed Wallace (but it'd take alot more than just Rice) I would incluse Allan Houston and Latrell Sprewell, but I don't think New York is taking Rice back. So you can see the type of players we can consider, I'll pass on Robinson, Davis and Jones. Abdur Rahim sounds good, but he's a classic tweener who doesn't play defense, and would cost us more than Rice. My point with Brain Grant is that he really fits a need for this team, a tough paower forward to play next to Yao. I know that he's going to put us in cap hell, but as I mentioned before, we're not going to have any money to spend anytime soon anyway.
I'd love these deals too, but I don't think that the Heat are going to trade a bad contract for two more. I think the only way they trade Grant is for an expiring contract like Rice's, so they can go out and try to find some help on the free agent market next year.
Although you have supported your position well, I don't see the Rockets making a move to put us in guaranteed luxury land, regardless as to what they tell their PR department (CD) to spew to the masses. The hole in your contention as I see it is this; given that the Rockets have xx amount of dollars to spend on payroll (assumed to be inclusive of luxury tax), if they tie up that amount in Brian Grant then we, like Miami, will be ham-strung until the 2007-2008 season. Grant is not good enough to put us in that position. There will be moves available to the Rockets, whereby the aggregating of contracts could land an impact player down the road. The most recognized and fiscally sound approach (and we all know that owners, if anything are fiscally sound*) is to maintain cap flexibility, even at the expense of letting Rice's contract expire. I don't believe that the Rockets will allow Rice's expiring contract to go unutilized; I think he will be used in a trade, but not for Brian Grant. If the sphincter-factor kicked in when Cuban looked at the deal at the break, whereby he passed due to the high cost for the marginal production, I don't see Les pulling the trigger... * save for the Knicks.
You wait until the end of this season, when Rice's contract expires, and you have a HUGE amount of cap room available (9 mil or so?) That's why Rice's contract is so valuable. And he does make some solid contributions: he can still stroke the three and can play in the post if need be.
Read my long post above. We will not have any more cap space next year when Rice's contract expires then we do now. Francis's max deal goes into effect next season.
