[Philly Inquirer] 76ers have to knock over Rockets with young talent (UPDATE: 1/13)

second point first (on Bosh) - people had the exact same thoughts about KG. they said he wasn't strong enough, wasn't clutch enough, didn't create shots for others, and those were all legit criticisms. they said he was a jumpshooting big man, and that no team whose best player was a jumpshooting big man would win a title.

but look at what he did for that franchise defensively and from a playstyle/rosterbuilding perspective. he gave them an A+ defensive big that can cover the PnR, play strongside and weakside, rebound, block shots, maneuver in traffic, and cover up a lot of defensive deficiencies in boston's backcourt without getting in major foul trouble. legitimately, other than rondo, boston's backcourt is terrible defensively, yet they are a good defensive team. a ton of that credit is due to garnett's ability to be a swiss army knife on that end of the floor. it's only because the celtics have garnett that they can get away with having a ray allen and a kendrick perkins. just like the presence of duncan enables San Antonio to fill their center and wing positions with whatever flavor of the month they choose (ginobili aside).

Bosh is young, and has so far been durable and just as versatile, although his defensive impact is not on garnett's level. but it could be. its much easier to find ray allens than it is to find kevin garnetts. its much easier to find andre iguodalas then it is to find chris boshs. get the core in place, then build around it, the same way the rockets did with the tracy/yao tandem. think of what this team could be if tracy hadn't stopped caring about winning, and yao had stronger bones. it would be an absolute monster. the plan was right, even though it didn't work out in the end.

 

so if you miss out, then you just let tracy's contract expire and work on getting FAs this offseason with your extra room. you negotiate new contracts for your FAs or put them in offseason deals. there are still a ton of options if you miss out on Bosh. there are not a ton of options once you have Iggy & Sam though, so if that's your move, then you better be certain its the best you can do.

 

Good points. I still feel Bosh doesn't put this team over the hump. When you consider that we will also lose much of Scolandry's (assuming both guys are even still here and that's doubtful) production if Bosh comes here it makes his value even less IMO. Of course the team will be better but I don't think it makes us a contender.

If the Iggy/Dalembert deal is real and Morey passes on it, I won't complain. I trust his decision making and if that deal (or any deal) doesn't happen I will be happy. I just think when you have a team this talented and you have a chance to nearly perfectly plug it's only holes you do it unless getting a truly elite player is a sure bet down the road.

 

Rockets can still put our FAs in offseason deals if it does go down. It will definitely be harder to find these type of players for what Rockets can offer during the Free Agency.

But this trade is just speculation anyways so who knows. In Morey we trust.

 

McGrady and Cook to Sacramento.

Kevin Martin and Nocioni to Houston.

Kenny Thomas, Battier or Ariza, Landry or Scola, Lowry, and 2010 to Toronto.

Bosh and Marcus Banks to Houston.




Brooks/Conroy/Banks
Martin/Budinger/JT
Ariza/Nocioni
Bosh/Andersen
Scola/Hayes/Nocioni

 

I think Martin would be the best fit here out of the Iguodala/Caron Butler/K. Martin trio being mentioned but the more I look at his durability issues the more I cringe.

There is huge value in having a guy on the roster who can play 82 games a season. We've seen the flipside of that and I don't want to ever bring in a player with that type of injury history again.

 

Agreed. But Kevin Martin is not a max salary guy. His salary is $10 million. If he played all 82 games, with his statistical efficiency, he would be worth $12 mill +. So, if he misses 20% of the games over his contract, he is still fairly valued.

At this point in his career, he has played in 85% of the games that his team has played while he was a professional. That includes his rookie season when he was probably available but did not get minutes in some of those games. If you added those games he was available but was DNP-CD, he has been available for around 90% of his team's games, and that is with a couple injuries. Durability long term???? Nobody can define that. And you can't trade based on that. You could trade for the NBA iron man, and he goes down with an ACL and his career is ruined. Martin is being given a bum rap because he is super skinny and he has suffered a couple injuries. There is no way to know. All I know is even with these injuries, he has played in a surprisingly high amount of his team's games.

 

But you have to take recent injury history into consideration, otherwise one could argue the same for Yao, as he had something like a 250 game playing streak be4 his recent issues (he's actually played 78% of all games in his career). Similarly, if you look at the past 2 years + this year, Martin has played < 60 % of games. That, if I'm trading for that much salary, is something that'd concern me for sure.

 

At first I did not know if I supported the rumored deal. After about a week of deliberation I have come out in that I would swap McGrady for AI and Sam.


We NEED someone bigger for a few minutes (given the opponent) or more a game. Our perimeter D is ok, but guys eventually good shots because they get close enough.



Plus, Dalembert will get a lot of run with or without Yao. We can use Andersen, or Dalembert depending on the matchup. We will pay out the ass, but bringing in AI dictates dropping Ariza or Shane. Trade Shane for a mid-late 1st rounder soon or closer to the draft.

Then, you use the first rounder(s) and another asset for a big fish to finish the puzzle later.

We have to get another center other than Yao and Andersen.

 

Do you really want to trade the whole team and have no team chemistry. This would be how to set back a franchise.

 

I think the rotation is screwed up.

Andersen should start at the 4 defending the 3 while Landry slides in at the 3 and defends the 4. Landry ability to play around the basket needs a player like Andersen on the court to space the floor so he can goto work. Battier should be at the 2 spot playing less minutes using what he uses. Spacing the floor, getting back on defense, not forcing things. Hayes and Scola at the 5 spot. Budinger more minutes behind Battier. Ariza behind Landry. Scola, Landry, Brooks all get +30 minutes and Budinger +20 and Shane less. You want Landry closing games with Brooks and Lowry playing together.

 

You da man, Dave. Glad to see you are warming up to the Dalembert/Iggy trade.

 

Of all the trades that make sense Dalembert and Iggy makes the most sense as for what the current team needs now. I just hope the team does something to improve the current team but whatever Morey decides to do I am all for it.

 

Yes, it makes sense because:

1) It is doable without gutting our own core players.

2) As Dave opined, it fills two voids in our starting lineup, and it makes us contenders IMO.

Waiting for Bosh and Wade is a iffy proposition. Get what you can without killing our team.

 

i guess b4 i goto bed i need to /thread

iggy would be great except one thing, in 3 years he makes roughly 16,000,000. NOT GOING TO HAPPEN. In fact,I dont know why Morey is saying he doesnt like Dalemberts contract,um,Iggys is WORSE for more years. Basically you would lose Scola,Lowry,maybe Brooks,just to keep landry,yao,iggy,ariza. Not good business move.

Now,if we can dump some of our crap (ariza) onto Philly Id do it. But if they dont take Ariza,then no deal. And even then Iggys contract has us by the balls for 4 years. If your going to go for the finals get another true superstar like Bosh,then add iggy or Butler. But to build around a beat up yao and butler is not going to work.

Morey needs to quit this "low risk high reward" game and start taking some risks like making a bold big move for bosh. If bosh doesnt want to come here,then somebody let me know so i can shut up about it.

 

Bosh is not a superstar, and will not make us contenders...

 

Sacto gives up Martin just to get Nocioni off the books ./?
And Toronto gets a lot of quantity, but is it enough quality?

Any trade though that gets us Bosh, AND still has Brooks remaining would have me doing backflips. Air Bud still here too! Count me one ecstatic camper.

Flip-flop Bud with Ariza, and you have one serious starting offensive unit (if they meshed). Every man on the floor has range to at least 20'.


Brooks/Conroy/Banks
Martin/Ariza/JT
Budinger/Nocioni
Bosh/Andersen
Scola/Hayes/Nocioni

 

Don't know what Houston will do. The players you build around will be in new contracts around the league. I have a feeling it will require a bit of patients. You can't build around the Martin's. You can try around the Jefferson's. I don't think Joe Johnson is feasible. This leaves Bosh and everybody else has that same motives too. You won't do it around point guards either as history has proven it. The only option Rockets have is Bosh or like the article suggest. Which is to accumulate youth/assets and upgrade later through trades during development. That is the worst they'll try. Speights, Young, Williams is a good start. Butler won't do it that gives you a very small window. Bosh and Jefferson, Granger are already long shots. So what would you do? I'd be making the trade that removes all expiring contracts for Iggy, Dalembert, Young, Williams, Speights. I'd make that the starting package and negotiate from there without Landry and Brooks.

 

AND Budinger.

 

Disagree wholeheartedly, Bosh is so underated right now its r****ded.