Thank you, smoothie, for actually offering up somewhat REALISTIC possibilities for the Rockets. I was actually just thinking about Othella the other day as a possibility. You're right, the Bulls would love to get their hands on a TPE for salary cap flexibility next summer. And with the addition of P.J. Brown, Othella would probably not play much next year for the Bulls. I say Othella is probably worth a future (2008?) second rounder and most of our $4.2M TPE. Let's do it.
As much as I loved Othella when he played for the Rockets, his time is done. However, if we can secure Songalia or Pollard, we can use Juwon Howard + sweetener (a second rounder or late, late first rounder at our discretion? for a taller SG. However, our answer to backup SG may already be on the roster. Personally, I would like to see what Richie Frahm can do. We really don't have a valid assessment yet because he came in late (remembering it takes a while to learn JVG's system) and he was hurt.
Who in their right mind would want to trade a SG for Juwan? Nobody wants the guy. The only way we dump him is if we include another legit assett like Luther Head, and then we are going to get back marginal talent, not a real SG that can come in and start for us. The best deal that we could get would be to bring in Darius Miles. Juwan and Yao on the floor together is just terrible and the whole league knows it. The whole league knows that Juwan at best is a backup 4/5 and can only be effective if he is on a team that doesn't play defense anyways and he is surrounded by an extremely athletic big man complement and a bunch of other offensive players that require the double team. We can only move him for a worse contract and/or a head case (Miles).
Did you notice I said "+ sweetener...."? I'm not as down on Juwon as some, but if we could get Songalia or Pollard (as I supposed in my earlier response), Howard would be expendable. There are teams that would like to have him -- the only down side is his salary. Also, I do believe we could do better than Miles (unless we are talking about C.J in Utah ). Howard is not a cancer despite his penchant for illicit sunglasses. However, I have more faith in Howard as a player than I do in Rocket management as traders.
Nice. Well, why? My while point was that James will not have to be a playmaking one, just a spot-and-shoot option running off McGrady's drives and kicouts. Now, McGrady's first read in the offense will likely always be Yao in the post, but the fact is an athletic wing can do so much more with the ball then a big man playing the pivot because of his shooting range, driving abilities, and passing skills. Yao is not that good of a passer yet (though I think he will be) and has too many problems putting the ball on the floor. I think it is McGrady's offense because of his versatility, but of course there are times when they will slow the pace down and run it through the post.
Current rotaton, as I see it: PG - Rafer Alston / Mike James / John Lucas (?) SG - Tracy McGrady / Mike James / Luther Head SF - Shane Battier / Tracy McGrady / Steve Novak PF - Juwan Howard / Chuck Hayes / Shane Battier / Steve Novak C - Yao Ming / Dikembe Mutombo / Chuck Hayes I think we'll likely go with the big lineup to start out the game. We're flexible enough to use the following small and fast lineup: Small lineup: PG - Rafer Alston SG - Mike James SF - Tracy McGrady PF - Shane Battier C - Chuck Hayes And when Yao and McGrady are both off the court, we can trot out this emergency lineup for a combination of energy and offensive punch: Emergency lineup: PG - Mike James SG - Luther Head SF - Shane Battier PF - Steve Novak C - Chuck Hayes
Chuck Hayes as a center? C'mon. Even in a small lineup, that doesn't work. I expect us to obtain one more guy for the post.
If Yao is not the focal point of the offense then someone needs to be fired. OUr offense must work inside out. Yao commands double and triple teams which create mismatches all over the floor. Our biggest problem at the end of the season was no one could make an open shot after Yao passed it back out. That won't be the case this year. And even Van Gundy must realize that or why else would he okay Novak and Battier as well as knocking on James door. With all of those players along with Tmac we can make an open shot and teams will now have to pick their poison.
If Rockets re-sign Lonny Baxter he'll cover as third center. Juwan's also had time at center for the Rockets. This what I think the 15 man squad will be: (James), Alston, Sura (FA), Head, (Carroll) T-Mac, Novak, Rybo JHo, Battier, Hayes Yao, Deke, (Baxter)
That is absolutely untrue!!! Alston is not a good playmaker and was very very poor when it came to passing to Yao Ming in particular, erspecially when he was set in position and calling for the ball. Alston would hardly ever pass the ball into Yao Ming but generally defered to another player, or another player to pass into Yao. If anybody, Yao Ming was most unfortunate to have Alston as the play maker!!
Rafer was the best point we've ever had in the Yao era. He passed to Yao more than any other PG we've ever had.
Dude, you're still confusing him with Bobby Sura. You're the only one who thinks like this, we've had this discussion before.
