I just want to encourage Clutch. I read every word of both free agent articles. Thanks for taking the time to make them.
marshall has been my pick for a while. i'm in love with the thought of a 3 point shooting pf. well, not just a 3 point shooting pf, b/c we had that with eg. but a good 3 point shooting pf. now who knows, maybe his percentage crashes next year, but a pf shooting 40% on 3's on a team with tmac and yao? that would be deadly. why do you think robert horry has been a part of 5 championship teams and might be on a 6th? b/c finding a pf who is a competent defender and rebounder and can spread the floor for the stars on the other end is hard to do and extremely valuable. look at our offense when howard got rolling on the jump shot last year. now turn those into 3's. howard was no great rebounder but he didn't really hurt us, and marshall is slightly better at it. and he even blocks the occasional shot. for me, the ideal role player for guys like hakeem, shaq and kobe, tmac and yao, are guys who can hit the 3 and at least play a little defense. marshall fits that role perfectly. hopefully he's in the love with having wide open 3 after wide open 3 b/c that's what he'll get from being guarded by pfs combined with playing with yao and tmac. that's what it'll take to get him i think because others will certainly offer the full mle if contracts are shorter in the new CBA. although i suppose we could use an expiring contract in a sign and trade for more than the mle but then we'd have to give toronto something and i don't really want to. and i don't think we should worry about a 4 year contract. he should at least be good for another 2 or 3 years, and then the last year, if he sucks, he has an expiring contract, which has it's own value. and i tend to think people overstate the importance of getting a young guy to grow with yao and tmac. while it would certainly be ideal, how often does it happen? how many people on the first bulls 3-peat team were on the second 3-peat team? how many role players did the lakers go through in just 3 years (maybe it's fewer than i'm thinking). how many people were on the spurs second title team that were on the first? as long as you don't hamper you're ability to keep picking up good players, cycling players through every few years while keeping the two superstars isn't that bad. look at our team this year, they came together very quickly. you don't really need 5 or 6 years together to succeed. so you get a guy like DM for a few years, then use his money to go get another nice role player and keep going. besides, any young guy to grow with yao will probably be more expensive than we can afford.
oh, and just as i expected, donyell has a good net +/-. second only to bosh on toronto among guys who actually played significant minutes.
DM would be a great pickup but I think there is just too much competition for this guy. I could name 5 teams easily that would sign him with their MLE.
You might be right, but I'm confident that Marshall is one of those players that we'd have a good shot of enticing over here with our Yao/T-Mac core, if the money is the same. As a competitive team with a good coach and a respected organization in a relatively attractive city and state (financially and quality of living), we could potentially top his list of destinations if he's confident he would start for us. Of course it's always about the money first. If any team offers him more money, it's over.
Didn't Donyell end the season hurt? A nagging achilles right? I remember seeing it late in the season while scrambling for fantasy players. That would worry me a bit about his nagging injuries. He'd play a few games and then miss one or two due to injuries and so forth throughout the latter stages of the season. I like what he offers but being old and acquiring that injury would worry me a bit. Then again it might make other teams weary as well and he might come a bit cheaper than had he been healthy.
Thanks. Clutch. Another great summary. I'm on the fence about signing Donyell Marshall. If we got him and didn't over pay, it would be excellent. Since Marshall can also play some 3, I would guess signing Marshall means "Adios" to Ryan Bowen who IMO is the only other Rocket who is a 3/4. DM also adds to the glut at PF so I would guess moving Spoon and/or Baker becomes a priority. To alleviate a Marshall-driven glut, I'd expect the Rox to take on a moderately bad contract. For example, I think the numbers are close and the Cavs could add to their serious future cap space with a Snow for Mooch and Baker and a future pick(s) or exchange of picks. One reason I'm hestitant. The current NBA rule changes favor uptempo and player footspeed. Given that Yao's not going to get any quicker, footspeed ought to be a big priority in our acquisitions. That's one reason I favor Stromile Swift. If Swift's not available and Marshall's price tag is too high, I'm hoping plan B or C is acquiring players like DerMarr Johnson. I've mentioned it before and it's worth saying again. A lot of the Rockets FA strategy is going to be determined by the draft. If it's Turiaf or Simien or Mays, then I think the FA focus is perimeter. But (since big men take longer to develop), I'd expect the Rox to go after perimeter quickness in the draft and a PF in free agency. Only the Hawks and Hornets have big $ and there are Swift, Marshall, Abdur-Rahim and Antoine Walker all as UFA's. It's going to be a great summer....if the lockout doesn't go for a lengthy time period.
According to Ford, the teams with likely significant cap room include: Atlanta (24mil) Cleveland (21) Seattle (21) Charlotte (20) Clippers (11) Hornets (11) Milwaukee (9) Seattle, based on their success and keeping continuity, I am sure will be tied up with their current guys--Allen, Radm, and James (maybe AD, Evans, Wilkens too). Atlanta, Charlotte and NO, if they target someone, surely would go very young with major upside. Cleveland should be a player, even with resigning Z. Milwaukee could be a player, but I am not sure if this is only if they lose out on Redd or can sign a FA guy first for more than an MLE and than sign Redd for close to the max. I think UFAs who will make more than the MLE include: Michael Redd Ray Allen Larry Hughes Zydrunas Ilgauskas Bobby Simmons Antoine Walker *Of these Allen, Walker and Z will almost surely be with their own teams next year. Redd, Hughes or Simmions, being fairly young, effective, and unrestricted, are likely top targets for changing teams. I think RFAs who will make more than the MLE include: Samuel Dalembert(R) Tyson Chandler(R) Eddie Curry (R) Joe Johnson (R) Kwame Brown (R) Vladimir Radmanovic(R) *of these these Kwame is most likely to change teams. All others I think their current teams will want back and can and will match any reasonable offers. Borderline whether MLE is sufficient Stromile Swift Shareef Abdur-Rahim Marko Jaric (R) Jerome James Udonis Haslem (R) Gerlad Wallace (R) *a lot will depend on what happens early. Redd will likely go to Cleve or Milw, probably taking one player out of FA. Guys like Hughes, Simmons and Kwame if they change teams will also knock out suiters for some of the above (particularly Swift by any of the completely rebuilding teams, or SAR for Cleve or Milw or possibly NO). Haslem is interesting, Miami will surely match anything less than an MLE (unless they landed someone like Swift or Kwame), but I think a team like Atl or Char or NO could steal him if they wanted to offer just over the MLE, because then I don't think Miami will be entitled to a match. So what I will really be watching for are if potential suitors (at over the MLE) for Swift (NO, Atl, Clev, possibly Char) and SAR (Clev, Milw, maybe NO) go in other directions. That would really help the Rockets, though I don't want Haslem gone because Miami becomes at least the equal hot spot (great team, open starting position, no state income tax) for FA PF as the Rockets. Plus, if Haslem stays in Miami for around an MLE, they might not target the 4 spot as their most urgent need. The ideal situation is if Marshall, SAR and Swift are all around after the main free agent frenzy by the teams with cap space. Though Marshall (as well as Reggie Evans) surely won't compete for the limited number of over the MLE type contracts, he has more leverage if other starting caliber 4s like SAR and Swift are gone.
I am not totally sold on Marshall but am not on the fence either. Marshall would definately be high on my PF want list. While he isnt super quick at PF he does have decent footspeed which is a trait that is very desirable to us which you mention below. But if we had to move some contracts, I would hope we could find a better fit than Snow! I have these visions of Snow being ungaurded at the top of the key and bricking shot after shot. You are DEAD ON with the "footspeed" skillset that is in demand more than ever. I totally agree. And that's why I feel our PF needs to be mobile. Someone that can guard the Marions and Dirks. I think Swift and Marshall fit this category whereas someone like Gadzuric does not. I see DerMarr as more of a backup SF. He has nice size at 6'9" but really isnt very good on defense and I dont think he can play the Wesley role. DerMarr would be low on my list because of this. He just is too one dimensionable. Agreed that the Draft will set the table for our summer. I think a PF and an atheltic swingman is exactly what this team needs and hopefully we can get both with the MLE and the Draft and maybe even using the Expiring Contracts. I think we will look for Best Player Available in the draft and agree the chances of us taking an atheltic swingman over a big is a good posibility depending on our realistic changes of landing a quality PF with the MLE.
Another team competing with the Rockets for PFs will be New Jersey and they will open the bank if they have to (S&Ts etc). They have the MLE and a T.E that is around 5M. They also have multiple 1st rounders they can use in S&Ts. They have enough talent that paired with a decent PF could be a top 4 team in the East. In fact at one time NJ was a PRIME target for Stromile Swift before the blew half of their 10M T.E. on Cliff Robinson. If they handnt of done that then this offseason they could have done a S&T with Memphis for Stromile for a NJ 1st rounder and 8M of the T.E. Memphis would gladly take a 1st rounder for nothing. But when NJ's T.E. got cut in half to 5M that really took away one of their better assets, a TE that was ABOVE the MLE line.
I like Marshall, but I'm not as thrilled about his three-point shooting as some. It's great that he can hit them when he shoots them, but I think our PF needs to be inside grabbing offensive rebounds.
