please no on SAR. Never won in his career, never played a team game. It's not so much that he's a typical "cancer", but it's more that he has a way of seeming like he doesn't really care that much if he loses (mostly becuase he's used to it?)... and that kind of attitude won't help you get far. Maybe it's a lack of maturity? Great offensive game, but hasn't everyone said we needed someone with bulk, muscle, and a little attitude next to Yao ever since Cato left? SAR is totally not the ideal player for that. I'd rather have Howard being the "offensive player that's not a guardian for Yao" and use the MLE elsewhere. SAR is essentially Juwan upgraded in almost every facet skill-wise...but take into account the losing culture and the lack of defense and muscle, and I think it outweighs the consistent 3rd scorer. (especially because with Yao and TMac, we don't need 20 ppg SAR...what we need in a 3rd scorer is 14 ppg Juwan-like #'s, if they can be produced.) It's almost like SAR's biggest strength--scoring--overqualifies him in those terms here, and his biggest weakness--defense--underqualifies him. Hits him twice. No to SAR
who can? that shouldn't be the standard by which any of the PF options should be judged. rather, they should be ranked by how they complement Yao and T-Mac, and there SAR would fit wonderfully. having another scorer downlow, who can also take it outside and create his own shot, and who is not a defensive liability (see Mo, T), would transform this team.
I think we should go after SAR. Everyone talks about how he is always on a losing team whereever he goes. So was Juwan. And he's a double-double guy when given the chance.
Maybe it's confusing, but you misread that statement to mean "In Abdur-Rahim" ... while true Shareef doesn't stop those guys or slow them down, the statement is saying: "[On the free agent market] you won't find someone who can stop the likes of KG, Duncan, Dirk and Marion, but at the same time Shareef doesn't give Houston much defensively that they don't already have." Point being: While Andersen and Swift are not going to shut anyone down, they atleast bring a defensive skill to the table that gives the Rockets something different that they don't already have in the likes of Juwan Howard.
I have always liked SAR. But I think the best thing Clutch wrote in his profile was the last sentence where he said that SAR might look good here INSTEAD of Howard. Basically having SAR and Howard are slightly redundant. But if you were able to obtain SAR via a S&T and then move Howard for someone else and then end up getting another PF with a different skillset perhaps that would work. It would be interesting if the Rockets were able to do a S&T with Portland to get SAR and the bad contract of Derek Anderson (2 years remaining). That would give us a PF and an atheltic swingman. Kill two birds with one stone. We would have to give up expiring contracts (Wesley, Spoon, Baker, Ward, Moochie) and maybe a future 1st round pick. We could then draft someone with our 2005 1st rounder. Since we would have SAR, perhaps see if we can move Juwan Howard (the Wolves wanted him for Cassell), and then use the MLE (3M or so) on a lower tier PF to back up SAR...Chris Andersen? It would give us a team looking something like this PG: Cassell / James / Spanoulis SG: Sura / D. Anderson SF: T-Mac / Barry PF: SAR / C. Andersen / {2005 1st round pick} / Padgett C: Yao / Deke Just a thought
i can't see SAR and Jho splitting minutes. SAR is more advanced offensively and on the boards but we need a guy that can rebound and defend. if our rebounder/defender can his a mid-range J too thats perfect. my vote will go to marshall. i like stro but there is little chance that will happen. one quenstion i would like to ask is, what happens to all of this FA PF talk if we draft a PF?
Exactly. Ideally we would love to have 2 PFs. One that has a decent offensive skill set to score points (perhaps when Yao is out of the game). If they can do it on the low block, even better! And the second one would be one that would be a defensive energy guy that would rebound and block shots. That's the ideal scenario.
IMO, if we end up with Swift, SAR, or Marshall, we're in good shape for next year. As far as the losing, it's really not his fault he's been on crap teams. Since he'll be no higher than the third option on the team, his past team success should be irrelevant.
I like getting SAR and moving Howard, picking up a bruiser later. Ultimately, that'd be better for the team than passing on SAR, keeping a declining Howard, and chasing a high-profile bruiser. SAR is a really good third option that can play with Tmac and Yao, and he can swing down to 3 for a bigger line-up on occasion. He's a good player at the right age and state for Van Gundy, Tmac and Yao to make a real team guy. Marshall is also a good second option with this sort of plan. ========================== Sign and trade for SAR or Marshall. trade Howard. pick up a Mark Blount or Jerome Williams or other bruiser/energy guy. Get Antonio Daniels. Yao/Deke SAR/Jerome Williams Tmac/Barry Anderson/Sura Daniels/James OR Yao/Deke Marshall/JYD Tmac/Barry Jalen Rose/Sura Daniels/James I like both of those line ups better than ones with us keeping Howard and adding Stro Swift or C. Anderson or whatever. In each of the above you get a quality scoring option at the two as part of the sign and trade.
i'd be happy with any of those guys, but having only two "scorers" on the team (three, if you count MJ) and the rest "shooters", or non-factors (bowen) on offense is a definitel liability. it means if T-Mac or Yao are on the bench, the offense becomes one-dimensional. Andersen gets his points through hustle- not necessarily a bad thing, but he's not someone you have to guard. Swift is all about potential, and while there may be substantial upside there, i'd rather have a proven commodity. and if in SAR we get the J-Ho of 4 years ago (SAR is 28, vs. 32 for J-Ho) that's not necessarily a bad thing. he's got more offensive game than MoT did, and he's a consistent rebounder. and if he really does have the work ethic you describe, the JVG will transform his defense.
If we could get SAR and Derek Anderson (and maybe their 2nd rounder) for expiring picks and our 1st, I would do it in a second. There is no doubt that those two guys would upgrade our bench and possibly our starting line up (SAR). We could then use the MLE for a guard and whatever other pieces we may need. Who cares if Howard and SAR have similar games. The point is that SAR has great offensive talent, something this team desperately lacks. This team, at times, was absolutely atrocious offensively. I think SAR would definately be an upgrade and provide some needed depth. We took dallas to the wire with Bowen and Padgett as our main power forwards. I think SAR would have definately been helpful in that situation.
...and a follow up: trading howard is not something that's going to happen until GMs are convinced his injury is healed and his heart is ok, in other words, not until mid-season at the earliest.
Marshall is my #1 option w/ SAR right behind him. His offensive game repetoire and rebounding would be a real nice addition to the team.
I agree with pasox2. If we can get Juwan 2.0, as Willis25 cooly dubbed him, and can get a change of pace type like a Jerome williams or Chris anderson on the cheap, I would luv JW 2.0. I don't buy the bad team stuff with this guy, you can either hit at or near a 50% clip or you can't. If anything, as a number 1 option on all these teams, he was more closely guarded than he will ever be on the Rox. He may have trouble adjusting to the wide open 19 footers he'll recieve here but I am sure he will get used to it as Juwan finally did. He will play Van gundy defense. A SNT will leave us our MLE and the ability to add more.
I like this idea Deuce, also SAR has alittle more foot speed and is longer than Howard which helps with the new defensive rules. I don't know why but I have this gut feeling that the rockets brass is going to go after Kwame Brown this offseason, they love bargains and Brown needs a change of scenery.
