Jeez - none of those guys sounds like much of an upgrade over Juwon Howard. I know that Juwon isn't the ideal choice - but he's not that bad either.
at this point in Walker's career....if he wants the chance to win a championship, he will change his game. being a third option will still give walker the ability to display his offensive skills, but i think he will bring it defensive. do not know if he is the weak-side helper the rox are looking for, but he can slide over fast enough.....like the spur's and piston's pf do so well to take charges. tmac will stop any ill-advised shoots that Walker may think about jackin' up. and walker will see how efficient Yao is with the ball and how easy it is to score when Yao has the ball....that Walker will give it up. jHo changed his game so that it fit into the teams plans and it worked out great....i still think that jHo would have put us over Dallas. so...if Walker is coming to win a championship....he will adapt his game to the rox's needs. if he can be had for the mle and 4/5 years....that's a steal and should show that he is willing to win and take less money.
1. Walker is a good rebounder...the best of the 4 we are looking at. 2. They said TMac doesn't play defense either. 3. Regarding shot selection, Walker has never been the 3rd option before so shot selection will change if he comes to Houston. Basically, if Walker wants to come to Houston for just the MLE, then I want him!!! That means he is coming here will all business in mind. He's talented, for sure. If he is motivated, then TMac, Yao and AW would be scary.
Glenn Robinson played only 9 games in San Antonio and was a non factor in the playoffs. I'm sure Walker can give us 9 games where he'll look like the perfect fit. My question is if can do it for 4 years or however long the Rockets would sign him.
After reading Jeff's analysis, I'm starting to feel a little more comfortable about Walker, but I'd still rather have SAR. As Jeff indicated, he's a perfect candidate for a third option on this team, but he comes with a star's resume. Something else that hasn't been mentioned, is that he used to play SF. If he can still play the position, then that would give JVG the option of putting Yao, T-Mac, SAR, & Howard out on the floor at the same time. A big lineup with incredible offensive fire power. Let's see Dallas outscore that team. Hmmmmm, I wonder if we S&T for SAR (expiring contracts/a couple of #1 picks for SAR/a bad contract), would Payton consider signing for the Veteran's minimum? How about Damon Jones for all, or part of the MLE?
Swift has potential. I am going to go out on a limb here and say that Stro will help this team. I know a lot of people are wary because he hasn't shown much in his career so far, but he is still young and can improve.
"No question about "assets." There is a big drop off from Tmac/Yao to everyone else on this team. We need some guys to fill the gaps" Exactly!! That is why guys like Marshall and Swift do nothing for me. They marginally improve this basketball team. They don't even command starters' minutes. If the rockets are gonna throw out a Mike James/Bob Sura/David Wesley/Jon Barry backcourt, then you better make sure your talent level in the frontcourt makes up for that. Again, the rockets overall talent level needs upgrading. This isn't some ready made championship team where a rebounding/defensive oriented power forward is the missing link. Yao and Tracy don't have anyone else on this team capable of creating offense for themselves or somebody else. There is no fixation on getting a big name player, just a fixation on getting a sure thing. And SAR and Walker are more proven than the other power forwards on the market.
The Rockets can still upgrade their talent without signing Walker or SAR. I think players like Simmons, Mobley, or Daniels are all much more desireable than Walker or SAR. They're energetic, mentally tough, good defenders, efficient 3rd options. They have all the attributes you'll find from players on championship teams. Not like soft weak minded players like SAR or inefficient players like Walker. I don't think the Rockets mindset this summer should be "we need to get a pf with our MLE". It should be we need to get a player that fits and that upgrades the overall talent or the team. If that player happens to be a 4, great. If not, we can always trade for a decent backup for Howard.
That may not be that much better than JH, but they are that much younger (witht he exception of DM). Besides JH was a big part of the team when healthy, it killed us when we lost him. The addition of any player better than him is just a bonus on top of makring our team deeper. I disagree pretty strongly. The idea the SAR, AW, SS, DM and RE (I add in Reggie Evans) are in the ballpark for an MLE means it is a darn good market year for a PF. You will never get an "ideal" PF with no concerns for an MLE. There are only like 4-5 teams under the cap, one of which will stay on the sidelines (Bobcats) unless their is a true young gem at stake. There are younger, more upside, bigs (Dalembert, Chandler, Curry, Brown, Radmonovich) plus some prime guards (Allen, Redd, Johnson, Simmons, Hughes, Watson), who are the principal targets of the under the cap teams looking. Most years MLE PFs are back-up types (Etan Thomas) or are big risks (McDyess worked out for Detroit, but they could afford to gamble on his knees). PFs who are a little more solid all around starter types with some tread life get 50% to more than double the MLE (PJ, Murphy, Boozer, Kurt Thomas, Ke Thomas) and a lot of guys worse than them also get a lot more than the MLE (Lo Wright, Rose, J Williams, MoT, Fortson). Honestly SS, SAR, and AW are just no brainers for a full MLE if they will take it. If Swift just produces what he did in Memphis when he got his most PT, like 12.5 & 7 + almost 2 blocks in 26MPG, that is getting your MLE's worth and then some for a 25 year olf PF. SAR and AW production generally gets 28 year old PFs more like 10 mil a year, not 5. These are no brainers if they take it. A S&T with a 7 mil year deals is still good value if you don't have to give up too much, and given those players are unresticted their current teams don't have a lot of leverage. DM is a little iffy because of age, but the over36 rule (he would only get a 4 year contract) makes the 4 year MLE (about 23 mil) less dicey. Reggie Evans, for most of an MLE, isn't a bad 4th or 5th option either. I would not S&T for either of these two or pay them more than the MLE, but if the other 3 options don't work out I'd consider signing these guys outright. Seattle has lots of salary issues and may not match say a 3-4 year full MLE deal for RE, or 5 years at less than a full MLE (5 years 22 mil?). BTW here are the best PF FA next year Al Harrington Atlanta Unrestricted F.A. Ben Wallace Detroit Unrestricted F.A. Lorenzen Wright Memphis Unrestricted F.A. Tony Battie Orlando Unrestricted F.A. *Notes: Ben Wallace will get like 10 mil, forget him. Harrington will get a lot more than the MLE if he has a good year. I certainly take any of the current group we are talking about over Battie or Wright. Melvin Ely Charlotte Restricted F.A. Drew Gooden Cleveland Restricted F.A. Nene Hilario Denver Restricted F.A. Chris Wilcox L.A. Clippers Restricted F.A. Jared Jeffries Washington Restricted F.A. Amare Stoudamire Phoenix Restricted F.A *Notes: romove Amare and Hilario from further discussion as FA acquisitions. All the rest are unexciting when you consider they are restricted FAs. You have to overpay for a guy with a lot of flaws or their current team matches. In the end there is no doubt in my mind this is the year to address the PF spot for the next 2 years at a minimum, and maybe up to 4 or 5 years. Not only do we critically need to address the PF spot for the roster, but there are at least 4 good candidates who are unrestricted in a buyers market for PFs (team perspective) over the sellers market (players perspective). And a 5th option (RE) for a quality back-up rebounding machine Seattle probably would not match.
One thing JVG and CD proved to me is that they can pull strings and get decent folks to fill some gaps. But getting a decent big man is much harder. Decent 2-guards are almost a dime a dozen...Decent PFs are much harder. If you CAN sign talent such as Walker or SAR...you do. Period. Hell, you and I can get out there and split time at 2-guard and the Rox will be okay. If it doesn't work out, Walker and SAR are tradable assets. End of Story.
Literally EVERYTHING out of Lindsey, Dawson, and JVG's mouths have been about getting faster, younger and/or more athletic. I don't see playing guys like Walker and SAR at the 3, except in very rare specialized circumstances, as options. Certainly not against quick teams like Dallas. Walker's rebounding is apparently being underrated some. He is a very good rebounder- especially on the defensive glass. He was 12th in the league in defensive rebounds per game- Shaq was 11th, Evans and Haslem were 18th. The difference between Walker and SAR is Walker is a playmaker. His passing skills are up there with the Webbers of the league and just a level below Garnett's for big men. Anytime you can add ballhandling from the 4 position like Walker, it's a huge bonus. Walker is truly one of the most versatile offensive players in the game- as a 3rd option, he'd cause teams fits. That's 3 offensive distorters as JVG likes to put it. SAR is a very good player, but he doesn't distort the way a defense plays. Yao does. TMac does. Walker does. While some may say that Dallas already tried Walker as a lesser option, they didn't try it like this. In case no one noticed, Dirk is pretty miserable as a playmaker. Jamison isn't a playmaker, nor is Finley. That's why Walker was 2nd on the team in assists (to Nash). You put him with a stud, unselfish wing guy like TMac and a true big man with vision like Yao, and you're golden. He and Pierce took a team to game 6 of the Conference Finals with their 3rd best offensive player being Rodney Rogers, averaging under 11 a game. Walker doesn't come without his flaws, but I don't think any player could be wrapped up in enough of a bubble to think he wouldn't have to go all out on D for a Jeff Van Gundy team. As for the turnovers...they're a little more bearable on a team that has pretty turnover-free guards.
The stats would belie your assessment. He was a turnover machine last year, but he was splitting time between two bad teams. Just comparing him to 18 other power forwards in the league, you can see that he actually ranks pretty well. Compared to SAR, Boozer, Brand, Camby, Chandler, Duncan, Garnett, Gooden, Jamison, Kirilenko, Marshall, K. Martin, McDyess, J. O'Neal, Stoudemire, Ben Wallace, Rasheed Wallace and Webber, he stacks up pretty well. Of those players, seven have scoring and rebounding numbers that are comparable (rounded up): Duncan - 23/12 Webber - 22/10 Garnett - 20/11 Brand - 20/10 Stoudemire - 20/9 SAR - 20/8 Walker - 19/9 Jamison - 19/7 Of the 18, only TWO rank ahead of him in assist/turnover ratio... Garnett - 1.7 Webber - 1.5 Walker - 1.3 Walker has more turnovers than any other but only by percentage points over the next few closest... Walker - 3.15 Duncan - 2.95 Webber - 2.93 Garnett - 2.58 Stoudemire - 2.56 However, he also ranks third among these 18 in assists... Webber - 4.5 Garnett - 4.5 Walker - 4.1 Duncan - 3.1 No one else has 3/game for his career. Factor in that Walker is a better three point shooter percentage wise than anyone on this list save Kirilenko who is playing out of position, and you can see that his numbers are not nearly as bad as some would make them out. The question is, are the problems we've heard about the product of his personality or the situations he has been in?
On the counter SAR is just a MUCH more efficient player. FG% from all spots on the floor (including 3 balls) and much superior FT% (and gets fouled at a higher rate). Does the more efficient guy play better of Tmac and Yao, or the more creative (and firey) but inconsistent. I'll gladly take either, but I see more downsides to AW.
Jeff, you're making a believer out of me on Walker.. Heck, remember all the negative press surrounding TMac before he came here? No reason to think JVG can't work some of that same magic on 'Toine. I am officially throwing my karmic mental energy behind the acquisition of Walker.. leaving only, what, another PG and SG ? Gonna be an interesting summer...
I am a bit confused. Granted, SAR is percieved to be available; but has there been any hint as to the rockets interest, or even SAR's interest in coming here? Everything I have read says that he's headed to LeBron Land. CD does have a nack for pulling something out of a hat . . . but SAR? From what we know its Stro, Walker, Simmons . . . and then enter the back up plans if they don't work out.
You forgot about Marshall ----------Career ----------3 Pt %--Last year Marshall--35.4%---41.6% Walker---32.6%---32.5% Kirilenko--31.1%---29.9% SAR------30.6%---38.5%
I know what you're saying, but look at his fg% for a 4. Its eddie griffin like. Does anyone else remember how Kenyon Martin punked him all those yrs in Jersey? I'd rather get a consistent player in Rahim and add 2 younger players like maybe Demarr Johnson and Earl Watson to the mix. That gives you a penetrator in Watson, a 3pt shooter in johnson, a mid range guy in SAR,a post guy in Ming and a all around hustler in Mcgrady.
I like Van Gundy a lot, but I have some serious reservations about his ability to utilize Walker’s playmaking skills. The thing that really sticks out in my mind is how much Van Gundy neutered Steve Francis’ playmaking abilities when he tried to turn him into a traditional point guard. He essentially turned Francis into a jump shooter, which was a huge mistake, and I could see something similar happening with Walker. I don’t think Van Gundy has the creativity to develop an offensive system that would utilize a power forward with point guard skills, nor do I think he has the patience to deal with all the potential turnovers or bad shots that Walker would take. A couple of bad plays and I think van Gundy would yank Walker right out of the game, and Antoine Walker does not take too kindly to being taken out of a game. There’s a huge potential for clash there.
