I've noticed that most posters have locked in Mutombo on their roster for next season, and (as I understand it) the reasoning is that he's our "insurance policy" should Ming go down, and will provide us some minutes come playoff time. So here's the question (in 2 parts): Have we already signed the big fella? If not, is there a way to keep Mutombo around, but not on the roster until after the all-star break? Could we put him on the coaching staff or something, and then sign him to a playing contract later in the season? Why would we do this anyway? Basically because it frees up a roster spot for active use, and lets us use our resources most effectively at the trading deadline. The expiring contracts that we have are all the more valuable early next year than they are before the season begins (more teams go into tank mode after the new year than before the season). We could then move several contracts, bring back 1 less, and sign Mutombo for playing duties (or to take the spot on the end of the pine 'just in case') Second question is about Mike Harris: I was really impressed with his basketball smarts last season, and he's a player who can do a heckuva lot more things than he's given credit for! But in most people's estimation, he's waived along with Woods before the season begins. Isn't he a guy worth keeping round?? He hustles really well, he doesn't take bad shots, he can play both forward spots and has genuine range to 18' (and even betond). Plus he's a better defender of the SF/PF tweener than Battier (who excels at the GF tweeners) If it's legal to make Mutombo 'coaching staff', then that'd free a spot to keep Harris! Thoughts?
We need tall, athletic players -- not 6-6 power forwards. Harris shouldn't make our roster, which means he probably will. Glue is sticky.
I have not seen enough of Harris yet to drop him. He was highly thought of last season and in the last pre-season. Mutombo .. well if he could be on coaching, and player when necessary, that would be great.
Harris is nice,but we have only 15 spots. Signing Greene and Dorsey means that he will probably be cut. It's unfortunate but there doesn't seem any way to keep him.
I assure you not one player the Rockets have looked at in the past "stink". They may not be good enough to stick in the Rockets rotation or on the roster, but I can pretty much bet they could beat you in a game of one-on-one.
Alright - so which tall athletic player can we get to sign for the minimum? I'm all for 'tall athletic' guys (provided they can shoot the ball or block shots or play defense - many of them are terrible in one or all of those areas) The crux of the question is: Can we 'hide' Mutombo on the coaching staff for half the season SO THAT we can use the expirings at the deadline (Harris is good for 900k as an expiring) and thus free up a roster spot. Assuming Landry and Evans/Barry (if we sign one of them) eat up most of our exceptions, there's not a whole lot we can do to sign this 'tall athletic' guy - so why not get one later in the season when someone will 'fire sale' a semi-star for the sake of cap-space next season? FWIW: Harris is as much a SF as he is a PF.
Aside from Ricky Davis (who is too expensive for Morey's tastes) 1. Antoine Wright 2. James Jones 3. Richard Roby 4. Kelenna Azubuike (R) -- doubtful, I know 5. C. J. Miles (R) -- Utah hurting on cap space BTW -- Harris is too slow to be a SF.
Any talk of whether there is a roster spot for Mike Harris turns on whether the Rockets decide to make any trades in the offseason. With the Rockets drafting a small forward (Greene) and picking up the option on another (Novak), Harris could at best hope for a spot at the end of the bench. Morey is looking to make a deal but may end up choosing to wait until February when Jackson's and Francis's expiring contracts become more valuable. If so, then Harris might not make the team. Hey, the sign of a good team is having to cut decent players. We should hope that the Rockets continue to have such problems.
Thats an excellent idea to hide Mutombo as a coach until after trade deadline! If we do that we could technically pay Mutombo more to convince him of this! By we I mean Les Alexander .
Ok - so who cares about Harris! The point being that expirings are more valuable later in the season than before it, and if we hid Mutombo (on coaching staff) then we have an extra roster spot. As it currently stands (including Dorsey, Landry and Mutombo) we have 17 guys on the books for next season. Hiding Mutombo and cutting Woods = 15? I'm hoping that we make a FA signing with the LLE - but we'll get superior trade value at the deadline for the expirings of BJax/Francis/ Head/ Harris etc.
Between Hayes, Harris & Dorsey you can't carry a bunch of 6'6-7" PF/C's. Only one of those guys should make the roster in the grand scheme of things since they primarily all have the same strengths & limits.
I like the idea DrNeuberger. I see value in players like Harris and Woods as expiring deals. When you add those contracts to BJax, Head, and Francis, you get over $12 million in expirings. That could provide a substantial 3rd star at the trading deadline, someone like Vince Carter. We'd then have a roster spot for Deke to sign to a vet minimum deal. How about Harris, Woods, Greene, and Novak to Milwaukee for Villanueva??? Milwaukee drops Harris and Woods and we can then re-sign Harris, if we want to, to another one year minimum contract.
I could care less about Mike Harris. The guy's an okay player, but if he's cracking the rotation for an NBA club then that just says we're too thin at the SF. I'm hoping we either fix that through trade or Greene improves fast.
Yeah - I was pretty excited to have got Greene in the draft - was shattered when it was Arthur (who makes Mo Taylor look like an animal on the boards) - but when it changed to the youngster! Give him a year in DLeague though - but at least there's a fix on the horizon! I'm hoping we can ditch Luther too and get a 2/3 - kill 2 birds with one stone so to speak.
morey would rather trade these guys than release them. Landry is a energetic roster but doesn't fit our systerm,trading him more a PG backup is a smart choice,thank landry for his contributions ,his block in the playoffs ,as well as his missing tooth.it's time for him to walk ,a poor team on reconstruction is more suitable for him,best wishes for him ,and it's time to welcome our new guy ,new star,drafted in 03 by bucks,mo williams .
great ,i'm a bucks fan ,too,why not trade t mac for marbury,then we may solve our PG problem ,but we would meet with a bigger problem.
