I just can't see us moving Battier. He's too valuable. He's a Morey player. Production for value. He's just too good for the money. Frankly, I don't want to see him moved. We know we have a top 3 defender, a player Bruce Bowen aspires to be as good as. On Rashard, no he's not a classic low post power forward. How many of those are left?? How many teams want 2 guys in the low post and how many teams operate with 2 guys in the low block???? Is there any????? The game with the rule changes and the zone defenses is all about spacing the floor. Players have to move and they have to space the floor. With Yao as our low post presence, we don't need a post up power forward. For us to get past SA, Phx, Utah, and Dallas, we need answers to Duncan, Amare/Nash, Boozer, and Dirk. I think we've already got the answer for Dirk in Shane/McGrady. Dirk is a perimeter player. When he tries to play in the post, his effectiveness goes down drastically. We stopped him with McGrady and less before. We already have the Dirk answer. Duncan???? How does SA play? Well, they have Duncan in the post and they spread 'em out and are at their most effective offensively with Horry out on the floor. We have Yao. We are going to have Yao. We are not trading Yao. Yao is who matches up with Duncan. The good, bad, and ugly. What we need offensively is to spread the floor and force SA back into the same mismatch with Duncan having to defend Yao one on one. There is no answer defensively for Duncan. There is no player out there that we can acquire that is 6'10", strong, and with a high enough bball iq to stop Duncan that wil learn less than max salary. They aren't out there. The way to slow Duncan down is to make him have to defend Yao 1 on 1 on the defensive end. Boozer??? The problem against Utah was not our defense. Sure, Boozer is a mismatch with Yao and in hindsight, we may have been better running Hayes on Booz defensively or even working Deke on Booz more....that was JVG strategy. He didn't make adjustments on Boozer. He kept Yao on him. And offensively, we got bogged down with McGrady having to created everything with spot up shooters. Spread the floor, bring Yao out high once in a while so that he can create and pass to cutters, and Utah is looking at mismatch problems. Yao in the post one one one with Boozer or Okur defending him in an offense with movement, those 2 players are at Yao's mercy. Sometimes the best defense is a superior offense that forces the opponent into foul trouble and sits them on the bench. Phx??? You can't defend them into defeat. You have to defend and offend them. You gotta be able to move the ball, force them to move defensively, open up the floor on them, and jam it down their throats. Amare does not play a classic, back to the basket post up, power game. 90% or more of Amare's points are facing up and going to the basket. He gets his stuff off Nash, everybody knows it. Why do we need a big banging PF for him for??? What we need is to spread Phx out and force Amare to have to defend Yao 1 on 1 without help. Amare is a foul machine. He reaches, swipes, and is not strong enough to defend Yao. We need to exploit other teams and Rashard would be the perfect player to do it with. Rashard, McGrady, and Battier at the 2,3,and 4 positions interchangably. The only way we get Rashard though is if Rashard wants to come here and if Seattle is willing to take our deal vs. letting him walk for nothing. We can offer them some combination of Juwan, Head, and either Sura's deal or Snyder and Novak, this year's first rounder, and a future first rounder. And if he forces them by saying he's not coming back there, they can either take the deal or let him walk to Orlando for nothing. But I can't see any way that Battier leaves Houston next year.
There is no way Rashard Lewis is coming here. I don't care where he grew up, or where his family lives, he is not coming here. We cannot give him the money he wants, and there are at least 12 other teams who can give Seattle a much better deal if a sign and trade is to happen.
Rashard Lewis would be great on the Rockets.......if we were building a fantasy team. What we need right now desperately are a power forward, a point guard, and depth. Trading 3 or 4 players plus draft picks for Rashard Lewis gets us none of the above. It gives us 3 dominant scorers but leaves us with little else. As much as I like Rashard as a player, we have T-Mac who plays the same position and is a superior talent. Let's focus on the team's true needs.
There is no way he is coming here. Theres nothing any team wants from us except Tracy, Yao, or maybe Battier.
Funny, Rashard should have been a Rocket to begin with and we wouldn't be having this discussion. Thanks CD ! DD
There is no chance of Lewis coming to the Rockets. What I dont understand is why people think that he would be a good fit here. He is not a point guard or a power forward which happen to be the two spots on the floor where the Rockets need the most help. He also plays the same position as McGrady.
Even if Rashard can't play PF, Battier likely can in most situations. Remember, at the start of this past season, Battier was at PF with Snyder at SG, but JVG didn't like giving up that much rebounding as opposed to Chuck Hayes. If Battier is gone, hopefully we'll still have Chuck to play PF. The bottom line is that when you're in a position like the Rockets, you have to go for a player like Rashard Lewis and find a way to fit him in. Also, it's important to remember that both teams and the player have to agree for a sign and trade agreement. If Rashard is really interested in coming to Houston, he could just tell the Sonics he won't go anywhere else. Then we wouldn't have to compete with the other teams in terms of value, we'd just have to come up with enough salary in a deal which sends some sort of value to the Sonics. It's a longshot, though.
rashard lewis really only excites me at mle money because that's an absolute steal. or if we somehow trade some combination of alston, howard, lucas, sura, a reach around and matt maloney, to seattle for him.
Mobley averaged 14 points in around only 36 minutes, shot over 40% from the 3 and is a proven defender who can also spread the floor. I think he would love coming back to Houston w/o JVG coaching now. I know this isn't a thread for him, but he seems to offer us another needed scorer and perimiter defender while costing slightly less than Lewis at 8 million. Seems like GS has enough of players similar to him already so they could part w/o hurting. Besides, every other team is looking for another big man as it is. Any decent big guy this year and next with average skills will get overpaid. They always have been. Yet, Lewis still doesn't fit that big guy mold so why not someone cheaper who can help get T-Mac out of the backcourt so he can slash more. However, we still have no depth which means we can't offer much for anyone. And if we do pull off a sign and trade for another star and go over the luxery tax, we will end up having the worst bench in the league. As if we didn't or weren't already close to having the worst bench in the NBA last season. I thought many would have learned after this year or even dating back to the Barkley trade we needed a bench to go all the way. Someone important will get injured over the course of the season. Guaranteed. Not to be a broken record, but Seattle doesn't have much to bargain with either. They either get something or nothing. They just wouldn't want to take on salary for no reason. Head, V-Span, and draft picks are the only possible thing i'd be interested if i we're Seattle. More cheap young players with possible upside to grow with Durant to offer another city.
Um, like what? Free agency doesn't start until July 1. Teams are not even allowed to talk to other players until then. What do you suggest he does?
