It's absolutely insane that people are saying no to this. Rasheed Wallace!! No team has made it anywhere without gamblilng on these things. Kobe Bryant, Tim Duncan, Chris Webber, Rasheed Wallace, Nowitzki... All products of RISK taken by their respective teams. If we want to challenge for the championship, we need to take risks. As GATER stated, Portland will either require capspace and a pick, or a damn good player. However, I SINCERELY doubt Portland will say no to a damn good player (Francis) and a bad contract (MoT or Cato). Why? Because let's say Portland let Rasheed walk, which leaves the mwith 6-8M in cap space. That's great, but who would they get for 6-8M at Steve Francis' level? Take into account the MLE is not available to teams under the cap. If we offer Francis, Portland won't say no to ANY demands.
rikesh316, if you're going to post a trade, at least back it up with some points. We can go on all day making up trades where we unload contracts and players that make other teams worse, while improving our own positions. At least back it up with why both teams would/should make the move.
It would seem insanely hypocritical to me if the Rockets are actually pursuing Rasheed Wallace after releasing Eddie Griffin. Rasheed may be far more skilled than EG and honestly, he's probably less of a head case off the court. He certainly hasn't ever been arrested for assault with a deadly weapon. But on the court he's a bigger head case than Eddie ever was.
I'm undecided on the trade. On one hand we could potentially get rid of some bad contracts and clear capspace for next season assuming he leaves while being one giant step closer towards being contenders THIS season, but at what cost. We get a bad seed and another project for JVG to handle (i.e bringing out the best in his players. Moochie (gotta have hope he could get better if he's being given PT ) , Francis, Yao, Cato.) Wallace would be another player JVG would have to instill defense into, yet another player to get to buy into his system when we're still struggling to do that with the roster we currently have, and someone who's quick to mock his teammates. I dunno for some reason I could just imagine Wallace making comparable racial jokes about Yao like Shaq did when he mocked the Chinese language. He's also a liability for being suspended atleast 5 games if he gets busted for pot which seems like an annual issue that surrounds him. Then again JVG has worked his magic before on players like Spreewell and contained his personality quite well. He could very well do that for the Wallace as well. At worst, he leaves, we clear capspace and get a few more servicable players in return, while still potentially getting rid of more bad contracts to toss at to the Bobcats. Who knows, maybe JVG could clear all our bad contract woes within one year, and that would definitely be nice.
But if we take this article at face value, Wallace wants to come to Houston anyway, and Francis is one reason why. Why not wait until he's a free agent and simply sign him next season? That's assuming he does actually want to play here and is sick of Portland (the last bit seems likely). I mean, we're not going to win a championship this year even if we did trade for him, especially if we trade Francis. Why not simply wait? I'm guessing you believe we should trade now before anyone else gets him, but remember, even if someone else trades for him he's still a free agent next year and can sign wherever he wants. If that does happen, the Rockets will be among the most talented teams in the league. Starting five of Francis, Mobley, Jackson, Wallace and Ming, with two excellent backups in Cato and Taylor. I'm leaving it at that because who knows who they might trade to magically make the finances work Still, talent has never been the Rockets' problem. Running a smooth system, playing smart, and learning from mistakes have been the team's problems. Would acquiring Wallace address those problems or add to them? I'm asking.
Eddie was never a headcase ON the court, EVERYONE's a bigger headcase than him in that sense. Don't compare Wallace to Griffin. Wallace isn't just better. He's MUCH MUCH MUCH better. He's what we'd want Eddie Griffin to become.
Other than the pot, Rasheed has done nothing truly bad as a player. The technicals really were and isolated occurrence (2 year period) in a long career. He has been fine since his record setting season. Rasheed's rebound numbers are down because he plays SF in Portland. Rasheed is still the best defender in Portland, so whoever posted he is defensive liabilities have not watched Wallace play. I think you can probably get him for your trade exception , any contract that expiresby 2005 and 2 1st round draft picks (2004 and 2006) which really shouldn't yield a player near Sheed's quality especially going by Houston's recent late round draft history. Trading for him will also allow you to use your MLE on some depth in the summer. Some players who will be available: Carlos Boozer, Hedo Torkuglu, Stromille Swift, and Chris Mihm.
speaking of headcases on the court. anyone catch that take down by posey last week? he just tackled the guy he was gaurding reminiscent of the dallas houston game last year where he back ended dirk under the basket and and took bradley down into the stands.
I'd consider trading Francis for Wallace if the Rox could get Jeff Mcgniss in the deal; that guy is having a pretty good year, shooting the ball well, and is not bad at running the point.
We can wait till the summer and FIND OUT. However, IMO, he'll take the MLE from the Spurs and Mavericks before he takes it from us. That's IF he takes the MLE.... Since this whole Payton/Malone debacle, everyone thinks that players will sign the MLE to win. When was the last time this happened? What makes it a trend and not a one-time thing? If he's traded, he'll be traded to a team that he wants to be traded to (as the article states), meaning he'll re-sign with them. If he's traded to a team that doesn't have a stong indication that he'll re-sign, then that team won't give up much in a trade. In my eyes, right now, we have talent that doesn't mix well. Something needs to be changed to make it work, or the players need to be moved. I don't think it will EVER be ok for us to have Mobley and Francis in the backcourt. They don't really play well together. It would be absoltuely amazing to get Rasheed via the MLE in the summer, but it seems unlikely. Then again, who knows? Maybe Steve and Cuttino can convince him. But at 28 years old, I doubt he'll take the MLE, it's just too far-fetched.
I understand your point, but of course you're only guessing he'd rather be a Spur or Mav or that he wouldn't get a better offer that he'd take. The MLE is a huge "if," I'll gladly agree, but the biggest factor here is how much Wallace actually wants to play for Houston, since plenty of other teams have more to offer than we do (except for Francis, whom I doubt will ever be traded; Yao is also out of the question). My real question is, based on what we know of Wallace, is he a Van Gundy man? Will he respond and step up to be the kind of guy you can give up a Francis for or remain rather uninspired, content to be the second or third option on a team despite his talent and continue to insist on long range stuff? Francis has plenty of faults but effort and determination aren't among them. The thought of Ewing tutoring Wallace is interesting, but I have my doubts whether or not trading big parts for him will get us any further than we're already going.
If we got Sheed, we've have OUR STARTING LINEUP for the first time ever! Francis Mobley JJ Wallace Yao Yikes! Not bad...
Man if we can get Sheed, this will no doubt (NO DOUBT) put the Rockets on top in the West among the Kings and Lakers. Can you imagine, Ming, Wallace, Jackson, Mobley and Francis. Dammmmmm! Now that's what you call the REAL "Twin Towers." Spurs are going to be very very jealous. If we can trade Cato and Taylor for Sheed, do it!!!! If we can trade Mobley and another player, do it!!!! If we can trade any player other than Yao and Francis, do it!!!!! He's a huge factor in the game especially in the WEST. Mobley's type of player are a dime in a dozen. We can have Pike take over his position...NO PROBLEM!!! Ming vs Divac vs Shaq Sheed vs Webber vs Malone Jackson vs Peja vs George Awesome!!!!!! That will solidfy our interior If none of the trade work, i hope he signs with the Rox next year by MLE, that would be a dream!!!
If Wallace played hard every night, I might be able to forgive the technicals and occassional off-the-court antics. But, he is a VERY soft four. He doesn't like to mix it up inside and has a tendency to just float out near the three point line. Worse yet, he is not a hard worker on defense. I'd like to believe that can change, but that seems unlikely.
thumbs - A great 2004 to you as well. Now...back to "business". You are correct. I had forgotten about Wallace throwing the ball at Boumtje-Boumtje. Wallace also threw a towel in Sabonis' face during a playoff game. And Sabonis being the bigger man (no pun intended) looked the other way. There is no shortage of teams willing to take a risk that they (and a new environment) can "change" a player. Examples less than a month old...Ricky Davis to the Celtics, Bonzi to Memphis (who already had Miller, Battier, and Posey and give up a solid citizen like Person), Jalen Rose to TOR and the current interest in Griffin. And no discussion of "malcontents" would be complete without mentioning Chris Webber and how he prospered in SAC after a horrid reputation in Washington. But like Sane has been pointing out... no risk...no reward. Mo Cheeks is a beautiful human being. His helping the little girl with the words to the Star Spangled Banner is indelibly etched into my mind. But I don't think Mo Cheeks is the right coach to control Rasheed Wallace. While we are recanting the past, let's recall the Sprewell-PJ incident...it's no coincidence that Sprewell loves Van Gundy as a coach. My bet is Wallace would as well. Regarding whether or not Wallace would take Houston's MLE, there are only a handful of teams with cap room next summer. And very few with big time cap room. I just don't see any of them as being attractive (Rasheed in Salt Lake City?...nah!). For example, assuming Cleveland renounced Darius Miles, would Wallace go there for ~$7m? IMO, no. The Spurs may have the cap money in 2004. But they will have to take care of Manu, Hedo and Horry before dealing with Wallace. Let's say that have to offer Manu more than a MLE contract to keep him. They can offer Wallace ~$6.5m if they renounce both Hedo and Horry. IMO, Duncan would rather stay at PF. I've been pretty long-winded so I'll post my EC trade ideas in another post.
Awwww, Gater, now I feel like I'm in the middle of one of those Sci-Fi multi-parters waiting for the next installment.
If we can convince Cleveland to trade Illgauskas for Cato and the TE, we'd be set. Cleveland don't want Wallace, but Portland want Z and Cleveland want to dump his contract. Cato makes 24M over 3 seasons, and Illgauskas makes 26M over 2 seasons. Per season, Cato makes around 8, while Z makes around 12. So financially, Cato is better than Z. So is Cato + TE enough for Illgauskas? Cato is not a scorer, but nod oubt a damn good Eeastern Conference C. Surely a starter. He makes less money too. Can we convince Cleveland that they don't need Z's scoring though? Who scores for them? Do they believe Lebron/Wagner/Miles/Boozer is enough scoring? If we can convince them, we can send them Cato + TE, they send Z to Portland, and Portland send us Wallace.
