With all of the talk about trades and big men I was just trying to think of what teams actually have serviceable big men that they might have on the market between now and next season. I am not looking for any kind of real gm match ups for trades but I would rather know if we would have anything that would make that team want to trade one of their big men to us. I can think of 4 teams that currently have serviceable big men that may not be on their team next year for various reasons. 1. Bulls: Brad Miller is not bad but how long do the bulls want to start him ahead of Curry? Would the Bulls be willing to trade Brad between now and next year and move Curry into the starting line up. 2. Cavs: With Mihm, Ilgouskas and Diop it would seem that the Cavs have an over abundance of big men. I just can’t see the Cavs giving up on Diop at this early stage of his career and Mihm is the only constantly healthy 7 footer between the three but John Lucas has already admitted that he does not see Mihm as a center. Could the Rockets land one of these three? Would the relationship of John Lucas and Rudy T make a trade here any more realistic? Would any of these three really be any better than what we already have? 3. Warriors: Either Adonal Foyle or Marc Jackson appears to be the odd man out if not both. There is little doubt that Marc Jackson will be traded between no and next season. If he is not traded by the end of the season is there something that we could do to acquire him? How about Foyle? He is a good rebounder and blocks shots like a mad man. 4. Lakers: Samaki Walker has looked pretty good as a center filling in for Shaq and he has the size and athleticism to do it on a regular basis. Wouldn’t Phil Lackson have to consider trading him for KT if he were approached with the trade? I consider KT a significant upgrade at PF over Samaki Walker. Samiki can look for a better contract next year if he likes so would we be interested in making a run at him then? Another player of note is Leon Smith. Yes that is right the Dallas Mavericks first round draft pick of a couple of years ago that turned out to be a head case. He has all of the physical tools to be a superstar in this league if he could just get his head straight. As I recall the guy was 6’11” and about 250 lbs. NIKEstrad mentioned in the NBA Dish that he was avging 17.9 points a game and 15.9 rebounds a game in the CBA. Could now be a good time to offer him a 10 day contract? The players I have mentioned are: 1. Brad Miller 2. Chris Mihm 3. Zydrunas Ilgauskas 4. DeSagana Diop 5. Marc Jackson 6. Adonal Foyle 7. Samaki Walker 8. Leon Smith I believe some of those players will find themselves at a new home next year for various reasons are there any more? Do we have anything that we would be willing to give up to get them? Would the other teams want or have a need for anything we might be willing to trade? My personal favorite would be Leon Smith since he would cost us nothing and we could bring him in on a few 10 day contracts to see how he would work out.
I saw the Leon Smith thing in the USA Today. I am curious at this point. I would just like to have him for 2 10-day contracts and see where he is at. I am not sure if we are allowed to have 16 players on the roster even if it is 10-day contract. You are right it would ge nice to take an essentially free look at him. Of the others, Foyle and Jackson are my preferred choices especially considering true availability. The bottomline again is that are these choice necessarily better than our home grown big men. I say lets use this year to see what we got. Collier could be a Miller in waiting.
Ya'll forgot that Ratko Varda of Detroit is a free agent next year. He's 7-1 and 260. Personally, I hope we sneak into the playoffs and then win, win, win and somehow still get a shot at Yao Ming (no comparison with Bradley -- didn't anybody watch the Olympics?) or Chris Marcus (the Rocks can run their fast break and, if that fails, wait for Battleship Chris to get into position). P.S. Crash, kudos on the Leon Smith look. I had forgotten about him. Every kid deserves a chance at a comeback.
We have to keep this discussions centered around who we can trade. If we take Francis, Griffin, Mo', Moochie and Mobley off the trading block and consider Walt not going anywhere (he would have already if he was moving), and we consider Cato (too much $$), Collier (not enough PT to judge), Rice (too much $$), and Langhi having no trade value...then what do you have to trade. Thomas Torres Morris Willis Brown Mo' has no trade value until he plays for a month again to reevaluate him. Willis is a stretch regarding trade value. He'd have to join some contender as a bench player. And come on, Moochie is not being traded by the trade deadline. Some of us might want him gone, but you know that he isn't leaving this year. So, the question is, how are you going to match salaries here. Torres and Morris have bare minimum salaries. Thomas has a 22nd rookie scale salary. And don't say he has added value because he has an expiring contract after next year. That is a salary purging issue only seen with high $ veteran contract before they retire or take a huge pay cut. No one is taking Thomas just to renounce him to clear $1.8m??...that's just silly. All we can trade for is about $2.4m in salaries back or so. And that would require package Thomas with either Torres or Morris. Therefore <ul><li>Mihm -- not realistic (not worth losing Thomas and Torres--two serviceable starters who have started 4 positions combined, imo, and Cleveland will get better offers than Thomas and Collier ) ... Mihm is looking pretty stellar to me, like a LaFrentz in the making <li>Ilgauskas -- not realistic (way, way out of the ballpark in matching salaries....don't even try the Cato and Walt trade...sheesh) <li>Diop -- not realistic (just because Cleveland is the center of massive rumors, why are they trading their #8 pick 18yr old huge center--would you...come on!) <li>Marc Jackson -- yeah, right (do we really have to explain that GS is not waiting until Oct to trade him) <li>Walker -- now why exactly is LA trading this $1.5m PF/C guy (just a thought) <li>Foyle -- no thank you (not what we need)</ul> I think Miller and Leon Smith are the only "realistic possibilities" on your list. You seem to be only including ones with rumors of trades floating, and defining that as "realistic." I don't know anything about the rumors, but shouldn't we restrict this to who we could possible get given our trade bait. I just don't see us having the trade bait that is competitive enough to land a 7'er who has solid fundamentals and more agile than Collier, or landing a Top 5 pick.
HP, When I mention all of the big men with the Cavs it is because one could be the odd man out. Certainly not all will be traded or moved and probably only one in the off season. No rumor just speculation. I did mention that I have a hard time seeing the Cavs giving up on Diop since he was obviously drafted for the future. I guess I should have said that there is a realistic chance that one in this group will be moved. When I mention Walker it is because he can walk at the end of this year so grabbing him after the season is a possibility. Why would Jackson trade him? I think KT is an improvement at PF over Walker but that is just my opinion, certainly Phil Jackson may think differently. As far as Foyle he is a big man that rebounds and blocks better than Cato so I consider him an upgrade and if Jackson is not traded by next summer than I would think that he is an option. The real point that I did not make very well is what do we have that other teams with big men to spare would want and what would Rudy be willing to give up. The answer may be nothing. To your list of people we will not trade I think I would add Mo to the list. I just don't see Rudy trading him until he knows how well he will play with Eddie. As far as Walt I am convinced that Rudy likes him but if he has a chance to upgrade the team by moving him I think he does it in a minute. Problem is that I don't know if any of the big men on my list would be considered a big enough upgrade for Rudy to trade Walt. My list is just that...my list and is not intended to seem like the only possibilities but they are the only ones I could think off of the top of my head. I will agree that Miller and Smith may be the most likely for now but what do we have that Chicago would want? I was under the perception that they were high on Fizer so why would they want Thomas? What would GS want for either Foyle or Jackson (if he is still there in the summer) that we could offer? Of all of our players that we might trade plus possibly draft picks what could we get? Maybe Leon is the only real possibility on the list.
I think we need to try and go after 76ers rookie Alvin Jones. He's a solid true 7 footer, who is fairly athletic, works his tail off and rebounds very well. He's been langquishing on the bench and they may be willing to let him go. He played for Georgia Tech and was very successful in the ACC, routinely out playing Brendan Haywood in his last two years. He wouldn't be the final answer but he could be part of the solution. If we could work some trade with Philly and get him it would be an inexpensive option that we may turn out well. What do you all think? Do you all know who he is?
crispee-Why would Walt already be gone? Any team looking for a veteran shooter that comes off the books at the end of the year would be interested. Too bad last year's Walt for Brad Miller rumors didn't work out.
I know the Rockets were looking at him during the draft. It almost makes no sense for the 76ers to trade him though because he has no trade value. Giving KT to Philly for this guy would be nuts unless Philly through in something else like a 1st round draft pick. On the other hand I don't think Philly would just give him up either since he really has not had time to show anything yet.
Am I the only one that likes Jamaal Magloire?? I'm not sure what his contract looks like or even if Charlotte would deal him.
KT for Jones wouldn't work because of salaries, plus that would be a moronic trade on the Rockets part. KT + someone for Someone + Jones may be an option. I don't know anything about philly and who they're looking to unload or what type of player they'd be interested in picking up. The other option would be something like Langhi for Jones. The salaries work but a second round pick or something else would have to be added, probably by us to make something like this work. But I'd be interested to know if the 76ers would even consider giving Jones up, since he isn't seeing any time and has a bunch of players ahead of him that look like they're going to stay.
I think that any trade that just involves the Rockets & one other team is going to be shot down, because of which players we are willing to part with as Crispee stated. However, as the season winds down, I believe that Walt could become our hottest trade commodity. What we need to look for is a team that's faded or fading out of the playoff picture & wants to clear some cap space to either pursue FA's or avoid the possibility of being hit with the Luxury Tax, if there is one. Or, a team that would be interested in acquiring draft picks, without giving up a major piece of their future or taking on any additional salary. I believe that Brad Miller would be the best available center that we could get our hands on & I've come up with, what I believe to be, a beneficial trade scenario for all 3 teams involved & the salaries do work. Houston sends Walt/#1 draft pick to Golden State. Chicago sends Brad Miller/Kevin Ollie to Houston & possibly a draft pick to Golden State. Golden State sends Mookie Blaylock to Chicago Golden State is using Mookie very sparingly this year & his contract expires at the end of the year. So, unless they plan on resigning him, they probably wouldn't want to trade him, unless it benefitted them. By taking Walt in this deal, they still receive the benefit of the expiring contract & acquire draft picks. Obviously, one of the picks would have to be a #1 pick. Would we be willing to give up a possible late lottery pick for Miller? I would, but I'm not the GM either. Chicago would get a very good & experienced starting PG in Mookie to guide the young team & groom Crawford to take over after he retires. By trading Miller, it would allow them to play Curry/Chandler a lot more minutes, as was alluded to by Crash5179 in his first post. Houston would get the center that we really need & Ollie, whose contract expires at the end of the year, is thrown in to make the numbers work. This trade would, imho, complete our rebuilding program. All we would have to do is get everyone healthy & a consistent player rotation after that. C: Miller/Griffin/Cato/Collier PF: Taylor/KT/Willis SF: Rice/T-Mo/Langhi SG: Mobley/Torres PG: Francis/Moochie/Brown A couple of players would have to go on the IL (please let Cato be one of them) & Langhi might not resign with us if he believes that he won't get any PT. The bottom line is, we won't have any cap space to pursue FA's & the odds of us acquiring a better center than we have now after the first 3-5 picks, wouldn't be worth keeping the draft pick or picks. Now, does anyone think that Chicago & Golden State would be open to a trade like this?
hottoddie-Why not give the Bulls their pick back from the Drew deal instead? We can't give them our pick right now anyway-can't give away back to back years, and the year after is given to Memphis. We can't trade this year's pick until right after we use it. Also, the Bulls already have a veteran PG in Greg Anthony. realGM says Walt for Miller works straight up, throw in some picks...
I really doubt the rockets make a trade by the deadline. If the rockets do something, most likely, it will be for picks or in the offseason when its easier to make trades due to reduced roster limitations and teams with cap space/trade exceptions.
NIKEstrad, I agree that it would be a whole lot simpler to deal directly with Chicago for Miller & with the right picks, it might happen, but I also believe that once word got out, Chicago would probably receive better offers of picks & players that would fit a need for them. As for the Drew obligation, I could see us sending it back to Chicago, in exchange for them sending a future #1 pick to Golden State. That, along with us sending the Toronto #1 pick to Golden State might get them to agree to it. Chicago would receive Blaylock (with an expiring contract) & release from the Drew obligation, which hampers them from trading future #1 picks. (The longer we hang on to it, the less value it'll have.) Golden State receives 1 & possibly 2 #1 draft picks & looses nothing as far as cap space & future talent goes. Houston gives up Walt, 1 owed (Toronto) #1 pick & 2 owed (Chicago) #2 picks for a solid, young center. As for Anthony, who would you rather have as your starting PG, Anthony or Blaylock? I'd choose Blaylock. One thing this trade scenario shows, is just how close we are to being serious contenders again.
NIKE, we've had all summer and up to now to trade Walt as an expiring contract guy...hasn't happened, yet. I think we might try to trade him for a center, but we also might just try to resign him cheap this summer if nothing materializes. We are not going to trade him for $5m in garbage back just to do a trade. uhp...you can't trade Walt after the trading deadline, since he is in the last year of his contract. He must become a free agent...at which point his contract expires.. He cannot be traded even on draft day, either. Remember all that discussion we had last year about how there couldn't be a draft day trade for Webber . We could sign and trade Walt after the signing period begins in July, but I thought we were talking about people interested in getting Walt now in order to purge their own $5m contract by renouncing Walt or drastically reducing his salary this summer. If we don't trade him before the trading deadline, he no longer will be match-able with a $5m contract for someone to purge. The prospect of Walt's expiring contract adding trade value for teams looking to reduce salary can only happen if they take his salary before it expires...and it effectively expires on the trade deadline next month. bottomline: if we don't trade Walt before the trading deadline his contract expires as a Rocket, then we have to find someone who flat out just wants him this summer, and under a reasonable new contract. What kind of trade bait is Walt in a Summer sign-n-trade?
Just a thought Re: Philly. It seems to me that they are a bit thin at the three, what with Harpering as their only option at this point. It would also seem to me that Walt would kind of match the 'profile' for guys they've aquired to play the '3' the last couple of years in Toni Kukoc and Harpering. Finaly, as they're near the bottom of the league in 3%. In short, it seems that Philly might be one of the teams that'd be genuinely intrested in Walt. Add to that their surplus of centers, as well as the Rox supposed intrest in Alvin Jones, and it'd seem like you have a starting point. Whether you can make it work from there, is a question, but it seems like you have a pretty good starting point.
Crispee, Oops, I didn't remember or never really understood that stipulation. So, then let's trade him before the trading deadline. NIKEstrad mentioned trading directly with Chicago. Since this is all just speculation & wishful thinking on our parts, do you feel that a trade of Miller for Walt/Toronto's #1 pick/Chicago's Drew obligation would get it done? Is that a fair/reasonable deal for both teams, or is someone getting screwed? We'd still get to keep our #1 pick/second rounder/Toronto's second rounder, so would Miller be worth that deal?
Walt isn't sign and trade bait, imo. I can't see him getting more than part of the MCE, nor can I see some team wanting to sign him to a long term deal. Of course, Walt is valuable to us, because he's 5 mill off the books. Could be enough to soothe any luxury tax implications to allow Les to give an ok to use the full MCE (6 years, 40 mill?) and attract Rashard Lewis (player opt out). Walt is valuable to purge as a 5 mill contract. There'll be interest, but probably mostly teams looking to purge their contract ogres. Hypothetically, Walt could maybe land a small contract ogre plus a legit player, the question is it worth it. I don't think his trade window of oppurtunity ended. Many teams may be waiting to see if they're in the hunt or not. hottoddie-Krause is known for forcing his coach's hand. If he really wants more PT for Curry/Chandler, trading Miller would be the way to do it. How highly does he value the shackles he has on trading any future first rounder till 2006?
