He is a proven player who, I think, has a lot of miles left. His style of play facilitates a long career span. He also hasn't been in the league that long. It's arguable whether Swift is even an asset. Head is definitely an asset but is he a long-term solution at the 2? I don't think so.
I would love to have Mike James on this team next season, he is what JVG is looking for in the "firepower" department. But I would be very reluctant giving up Stro or Head for him. I think Stro has much more trade value than most think and many GM's in the league know his strengths were not utilized under JVG. I like Luther Head alot and would not include him in any deal unless it was for a Ron Artest type of player that could throw this team right over the top. I may be wrong, but I will be surprised if James gets more than the MLE this summer.
You could be right. Atlanta makes a lot of sense. Toronto has plenty of cash to keep him. Both could offer him as much as he wanted. However, there aren't a lot of other teams in that situation. The Bobcats are well under the cap, but they have Felton there. Hornets are under but they have CP3. The Bulls have Hinrich. Clippers have Livingston and Cassell if they decide to keep him. Nuggets have Miller. Utah has Deron Williams. Seattle has Ridnour.
So here's what we do this offseason: Use the big trade exception in a sign and trade for Mike James, this is assuming that he likes houston so much that he doesn't mind taking a pay cut to be here. I know Atlanta has gobs of money to offer him. Sign Tim Thomas with the smaller exception. He said he doesn't care about the money or starting, all he wants to do is win. I know a lot of people don't like him, but at this price he's at least as good as scott padgett. Draft the best players availables with our picks. We have too many holes to target one position. A good power forward like shelden williams or if we get lucky Aldridge or Thomas could help us out. A big guard like Brewer or Roy could work, maybe even Foye. If we defy the odds and get 1,2, or 3 pick I would also look at Bargnani. Use part of the MLE on Spanoulis, another part for cheap specialist (maybe another shooter or a backup swingman like bogans). If we sign James and draft a guard that's five guards (including sura) which might leave no room for Spanoulis. In that case, we could use the full MLE on someone else, maybe a swingman another big body. If the Rockets do all this, a possible roster could be: Alston/James/Spanoulis Head/Brewer/Bogans T-Mac/Bogans/Thomas Howard/Thomas/Swift/Hayes Yao/Mutumbo That doesn't sound too bad. The shooting guard position might be a little youthful but in a small lineup james could play sg.
The 4.2 mil TE can be traded for a player worth up to 5.35 mil. Bosh wants MJ to stay so Toronto would probably overpay him. For that much salary I'd rather add Mo Pete.
Why would they give up Mo-Pete for nothing when he's an expiring contract? He's definitely worth more than some cap relief.
Lots of teams can afford to overpay mike james, but the dude came out and send point blank his number one choice is houston. This is despite the fact that we traded him for another guard, and knowing that we don't have much money. Hell, he's even offering JVG ideas on how to use him (in a small ball lineup as the 2 next to alston). I'm in Spain right now so I haven't seen this, but apparently he's running a basketball camp in houston and advertising on local channels. If he took the money I wouldn't blame him, but I can't remember many free agents in his position that made their preference so well known. I for one would love to have his firepower. I like his idea of him and alston playing together, and I also like the idea of him splitting time with alston and putting james in when yao or McGrady is resting so we can have more than one scorer on the floor. Now that I think about it, maybe James is positioning himself for a huge payday somewhere else.
cuttino and james are the same age. if mobley can get 7-9 mil/yr over the next 5 years, surely james can get something close to that.
People, people. My own misbegotten "ideal offseason" aside: If Mike James won't sign here for the MLE, forget him. We can't afford to trade away what few "assets" we have (Luther, Stro, #8 pick) for a 31 year-old 6'2" combo guard, no matter how clutch he proved to be in a contract year. If he wants to be here badly enough, sign him for 4 or 5 years at the MLE. He should be happy enough. If not, freeze your butt off in Toronto, MJ, while your family toodles around in Houston.
We have a TE, we want a good player worth more. we simply trade somebody like Stro for that player, and then the TE for a horrible player and thats how they are combined so they are 2 separate trades but look as one, cuz we cut the guy
Am I reading this right? You consider Swift an asset? To whom: the Rockets or the opposing team when he's on the floor taking up space? On another note I have to agree with what was said in another thread where it was stated that if the Rockets can't get or are incapable of getting an impact player with the #8 pick, they need to trade it to someone who knows what they're doing.
Atlanta is not offering James anything. If they do go for a PG down the road it will be for a playmaker. James isn't returning to Toronto, both parties have made that all but clear. And keep in mind Mike James is a 2 guard who plays the 1, something which has not resulted in wins in the NBA. At the most his market value is 6 years, $36 million. I GUARANTEE you no team is going to offer James more than the MLE, teams under the cap are looking for building blocks. Not expensive offensive sparks. James knows this, that's why he is trying to seduce Houston into giving him a max MLE contract, which he can get from a number of teams.
I haven't been smoking anything so I'll point out my use of quotation marks ("quotation marks", mind you) around the word "assets" in my attempt to say we ain't got much of anything after Yao and Tracy, and so even Stro must be considered an "asset."
I think finally Dawson and Van Gundy realize that this team not only needs shooters who can knockdown the 3 ball but it needs athletic perimiter players and atleast one athletic frontcourt player who can slide between the SF and PF spot. WE also need a very good rebounder on next years team to go along with Yao in the frontcourt. As we know from Sura's first season with us he can average 6 rebounds and 6 assists a game so he can help in both those areas and so can KIeth Bogans who should be brought back as a backup SG/SF because of his hieght he's 6'5 he's athletic and a very solid defender. If we don't resign him I'm going to be very mad. If we do all the things I said above we will be right back in the top 4 teams in the west and top 6 in the nba. Rockets are going to be just fine. Also in that article from CD on rockets.com it said that Tmac is pain free and looking forward to next season and that Yao is ahead of where he should be and we will ready to go at 100% on opening day. Finally I think we should sign MIKE JAMES to a FA deal because in the west yoiu need speedy athletic backcourt guys to defend against the Phoenix,Dallas and Memphis teams. All that said Houston will get what they need and will be a top team next season. BOOK IT!!!
Who will Atlanta go after? They need a PG badly. There aren't any real options where they will draft. Maybe Marcus Williams but that would be a reach.
The GM for Atlanta is a strange duck. They've stated that they're not going to draft a pg, and that they love those 6'9" guys, despite the fact that they're overflowing with swingmen. So we really have no idea which direction they'll go in free agency. I would imagine that they'll make a run at Jason Terry. It would make sense, which probably means that they aren't going to do it.
I don't see Atlanta making any huge signings this offseason, because they are just too young to expect one player (from this FA class) to make a huge impact. Teams throw around big money in FA when they feel like they are on the brink of being a very good team, or atleast the playoffs. Atlanta is not there yet, they need another season of Johnson and Stoudamire playing the point and their wing players developing. As far as the draft, they would be hoping to get Bargnani as he is the best talent out there. Out of Thomas, Aldridge and Bargnani, one will drop to 4. Most likely Aldridge IMO. Harrington isn't a long term solution for this team.
Thank You! Coudn't have said it better myself. There's another thread that's titled " the talent gap is huge " where 99% of Rocks fans agree on one thing. Our lack of talent. Trading away those "assets" you mentioned for James would be a loss and or a draw at best. Adding James for MLE without losing talent would be great.
Stromile is an asset only in his trade value. He's never going to get it. Hopefully, some GM out there thinks that he will. Also, if we don't use the MLE on James, we can use it to pick up talent.
