From the rumors of things it sounds as if Snyder/SF3 (w/$3mil for buy-out thru '09)/Brooks/and maybe Hayes + #1 gets Artest. Is he worth it for a (possibly) 28 or so game rental and shot at the hardware? However, I suspect NYDaily News et al are just tossing names out...
i dont see why the rockets supposedly have interest. our rebounding and inside defense has been great. scola and landry can both knock down the mid range J. why give up a young piece for this guy? especially when he's going to eat into landry's minutes and stunt his development. i agree with clutch... they must want him to move him in a 3 way deal. the kings roster is full and they probably don't want to aquire 3 or 4 players for ron because they will be stuck cutting guys.
Rockets are getting great play out of their PFs. But in the playoffs, they will probably have to face San Antonio, Phoenix, or LA if they want to get to the Finals. Is their depth at center good enough to beat those teams?
Is their depth at the 1 good enough to beat those teams? Our team is not quite at the contender level IMHO. We need health and help.
Could Kurt Thomas be linked to us because of the Ron Artest deal? Could this be a three team deal or even two seperate trades? By us getting a 8 million dollar expiring contract, does that allow us more freedom to resign Artest to more than our MLE this summer without going into luxary? After that, obviously Deke is going to retire and Kurt Thomas is already expecting a smaller contract. We get to woo Kurt Thomas in resigning with us for some 2-3 mil?
Exactly how I see it. We would have interest in Kurt Thomas for only two reasons: 1. As an add-on to get one of their PGs (preferably West) 2. As a follow-up to a bigger deal to help Les save some money, and looking to the future. As a follow on to a Ron Artest deal makes the most sense. Les would need the space to try and resign Artest for next year. The risky part is, that as you mentioned, Seattle's not trading away that useful contract for a bag of chips. So we'd definitely be giving up something of value in a Kurt Thomas deal, and even potentially getting Artest on the cheap, we'd be giving up some kind of value for him....and after all that, he might not resign.
Juwan can only dream to play defense like Kurt Thomas. Kurt also shoots close to 50% from the field. He also mixes it up in the paint, is physical, and does not mind dishing out some punishment. The only thing Juwan has been dishing out this season is a warm bench for Deaven George to get some rest on, who in turn is a bench warmer for someone else. Kurt's season stats: PPG: 7.5 RPG: 8.8 BPG: 1.0 FG%: 51.3 % Juwan's season stats: PPG: 0.7 RPG: 1.6 BPG: 0.0 FG%: 25% I dont know whether to cry or laugh at Juwan this season.
those stats are all well and good, but you forgot the MPG...it's easy to beat someone out like that if the other guy is getting around 7mpg or less....kurt is averaging ~25. it's funny cuz those #'s kurt has not even as good as what juwan did with us...go figure. #'s wise juwan has been better in the past 2 years, this year he's not b/c brandon bass and dirk nowitzki have been playing above him. they're the same, and just b/c kurt can be a little dirty sometimes(watch him against yao), doesn't mean he's tough. it just means he gets sat on the bench faster w/ foul trouble
Whats more telling is that Juwan cannot get any playing time on Mavericks which has an average at best front court to begin with. Last year, Kurt Thomas helped his team more in playoffs than Juwan helped his. While Juwan was bricking almost everything for the Rockets and could not contribute a lick to defending Jazz PFs, Kurt Thomas was shooting well over 50% from the field and was playing solid defense in the middle for his team. Juwan got his minutes in playoffs, he just sucked as expected. Kurt does play dirty which is not a bad thing when it comes to post defense. It works against Yao and it also works against Duncan at times. He is also effective at clogging the paint somewhat. He is not a stopper but he can give you 20 or so minutes of solid defense, whether it is man to man or some help defense. Good luck getting that out of Juwan. As for offense, you don't need to go any further than comparing the FG%.
Wow, that's road robbery. The Sonics still ask picks for Kurt Thomas. I think they already got 2 1st round from the Suns. And the Sonics are not going to resign Kurt Thomas this summer. The Sonics are going to buy Thomas out after trade deadline or let Thomas contract expires. So, I bet no GM is foolish enough to offer picks or young players for Kurt Thomas. The Sonics wont take expiry contracts either. So, I dont see how KT will get traded.
It is a catch 22, but a seriously contending team should be more than happy to offer a late first round pick for decent backup big man rental. I don't think the Rockets are that team, though.
I'm no capologist, I re-read Clutch's post about Kurt Thomas' expiring contract and a question came to my mind. If The Rockets give up their 1st for his expiring contract can they sign a FA for 8M plus use the MLE for re-signing Landry? I don't want to give up the 1st rounder but if this works out,it would be tempting.
Kurt Thomas is good for the future when Mutumbo retires. It would be a good move for us. He's also an expiring contract which is huge!
No life doesnt work like that. We have to match salary if we are over the cap, which we are, so we can't just trade a 1st round pick that holds no monetary value for Thomas and his $8 million expiring contract. But what we can do is, match the money, wait till summer, and resign him for little to nothing to replace Deke, and use the rest on offering more to a UFA. The MLE would still be available to I believe. Its quite a huge hurdle for the Rockets though, b/c I don't see them offering much without really breaking up the core. I doubt they take Mike James. This is probably the least likely trade when I consider all involved.
Rockets really need him. I cannot believe Morey let the spurs get him! We cannot beat the spurs anymore!
