NO RUDY GAY TALK HERE! I just want a good basketball discussion topic. I think our lineup will look like this: C: Yao/cheap PF/Deke PF: Juwan/cheap PF(Evans? Ely?)/Hayes SF: Battier/T-Mac/Bogans SG: T-Mac/Free Agent/Head PG: Skip/Free Agent We clearly need a PF, a PG, and a backup SG. Hopefully McGrady can return to SG, he was sick when he was @ the 2.
Wilcox or Evans. I prefer Wilcox, because he is a better shot blocker and shooter. Add James or Rush. and we're ready to contend IMO.
yeah that should be about right. skip and howard are serviceable backups but definitely not starters. if we can upgrade those 2 spots we could contend depending on how well we mesh.
skip is definitely a starter. with a healthy yao and tmac, hes the pure point guard we need to get them the ball. he might not have a great 3 ball, but hopefully we have started to add that and will continue to as the offseason progresses.
I think our biggest hole now is in the front court. I like Hayes but I can't imagine he'll be the THE backup. The Rockets need a guy that can play both the 4 & 5 wit Howard and Deke getting another year older. I would LOVE if Wilcox settled for the MLE to play here, but that is a fantasy. Second hole is at backup point. Marcus Banks would be a great addition but, again, I think it would be a pipe dream. I don't think he would come here to be the backup. Matt Harpring's name has been thrown around, which I was warming up to, but I don't see a need for him with just acquiring Battier.
I'm actually pretty happy we finally landed Novak. At least there's something good happening yesterday. Damn, now we've got Battier and lost Stro, we prolly have to spend the MLE on a PF. And that means no Mike James. *Sob* I don't figgin' care. Damn it, damn damn damn!!!! I still hope we can make Kyle Lowry come though... Please just give us something!!!!!!! Uh, PG: Mike James/Rafer Alston/Kyle Lowry??? Some filler guy, not important of we do get MJ SG: Tracy Mcgrady/Uh, big hole here... SF: Shane Battier/Steve Novak/Ryan Bowen PF: Juwan Howard/Who can we sign here? with the TEs? Anything at all?/Another filler? HELL... C: Yao Ming/Deke Mutombo/Cheap filler guy
We've got the MLE and LLE right to work with, with that we definately need to find some to push JHO for the starting position, and another point.
I really think Houston has to go for Troy Murphy and just get GS to take Juwan off our hands. Although it would make us the slowest team in the league. We can't go to war with Juwan, we need something. If Rockets are thinking cheap then i guess i'll have to swallow my pride and say Tim Thomas. Surely i can live with a 6'10 240lb PF who doesn't rebound, really i can! It's gonna be very difficult, including Stro in that trade has robbed us of what little depth/trade bait that we had in the first place.
I believe the Rockets do NOT have the LLE this year, since they used it last year on Derek Anderson. I think a team can only use the LLE once every two years. However, the Rockets have two (2) trade exceptions and possibly one or two injury exceptions to use. The most notable trade exception (which is almost as good as the MLE) is the $4.2M exception the Rockets got in the Moochie Norris-Macieje Lampe trade. They also have a small (~$1.1M?) exception in the Derek Anderson trade to Miami. I don't know if the Rockets will get a very small injury exception for Charlie Ward. If Bob Sura retires due to injury, I think the Rockets will get an injury exception for half of Sura's $3.8M salary next year, so approximately $2M. These exceptions can be used to get good players from teams looking to avoid paying the luxury tax. While the Rockets will no doubt allow some of the exceptions to simply expire (since they can each only be used on one player and not combined), they may be valuable tools in sign-and-trades during free agency this summer, and also leading up to the trade deadline during next season. While I am upset that the Rockets traded away the draft rights to "you-know-who", (i) I absolutely LOVE Battier; (ii) Novak is a good fit as a bit role player to space the floor; and (iii) most importantly, the Rockets have more tools available to them than most teams--only about 4 teams are under the cap--in order to add good players this offseason.
yep. like cd said. we're not done yet. Hopefullly we'll add some depth at the 4 and 2. wilcox, evans, rush
