As JVG and many of us mourn the loss of a team we had for basically half of a season (lol) we're probably the most in-flux team that has ever had anyone thinking 'possible contender'. A few here think this is going to be another transitional year no matter what we do and I can't disagree, but if it is we might as well get two rookies on the team now. Under the new CBA there are 16 roster spots and we have the one-time exemption to cut a player. Even though JVG is loathe to trust rookies if he watches the Mav's series again and realizes he never looked down his bench because he had no speed/athleticism to look for, then he might consider biting the bullet and rolling the dice. Spanoulis, Head and Badiane play positions where we lack speed/athleticism and depth. If we get a significant contribution from any of them I'd be shocked, but I think we do have roster spots for them and from all accounts each of them possess attributes we don't have and are not likely to get in free agency. We know the contracts of Spoon, Mooch, Baker and Wesley are expiring but we probably won't be able to dump them until the trade deadline (with the possible exception of Wesley). Most everyone believes we're getting another 4 and probably a swingman. It's impossible to factor in who we may trade but I'll assume one player. I'll also assume we cut Ward (cutting Spoon, by my calculations could save Les roughly 3 mil. more, but I'd rather have both of them off the books in 2006. I could be wrong though). Some here think roster spots are at a premium, but I don't think so. 1s: Sura/James/Spanoulis/Head/Mooch: I think we'll either try to, or end up trading James and possibly Sura, but that's 5. 2s: FA/Wesley/T-Mac/Sura/James: Ok, there's a good chance someone might like Wesley as a backup and his expiring contract and he may be the only one we move this summer. As I said above conceivably three of those guys are gone. Still that brings us to 8 spots. 3's: T-Mac/FA/Barry: The FA I allude to is the same as the FA 2, so now we're at 9. 4s: JHo/FA (or the other way around)/Badiane/Spoon/Baker: that's 14. 5s: Yao/Mutombo/Badiane: Ok that's 16. Someone's going to be traded and I do believe at least 2 will be before the season starts. I have to admit I'm unclear whether Bowen has a player option for this year, but I doubt I would have missed that, and I do assume we don't re-sign Padgett. Even in an imperfect world I'd never want to saddle my team with 3 rookies, I don't expect it to happen, and I'm not sure how T-Mac and Yao would respond to it if it does. I'm pretty sure how JVG would. Other than Head I have zero basis to expect any potential rookie to get a roster spot (I've never seen Spanoulis). I started this thread because the limited roster spots continually come up in other threads, and each of our potential rookies supposedly have qualities that we desperately lack.
Ideally, here is how I would want the roster breakdown to be: C: Yao/Mutombo F: Free Agent/Howard/Badiane F: McGrady G: Free Agent/Sura/Wesley G: James/Head/Spannoulis The rockets definetely need to add a swingman who could play the SG and SF positions. I also wouldn't mind taking either Sura or Wesley and getting another swingman as well. I do think Sura, James, and Wesley will be dangled as trade bait, but i think in the end, the rocket want to be 2 deep at each position with a third power forward, and replacing either Sura or Wesley with a guy who can play SF as well.
According to this http://www.hoopshype.com/salaries/houston.htm We have 11 players under contract. Need at least 14. I expect Span, Barry & Deke to make the team as well. I think the combo of James & Ward are excellent trade bait for a S&T. Salaries add upto 5.28M. Wesley is also tradable asset in a S&T at 4.95M. Yao/Deke (Marshall/Walker/Swift/SAR)/Howard T-Mac/(Johnson) (Simmons/Mobley)/Barry Sura/Spanoulis/Head We might have to use part of the LLR to sign Spanoulis - maybe 2 years $1M. That would leave 1.2M in the LLE for maybe a backup 2/3 like DerMarr Johnson. That leaves us with Spoon(6.3)/Baker(3.9)/Moochie(4.2) that we should let expire unless a good deal comes along.
S/T for Walker Trade for Bonzi Sign Mobley to MLE C: Yao/Mutombo F: Walker/Howard/Badiane F: McGrady/Bonzi G: Mobley/Bonzi G: Sura/Head/Spannoulis
No way that happens. If it does than CD should win GM of the year in a landslide. We dont have the assets to go and do a sign and trade for BOTH Walker and Wells. Additionally, I really dont see Mobley coming back here. Of course I would gladly eat crow if you are right.
from bu2002: from macfan: Yeah, we may need a bullet-proof swingman here or at least more depth there. bu2002 and micahj1 thanks for taking the time to make the roster look feasible. I struggled and edited myself to death to see if we could conceivably get by with a roster with 3 rookies on it. But I've thought about it so much that I almost hope we do it.
Here is a S&T to get Simmons if we convince him to come to Houston. James + Ward + future #1 for Simmons. We can sign Simmons starting upto 6.7M or 6 years for 50M. He would be 31 when it expires. LA gets a backup PG for Livingston as Jaric might be leaving.
from franchise23: I did think long and hard about whether we had the capability to bring in 3 guys with what we have to trade with. This is something I've deleted 3 times, but Spanoulis may be the wild card here. CD was on the radio hyping his improvement as "wondrous", and we've heard good buzz from other sources. The guy may be more of a trading asset than we think. Again I've never seen the guy play, but if we got rid of a pg that becomes a star now I think I'd jump off a cliff. As much as I loved Sam I Am I haven't been happy since before Lucas cratered in '86. Still, there's a probability Spanoulis is an asset and we have to listen. If we really think Head's the guy we'll be comfortable with then he may help us get Bonzi. I'm not for it, but it could happen.
Declan, I remember seeing 2 threads here saying that: 1:Spanoulis will probably spend 1 more year in Europe 2:Bonzi is looking for a starting spot on a team, if you can't offer him that, don't bother! Futrthermore, as good as an offensif weapon as he is, Wells would probably disrupt the chemistry on the team. BTW, what's the word on Stoudamire?(small but effecient scorer, how's his D?) ALA
