This is a no brainer! The BBS board are mostly reluctant to trade him for Bjax back when that happens. A lot of us are shocked and consider it a 'give up the season' move. Of course the winning streak continued its momentum a little bit and fans calmed down somewhat. Now him for the minimum? No brainer, but most likely won't happen.
I say we sign Wells to the minimum, get him a lifetime all you can eat pass at Shipley's Doughnuts and pay for him to go to fat chicks anonymous.
My question to the board is why would you pick Bonzi over Ricky Davis who will also have to take a whole lot less money to play this year. Oh yeah they both are head cases. I would take Ricky (triple double) Davis over bonzi any day
I can't lie, once Bonzi was traded and not replaced, I felt the gm gave up on the season. Even though Yao went down a little later, it clearly sent a message to the team they're looking to next yr. Even without Yao, against Utah Bonzi would have been a big help and the rox couldve beaten that team. Once they traded him, they had no one that could spell tracy and shane. I know people will point to his inconsisttent play or lack of a 3pt shot, but what he did was get to the rack,rebound and post a little. No matter how you spin it 9ppts and 5 rebs in 20 mins was enough behind shane and tracy. Instead the rox decided to think about Rafers backup and stunt the growth of brooks with trading for jacksons expiring. People make it ssem like James contract is this huge albotross when its really just a contract. Its 1 yr longer than Jackson and about 5m which is not a hard contract to move. How did they get his contract anyway? They traded Howard for it so it couldn't be that bad. I don't know if he'll come back, but I like Ricky Davis more.
You think they could have beaten Utah with Aaron Brooks and Luther Head manning the PG for 2 1/2 games? I think the Rockets genuinely felt Bobby Jackson gave them a greater chance to win than Bonzi Wells. I agree with them. PG depth was a more pressing need last season than Bonzi Wells, particularly if we had Landry (not to mention Yao) healthy.
There's an old saying in Tennessee -- I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee -- that says, fool me once, shame on -- shame on you. Fool me -- you can't get fooled again.
Frankly, I'd much rather sign Mike Harris to a minimum deal than take back Bonzi Wells. It's not like we should be relying on an inefficient, unpredictable player like Bonzi Wells to be our "third scorer" anyways.
No kidding. Bonzi plays to the level of his paycheck, except for the odd game here and there, when he forgets what he's making. Been there, done that... I'll pass.
Bonzi was our 6th man, if he played v Utah instead of Luther Head we prob would have won that series. That said I dont know what kind of a player he will be for the next season, it wont be contract year anymore, if we just sign him a mininum, he might be totally indifferent.
What I'm saying is the team didn't look out for the most valuable player on the roster , tracy. When they made the series of trades, they essentially gave up on the season. They basically gave the most important guy, no chance to get any kind of rest. Once the team gave up on the season and start thinking "next year" in the middle of a playoff positioning run, they should have just started to give Brooks a chance to develop and just spot james behind him. Bonzi gave Tracy and Shane breaks. One guy is your only playmaker and the other is your best defender/limited offensive player. Rafer is , Rafer. I say it all the time, pick a lane and stay in it. Don't tell me we're looking to cut rafer minutes back, then you make a next year trade. Getting Tracy and Yao breaks should have been way more imporatant than getting rafer breaks.
As I say, the Rockets need a big 2/3, a backup 5 and a good 1. Any of those will help. at 4, it's 4 deep - Scola, Landry, Hayes, Dorsey. Battier can play a little bit 4 too depends on the matchup. at 2/3, it's 3-5 deep - Battier(32-36 mins)/T-Mac(32-36 mins)/Barry(20-24 mins). These 3 guys most likely will take up most minutes in 2/3 with the remaining minutes at 2 for Head/BJ. Garbage minutes at 3 will go to Greene. The Rockets dont need another 3/4 aka Mike Harris to rot on the bench. Bonzi actually fits the need of the Rockets. Bonzi may not be ideal. But if it's only a minimum contract, I'll take Bonzi back.
IMO, without Yao, Tracy was going to play big minutes regardless of whether Bonzi was on the team. I think the 22-game win streak, for better or worse, put pressure on the coaches to keep Tracy in games longer than need be as well. The thinking at the time, as I recall, was the Rockets wanted to put more shooters on the floor. Bonzi didn't fit that scheme. If he was to get significant minutes, which a player like him needs to not be a distraction, he would have needed to get minutes at the PF. That wasn't happening considering our depth at that position. PG is arguably the most important position on the floor, and we were desperate for another player there outside of Rafer and Aaron Brooks. Again, I think PG was the much more pressing need. You gain depth in some areas, you'll lose it in others. I think the Rockets made a wise basketball decision.
because at this point in their careers Davis is much better. Its seems unlikely either will be up for a min deal but Bonzi has had poor outings and a reduced role which gives him much less value. We won't have enough for Ricky unless he's willing to turn down more lucrative offers.
I'm not going to stretch away from the topic, but once Bonzi left, tracy was avg 40 mins per in the regular season and playoffs. That was 5 more minutes per game more. I agree that maybe tracy would have played a litlle more, but with bonzi, he doesn't have to create a shot for him and he could post up some at the 2/3 spot. Not only that, he got to the ft line, although he was squirmish making them, but he put fouls on people. When Mcgrady was out for those 11 games plus the 3 or 4 more tracy left in, Bonzi avg like 12 ppg and about 6 rebs. You can spin and paint the pg situation any way you want, but Rafer isn't more important than tracy. Tracy is the guy the team should have been making sure he was fresh and healthy going into the end of the season, not rafer. Adelman was painted into a corner with the trades and injuries. If you asked him off record and I think he would have kept Bonzi over Jackson. Tracy has a injury history and very imporatant vs rafer who really had no injury history. Its not that hard to understand that coaches don't look at expiring contracts and the give up on the season like a gm like morey. Coaches will coach whomever you give to them and do the best they can do. There was a reason why Yao was playing more minutes than he should have. Adelman didn't view Deke as a good alternative to resting yao. Just as he had to play tracy big minutes once bonzi was out. I would rather see rafer play with brooks backing him up than tracy having to play 40mins plus because they had no one that could give him 14 mins of rest. Bonzi was 9ppg 5 rebs in 20 mins. I know DD will disagree, but go look at tracy minute log once bonzi was traded.
Pick youre poison because if Brooks is getting significant minutes last year we are done anyway. We needed another player that could handle the ball in the worst way. Not to mention who is to say Bonzi would of even been around come playoff time. The guy was metaly unstable. Im sure Morey considerd that in his decision.
