Well, if the trade was Alston, Sura, Butler, Snyder, Reed for LaFrentz (which according to RealGM works), we would not be further over the luxury tax this season - our total team salary should then be less. Next year, it would be higher, but after next year, we'd shed a lot of salary... Plus, LaFrentz would solidify our backup C position a lot, I think.
Guys like Wally & LaFrentz are too expensive. Rockets would want to take advantage of the 25% leeway in a trade, ie dump 25% more salary. Rafer + Snyder + Butler + Reed + JLIII + Novak for Kurt Thomas + Delonte West Rockets save 2.26M Wilcox & Collison would take the bulk of the minutes in the frontcourt. The Sonics are banking on Swift and Sene has shown up recently these guys are former lottery picks and in their last year. I'm sure the Sonics will give them every opportunity to show something. Thomas has an 8M expiring contract but it took an amazing trade scenario fore the Suns to dump him. I think with the above package of players they can keep three of those players and find trading partners more easily. So if the minutes aren't there for KT he's just an expiring contract. The Rockets package gives them pieces that are easier to trade and get at least something for next/future season/s.
Yeah I checked what we could do with Charlotte now that Morrison went down, but I have no good idea...
as soon as he goes to the bench, his trade value just gone down... by alot. you have to be careful, whether or not you wanna trade a player that might stay the same, or become a bust. i just wanna trade butler to charlotte for a t.e. and a draft pick. (heck, i'll accept 2 2nd round draft picks., or a 2012 1st round pick)
A sign and trade? What kind of contract would we be looking at for Varejao? He's a very nice player, but I don't think he's worth the $9 million a year he's asking. I think Chuck's about as good, and we got him for about 1/5 of that price.
I think he is better than Chuck....but the Cavs are only offereing around 6 mill, if we bump it to 7, why not? They need PGs...we got tons.....we could use another hustling PF with a little better offensive game than Hayes...and Varejao has that. I would at least call and see what they are looking for... DD
I think they are under the cap so we can dump Snyder and/or Butler there, cause they lost Sean May too.
The goal is to win a championship. With that in mind, trading away Rafer will leave us a whole lot of Mike James. Now I like Mike, but I don't think I want to see Mike take Rafer's minutes from last year bacause I don't think 40+ minutes of Mike is a good thing. If we trade Rafer right now, we have Steve who I'm not sure is ready for RA's scheme or Brooks a very green rookie. This could be the year and the window is closing. Trading Rafer right now might be trading him at his peak, but it puts us back in a very bad position at the pg spot. I think we have to keep Rafer for now. A little Rafer and a little more Mike James is what this team needs right now. Once Steve or Brooks can show they can handle the duties of assigned in the RA scheme, then we can trade someone. We've only seen a few games and I think trading Rafer right now will actually make us a weaker team. And if Steve and Brooks don't catch on this year - a possibility - then we have Mike and Luther which I don't think will cut it. Personally I'm not sure Steve is going to work out and it won't be long when riding the bench behind Rafer and Mike and he'll start an attitude. At which point trading Steve will be good for the team and he would probably welcome it - especially if it's too reunite him with Cat. I think we should make the normal trades/cuts to meet the 15 player roster this week. Then, later in the year, see what piece(s) might be traded to upgrade the team. See what the Clippers can give us for Steve and possibly another player. And if I'm wrong, we can trade Rafer who's value may have dropped but we also might find someone who's hurting for a pg. Or we just roll with our 15. But the bottom line is I think our depth at all the positions is a good thing and we should keep the good thing going until we see what changes are actually need to upgrade the team. And until we can be sure of what will work going forward, we need to keep the starters and rotation players and not make our selves weaker at any position.
keeping rafer is a risk. no matter how well you play in the preseason, you can't judge on that person. right now, i'm going to use the stats of last year under a different coach then any preseason games. what happens if rafer stays the same as last year? he'd be dead weight to us, and his trade vale has dropped. then, we get screwed over again, by the same player. heck, he may do good in the first regualr season games, like last year.
I don't see it like that at all. Trading Rafer actually increases your risk. And you are right - you can't judge a person on preseason. That is why I think you have to keep the pieces together a little longer. If Rafer stays the same, you have others to pick up the slack. What if Steve becomes dead weight? A ball bouncing, ISO player, turnover machine on a motion offense. Mike can be a ball hog at times, but sometimes we need that O he brings. But sometimes we need someone to play pg. If Mike ballhogs - insert Rafer. If Rafer teardrops, bring in Mike. If both are doing that, bring in Steve or Luther. We have options now where we didn't last year. And I think we know what a Mike and Rafer combo can give us. By breaking up that combo we are increasing our risk by trading known depth and hoping that Steve gets it before it's too late. And for what? A third string C or PF? Steve is not ready to run this offense and trading away one of our pgs now puts a critical piece (pg) at risk because we are assuming that Steve or Luther or Brooks can pick up the slack - on a championship team. That risk is not worth a 12-15th player.
good point. i'm not a fan of DD's trade idea. but, if the right trade comes along, i'd be up for trading rafer. it all depends on what morey and coach A's point of view is. i like rafer, but the fear of him bricking 3s and airballing teardrops, are making me want to take a risk (leaving mike and steve) and trade him right away.
what about trades with the celtics? don't they need like alot of people? we can trade for draft picks and cash.
They need a PG but the TE they have can only get them JLIII. they also have more promising young frontcourt players than what the Rockets are trying offload.
The Rockets WOULD be further over the luxury tax threshhold if they made that deal. Remember, Bob Sura's contract is only guaranteed for $1M this season. If they trade his contract ($3.8M) for a player with guaranteed salary, then you are essentially taking on approximately $2.8M of additional salary, plus another $2.8M of luxury tax. In addition, if the Rockets feel they could otherwise sneak barely under the threshhold, you are also risking losing out on shared revenues not participated in by "luxury tax payers".
What about Seattle don't they have a massive TE after the Lewis deal? Can we trade them some expiring contracts for a portion of that TE? DD
