Now Shandon may WANT to stay. Do we want him? Walt is a team-favorite. Salary-wise, we may have to keep him. Bull just never seems to go away and often steps up when he is needed. Pick #23 has been defaulted to Terrance Morris by everyone. Pick #13 and #18 are being shopped in an effort to move up to nab Battier, Rodney White, Rad Man, Joe Johnson, or Gasol. This gives us a super-abundance of 3s and only Shandon seems like a swing player. So, what is really going on? We can't have five 3s on the roster. Any insight out there? ------------------ Time is a great teacher-- only problem is it kills all its pupils.
Rich- #23 could be Ken Johnson, I think Morris can be had in the mid-2nd round so #23 is probably a bit of a reach for him. Interesting that the new zone rules may make Walt & Bull more valuable. I agree with if we do add another SF that someone will have to be moved, but I really don't think SA will be back, contrary to the new reports. I think he wants to go to a winner and to do that he may need to arrange a S&T, so it may be advantageous to both SA & the Rockets to play nice.
NBADraft.net shows Ken Johnson slipping to early Round 2 and T Mo not even drafted. I can live without Bull, Shandon, and Walt. Walt seems least likely to go because of the salary cap space he creates after next year. Sign and trade Shandon, KT, #13 and #23 to Atlanta for #3 and Nazr Mohammed. It gets us down to one first-round contract plus Mohammed's contract and gets us either Griffin, Battier, Curry, Diop, Brown, Gasol, Richardson, or Rad Man. ------------------ Time is a great teacher-- only problem is it kills all its pupils.
You forgot Dan Langhi. And Mo Taylor says he'll play the 3 if we get Webber. So we go into the season with Francis, Mobely, Olajuwon, Cato, Collier, and 7 small forwards? j ------------------ Some days you just can't get rid of a bomb!
I don't know about that. ------------------ Rarely is the question asked: Guns kill squirrels than REDRUM to fools across the nation?
Acquire Rashard Lewis and you can lose Wiz and Anderson, and forget taking Morris or any of the other threes mentioned. Bull and Langhi provide sufficient back up, and the Rockets would have the tallest trio at the small forward spot in the league (two at 6'10 and one at 6'11), creating lots of mismatches. I don't believe the Hawks would remotely consider doing the deal you propose for the third pick in the draft. ------------------
Maybe if Shandon comes back, he wouldn't mind splitting time at the 2 with Mobley. ------------------ Founding Father of the Refs Suck Club
Can't believe I totally forgot about Langhi! I like the guy. I think he will contribute this year and really contribute by the following year. He is immature physically but does seem to have some unreal athleticism. Are the Rockets talking up all these threes so that the center of their desire (Woods, Haywood, Johnson, the kid from DePaul) slide to them? Yeah, they need a more impactful and consistent three but the have to do some major roster tinkering through cuts or trades to even free up a space. ------------------ Time is a great teacher-- only problem is it kills all its pupils.
I would love to see the Rockets get a small forward through trade or acquisition who could be expected to provide 36 quality minutes a game for a long time. Hence, my passion for Rashard Lewis. His trey and other abilities would free the Rockets from the need to have about 6 different small forwards. In a perfect world, Anderson comes off the bench at the 2/3, as needed, whether that is 12 or 24 minutes a game. One good small forward who could play 36 minutes a game would free up the Rockets to use more roster slots for big men at the 4/5, enabling the team to have a couple of defensive specialists to compliment Dream/Taylor. (As much as I would love to see Webber, I am doubtful that will happen). If the Dream re-signs for $6 mil or so there will still be a lot of cap room available for other acquisitions, provided Webber is not signed. Williams can be moved, and at $6mil a year there is still a home which can be found for Cato. Could be worse. Could be $10 mil like Big Country. ------------------
Players on the way out Mo, Cato, Walt, and Dream (if he doesn't wakeup from his nightmare of asking for more than $5 million). I would agree to a sign and trade for Mo Taylor and include a 1st round pick (pick one), Cato, and Walt and ship to Chicago for the Number 4 and Elton Brand. Mo would take Elton's place and Cato would provide a center presence, and Walt wouldn't do anything except miss. ------------------
I think 1 2/3 is all we need (RJ ?), then maybe try to pick up a 2/3 through FA since we have cap.(assuming CWebb goes elsewhere) Jim Jackson or Eddie Robinson are IMO the two best 2/3. If we get Robinson(who isn't getting that much playing time since Mashburn got there) then we can move RJ to the starting 2 with Cat lighting it up off the bench. Then cocentrate on 4/5 w/18 & 23 or trade them. I don't think Rudy wants 6 players under rookie contracts.(including Francis) 1)Francis 6-3/ Nooris 6-0 2)RJ 6-7/ Cat 6-4 3)E. Robinson 6-9 / Bull 6-10/ Langhi 6-11 4)???/ KT 5)???/ Cato/ Collier ------------------
Gee, I wonder if the Bulls would agree to that. They may be stupid enough to take Fizer when they already have Brand, but they won't trade away Brand AND the #4 pick for an average PF, a pick, and 2 role players...scratch that, 1 role player and one $42 million dollar bench warmer. ------------------ Now saw off...there's nothing to see here.
