One thing I haven't seen mentioned is the fact that he takes over teams...not necessarily on the court, but behind the scenes. I believe word was that he basically ran Byron Scott out of town, orchestrated the signings of Rodney Rogers and Zo Mourning (look where that got em), etc. As unselfish as he is on the court, he seems like a power-driven person off it. I don't want Yao/TMac to be influenced by that. Yes, he's a great PG, and he'd help almost any team "get over the top." But if it means salary cap hell for 5 years or whatever, even the possibility of losing Yao...I'll take our chances with Lue/Gaines.
It appears that Zo wants to play again, but NJ has reportedly told him to forget about it. They don't want him back. If he insists on coming back, it'll kill NJ's plans of getting his contract off the books next year. Since Zo's contract is for 3 more years, I'm assuming they were planning on getting a medical exception, but I don't know for sure how they planned on doing it. The big question for NJ is, what if Zo can pass the physical & shows up for camp? That would effectively kill any hopes for a medical exception from the league office. So, they have to be asking themselves, How can we move Zo? The Rockets just might have the answer for them. Assuming Zo can pass our physical, we might be willing to do this deal: Houston sends Taylor/Lue/Nachbar/Piatkowski or JJ/TE/#1 pick to New Jersey. New Jersey sends Kidd/Zo to Houston. Zo's 3 year deal would come off NJ's books right away by renouncing the TE. Lue's contract expires at the end of the year, Nachbar/Piatkowski (or JJ) have 2 years left, & Taylor has 3 years left on his contract. With the extra draft pick, NJ could have as many as 5 #1 picks in next year's draft & a boatload of cap space. Kind of reminds one of how Denver rebuilt their team to what it is today. Assuming our Doctors poke & probe Zo enough to make sure he's able to play again, doing this trade fills Houston's 2 most glaring holes at the starting PG & backup center positions. All we'd need to do after that, is find us a: Backup PG: Mike James (if he's not signed already), Ward, Kenny Anderson, Damon Jones, Brevin Knight, Travis Best, Mark Jackson, & Wilks. Backup SF: Rodney White, Eric Williams, Kukoc (if he's not signed already), Desmond Ferguson, John Wallace, & Calbert Cheaney. Backup/Starting SG: Jon Barry, Bob Sura, & Dion Glover. Our new team could look like this: C: Yao/Zo/Loren Woods(?) PF: Howard/Spoon/Padgett SF: McGrady/White/A.Griffin(IL) SG: J.Barry/McGrady/Piatkowski/Gaines(IL) PG: Kidd/James or Ward/Gaines(IL) I'd go to battle with that team. As for the concerns raised about having 3 max'd out players, it doesn't matter, if the owner is willing to miss out on the Luxury Tax Bonus. Les will more than make up for that with the increased sales of Jersey's & the like. It'll also help when it comes time to renegotiate the TV contract. I say, let's do it! That team has Championship written all over it.
Let's simplify for NJ - TE for Zo then Mo/Spoon/Pike for Kidd/AWilliams/Harris. Rox take on @8 mil more in '04-'05 salary, bust thru luxury cap, but become odds on for home court in 1st round. It's only money, and it's not even mine.
Kidd will end up in Golden State or Dallas. We have nothing to offer New Jersey. Maurice Taylor? Why would they want him? Boki? They might want Juwan Howard since Kenyon Martin left but I don't see it happening. And to tell you the truth, he makes too much money for me to want him. He's already on the down side and will only get older.
