Same can be said for Bosh. He led his team to the playoffs a couple of times but the dude is not a winner. He had a pretty good core (Jack, Caledron, Turkoglu, Derozan, Bargnani) and still couldn't even take his team to the playoffs.
That is a terribly horrendous core. Derozan - raw rookie, might turn out to be a decent player, someday Jack - had a decent year, never been reliable day in day out Bargnani - a center who can't rebound and likes to play outside the key Calderon - hasn't been the same since he got his contract Turkoglu - was a disaster this past season, not even close to being worth the money he was given... they say he needs the ball to be effective, yet even when he did have it, he did nothing...can't stand him. I would love to see him packaged off somewhere, unfortunately he might end up on the Rockets
Blow up the team? Trading away Hill, JJ, NY's draft pick is blowing up the team? Two of these guys were rockets for 2 months. NY's draft pick has never been on the team.
The dude is a 20 and 10 guy and those don't grow on trees. I know he has been on BAD teams and he has something to do with it but I would love to see him around veteran talent with a great coach. Saying all that, his injuries do concern me and if he is plan B, I'd expect to lose a lot less to acquire him then Bosh.
That's a horrible core. Brooks + Lowry>>>>Jack + Calderon(decent players, but they aren't comparable to Brooks and Lowry) Martin>>>Derozan(A GF who can't shoot or score on a bad team, 25% 3pt%, 8.6 ppg) Yao>>>>>>>>> Bargnani(Seven footer that can't even bang with PGs for a rebound, career avg 4.8 rebounds.) Don't get me starter on Turkoglu. He is worthless, after signing a fat contract. He calls in sick to get drunk at bars, during game nights. When he does play, he is more of a spectator. He doesn't even try fake interest in the game. He has given up on playing seriously.
Well one thing to note is that the Raps play in the East, while the Wolves have played in some of history's toughest western conferences. Also the teams are so far apart in talent a dropoff is expected. Not really in the Big AL camp to keep him (I'd ship him to Memphis for Thabeet or Gasol), but just something I'd like to point out.
Only 3 seasons was spent with the Timberwolves. His other 3 seasons on the Celtics weren't much to talk about either. Some folks might point out that he didn't have help, which isn't true. He had a championship-caliber gf in Paul Pierce during those years. In the East, any team with 2 stars should avoid the lottery. At least, that's the theory that NY subscribes to.
No reason to bring "winning" into the consideration. Jefferson is simply a much worse player than Bosh. And with injury history to boot. Bosh is a true elite scorer. Jefferson is the proverbial "lots of a shots on a bad team" scorer.
That's not fair. Jefferson came around as a star that last year (I specifically remember this because he was on my fantasy team and he was one of the surprises that year). And he only really came around because Pierce was injured that season (remember the Oden sweepstakes?). So your point becomes moot on the "they should've avoided the lottery".
I love you fantasy guys that think numbers=good. Signed Shareef Abdur Rahim. Bosh is a slightly better player than Gasol, and look how big a difference he made to the Lakers. I don't want anything to do with Jefferson, his teams always suck, and the Raptors were going to the playoffs this year before Bosh broke his face.
This reasoning is terrible. Do you want Andrew Bogut? He has one winning season under his belt. DO you want Gerald Wallace? He has one winning season under his belt. Do you want Al Jefferson? He has zero winning seasons under his belt. How about big Z? His teams were always terrible until they got more talent. The only difference between Yao and Bosh, is Yao had better teamates and coaches.
I'm for whichever scenario would allow the team to keep Scola. I don't agree with the argument that Scola would be redundant with Bosh. They need the flexibility and depth, especially with their injury history. The Rockets lost a lot when Landry was traded. Getting Bosh but losing Scola means the team upgrades slightly at that position. But upgrading slightly and having Scola to bring off the bench would add up to a major upgrade. I like what the OP said about having a player who can double as a good backup center. The key next year is not to fall prey to a catastrophic injury, to have such depth that the team can adjust to injury and continue playing at a high level. Whether that means adding both a strong backup center and an elite power forward or adding one player who serves both purposes is the question. But it's hard to imagine the team having the ability to add a good backup center and an elite power forward and keeping Scola, so maybe Jefferson makes the most sense, if indeed he would allow us to keep Scola. Depth, depth, depth should be the Rockets' mantra this offseason. On a different note, I have to ask, what does "star power" have to do with anything? Seems to me if the team is considering "star power" a factor in choosing players, they're less likely to build a winning team.
What you Bosh supporters seem to be missing is we're not comparing Bosh and Jefferson head-to-head. Obviously Bosh is head and shoulders above Jefferson-he'll be making the MAX!!!! What I'm trying to argue though is Jefferson might be a lower cost guy, both in salaries and talent needed to acquire him. Minny isn't exactly fond of Jefferson, and see Love as a much better guy to build around (something I happen to agree with). Oth Bosh is a beloved figure in Raptorland and my guess is Colangelo will be demanding a lot of assets to part ways with Bosh. Of course the salary implications are huge as well, realistically Al could go from 5-8 million dollars, and we can sign Scola along with Al for that amount and probably still have enough change lying around to sign a decent backup C. With Bosh, you won't have the flexibility do anything more. If we could end up with Al for our 14th pick and either the knick pick or swap, then that's something worth considering IMHO more than trading Scola, Hill, the 14th and the Knick picks for Bosh. Jefferson's TS% has been on a decline ever since his rookie year, something which I find extremely baffling considering his offensive growth as a player. My guess is injuries and the whole "loser" environment contributed to his poor performance more than anything else,as Al never seemed to be the type to "dog" around. My guess is playing for a winning club will do wonders for his playing style and motivation. AL had surgery a year ago, I think he'll be at least 90% recovered already stating this season. This might be the classic "buy low" trade that our team needs. If we not we can always package him to Memphis for one of their good centers, again something we can't do with Bosh as he will be worth too much to trade for Thabeet or Gasol.
Scola's value would range anywhere from 5-12 mill depending on the market. Ideally Bosh would play 30 mins a game leaving only 10 mins for Scola, unless he gets some PT at C (think of our D though with Scola and Bosh in at the same time). If you're paying your C and PF a lot of money, why will keeping an 8 mill player to play 10 mins be a good idea? We won't have the funds to keep AB when its his time for an extension.
