Just wanted to point out that in the first quarter alone in this game against Utah, Ariza went 1-on-1 3 times. 8 min mark, 7:05, and 1:20.
Bima, u wrote a very objective post, but you're allowing your love to cloud your opion in regards to shane. Trading shane and cook for a guy like camby makes sense on too many levels. First off, this year should be about competing and developing players. I would like to see chase get 20 mins a night. When tracy comes back, its going to kill all his playing time. Trading shane for camby opens minutes chase while also giving the team some size, he's also a leaser, and a 9m exipiring contract. Now you have tracy at 32mins, trevor with 35, and chase with 29. Not to mention that hayes is a bigger threat on offense than chuck.
No, NOT Sacramento. While the Kings are currently slightly below the cap this year (and a prime trade partner for any team wanting to dump salary this season . . . cough . . . Brian Cook . . . cough), they will NOT have a ton of cap room next summer. Sure, they'll have some. But the Rockets are in position to have more (again, assuming they dump Scola, Lowry, etc.). Sacramento has 2010-11 salary commitments to Kevin Martin, Andres Nocioni, Beno Udrih, Francisco Garcia (each of whom makes $5.8M or more), along with high draft picks Tyreke Evans, Spencer Hawes and Jason Thompson, and other first rounders like Omri Casspi and Donte Greene. leebigez, while there may be some truth to your assertion that my love of Shane Battier is clouding my judgment, I just don't see a reason why the Clippers would make that move. First of all, Shane + Cook make more than Camby this season, so the Clips would be taking on more salary. Second, the Clips already have Al Thornton and just traded for Rasual Butler. Combined with Eric Gordon playing major minutes at the 2-guard spot, the Clippers would have a crowded group of wing players. Third (and most importantly), the Clippers are currently in a BETTER position than the Rockets to make a major move in free agency next summer. I doubt that they want to forego on taking a legitimate shot at a major player (no joke, being able to play in Los Angeles is a serious draw for some of the big-time players), just to tie up more than half their cap space for Shane Battier. Sure, from the Rockets' side, that is an intriguing proposal. But I don't think the Clippers would make that move.
If we trade Shane we get worse.......right now we need him, trade him in the offseason if you must. But his defense is SOOOOO key....... He and Chuck Hayes are amazing defenders....the rest of our starters, hustle but they are not as good as them. DD
Agree, I think Camby on this team would be the missing piece for this squad to be a serious threat to most of the playoff teams. We need size and he would give us what Deke would be giving us now if he hadn't retired. Losing Battier hurts alot because he is your captain and a true leader but his value is just to high to let it just sit there and you add to that a very good contract.
We are going to get worse,but we aren't going to win now,nor is Yao likely to lead us to the promised land.There is no guarantee of getting anyone big for him in the future either. Therefore it's important to get the best deal for Shane when we can,ie at the trading deadline. He can help a contender and we might get a good young player and perhaps a 2nd rounder in return. If Tracy gets traded for genuine quality,Battier shouldn't go anywhere. If DM gets a poor offer for Shane,he obviously shouldn't consider it. By the way,I'm not in favor of Lee's suggestion of Camby's expiring offer for Shane. Chase will get sufficient minutes with or without him.
You know, I saw the following on ESPN's website about teams currently in the luxury tax: LA Lakers $21,430,778 Dallas $17,891,715 Boston $14,582,721 New York $13,510,463 Cleveland $12,740,994 Utah $12,628,586 Orlando $12,165,267 San Antonio $10,180,880 Washington $8,731,726 Phoenix $5,622,091 Denver $5,372,562 Miami $3,947,172 Houston $3,354,694 New Orleans $3,331,809 It seems a lot of teams go over the luxury tax anyway. I think if we do well this year, and we have an opportunity to sign a game changer that would put us moderately over, that Morey/Alexander might just pull the trigger.
. . . (Sigh). Dude, there is this thing called the SALARY CAP. It is a number, over which the Rockets cannot sign outside free agents. Then there is this other thing called the LUXURY TAX. It is a number, over which the Rockets would have to pay a dollar-for-dollar tax, and is a significantly higher number than the SALARY CAP. If Morey/Alexander want to pull the trigger on a "game changer", that is great. But they cannot exceed the SALARY CAP to do so, unless that game changer's name is Tracy McGrady. . . . sometimes I wonder why I even bother.
This can only work if our stars can come back and do better than what they did before or if they can be replaced with other players,who can do better than them. Otherwise it's no use hanging on to vets just to get into the 2nd round.
That wasn't the point. Do you really want the Rockets to be out of the playoff picture for 5-6 years? Everyone's got the idea of dumping players for youth mostly because of what the Blazers have done. As Petrie's pointed out the turnaround didn't happen overnight and they got extremely lucky with Roy. IMO, without Roy, the current Blazers would still be in the lottery. That's a team with two high lottery picks Oden (no.1 overall) and Aldridge (no.2). Trading Battier and Scola just makes the team worse now and possibly in the future. Unless you think Brooks or Ariza are franchise level players then the Rockets would really be stuck in mediocrity. Too good for a high lottery pick, not good enough to win it all.
How do you expain the efforts Morey put in to obtain a lotto pick this summer? Battier, Landry and Brooks were all involved in those rumors.
Depends on your assessment of Shane Battier. Battier for Fernandez + fillers is what I call a right deal.
