It's funny you talk about YI, we just talk about Mo. williams. Yi is the reason I watched many Mo's matches,but not the reason I hate him.
Ok well I had a thought.... It seems like the Landry negotiations are not going well and all is not well in the Bay Area. With Baron Davis gone, it seems as if Al Harrington is going to ask for a trade anytime now. He is tall...can rebound...and shoot the three. I know in the past he has been known to not work so hard and is an average defender, but under Nellie he really stepped up. Here is what I propose. S&T Landry Bobby Jackson Luther Head 2009 first round pick for Al Harrington Branden Wright Golden state gets a draft pick and Luther Head basically only fits into Golden state's system as a run and pop team. Landry gives them an athletic big guy to put along side Beidrin that can also run. They also get an expiring contract worth 6 million to add to their salary cap since they will lose out on the elton brand war. Rockets get a young and tall PF/C that we can put behind Yao and play a little PF and a decent shooting SF/PF in Harrington. PG: Alston/Brooks/Francis SG: Tmac/Greene SF: Battier/Harrington/Novak PF: Scola/Dorsey/Hayes C: Yao/Wright/Deke
See Article #76 A sign-and-trade deal can be made even with players who have been renounced, but cannot be made when the player is signed using the Mid-Level, Bi-Annual or Disabled Player exceptions.
You just traded away the team's defense. While Hedo would provide offense, if Boston showed us anything, its that defense wins the championship.
Battier is overrated in this forum. Did you notice that he did not make the first nba defensive team? He is a good team defender but can not stop anybody one on one.
Battier was snubbed. He came into 3rd place for the defensive player of the year. When we won our 22nd game, Shane was able to limit Kobe Bryant. That guy is pretty decent.
They also showed us that average NBA defenders can be made to look great by the system. Having Kevin Garnett helps, too, but as many, if not more people out there who know what they're talking about will credit the defensive success more to Thibadeaux than KG. KG definitely, definitely helps. The Rockets defense was good before Shane. It was good before Chuck. It continued to be good after Chuck (and the 2nd half of last year was basically after Chuck). It will continue to be good after Shane, too. I conceded not as good...BUT, it hasn't been good enough to get us pat the first round yet anyway. Offense for Defense at this juncture makes the team better. Offense with Defense makes us great, but can we get that? The team will just be different defensively, as they are different defensively with Scola than with Hayes. Scola, for example, isn't the rebounder that Hayes is. Hayes is probably a better post defender, too (well, definitely, except he can't get around the fact that he's smaller). But Scola's a better pick and roll defender. In fact, he is a really good pick and roll defender, occassionally getting steals from the ballhandler and in most cases preventing that easy lane penetration.
Good post and I think I agree. When I say "I think" i'm currently debating whether or not we sacrifice our defensive identity by moving Battier. Can we still be a great defensive team if we phase out the JVG "defensive" guys like Battier/Alston/Hayes/Deke? I think i'm with you in that we can move Battier and still be a good defensive team. Maybe not quite as good but as long as we continue to rebound well and play good individual & team defense we will continue to be legitimate no matter who plays or gets hurt. This type of realization is making more & more comfortable with the idea of swinging for the fences with a guy like Vince Carter.
I am all for trading Battier but not for guys that are past their prime. We need to get better and younger. We have already experimented with those old franchises and we have seem the results.
Vince Carter is still a great player. Not only is he still producing but the last three seasons or so he's stayed completely healthy. I'd hang onto Battier if I could but what younger star could we possibly get as an alternative to VC?
I've been pondering the issue of whether Battier should be moved for someone like Artest or better like Vince. But I've come to the conclusion that: Battier is a perfect fit for Adelman's System. He can pass well and hit the 3. I'd trade him for Artest in a flash if we could but he is not much of an liabilty. The urgent is need is the need for a PG upgrade. Rafer just doesn't cut it. He only performed to a decent level during the streak and the playoffs and that was him "stepping up his game". Imagine if he didn't step up him game...we'd be screwed. Now his value is higher than ever before in the past few years we should dump him. So we should try for a PG upgrade...even a rookie one like Rajon Rondo. The targets I think that are great are Crittenton, Rodriguez and Felton,
But you can trade Alston any day.. and you will have to keep Battier, because he defends the oppsite team scorer every night.. and tmac can go to work offensively
Since there's a rumor that Pacers are interested in Landry. How about sign and trade Landry + Bjax + pick for Dunleavy?
