I posted in my KMart thread that if we don't get James or if Alston is traded, Jeff McInnis might be a possibility.
I don't want to say, "I told you so"... Okay, I do: Nene re-signs for 6 years $60 million. All in good fun man.
I had a pipe dream in which we got James Jones for the TE. I only thought it was a possibility because they wanted to re-sign Tim Thomas and had first round draft picks, which would put them over the luxury tax threshold. With such a crowded roster Jones would be the odd man out, with no desire for the suns to take on another contract in his place. But now Thomas is gone and so are the draft picks, which they got plenty of cash for. Jones should have no problem getting 20 minutes or more. He's pretty cheap, they won't be letting him go unless they're really desperate to create capspace to re-sign Diaw and Barbosa. I can only pray.
m_cable I understand completely but this sounds a bit like that scene in Peter Pan where he has everyone clap so Tinkerbelle will get better. OK EVERYONE CLAP NOW AND THE ROCKETS MANAGEMENT WILL MAKE AN ALL-STAR POP OUT THEIR ARSES! COME ON, CLAP, CLAP EVERYONE! JUST BELIEVE AND CD AND MOREY WILL MAKE IT HAPPEN! AND JERRY WEST IS THE DADDY!!
good lord. instead of reading a couple bios and reviews about players, can some of you actually watch the players play? and i'm not talking about 1, 2, or 3 games.. jumaine jones sucks. S.U.C.K.S. i watched him play in philly - one of his BEST years - and he sucks. homeboy couldn't even get p.t. in LA when they didn't even have anyone. watch players play before you drop their names, that's all i ask. just say no to jumaine jones. please.
What about Latrell Sprewell and giving him the start at SG? And then get either darrell armstrong or nick van exel for backup pt. Mike james or alston can start. We can trade out for robert horry maybe? Then we can be set. lineup PG- Starter Alston/ Backup Armstrong or Van exel SG- Starter Sprewell/ Backup Mike James and Head SF - Starter McGrady/ Backup Battier PF - Starter- Howard/ Backup Horry C- Start Yao/ Backup Mutumbo
nice..dont know if we can pull it off, but very nice. what about that Spanolius(dont know how 2 spell it) kid..when is he comin' back to the states?
I saw him in L.A., I live there. I watched every game he played. He doesn't suck and he got his playing time there. He played 24mpg across 76 games, about what you expect for a decent player off the bench. That's a lot of playing time for a SF stuck on a roster that had five SF's. That's the main reason why they traded him for below value: they had too many players at his position and had no intention of paying luxury tax. Why do you think they traded Caron Butler AND Chucky Atkins for Kwame Brown? They simply didn't need SF's, they needed a balanced roster. Jumaine Jones is not a franchise savior; he's just depth. We lack depth. Jones can hit the corner three at a high clip and grabs rebounds at an impressive rate. He's your traditional SF, nothing more. But good at what he does. Sure he makes some mistakes, but I think he does more good on the court than bad. I think he's underrated. I certainly wouldn't call his seasons in Philly his best, especially when he only played 13mpg. If that was truly his prime he wouldn't be in the league right now. I think you're just an irrational Jones hater.
if the Rockets can find a former superstar or All-Star who has never won a championship and is willing to take a paycut for that last chance at glory like half of Miami's bench, then the $4.2 million trade exception might actually be useful. i don't think the Rockets can find a decent starter with the exception.
I don't think it would be possible to use a TE to sign a player that has no affiliation with any NBA team.
Before the draft, I was completely in favor of swallowing a contract to pick up a young developmental project buried on someone's bench or a draft pick, especially if the deadweight salary happened to be a bigman. My absolute favorite idea was taking on Zeljko Rebraca's expiring contract and picking up the Clippers' 2007 1st Rounder and James Singleton; by my math, signing Sam Cassell and Tim Thomas puts the Clippers right at the Luxury Tax threshold, and I'm pretty sure they'd want to sign both their draft picks this year. I didn't like this free agent crop, especially for mid-range shooting guards, such as DeShawn Stevenson. With the win-now mentality everyone seems to have embraced, I doubt this building for the future is in the plan. The Rockets' rotations seem to be pretty solid at this moment with the exception of backup center and injury protection. Van Gundy will probably hope to run a 9 man rotation next year, assuming everyone is healthy (Yao, Juwan, Chuck, Shane, Tracy, Luther, Rafer, and 2 more). Novak, Mutombo and the third point guard (seems like Darius Washington's job for the taking; if he can't get it here, he's not going to stick in the league at all), will probably play based on inevitable injury or matchups. With this being said, the two positions that seem to be most critical are Backup center and a guy who can play either 1/2 or 2/3. It seems like management has decided Mike James is the best fit (therefore, we're not going to get him unless we overpay, j/k) (and if he opts for bigger money, which I suspect, I guess Stevenson wants to play here as well, and fits in the combo role as well), leaving backup center to be filled; keep in mind that we need to replace only the very pedestrian production we got from Swift; in essence, anything but a stiff will probably be good enough. Looking at options for a backup to Yao is almost as depressing as seeing what can be gotten with the MLE for shooting guards. Ideally, the Bulls will be able to steal Ben Wallace from the Pistons, and we'll be able to pick up whomever of Othella Harrington, Malik Allen, or Mike Sweetney gets buried on the bench behind Chandler, Thomas and Wallace; a move that would likely happen nearer to the trade deadline. Otherwise, I'd look at Mikki Moore from Seattle as a stopgap; he might be out of playing time with Seattle now having 3 project centers in Swift, Petro and Sene (one of these guys has to suceed eventually, right?). If we're thinking about sign and trades for backup centers, I'd look at the Utah Collins, Scot Pollard, or Darius Songaila. I'm really hoping that Matt Haryasz shows a pulse in summer league and makes the team, just so I never have to suggest picking up Mikki Moore again.
Today's Houston Chron says Jackson and Peja signed with the Hornets... It's looking more like James or bust. Or maybe even James and a bust!
