First off let me say I hate reading trade proposals that have no chance in hell of happening. I also hate speculating about things that I have no idea if they will happen or not. But after both Morey and CD spoke of trade possibilities this summer, I could not help but wonder what those possibilities might be. ( I know, thinking a dangerous thing). So after giving it some thought I came to conclusion that the Rockets don’t really have much to offer with the exception of Howard and Head. I don't include Alston because right now he is are only pg. So I think Head and Howard are the most likely players the Rockets would want to move on the team. How did I come to that conclusion. First, Howard is the worst moneyball player we have left on our team. He just doesn’t fit with Yao, he is getting old and has 3 years and about 20 mil of contract left. As for Head I like the kid. I think he has a strong future in this league but I don’t think JVG is crazy about him and wants more experience on the team. There is very little talk about him in our future he is more like an afterthought in most management conversations. He was not part of the summer league which I think that is a big sign because usually you include your 2nd year players unless they are superstars. Of course if you were planning on trading him than you wouldn’t want to injure him in a summer game. Also his name has been brought up in several trades that did not happen already. So for what ever reason Head is on his way out. Okay so now who to trade for. What I did is look over team rosters to find a player that I thought we could use and that their teams might be willing to trade. After doing that I came up with Mihm. Mihm lost his starting role to Kwame last year and with the development of Bynum is now relegated 3rd string. There has already been rumors about Mihm in trades. He is still a good backup center / power forward and is a team player with a pretty good Roland rating. He has a friendlier contract than Howard which expires this season and he just seems like the kind of player that would be good coming off the bench and contribute. Why would the Lakers want Howard for Mihm? Well for starter Kwame has no offense outside of dunking. And Bynum is raw and also no offense. Turiaf is just a physical presence. Radmanovic is more of a set shot type player. And Cook is even more of a dimensional 3 point shooter and all are young. Howard gives them and instant offensive minded PF with a decent middle game and he also givees them a veteran which they are lacking on that team. Now LA is not dumb. They now Howard for Mihm favors the Rockets and also Howard and Mihms salaries don’t match. So the Rockets have to add something to sweeten the pot and that is Head. Head gives them a solid backup for Kobe and can play some backup pg. Now that throws the salaries way off so now LA has to throw in another player. And that were Mckie comes in. He is more for making contracts work but he also seems like a JVG type of guy and he is in the last year of his contract. He brings us a veteran 2 guard who can play defense. I think Mihm and Mckie together or making about 7 mil next year and head and Howard a little bit more than that so it works moneywise. Anyway there you have it my trade idea. Not great but I think it is realistic and could happen. Let the flaming begin.
Dude plz why would we trade howard for a guy who plays Center and has never in his life put up numbers as good as howards. And mckie i was shocked to learn he was still in the league. So basically you want to trade a middle of the road player(howard) and a potentially potent player(head) for a well below average, center, who is always injured(mihm) and a guy that has to shoot from a wheelchair(mckie). Right i am sure thats our first priority rite now.
I'd want LA to throw in something more. Mihm doesn't excite me at all, esp as a pf. Mckie is washed up. I like getting rid of Juwan's contract, but thats about it.
Besides the fact that this actually downgrades us at PF, I don't think LA does this because of contract legnths. Mihm has 1 season vs Juwan at 3 seasons? That alone would make LA pause.
Well this is a no brainer for the Rockets if offered. We get out of Juwan's last three years. Just sign a guy like Darius Songaila and replace Juwan's production at half the price. We get two expiring contracts in Mihm and Mckie, that might be useful at the trade deadline or might not. Either way, they'd come off the books next year and we'd be that much below the luxury tax which Les is reluctant to pay unless we get a major piece. But would the Lakers do it? Methinks with the addition of Radman, Juwan makes less sense for LA than before, if he ever did make any sense for them. EDIT: Holy Crap. I didn't even notice that we gave up Head in the deal. I thought it was just Howard for Mihm and Mckie. In that case no. We've got to stop giving away assets just to get rid of contracts. That Rice deal was terrible. Sure you might say that first round picks don't necessarily pan out, but they're still one of the few ways to land young prospects at a cheap price. It's pretty much the main reason why Minny hasn't been able to build any depth without overpaying for guys.
Please no. Mihm is foul prone and can never stay on the floor Mckie is washed up not capable of playing anymore no Head
La signed Vladrad and he does everything howard does and then some so i really dont see that hapening. Now what i would like to see is maybe tradeing our big TE for Ronnie Turiaf. He is 6'10 has a decent shot and really goes after boards.he has a solid game and really steped up in the playoffs. Lakers dont have any cap space so they would probally welcome a piece of our big TE. He even fought back to play after havieng heart surgery that guy has some guts. All he needs is some playing time and we could be a solid big for us.
The only reason to do this would be if (God forbid) Yao and Tracy were to be injured for the entire season and we were blowing up the roster. No one in LA thinks that Mckie is a contributor, and Mihm is always in foul trouble, usually within 10 minutes.
I'm sure Rockets will trade Howard for pretty much any expiring contract right now. Given that Mihm and McKie are expiring and Mihm can actually play C/PF, throwing in Head would be worth it if they have a plan to find a replacement. However, I doubt Lakers would take on Juwan's contract, even if he does serve a role... (Aren't they still on the idiotic 07 cap room plan?)
We should revive the trade with portland and trade Juwan for Darius Miles ( I would even do straight up- but obviously would bargain for Draft picks considering the additional salary and nuisance factor) Reasons? 1. D Miles is young and Athletic- and can Playing SG on this team ( instant Match up problems), he can also play defense and defend again taller opponents. 2. Looks Like Battier will be playing PF- or a lot of minutes at that spot And we most likely will pick another PF candidate ( or a center turned PF, that would back up Yao too in the future). From the kind of moves we are making- it looks we are being exrtremely conscious of money. We all though Kirk was off limits- maybe that is evloving 3. Getting a quality SG with our approach is going to be impossible ( I want them to prove me wrong!) I could not quite care if D Miles get the Starting Job or not- but I am sure if JVG made Sprewell a believer, I am pretty sure he can handle Dmiles. We Can use the MLE to get a PF ( if they can play good bit of minutes) or settle for a Lonny Baxter/ lorenzenw right types who can be traded if necessary. Trevor Ariza, and Jumain Jones need a look- to shore up the bench. Marcus banks may be costly- and if Cavs sign Drew Gooden, then Banks will have to go elsewehere so he will have to take less than MLE for sure.
No one is going to take on Howard for expiring contracts unless we throw in a much better piece than Head. We took Howard to get McGrady. Another team would take Howard if it meant getting McGrady or Yao, but Head is just not enough. Those saying this is not enough of a deal for the Rockets have no understanding of the economics of basketball.
^^ I definitely agree the deal is more than enough for the Rockets. However, let's remember Rockets got Juwan with 5 years left on his deal, now there are only 3 left. His contract is much less onerous now than before.
Your premise is literally correct but it depends how you look at it. Juwan is more washed up than he was 2 years ago. He hasn't aged well at all. Unless he drinks the fountain of youth, he will be even worse than last season.
you guys are out of your minds... neither of those players are worth a crap on the Lakers, and would be just as worthless in Houston.
Thanks for your sound input. I think many posters somehow think Howard has more trade value than is reality. It's like if I am going to trade Howard I want more than that. For the Rockets he is a negative in my eyes. For a few select teams (I think the Lakers are one) he has a slight plus. You have to really look at this as a Mihm for Head kind of trade more than anything. We get the added bonus of dumping Howard, and Mckie could give us some short term help at the 2. Also for the salary cap issues if you are referring to LA's attempt to get far enough under the cap for the purpose of stealing Yao. I thinked they dropped that after we signed him. Now they are on the develop Kwame plan. Besides even if they dropped all of thier 07 expiring contracts at best they would be MLE kind of money below the cap and it is probably less than that. Kwame Odom and Kobe put them close to the cap alone. So I don't think taking on salary is an issue. But finding a better deal for Mihm might be.
Although I think Mihm is capable of more than he's shown, and that he'd be a decent backup to Yao with Deke getting old, I think it may just be best to sit tight with Howard's contract. Right now it's at 3 years. The guy can still hit the jumper and is fairly consistent at what he does, even if it's not that much. And when his contract gets close to expiring, it will be a great trade asset. In 2-3 years, we will probably need to bring in new talent. By keeping Howard, we get the ability to either a) Let it expire and free up $7 million in cap space b) Trade it with a year left or 1/2 season left to another team so they can get the salary dump and we get a quality player in return
Being washed up isn't Juwan's problem.. He's pretty much the same guy he was in Orlando, probably not far off from his Denver or even Mavs days... He can still do pretty much the same things on offense... score points when needed (about 17 per when Yao/McGrady were injured), though can't get to the line. The main problem with him is that he's always had the serious weakness in rebounding and defense. He never was much better even in his youth. So, Juwan isn't washed up, he's just not that great to begin with.
that's just a stupid idea. mckie is done. mihm is a center and not really that good. i would stick with the talent (head) and the solid veteran (juwan). without a doubt.
Head has potential. he has learned to be a JVG type player and will be a contributor to our team. Howard to Portland is a good move but we should ask what are they offering if we take Miles off their hands. I have confidence that JVG will be able to win over Miles and get him to be a decent contributor but we only make the deal for Howard straight up and we must be given additional advantages by Portland. Other Players that I consider as suitable for the rockets (and are still available):- JL III, Lorenzen Wright, Trevor Ariza & Marcus Banks. McKie, not at this stage of his career. Rocks Team IMHO Guards- JLIII, Alston, Head, Snyder, AN OTHER Forwards- Mc Grady,Novac,Ariza, Miles, Hayes, Battier, Bowan Bigs-Yao, Wright, Mutombo [15] No less than 55 wins is acceptable!!! Y
