It's TMac and Yao, not just Yao. The way he fits in is he can play the SF on offense and let TMac work from the top. Miles' offensive game is high octane on the left side of the floor from the top of the key down to the baseline. He'll be able to post up smaller defenders very easily and with TMac playing the 2 on offense, you've got 2-6'9" players that the defense is having to account for. Look at the matchups with SA and Dallas if we have Miles at the SF and TMac at the 2. All of a sudden, you've got Bowen and Manu having to match up with them defensively. They can't. Defensively, you give Miles the more difficult matchup. You put him on Manu. He won't completely shut down Manu. Nobody can. But he can make it a lot more difficult on him. And besides that, now we've got a 6'9" long defender, whether it be him or TMac to help out with the doubles on Duncan. The other defender is forcing Bowen to arch that corner jumper up to the rafters to get it over his defender. Now, let's go to Dallas. If they go Nowitzki, Diop, Howard, Griffin, Terry, who has the advantage with us throwing out Rafer, TMac, Miles, Yao, and whomever. Let's put Swift out there. Now, you can put Miles on Nowitzki, and TMac on Howard, Rafer on Terry, and force their offense to Griffin and Diop. They'll have to change it up and take out AG for Stack or go small with Van Horn for Diop or both. If they wanna go small, we can go small, with Bogans, and Hayes. Now we've got Rafer-Terry, Stack-Miles, Howard-Tmac, Nowitzki-Hayes, Van Horn-Swift. They put in that lineup and they have zero post presence. Force the outside contested jumpers with our quickness and gobble up the boards. It puts is in a position to be competitive with the Spurs and Mavs. Those are the 2 best teams in the West right now. It also helps us match up with the Pistons better. Here's the trade: Our expirings, DWes, Moochie, and Howard, and our first rounder to Portland for Miles and Theo. Portland does it to dump Theo's salary so the can resign Pryzcbella. And they get another pick to rebuild with, along with some seasoned vets to coach their youngsters.......along with a serviceable backup 4/5. The negative for us is we have to take back salary and are in lux tax land. The way that we are going to upgrade this roster significantly is to take on salary. We have no inherent trade value, talent wise, outside of Luther and possibly Swift, although even that is questionable at this point. Theo is a Van Gundy kind of player and would excel with our defensive philosophy. The combination of him and Miles would make us dominant defensively and on the boards, which is what Van Gundy wants. Even if we have to throw in Luther, I'd say we should do something like this.
As much as I don't like Swift's effort and focus, there's no way I'd give up an athletic near-7 footer for a dime-a-dozen Euro pseudo point that can't defend, distribute, or give you consistent play. He's no better than Hedo Turkaglu, and is at best a second guy off the bench. Evan
After trading Baxter we need to keep Swift or at least trade him for another PF. Everybody is on Hayes right now but he's not enough to backup Juwan. Jaric will be moved, the TWolves were going nowhere with him running the team and Banks look like he took Jarics job.
AGE: 24!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Stats per game: 18 points (48% from field) 5.6 reb, 2.5 assists, 1.5 blocks......3.5 TOs (not too good) I'd take this guy any day...him along with tmac, bogans, rafer, and stro would be one exciting team to watch (when Yao is out). There would constantly be mismatches on the court...and on top of it all HE IS 24! Where do I sign?
Furious, I lost ALL respect for you with that comment. let me get this straight: Bowen (cheap) > Miles (Expensive + Attitude)? MAYBE this team NEEDS an attitude around, instead of this "laid back" crap that has gotten us where? NO WHERE!!
You lost respect? Here's a Chad Ford story from last year about the guy you want: http://proxy.espn.go.com/nba/columns/story?columnist=ford_chad&id=1980732 It was another week, another ugly dustup in Portland. This time, it was Darius Miles doing the dirty work. According to various accounts, on Thursday, head coach Mo Cheeks was criticizing Miles harshly in a film session when Miles lost his cool and began shouting obscenities at Cheeks. At one point, Cheeks said that Miles shouted something about not caring about losing 20 games in a row, because Cheeks is going to get fired anyway. When Cheeks asked Miles to leave the building, Darius said something to the effect of "Make me." When Cheeks bolted for GM John Nash's office, Miles ran behind saying "That's right, run to your daddy." Yeah, you think that JVG will actually trade anything for that headache? Get a clue.
I know the Nets offered MJax and one of their first rounders (they get their own and Denver's this year) for Swift earlier this year. I'd take that deal now, maybe. Putting those first rounders together (ours and the one we get from Joisey) in another trade might net someone of value.
http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?t=107284&page=1&highlight=artest Does this thread ring a bell? Yea, Artest is better then Miles...but did you not say that you would want Artest? We're talking about a dude that went into the stands to fight spectators. So whats the difference? Artest has done all kinds of crap, and Miles b****ed out his coach (while on a losing team), but you'd take Artest and not Miles? Remember, everyone saying that McGrady was a headcase when we got him from Orlando.."t-mac doesnt care if he loses", "t-mac quit on his team", "tmac...blah blah blah". He's fine now isn't he? Needless to say, with Miles being 24, I'd take him AND his baggage anyday on this squad for the right price!
Like you said, Artest is better than Miles - risk versus reward. No doubt that Artest is childish and he overreacted when someone hit him with a beer, but if JVG is making the decision, how the player treated another coach will probably carry more weight with him. And yeah, JVG took on Spree after the PJ Carlesimo incident, but PJ is an infamous @$$hole towards his players, whereas Mo Cheeks is such a players' coach that Iverson specifically requested him. Check out my signature - it's obvious that I don't expect players to be angels. But someone like Miles, who has done zero is this league, probably isn't worth the drama. All I'm saying is that JVG would only take on a guy like that if he truly believed that Miles was the missing piece of championship team. And Miles ain't all that. If he was, Portland wouldn't be listening to offers.
Miles is not a leader, enough said. He's a younger, bigger Sprewell. Yeah, he's a pretty big jerk. Sorry, 75% of NBA players are big jerks. Big deal, what else is new. We don't get players to play basketball because they've got the best table manners. We want players on the Rockets that can help us win championships. Miles' career could go either way. He could go to a team with poor leadership like he's been on up until this year and he could deteriorate to a dope smoking, selfish, abusive loser. Or he could go to a team that has strong leadership, who could mold him into a very, very good player....because he's got the talent. He's worth taking a risk on, though. Especially in light of the fact that Les and JVG were all for getting Artest in here. This team has good, strong leadership, from the owner down to the coach and star players. Miles could make it big here and he could make us a ton better.
The story only reveald what Miles said to Cheeks, I wonder what Cheeks said to Miles to cause such retaliation?
Yea, that's what we said about rafer too. If the price is right, I'd be foaming at the mouth to get Miles. This is a chance to get a YOUNG, ATHLETIC and LONG talent. IMO he is still developing, and could be a steal. Its worth the risk if you ask me. Im sick of seeing Houston teams in general with all these NICE guys. Maybe we need someone to come in here that will keep everyone on their toes so no one gets too comfortable. Maybe we need that person that will get in his teammates faces if they screw up. Maybe we need that person that will speak his mind and not be ashamed of it. Maybe we need that person that will stand up for his teammates if a hard foul occurs.
Thank you. I used to travel (I went to a couple of road games and the Allstar game in Atlanta) with the Clippers a couple of years back and the consensus was that he was too caught up in how he looked rather than how he played. They used to call him "Hollywood". I saw no real desire in him to improve himself.
Umm besides Clyde Drexler, Terry Porter, Dale Davis, Jermain Oneal, Damon Stoudamire, SAR, Bonzi Wells,Theo Ratliff, NVE and the other guys whom I can't remember when have the Blazers traded away a good player?!
