True. At the present time,an older Rafer is doing better than a younger Hinrich. His production is lower than his contract.
Only reason we got Sean Singletary and Ewing Jr was because Sacramento was already going to waive them, but decided to give Houston the contracts so they would go under the luxury tax, while letting Houston waive them; letting Houston take on the added salaries.
Hinrich's price/performance ratio is not better than Alston's (never thought I'd say something like that about Rafer...).
TRUE! Rafer has worked with T-MAC and YAO for couple of years and he proved himself last season! We just need a backup C.
We have one more need to complete our team, a big defensive point guard that can lead a break. Just a few I would target: Damien Wilkins HTML: <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/4vanSuusSmw&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/4vanSuusSmw&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object> Antonio Daniels HTML: <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/--h_vX7SoGE&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/--h_vX7SoGE&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>
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sacto wanted a TE. they made sure to send out the max amount in salary possible. remember, this trade puts the rockets closer to the LT. they should be just around $2M under the LT right now (after this move). this affects the landry signing, and possibly a trade to replace him, or a FA signing to do so. hopefully GATER can chime in here.
Exactly right. In fact, I'd wager that Rafer Alston has one of the best performance/price ratios in the league among PGs not on their rookie scale contracts. At $4.9M for next year, for his production, Rafer is a bargain. One thing that has not been emphasized enough is the impact that having Rafer Alston on the Rockets will have on Ron Artest. If people think Mutombo is important to keep Artest in line, he's got nothing on Rafer. Artest grew up idolizing "Skip to my Lou" at Rucker Park. Ron has already said as much. That whole thing that Artest said about Yao not understanding that Ron is "ghetto" will not hold water with Rafer. Alston is from the same background as Artest and has managed to carve out a nice NBA career for himself without much controversy. He will also not hesitate to get in Artest's face to keep him in check. More importantly, I sincerely believe that Ron will listen to whatever Rafer has to say to him, both positive and negative. Especially after the Artest deal, if the Rockets want to keep Artest on his best behavior, then they CANNOT trade Rafer. Especially not when he's still such a relative bargain at the PG spot.
Double true. The trick would be not getting rid of Rafer, but trying to get a backup thats better then average. If we could move Head and pieces for Daniels we'd have a really nice fit, its just his stock is way up after last year and I don't know if we could entice a deal with what we have.
I agree that Alston should be kept, but if we could get an upgrade to him & have him as our backup, that'd make our team that much stronger. I'd love to get Hinrich, but there are several other PG's out there that might be available for the right price. Some would be starters & some would be quality backups. Mo Williams - Milwaukee (Was rumored to be available) Jammal Tinsley - Indiana (Poor shooter, great assist man) Stephon Marbury - New York (Trouble maker? Maybe so, but he comes to play) Chauncey Billups - Detroit (Would Detroit take anything other than one of the "Big 3"?) Steve Blake - Portland (With Bayless on board, could Blake be expendable?) Luke Ridnour - OKC/Seattle (???) Raymond Felton - Charlotte (Speculation was he could be had. Any chance of it?) Jason Williams - Miami (I'd prefer to take a look at Chris Quinn.) Sam Cassell - Boston (Free agent backup?)
Unfortunately, given the Rockets' salary commitments (especially if the team is seriously considering keeping Artest long term), I don't think many of these options are realistic. The only way to get many of these guys would be to trade Battier; and (with the exception of Billups, who Detroit would NOT trade just for Battier and scraps) I would rather have Battier than any of those guys anyway. Kirk Hinrich - too expensive Mo Williams - too expensive Jamaal Tinsley - too expensive AND not as good as Rafer Stephon Marbury - not worth it, even if he's cut and can be had for veteran minimum Chauncey Billups - not attainable without breaking up the team's core Steve Blake - would be nice, but Portland would want Battier. No way. Luke Ridnour - too expensive AND not as good as Rafer Raymond Felton - worse shooter than Rafer. No thanks. Jason Williams - tempting, but only for veteran minimum and if roster spot is cleared for him Sam Cassell - tempting at the veteran minimum, but only if roster spot is cleared for him With Yao, Tracy, Artest, Battier and Alston all on the payroll, I just don't think there is a realistic way for the Rockets to bring on another substantial salary. Les Alexander has shown a willingness to pay up for top talent, but he will likely not go deep into luxury tax territory. To be honest, I can't really blame him.
I agree with the OP and Old Man Rock. The two scrubs are not necessary for the trade to work. It looks very much like what Morey would do to make the deal better for Sac in order to trump offers from other teams.
Sean Singletary is a better player than aaron brooks... BRING HIM TO CAMP!!!! cut Ewing Jr quickly...
I know we all love the job that Daryl Morey has done with the Rockets, but I'll go out on a limb that the inclusion of Ewing and Singletary in the trade was Geoff Petrie's idea. People forget that Petrie has been one of the league's top GMs over the past decade and a half. I think he's savvy enough to figure this deal wrinkle out on his own. That being said, if Morey was able to pull it out on his own in a last ditch effort to close the deal, then more power to him.
I agree that Sac did it for the trade exception. There are quite a few teams that will try to shed a couple million dollars at the trade deadline and Sac is now in prime position to snag someone's cost cutting move. If you are trying to trade table scraps for Artest and the other team asks you to take two players and cut them so they get a bigger trade exception...you don't quibble about it.
No offense here, but that is absolutely NOT the reason they were included! Sacto is nowhere near the luxury tax (about $2-3mill away) Again, if Sacramento simply planned to waive the guys, then why on earth did they sign them one month earlier??? On the contracts of the 2 players, as I understand it, they are 'partially guaranteed' --> like Loren Woods' deal was. So IF the players make training camp, there is some kick in of pay; IF the players make the final roster, there is a full 'kick in' and they are guaranteed their $442k.
You're probably right! It could be a 'Brent Barry' type deal where we cut the players, and then Sacto signs them up again to their 'partially guaranteed contracts'. hooroo: they had 16 players under contract before making this deal - so they were going to have to look at cutting at least one of them anyway (and, apparently, it would cost them nothing if done before training camp)
As long the Rockets did a sign and trade for him, I don't see the problem. he would be excellent competition for the backup spot. I second the Chris Quinn as another option even though he doesn't have the Big Aristotle's Seal of Approval.
Yeah - I'm more and more sure this is right! It's all about the TE for Sacto. The deal doesn't look so terrible from their side (in the right light) Artest was out of there anyway (he was asking for a trade, getting moody etc) They have $11.9mill in expiring contracts and 2 first round picks next year to use as leverage in a deal (if they get working early in the season perhaps nobody will realise that one of those picks will be #30...) They picked up a really young guy with serious upside who can be brought along gently behind Martin + Salmons. They picked up a good character vet who will be able to tutor Udrih on the vagaries of PG play!
