I don't think there is any way Shane Battier will be traded. It would have to be one hell of an offer to pry him away from the Rockets. They gave up quite a bit for Battier, not to mention took all sorts of heat from the fans. If they turned around and traded him now it better be the best trade in franchise history. I also don't think Alston will be traded. I think they have a much higher opinion of Alston than most of you on this board. Personally, I think Alston is a legit NBA starter and will be fine with the new lineup. He didn't have a great year last year but he's a pass first point guard who didn't ever really have more than one decent option at a time to pass to last year. Hopefully we'll see Yao and McGrady both have healthy seasons this year, and when you add the shooting of Battier, Novak and the slashing of Snyder and Spanoulis, it ought to be a better scoring team and Alston ought to do pretty well. I think Head is the most likely to be moved if any of our players are to be moved. He's one of our few desirable assets and we sure have added a lot of guards. However, I really think they're looking to make moves with the TE. We'll only have one spot left vacant on the roster after JLIII is signed. I'm thinking they plan to use the TE to fill the spot and then they're done unless a great trade offer comes along.
Don't let the fact that TMac and Battier are best suited for playing the same position affect you opinion whatsoever.
Isnt the big trade exception we have good until the NBA trade deadline in Feb? If so there is no reason to rush to use it right now. Wait to see how our season pans out and if we are one piece away then use it. Besides by them maybe another player on our team earns more trade value. I think right now they can use what's left of the MLE to sign maybe another player for depth.
It will be up to Rudy Gay to determine how much we gave up for him. Remember that Boston traded away the pick right before us for Sebastian Telfair, so one could argue that Battier's value is less than Telfair's.
Yah right. And I also expect Tracy and RyBo to be gone for Wade and Shaq. Then we can play twin tower! Shaq+Yao=BEEEEEPPPPP!!!! YOU ARE CHEATING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Seriously, LA wouldn't give us Cook for that. Not to mention throwing in Mihm, which actually has some value. I would give a 2007 second round pick + Juwan for Mihm and a filler. I would try to trade Head + Howard for Cook, but I doubt LA'll do it.
