Which teams have cap room that could pay Swift more?

Hawks.

 

I'm just holding on to the fact that Swift spent two days here getting to know the coaching staff. It does show he is interested plus he talked to Yao and Tracy by phone and couldnt hurt either. TMac is our best recruiter so I hope he said some good things to him. I'm pretty sure he did though.

 

My initial thought was that since T-Mac and Yao gave Swift a call, the local media meeting him as he got off the plane (Swift said it made him feel very welcome) he sat down with the coaching staff, JVG really wants him here (according to Doc Rocket), I'm pretty sure Swift feels wanted here in Houston, and there was a more than 50% chance that he would sign here.

However, with the size of the contracts that have been handed out is ridiculous and most likely has caused Swift to move beyond the reach of the Rockets. The MLE is now likely not enough to sign Stromile, maybe a sign-and-trade can be done, but what do the Rockets have outside of T-Mac and Yao that the Grizzlies would want?

 

Expiring contracts? That's about our only trade bait...

 

9 points & 5 rebounds

should not get you a bigger than a MLE contract with a team other than the Hawks or the Hornets -

plus there are a lot of free agents out there and few real teams with bigmoney... if you guys really think Stro is going to be flooded with high dollar offers from good teams - I suggest that you real some of the sites like hoops hype and real gm (just for the links to local newspapers) - Haslem may go to the Cavs, SAR will probably go to the Nets - most of the other continders are looking at guards like Daniels & Joe johnson

 

Well after the Simmons and Hughes signings, (Redd and Allen signed with their old teams) its almost a certainty we are going to have to do a sign and trade to get anyone of significance out of the FA pool.

Money still talks and winning walks in reality, so I can't see anyone we really want at PF wanting to sign for the MLE, especially now. Actually that still works out best for the Rox because that leaves the MLE for picking up 1 or 2 other pieces we may lose or need.

A notion I haven't read yet is, is it in the best interest of the Rox to be patient and use their expiring contracts later in the year say around the trade deadline and not do much beyond the MLE in the FA pool. Sort of what they did with Sura and (can't remember who else they picked up with the MLE) last year. It may not help much this year but it should give them a lot more flexibility for the future. Plus 10-12Million in expiring contracts actually might get us someone who's worth 10-12 million later in the year when teams are historically trying to dump guys after a disappointing season in the standings.

To be honest Walker, Swift, Marshall and SAR don't thrill me at that price and I think it will take a minimum of 8-9+ to get anyone of them. And as bad a need as we have at PF we also have a fatal flaw at the 2 also. Wesley is not a long term answer and he's really not that great a short term answer but the FA madness won't help us there unless we are patient and hope someone falls thru the cracks.

Someone with an overstock of 2-3's should be on CD's contact list and that could actually be the best way to go for the long term health of the club also.

 

For really bad teams like Atlanta and New Orleans that lack proven star players, Swift would probably be a bad investment. Those teams will probably look to use up their cap space on more proven players, either through free agency or trade. In all likelihood, Swift is not going to suddenly realize all of his potential and become the all-star player that those teams need. For the Rockets, it would be a different story. We would only need Swift to be a solid role player that compliments Mcgrady and Yao well.

The Clippers already have Brand, Kaman, and Wilcox. They'll probably use their cap space on a guard to replace Simmons. Cleveland already has a similar player to Swift in Gooden, and they'll probably use their remaining cap space to re-sign Illgauskas.

The only team with cap space that really worries me is Seattle. Swift would be a good fit for them. He would really help boost their defense (they're near the bottom of the league in shotblocking) and would be a solid 3rd option on offense to Allen and Lewis.

 

see I think that Stro is going to be to be out of luck - shortly - only really bad teams are going to be willing to offer him big bucks, because the good teams are paying their money to better players (hughes, SAR, etc) - last I checked, there are only 3 teams that are interested in Stro (Houston, NO and NY)

.. the Knicks have 15 powerforwards and NO is awful - and considering that Stro has yet to set the world on fire, I think the rockets just need to let their offer speak for itself

 

I know people harp on the 9 points 5 rebounds a game aspect with him but he has always been splitting time with Lorenzen Wright. Both of them were said to be good and they were always splitting time so no one really padded stats. The one thing i like about swift is the weak side defense and shot blocking and rebounding he will provide. That's a big time weakness we had and i think he fills that void. Of course i dont think he is honestly worth that much so i hope we get him cheap. If gets ridiculous amounts of money from another team then therei nothing we can do.

 

I think Willis is on target. Actually the big contracts to all the SGs have dried up most of the cap room: There are not many big contracts left other than by their current teams for Swift, DM, SAR and Walker. Remember Dalembert, Chandler, Brown, Radmonivic, Z and Curry--all I would argue have more upside or are in demand, have not been signed either. I think DM will definetly have to settle for an MLE. SAR and Walker probably will as well unless it is a sign and trade. Swift is the iffyest for settling for an MLE.

I am not worried about Swift to Seattle. Seattle is loaded with PFs, and has their own guys to take care off (Radm, James, Evans, Wilkens, Daniels or another back up 1) even after a huge deal to Allen, and are worried about money.

I am not worried about Atl. They definetly have much bigger (in terms of upside) targets with their cap room than Swift (Chandler, Dalem, Z, Curry, Brown).

I am a little worried with New Orleans. I don't think Swift is a great fit there, but if they think a value (5 years 37 mil?) is there for an LSU homeboy they might do it. Radmanovich IMO would help that team a lot more roster wise by bringing a guy who scores more form the outside and can play the 3 or 4, though Seattle has the right to match.

Cleve appears to have their targets on Z and Haslem thankfully.

Milw could have been dangeours (they need a 4) but they went Simmons thankfully.

I am also a little worried about Memphis being more cooperative with a sign and trade elsewhere (NY, NJ, Mia) than to Houston.

I hope Swift just takes a full MLE with us (5/30mil) with a wink-wink promise of 2 more years at 15-20 mil. Or takes a 3 years MLE (16 mil) with the promise of at least 4 more years at 30 mil (with the option to negotiate for more given Bird Rights). Something like this. Remember, we followed through our commitments even when we knew it was a bad deal on the surface (Shandon A, MoT)--that is where those things pay off.

 

The only one that harps on that is Willis25. He's becoming as bad as Tinman's "Every role player from the championship teams is a Golden God", and Charvo's "Yao for Odom and Mihm"

 

stro will be able to double those numbers with more minutes. we'll be able to see what he can do when he can get into a groove instead of short stints during a game.

 

Stro, to my knowledge, does NOT want to play the 5. In NY he'd likely have to.
In Houston he'd more likely play some 3 than 5.

 

I've envisioned Swift on the Rox for over 2.5 years and I have never read anything that says he doesn't want to play the 5. Please back this statement up with a link. As far a NY, Isiah is on record as saying it's down to Swift or Jerome James for them. James is definitely a 5.

Why on earth would the Rockets use Swift at the 3? He and Juwan would battle over PF minutes and Swift would slide to the 5 on matchups too difficult for Deke.

 

Sorry, no link available. I have heard it, seen it, whatever. Doesn't make it fact, nor does it make it made-up crapola. I believe it to be true. Take that for what it's worth.

Why guard the 3? In certain match ups, sure. Or against teams teams going small, or Amare at 5 etc, sure, Stro D5.

If SS is JVG's priority I hope we get him. He's certainly not min e but I defer to the more involved and more knowledgable coach (even if he's wrong).

 

Now if that happened, VG woudn't be the first coach to make a personnel error...and he'll be far from the last.

IMO, most posters are too focused on Swift's stats and fail to see how much he'd impact the Rockets transition game.

 

Swift had an irregular heartbeat problem last year. Does that bother anybody? Looking at his numbers, 3 out of 5 years he played 60something games. Missing 15-20 games isn't nightmarish; I just hope he is not a terribly injury prone guy.

 

Oh, rats. I was just getting comfortable with the idea of having AW in the PF trenches because of his shooting, rebounding and passing abilities. You called it dead on the money with Sura. Here's hoping to more of your analytical success if we acquire Swift.

 

How much would he impact it, really? I mean, obviously his #1 priority would always be grabbing defensive rebounds. And we've never been a team that forced a lot of turnovers.

Notice that our least effective rebounder in the starting lineup last year, David Wesley, was also our most effective player at running the floor for cheap transition layups?