Which teams have cap room that could pay Swift more?

Isn't the wink-wink what got Minnesota in trouble with Joe Smith? I think they lost a #1 pick, if I remember right.

 

If you're posing this as a rhetorical question...or your mind isn't open to seeing it...just say so. Because I have too many better things to do with my time than try to explain to someone not receptive.

What got them into trouble was putting it in writing.

 

What got Minnesota in trouble is they WROTE IT DOWN. Houston wink-winked Shandon Anderson and Mo Taylor and they both got their money, either with us or with someone else. The key is it wasnt in "writing" but we clearly have a rep in the league as someone that takes care of players.

 

thats different i think we come to the approach as hey look you sign this contract and if you play like your supposed to then you will be rewarded we arent promising contracts but we are saying hey if you do what we ask you ll be rewarded in the future.

 

I am not harpin on it - I like Stro' and I hope the rockets sign him

I juts want throw it out there when people start panicing and wanted the rockets to go Mo Taylor/Kelvin Cato on the guy - seems that every time I post the career stats line, almost immediately, the posters start coming back to their senses - so I guess it is working

remember, at this point in his career, Swift is close to being considered a bust - he is a top 3 pick that averages 9 pts 5 rebounds and who was replaced with another top three pick the year after he was drafted - what we hope is - we sign him and he starts showing his potental and becomes the next Chauncy Billups (top draft pick that is a bust for years, but then blossoms in the right system)

 

I'm really hoping that's what the Hornets are thinking.

 

One thing that really strikes me about the possibility of acquiring Swift is he would be only the second player on the team that McGrady, with all his great passing ability, could toss an alley-oop to. Yao is the only other guy... on the entire team... think of the possibilities, in transition AND in half-court!

 

There's really no need to be so icy. The only thing I wanted you to explain was your own post, which I thought was vague.

You said that people are failing to see how much Swift would improve our transition game. I wondered whether he really would. You never specified how he would be an improvement. Because he's athletic and runs the floor? Because he would bring added shotblocking? Because he would cause deflections with his length/activity?

You don't have to respond to my posts if you don't want to, or if you have better things to do with your time. I replied to yours because I thought it was a topic worth discussing. But if you do choose to respond to my posts, I'd appreciate it if you were a bit less condescending.

 

I look at guys like JO and Billups, I know they're not the rule but they were stuck in a situation much like Swift's. Look at JO's stats when he was in Portland and look how they changed. Hell, look at TMac when he left Toronto for Orlando.

Repeating 9 & 5 over and over again gets a little annoying, especially since you are not acknowledging the fact he has played limited minutes behind an All-Star PF. And who cares if he got replaced w/ another top 3 pick? Gasol is a better player, period. It's not a knock on Swift, but it rather shows that Gasol was a much better player coming into the league, he basically led the rookies in every single category.

 

I'm in the camp that views Swift as a gamble well-worth the risk.

Err...at maybe the MLE. I've always thought of that as upper-bounds territory for Swift.

We're talking about a player who averaged 9 and 5. And for those of you who argue that it's because he split time - well, maybe so - but what does it mean that he had trouble competing with the sort of players Memphis has at the 4/5? If he were a 15 and 10 guy - he'd have done it.

Swift might never be more than he is now. In fact, there's a substantial probability of it. He's an athletic dunker right now who'll grab a rebound or two, mainly because he can jump so high.

More than the MLE? No way. Find another option.

 

see... I am not the only one !

 

Perhaps a bad choice of words but there was no intent to be offensive. The aquisition of Swift or Walker or Abdur-Rahim are all polarizing...there are few lukewarm opinions about these 3 as our potential PF.

"Better things to do" is a function of having watched both Swift and Van Gundy closely. Pardon the ego, but I feel that I have a very good grasp of how the two would interact. Again, forgive the ego but it was no shock to me at all that VG made no effort at Abdur-Rahim...I knew in advance on an intuitive level that it wasn't going to happen but that wouldn't make it easy to verbalize. Verbalizing what I felt I knew intuitively was going to take effort. And if the effort was wasted on a closed mind....better things to do.

If you want a quick rundown, start by paging up and reading Drexlerfan22's comment about Alley Oops. Other than Yao (who really doesn't have a vertical leap) and TMac the Rockets currently do not have a single player with the ability to throw it down. That wouldn't change with Walker or SAR.

And this is important, why? It gets the fans' motors running. But it also means that even if Swift doesn't have the 15' jumper of Howard, Walker, or SAR, all he has to do when his man leaves to double Yao is dive to the basket for a Yao lob. I don't know about you, but I'd rate a Swift Alley Oop as a fairly high %age shot.

Take that one step further. Yao weakside and TMac and Swift in a strongside PnR. The opposing Center can't leave Yao so Swift and TMac can actually lob to each other or kick out to Yao. It's just my opinion, but I feel that a Swift PnR with McGrady is superior to one with Walker and certainly Abdur-Rahim who I don't think sets good screens at all.

Another aspect of Swift having quicker feet than Walker or particularly Abdur-Rahim is the fact that VG's offensive plays generally run close to the full shot clock. A player like Swift is able to set multiple weakside picks and still recover in time to rebound.

Now it's at this point that the Abdur-Rahim fans will scream...but SAR is a better rebounder. That's true if you only look at 2004-05 stats. But let's look at what Swift did under Hubie...because Hubie's Grizz were different from Fratello's Grizz. For 2003-04, Swift was #41 in total rebs/48 min, #29 in ORebs/48 (ahead of both Walker and SAR). While SAR did get better DReb numbers, the bulk of that was done in 53 games with the Hawks. Bottomline long-windedly...Van Gundy's overall half-court and transition scheme is closer to Hubie than Fratello. Swift boarded well under Hubie.

True back to the basket PF's like Duncan are becoming more rare...and with the leagues' continued emphasis on athleticism, that's not changing soon. Players getting WC PF minutes today include Nowitski, Garnett, Eddie Griffin, Radmanovic, Marion, Gasol (mid-post, not deep low post), Kirelenko, Odom, and Kenny Thomas. We need someone athletic who can get into transition O early to make the Duncans of the world work harder and make the Nowitski's pay for poor transition D. Walker does this well but Swift is superior to SAR.

If you watched closely, you saw that VG used the PF to 3/4 & half court trap. This was done only with Howard and Braggs. Never Mo, Spoon or Padgett. Swift's length and athleticism would allow the Rox to keep up the pressure so that teams with lengthy offensive sets have less clock.

There is a whole lot more but I think you get the picture as to why Swift was one of the 1st FA's Houston looked at.

 

Excellent post, GATER.

As you already clarified, Swift's ability to catch a lob isn't just a crowd pleaser, it would just flat-out make our offense far more dangerous. Walker and SAR can't get up there for that particular (very) high percentage shot, and that's without even bringing in his speed on the break. I think I take Walker over Swift for offensive purposes, but by a slighter margin than you might think. SAR is somewhere behind both of them.

I also feel that Swift will provide the biggest boost to our defense. I don't think many will disagree on that.

Here's a thought I had on his rebounding though... Swift isn't a fundamental rebounder. That is, he doesn't box out well, if at all. A lot of the spectacular offensive rebounds for dunks he gets come even after he lets his man push him too far under the basket, or even away from it. He just outjumps people.

And you know, given these things, I think he might snag more boards if and when he gets here. Why? Because, in short, Yao is huge, and he boxes out. Yao isn't aggressive enough in going for boards, but at the same time it seems he nearly always has his own man sealed off, and occasionally a second and third as well. In fact, I think I remember a stat last year from 82games.com or something about how Yao had the second-largest "rebounding differential" in the league; that is, even if he didn't get that many rebounds (say 6), that means his man most often got even less (differential was +2.2 I think, so his opponent would have 4). So while I still wouldn't mind if Swift would please box out, having Yao always seal off a man or two would theoretically pay dividends for an athletic guy like Swift who simply runs to the ball instead of positioning himself for it. Just a thought.

In the end I'm hoping we get Swift. If not Swift, Walker. If not them, SAR or DM.

 

FoxSW Sports reported decision from Swift by tomorrow, according to CD. Decision on MLE? Sign & Trade? My guess is he will agree to sign with us for the MLE and tell the Gizz. Swift makes his decision now.Although he can not sign until the 22nd of July. That will enable us to have over a week to negotiate a sign and trade deal. That is probable why we havent brought in anyone at the 2 back up 3.

 

Are you guessing or what? I hope it's true !!!!!!

Seriously..right now Swift is my #1 choice...because of his athleticism and relative youth...mainly his athleticism! I really hope we get him. He'd be a better fit than the other guys. PLEASE STRO!!!

 

Can anyone confirm this? So what you are saying is on Monday Swift will make his decision of where he wants to go? I hope so. Either we get him or he goes somewhere else and the Rockets can then put their focus on someone else.

GATER, GREAT post on Swift. I enjoyed reading the analysis. I dont think there is any question that JVG looks at Swift as perhaps someone that can be like Marcus Camby was for him in NY. Swift really addresses many of Yao's weaknesses and I think that's one of the biggest reasons why he is a good fit next to Yao.

 

No guessing here. I have been away for a couple of days and was reading the Clutch board while listening to Fox SW. Then the Rox report came on. I stopped reading to catch the report. It came on about 8:30 AM.

They clearly said CD expects Swift to make a decision by Monday.

 

Thanks for the confirmation! Good to see we arent waiting around!

 

That would be great. Hope this is the case.

It seems clear that Stromile wants to play for the Rockets. Always has. And JVG wanting him here? Fantastic (I hope JVG doesn't make him cry too much).

So now the behind-the-scenes stuff. Do we work out a sign-and-trade that Memphis will go for? Or will Memphis not want to deal with a division rival, despite that team's need to lose payroll?

Will a suckwad team like Atlanta or New Orleans step in with a big offer? Will either of those teams also sign or trade for other players that would make them seem halfway enticing, as if they have any future at all (the Hawks? the Hornets? Not likely!)

The wink-wink deal can be, We sign you for three years with a player option for a fourth. We'll extend you on that deal when the time comes, so you'll essentially have a nine-year deal worth (somebody help my math) $63,000,000. Or, if you kick a$$ as a starter, if you start showing you're worth THAT MUCH MORE, then we'll pay you THAT MUCH MORE. WE WANT YOU HERE, STRO. HERE'S A PEN. SIGN.

 

An SnT ADDS payroll, doing nothing subtracts payroll (from last year). Grizz to do an SnT would require J-Will IMO...if so, it woyld HAVE to have a balancing third player (JPo???).