who could we package for jefferson without giving up scola? yao/jefferson/hill scola, patterson/hill i'd love this.
i like granger. so just for fun's sake.. a 3 way trade http://games.espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=29rruk9 indiana gets cleveland's 1st rder next year and give cleveland the knicks picks (if cleveland were to know of such trade proposal before tomorrow night, i think the knicks picks would become one of the most important factors in lebron's decision.. come to cleveland and we'll have new york's future picks.. why go to the knicks? though i think lebron has already decided on staying in cle)
How about we go after? Kendrick Perkins.. the guy is nasty, he is big, and proved to be able to handle Bynum and Pao in the finals till he got hurt. I saw on Yahoo he is a Free agent, I would love to have this guy as a back up center.
and also coming off a torn MCL, PCL, ACL and whatever else you can tear in your knee(I believe)...nice backup butttttttttt
I loved Jefferson on my fantasy team, and I was impressed that game he came down and totally destroyed us 2 seasons ago. That said, I personally don't think he'd be a great fit on the team either along side yao (in place of Scola) or behind yao (too expensive).
Which is why he will not get much attention, and we can get him at a cheap price, maybe a sign and trade with Boston for Hill and Jt.
i think if we can pull it off itd be interesting to trade Expirings Brooks, Ariza and as many draft picks as it takes and J hill maybe? for Paul and Emeka solves our no 1 option need...we get our superstar and our lack of athletism ... Other idea would be Josh Smith id rather have him then bosh...you give them J Hill and Draft picks, expirings and 3 mil to compensate for loosing all the many for johnson.
Not Hill, I want to save him for another big fish that we might end up going after. Worth a call but that knee was pretty messed up, i'd be cautious.
I disagree with this. We went from having two solid players at one position to having two solid players at two positions.
I think you mis-understood my point. Our defense LAST year slipped big time because we didn't have a big man in the middle. Regardless of how good or bad Yao's defense is. You cant look at just PPG allowed to determine how our defense played. You have to take other factors into account. Our defense, before last season was still in the top 6 (with YAO and DEKE). Once we lost Both of our 7-footers, our defense struggled to defend against points in the paint. I dont know the exact stats, but just by watching the games, Rockets gave up TOO MANY points in the paint last year compared to when Yao's in the lineup. The point I'm trying to make is without a big man, your defense will suffer. The stat of "PPG" is skewed because of the faster pace that RA's offense plays. Points per Possession is a much more important stat in my opinion because it takes into account how many Turnovers your team forces. Rockets were 8th best in the league last year in forcing TOs but were 26th in Blocked Shots. If we can be in the top 10 in forced TOs again this year, and move up to top 15 in Blocked Shots with Yao and a backup center, your defense is in pretty good shape...
I'd get him checked out and make sure it's not a major problem, but if he checked out, I offer him the full MLE. He's a really good player, and he'd be coming home.
1. resign scola and lowry 2. Watch summer league to get a sense of where some of our younger guys can fit in this year (can Hill be a 5? Can Budinger create? Will Taylor be able to shoot from distance? Once we have a clearer picture of who can contribute next season, we'll know better how good we'll be. If one of them explodes during the summer like Greene did it could up their trade stock) 3. Sign Brad Miller to a cheap deal. 4. Go to battle with what we have and hope yao stays healthy. 5a. If it looks like Yao is back and will stay healthy, use trading chips to sign another star to put us over the top before the deadline. 5b. If Yao goes down again, we should start looking at life without yao, which means keeps our young guys and picks to start rebuilding. I don't have a clear idea of which star could put us over the top, but I do know we have to be patient. Last year we all were hoping for AI or Butler, and we got Martin instead, who most people didn't think was availabe and I think is a better option. I don't think Jefferson is the answer. Knee injury aside, he's too slow to play next to yao and not enough of an upgrade over Scola to justify giving up a whole lot to get him.
I like HIll as well, but he has to show me a lot in the summer league to believe he will be a consistent contributor. Perkins might miss the start of the 2010 season, but if fully recovered he is a quality backup for the playoffs. Which is why we still sign BMiller. Just a suggestion, and a guy to keep an eye out for.
I agree. I am glad we did not get Bosh. As I thought all along he is going to be over paid... if we were to win a ring or 2 then I would live with it. Let the attention pass on the FA and get a valuable person worth the money. I like our team as is anyways. all we need is a small upgrade and hopefully we will see the "dream team" in the finals and show them what clutch city is all about
That's good stuff right there.... But like i said.. our defense was terrible last year.. i agree 110% with that. But, i think once you factor in a big man to defend the paint, our defense will just improve. BTW...just so we're on the same page... i definitely would NOT give up SCOLA to bring in LEE or Jefferson. I dont even think LEE would be a good fit here. Jefferson can be helpful off the bench, but too pricey to come off the bench.
