Not sure if it's possible or of his status, but I'd like to see us get Bobby Simmons somehow. Also, anyone ever thought about Berry running the point? Just a thought.
Simmons agreed to terms with the Bucks. And Barry can't play the point. Well, at least not for anything more than a few possessions. He's too slow and his handles aren't that good.
Bring in Jason Williams of Memphis. I loved his game in Sacramento, though he was too wild then. I think he's matured and toned his game down in Memphis, and in the right situation could be one of the best point guards in the league. He is definitely a fantastic passer, which is needed. Imagine him feeding Tracy, Yao, and Stromile. I think the other Williams would be an interesting choice also, Jay Williams of Chicago. His health scares me, but the article I read on him recently made it sound like he was really training hard and was getting in pretty good shape, even jumping over 40 inch barriers. Just imagine if he can still play and stealing the number 2 pick away that was chosen after Yao Ming (and some thought he should have been #1.) Might be worth a gamble if they could get him fairly cheap...
I like the idea of playing Sura at the 2 and DS at the 1. David Wesley is done in the playoffs. He is more of a tweener at this stage of his career than Luther Head. He is too slow to play the 1, and too short to play the 2. He's OK in the regular season but was exposed in the playoffs. His defense was exploited and his shot was gone under playoff defense. If we stand pat with Sura and Wesley, the same thing that happened in the playoffs will happen again. Smaller and quicker guards like Terry would blow past Sura. Bigger shooting guards like Stackhouse would shoot over Wesley. We deserve it because we are playing a shooting guard at the 1 and a point guard at the 2. Things will reverse if we get DS and play Sura at the 2. We'd have the first backcourt in years that features a legit pg and a legit sg, and we increase our talent level with the move, even if Wesley is gone in a S&T for DS. However, I don't know why Portland would want Wesley. Put it this way, Stoudamire is a younger, better player than David Wesley. That's why the Rockets should try get him, with or without Wesley in the package.
Particularly if DA is a lux tax cut, Portland really needs a vet to teach and bridge their very young guards. DW would be a nice 1 year player providing stability and leadership for them. Throw in the NY2nd or maybe our 1st round pick next year. If I were them I'd take that over losing DS for nothing. I don't mind if we keep DW (say if DS signs for the LLE), but he would be the most logical of our three under contract guards to go in a trade for a PG. Mike James would be the 2nd choice for such a deal, but Portland would not get a pick in that deal (strait up trade) and they need a PG less than a SG anyway.
Leebigez: I don't see how you can remain glued to your guns after everyone (especially Nike) has countered all of your points. If you are arguing just for the sake of debate, then that's cool, but I don't know how you can keep advocating your stance of NVE or Knight over Damon. It's real simple - Knight cannot shoot. We need a pg that is a legitimate threat to shoot... and I'm not talking little 18 footers, I'm talkin 3 pointers. We were ranked in the top 5 in many defensive categories last year - especially with the addition of Swift, defense is not a huge concern for us. On the other hand, we were ranked 20th in some key offensive categories... clearly our offense needs improvement and Stoudamire is a great fit to make it happen. Hopefully he takes a pay cut to get here.
if DS doesn't want the LLE . . . CD: Stand Pat. Avoid trades for DS. The LLE will be more and more valuable as the summer progresses.
DS, you make some good points there. Ultimately I would love to upgrade the SG position, but by brining in DS I see where eventually that would help the SG spot.
I'm a huge Mike James fan and i'm OKAY with a Sura/James/Head combination if adding Stoudamire falls through, but I hope it doesn't. I really think Stoudamire could be the guy that puts us over the top and could potentially have a Steve Nash-like-effect on this team. What put Nash over the top this year in Phoenix is he went from a soft, primarily jump shooting Dallas team to a more athletic, quicker and aggressive Phoenix team that loved to run & gun. Now i'm not saying we need to turn the Rockets into a R&G team, but Stoudamire can run it very well and with top athletes like T-Mac, Swift---having that ability is certainly a positive. What he lacks in defensive ability he more than gives back with his quickness, ability to run an offense and shooting. I may be getting a little ahead of myself here but I see no reason why Stoudamire wouldn't be top 5 in assists as a Rocket. With rumors floating around about the LLE, we're talking a ridiculous fraction of the money he's actually worth. When you're talking that cheap, you really can't go wrong.
I agree in part. If Stoud doesn't want the MLE we can explore a S&T with either Wesley or James to create a roster spot. Then we bring back Barry. My preference is DW + NY2nd for Stoud (our possibly our 06 1st, it is going to be like #27-#30 anyway, practically a 2nd rounder). Second choice is James for Stoud strait up. If I were Portland I'd take the DW + pick as they are in more need of a SG. Recognize if we sign DS for the LLE it is more than likely we don't bring back Barry, because Sura and DW would be our vet 2s. One way or the other if DS comes more than likely DW, James or Barry does not come back. I do agree if we don't get DS I want to be patient with the LLE. We just might be able to pick up Finley, Spree, Houston (if he is healthy enough to contribute) or Kittles (ditto) with it for a bargain price late in free agency, as we did with Jim Jackson.
Why does everybody want Damon? Because he's still a damn good basketball player, and we need a real point guard badly.
Any available point guard is going to have his pros & cons, DS is no different. I think what makes him intriguing is he has played with TMac and TMac would like to see him in a rockets uniform. DS has a home here and he has expressed interest in playing here. When you have a good team that may only require a little tweeking to take the next step, chemistry is soooo important and I think he would be an asset to the club. Besides I remember about a decade or so back that Portland had a guard who wanted to play for Houston and our star player back then was in favor of such a move, and I believe that worked out OK.
what jvg and the Rockets are about is team defense so just give up on the argument that stoudamire will be this great thorn in the side of one of the best team defenses in the league last year. i mean hell, jon barry and juwan howard look like decent defenders in jvg's system so stoudamire sure is not going to be a negative out there on defense. he may just turn into a pesk in the lanes under the tutelage of jvg.
speaking of damon...whatever happened to jason gardner....wasn't he supposed to be better than damon in arizona ....if nobody wants damon, we should sign gardner then
The guy makes good movies like Bourne Supremacy and Bourne Identity and not to mention he actually put up a front that being friends with Ben Affleck isn't too bad. What? I got the wrong Damon? Wait.....
