I know of no specific reports that indicate these teams would even give this trade a passing glance. However, I think I can give some good reasons why they might consider it. Houston sends Mobley/Rice/Taylor to Toronto. Toronto sends Davis/Murray/Hunter to Houston. Toronto sends Alvin Williams to Seattle. Seattle sends Jerome James to Toronto. Houston gets a tough veteran PF in Davis to play alongside Yao Ming & a sweet shooting SF in Murray. Murray plays no defense, but with a front line of Ming/Davis, who cares? Hunter's contract expires at the end of the year, which would allow us to keep about $3.3 million of Rice's cap relief (keeping us under the Luxury Tax), & he can play some backup PG. Davis's contract is one year shorter than Taylor's & expires at the same time Ming & Nachbar's (assuming we resign him) new contracts kick in. By the time Davis's contract expires, either Griffin or Badiane should be ready to take over the PF position, assuming that JVG can teach them well. We can pick up one of the very good veteran FA SG's for the veteran's minimum to replace Mobley. As for trading Mobley, something that no one has brought up, is the fact that he has a player option in 2 years. If he's still putting up the numbers that he's been doing, I'd have to expect him to opt' out of the final year of his contract that pays him $6.3 million. I'm not positive, but if he does that, I think we lose his Bird Rights, which means we'll lose him out right. Griffin's new contract will have kicked in by then, not to mention any #1 picks & FA's that we've signed. Thus, leaving us no cap room to resign him. Add to that, Ming & Nachbar's new contracts kick in the next year, & we'd be drowning in Luxury Tax Lake, if we could resign him. Hmmm.... Toronto has been looking to add depth to their guard rotation & Mobley would definitely fix that need. They were very interested in him when he was a FA & his contract is very friendly. It's being reported that they are planning on buying out Hunter's final year. By trading for Rice, they get a veteran SF with an expiring contract that would give them an extra $6+ million in cap space next year & eliminate the need to buy out Hunter's contract. The cap relief gives them some room to operate in free agency next year. With the pending retirement of Montross, Toronto picks up a solid young center in James, that can score, rebound, & block shots for a salary that's less than the league average. They also pick up a much younger PF in Taylor that has good size, a nice shooting touch, & a very good hook shot. His main weakness is his lack of rebounding, but James can make up for that. This trade makes Toronto a much younger team & upgrades 2 positions, while downgrading one position, which should allow Bosh to get more minutes. As for trading away Alvin Williams, they can fill the void by resigning Rafer Alston. Seattle gets a much needed PG & trades away one of their 4 centers. I know it won't happen, but would you consider it?
For Seattle....it is very good. Jerome James isn't that great anyways. Alvin Williams would help a lot in Seattle. For Toronto.....they will have Jerome Williams, Maurice Taylor, Jerome James, and of course Chris Bosh. That is not bad at all! But that's a lot of payroll... I have always wanted Antonio Davis. But everyone says he is too old at 33? Or 35? And he makes 12 million a year. Murray? He is uhhh.. He's okay. He is at the same level as all of our other small forwards and shooting guards! Sucky! Lindsey Hunter's contract expires so that is good. I guess he could bring some experience. Francis/Hunter/Norris Jackson/Piatkowski AGriffin/Murray/Nachbar Davis/EGriffin Yao/Cato I like the trade...and then if we sign either Jimmy Jackson or Stephen Jackson...we could be all right. We still won't be as good as the other teams. And we are helping our rival.....the Supersonics. It's a good trade but not gonna happen anyways. EDIT: Tell Raptors to give us a 2nd rounder too. Or why not Mengke Bateer?!?
I think Mobley is worth more than Davis. I guess part of that might just be my home town spirt, but why trade a 20pt scorer for a player who spends more time on the I.R. than on the court? Mobley can play just about any position, just ask him to play with his heart, and he will be swatting away shots from the center position. (hey it could happen...) I don't see the point of making a trade for the excuse of making a trade, and I think that he loves Houston and this team enough that he won't try to opt out of his contract. Hell if money is an issue, he can always sign with Steve's record label.
We are talking about the same Davis, right? Antonio Davis? He was injured last year & missed 29 games, but prior to that, he missed no more than 5 games in any one of the previous 7 years, while averaging about 30 mpg. Last year, he averaged 13.9 ppg, 8.2 rpg, & 1.17 bpg. I'd say he'd be a real nice compliment to Yao Ming.
EHH... he is getting old... His contract is kind of big although 2 years are left... i dont think i would trade him for mobley... He would be a nice compliment to Yao... But how do we know that Eddie Griffin is going to break out... These were Antonio's Stats from his first two years in the NBA... PPG RBG BPG MPG ANTONIO DAVIS 93-94 7.7 6.2 1.04 21.4 played 81 games.. 94-95 7.6 6.4 .66 23.4 played 44 games.. PPG RBG BPG MPG EDDIE GRIFFIN 01-02 8.8 5.7 1.84 26.0 played in 73 games.. 02-03 8.6 6.0 1.44 24.5 played in 77 games.. I say that Griffin is going to be a great power forward... His only problem was that he came out to early... i dont think he was physically and mentally ready for the NBA... i think i heard that his brother died before he went to college... Well Eddie i think he still drags that pain around so mentally he is not ready yet... Physically he is still weak... I say Eddie Griffin should be ready this year or next year... I just keep cat and look to the future with eddie
this is a horrible trade for us. i wouldnt even trade taylor for davis straight up. davis is past his prime and could probably only contribute for 2-3 more years. mo taylor has much more talent and all he needs is to get tougher inside. by adding mobley in the deal we would be raping ourselves even more. sorry but this trade is ridiculous.
Antonio Davis is an albatross because of his contract and his rapidly declining productivity due to age and injury. Hell, Toronto would probably give him away if we asked, but no thanks.
Davis would a mistake. An old over the Hill Player is not a good fit for a Rox starting position. IMHO
Seattle has Ridnour and Daniels at the point, as well as Brent Barry, and a suddenly ball-dominating Ray Allen. I don't think they have space for Alvin Williams. Also, I think Toronto's roster is full, so they wouldn't be able to take back so many extra players without cutting someone they signed a few days ago. Jerome James for Alvin Williams? I think that if you send an unprotected first rounder, or Brent Barry, or Antonio Daniels from Seattle to Houston, then the whole deal falls into place.
