6/29/2009
Speechless
I know, the idea is writing a post when you have nothing to say is counter-intuitive at best and downright stupid at worst, but something needs to be said. I just don't know what. We found out this morning that Yao is going to miss most if not all of next season and maybe even more after that. And this comes on the tail end of what has to be one of the most depressing weeks man has had to withstand in recent memory. I'm not comparing Yao's injured foot to the death of Farrah Fawcett, Michael Jackson and Billy Mays. Screw it, that's exactly what I'm doing. It may seem disrespectful or unsentimental or whatever else you want to say about it, but Yao's career ending means just as much to me as any of the other events that have transpired this week. And yes, there are some problems that need to be talked about, some ailments that can be cured by discussion, but this isn't one of them. This isn't something that's going to be changing anytime soon. We now know for sure what we've feared for the past five years: Yao's feet can't take his lifestyle. They can't take his size. They can't take the pounding he gets every year, ever day. Sooner or later, this was bound to happen. We're just unlucky enough that it was sooner. We can sit here and complain about why one of the most talented 7 footers ever can't get on the floor while someone like Dwight Howard, with no real discernible offensive skills other thank dunking the ball, has missed less than 20 games his whole career. We can spend all day wondering, like we have so many times before, how good we could have been if Yao and Mcgrady had just been healthy together once. But, at the end of the day, none of that is going to change the reality that we're going to have to eventually face. The reality that the face of our organization, maybe even of the entire city, is most likely very, very close to being finished with the game of basketball. So at some point, we'll have a real post up, explaining what this means to us andthanking Yao if his career is actually over, but now's not the time for that. Right now we hope that by some miracle the news is wrong and that Yao's going to be back next year, hobbling around and fading to the baseline like he always has, as unlikely as it may be. Right now, this is all we have to say. Get well soon Yao.
6/26/2009
Hedo 2.0
Since the Magic have just traded for Vince Carter, I feel obliged to revisit the idea of trying to sign Hedo Turkoglu. And if you think I'm just using this Carter deal as an excuse to talk about Hedo, you know me too well. The Magic's total salary, with Vince Carter and Ryan Anderson included, is at about 68 million dollars for the 2009-10 season, with the luxury tax line being about 69 million dollars next year. In other words, they're going to be paying Hedo virtually twice as much as his actual contract, as every dollar over the luxury tax means another dollar spent. For example, if Hedo signed a deal for 8 million dollars, it would put the Magic roughly 7 million dollars over the luxury tax, which means they'd have to pay 7 million extra dollars. So essentially, Hedo's contract would cost them 15 million dollars next season. And as much as I love Hedo, he is by no means a 15 million dollar player. Not at this age. Not in this economy. Which is why I believe the Magic are going to let him walk. They're going to try and resign Gortat, fill out the rest of their roster with minimum salaries and hope that they'll be able to compete in the Eastern Conference. And they will be.
Since we're on the topic, I'd like to quickly touch on the Carter trade. Of course it's an upgrade for the Magic. It's tough to lose Courtney Lee, but Ryan Anderson is no slouch. He's a power forward who can shoot the three, which mean's he'll thrive in the Magic's offensive system. And as for basically replacing Turkoglu with Carter, as much as I love Turkoglu, he's no Vince Carter. Turkoglu averaged 17-5-5 this year on 40 percent shooting while handling the ball on nearly every possession he was in the game for the Magic. Carter averaged 20-5-5 on 44 percent shooting even though Devin Harris had the ball in his hands for most of the game. Put Carter in Hedo's position with Hedo's role and he'll get you 23-6-6 with better percentages. And as for Hedo being a better shooter, that might have been true earlier on in their careers, but it's certainly not anymore. Over the last two years Carter's three point shooting has either been comparable or better than Hedo's, as last year he shot 40 percent from beyond the arc while Hedo only shot 35. Part of that is Carter's shot getting better as his athleticism slowly leaves him, but the main reason is the kind of threes that each takes. Carter has never had the luxury of waiting around at the three point line for a star to get him a wide open three, like Hedo had early in his career, Carter has always had to beat his man off the dribble and pull up for the three himself, which is significantly harder. Now, since teams are more aware of Hedo Turkoglu as a threat, he's not getting wide open threes anymore, thus the drop in shooting percentage. Carter, on the other hand, hasn't been the focus of an offense for quite some time now, as that burden belonged to Devin Harris and now to Dwight Howard. That means he'll get cleaner, better looks at the basket and it'll be reflected in his three point percentage. As good and as unique of a player as Hedo Turkoglu is, Vince Carter makes this team better. Losing Courtney Lee is probably the worst part of this deal, as he showed a lot of promise his rookie season, but Carter over Turkoglu is a no-brainer.
But back on point. If the Magic follow the path I just outlined for them, that would leave Hedo Turkoglu unsigned and up for grabs, which is where we step in. We have 55 million dollars on the books for next season, which gives is about 14 million dollars to spend before we have to pay the luxury tax. Assuming we give both Chase Budinger and Jermaine Taylor roster spots, it's safe to add on another million to our payroll. That still leaves us with 13 million dollars to spend on free agency, and that's where things get tricky. Von Wafer's going to get a bit of that money, something like 4 million dollars a year. He's probably worth a lot more, but there aren't too many buyers out there who are willing to spend a lot more. Thus, Von, too be perfectly blunt, is stuck with us. Which would leave us with 9 million dollars to spend. Our easiest option would be to resign Artest and move on with trying to trade Mcgrady. A more difficult and more potentially beneficial option would be to go after Turkoglu and offer him a contract comparable to any other offer that he's going to get along with giving him the chance to stay on a team contending for the championship.
As much as I love Ron and as much as I appreciate what he did for us this year, I think that if we have the chance to acquire Turkoglu we should take it. He gives us the fourth quarter scorer we've needed so badly and is an excellent three point shooter, which is essential to our offense. He's also a deft playmaker, which is an added bonus that's value isn't to be taken lightly when you consider Aaron Brooks' passing limitations. All in all I think that the Magic have inadvertently but consciously given other teams the option to make a run at Turkoglu, and I think we need to take advantage of that. When I suggested this before, it was a long-shot and really more of a daydream than an actual, viable option. Now, we have the opportunity to add a power forward with the passing ability of a point guard as well as a smooth outside shot and a knack for coming up big in the clutch, and we need make the most of it.
Since we're on the topic, I'd like to quickly touch on the Carter trade. Of course it's an upgrade for the Magic. It's tough to lose Courtney Lee, but Ryan Anderson is no slouch. He's a power forward who can shoot the three, which mean's he'll thrive in the Magic's offensive system. And as for basically replacing Turkoglu with Carter, as much as I love Turkoglu, he's no Vince Carter. Turkoglu averaged 17-5-5 this year on 40 percent shooting while handling the ball on nearly every possession he was in the game for the Magic. Carter averaged 20-5-5 on 44 percent shooting even though Devin Harris had the ball in his hands for most of the game. Put Carter in Hedo's position with Hedo's role and he'll get you 23-6-6 with better percentages. And as for Hedo being a better shooter, that might have been true earlier on in their careers, but it's certainly not anymore. Over the last two years Carter's three point shooting has either been comparable or better than Hedo's, as last year he shot 40 percent from beyond the arc while Hedo only shot 35. Part of that is Carter's shot getting better as his athleticism slowly leaves him, but the main reason is the kind of threes that each takes. Carter has never had the luxury of waiting around at the three point line for a star to get him a wide open three, like Hedo had early in his career, Carter has always had to beat his man off the dribble and pull up for the three himself, which is significantly harder. Now, since teams are more aware of Hedo Turkoglu as a threat, he's not getting wide open threes anymore, thus the drop in shooting percentage. Carter, on the other hand, hasn't been the focus of an offense for quite some time now, as that burden belonged to Devin Harris and now to Dwight Howard. That means he'll get cleaner, better looks at the basket and it'll be reflected in his three point percentage. As good and as unique of a player as Hedo Turkoglu is, Vince Carter makes this team better. Losing Courtney Lee is probably the worst part of this deal, as he showed a lot of promise his rookie season, but Carter over Turkoglu is a no-brainer.
But back on point. If the Magic follow the path I just outlined for them, that would leave Hedo Turkoglu unsigned and up for grabs, which is where we step in. We have 55 million dollars on the books for next season, which gives is about 14 million dollars to spend before we have to pay the luxury tax. Assuming we give both Chase Budinger and Jermaine Taylor roster spots, it's safe to add on another million to our payroll. That still leaves us with 13 million dollars to spend on free agency, and that's where things get tricky. Von Wafer's going to get a bit of that money, something like 4 million dollars a year. He's probably worth a lot more, but there aren't too many buyers out there who are willing to spend a lot more. Thus, Von, too be perfectly blunt, is stuck with us. Which would leave us with 9 million dollars to spend. Our easiest option would be to resign Artest and move on with trying to trade Mcgrady. A more difficult and more potentially beneficial option would be to go after Turkoglu and offer him a contract comparable to any other offer that he's going to get along with giving him the chance to stay on a team contending for the championship.
As much as I love Ron and as much as I appreciate what he did for us this year, I think that if we have the chance to acquire Turkoglu we should take it. He gives us the fourth quarter scorer we've needed so badly and is an excellent three point shooter, which is essential to our offense. He's also a deft playmaker, which is an added bonus that's value isn't to be taken lightly when you consider Aaron Brooks' passing limitations. All in all I think that the Magic have inadvertently but consciously given other teams the option to make a run at Turkoglu, and I think we need to take advantage of that. When I suggested this before, it was a long-shot and really more of a daydream than an actual, viable option. Now, we have the opportunity to add a power forward with the passing ability of a point guard as well as a smooth outside shot and a knack for coming up big in the clutch, and we need make the most of it.
6/25/2009
Draft Day
After an unpredictable and oddly entertaining NBA Draft, I've got a few thoughts I'd like to talk about. None of them involving Darko Milicic's trade to the New York Knicks.
First things first, I was at the Rockets Draft Party at the House of Blues. Joey Dorsey was there and I got him to sign my shirt, I caught a Rockets towel from the Power Dancers and I was interviewed by chron.com, which was probably the highlight of my night. Check for the video sometime tomorrow morning, there's some expert analysis in there from yours truly. Apparently Daryl Morey actually watches these videos so I got to throw my Pistons trade idea at him as well as beg him to somehow pull off the Amare trade. Now onto the actual draft.
What the hell were the Timberwolves doing? Apparently they've already sent Lawson to the Nuggets and are working on a deal with the Knicks for Rubio, but how necessary was it to take three point guards with your three picks in the first round? Were they just trying to screw with their fans? Are the Nuggets and Knicks really that desperate for Lawson and Rubio? Does anyone actually want any players on the Knicks roster anyways? What did the Timberwolves gain from drafting and trading Lawson and most likely Rubio instead of just drafting two other good players?
Since we're on the topic of Ty Lawson, Billy and I were discussing how we thought he'd be a good player if he was put on a good team. Well, he's on a good team. Now all that's left is the first half of that sentence, which is being a good player. I like him as an understudy to Chauncey and think he'll be ready to run the team in 2-3 years when Billups' deterioration really starts to pick up.
A little more on Ty Lawson. It's a little saddening to know that Lawson and UNC teammate Wayne Ellington won't stay together in the NBA. For the Timberwolves to reunite North Carolina's backcourt through the draft only to break it up again a few hours later was just cruel.
We just had three paragraphs centered around Ty Lawson. That should tell you all you need to know about this year's draft.
I called Indiana picking Tyler Hansbrough. I said that they would take the best available white guy to go along with Mike Dunleavy, Troy Murphy and Jeff Foster, and they took Hansbrough. I just love it when my thoroughly un-researched, unfounded and downright unintelligent guesses happen to be right by some random stroke of luck.
I was disappointed that the Rockets didn't trade up for a draft pick. After spending a week convincing myself we were going to get James Harden, I was actually a little surprised when we didn't. I knew we really had little to no shot of getting him, but I was still somehow expecting it to happen, if that makes any sense.
When the news that the Suns and Warriors were working on a deal that included Amare Stoudemire was announced at least half of the people in attendance booed. Now I'm just guessing here, but I think we really wanted Amare.
The Red Rowdies were present and had a full table to themselves, doing all sorts of rowdy, red activities. They look at lot more subdued in person. Go figure.
Brandon Jennings being brought in after he was originally not allowed inside the green room was one of the more entertaining moments of the night. The awkward introduction by Stern, the interview that was about four picks too late, Brandon Jennings not being there in the first place when he was almost an assured top-15 pick, all of it really meshed together into a high comedy moment.
We've gotten two second round draft picks so far: Jermaine Taylor and Sergio Llull. I'm not going to pretend that I know anything about either of them, but Taylor averaged 26 a game last year. And for some reason, Llull gives me Vasileios Spanoulis flashbacks. Which means I'm going to spend the next week and a half watching highlights of him and talking myself into him, only to have him never, you know, actually come and play for us for an extended amount of time.
A little side note here, if we get Amare, or Amar'e, he's going to have to remove that apostrophe from his name. It's a little ridiculous. Almost as ridiculous as taking three point guards in the first round.
And so it begins. Welcome to Houston, "Spanish Jordan." And let's not forget our other draft pick.
And we just bought Chase Budinger. Normally, I'd be doubtful that any championship building plan would be centered around buying three second round draft picks, but with Morey, anything's possible. And here are your Budinger highlights.
I'm starting to realize that in order for Budinger to become a regular contributor, he's going to need a roster spot. James White's roster spot. I'm torn. I love "Flight," but Budinger has a lot of potential and is already a more well-rounded player. Sorry James, Chase gets the rotation spot and the minutes. I'm going to go cry in a corner now.
How the hell did the Heat wind up with the last pick in the NBA Draft? They've had nothing remotely close to the best record in the NBA. It's the little things like this that confuse me. And the big things. Like the Timberwolves drafting three point guards in the first round. Whoops, I think I might have used that one a few times already. To hell with it, it needs to be said more than once.
Blake Griffin's brother, Taylor Griffin, was also in this draft. Too bad nobody said a word about him. In the irony of ironies, the Suns selected Griffin. In case you forgot, the Suns also have Robin Lopez. Or, as I like to call him, Not Brook Lopez. That's the second year in a row in which they've gotten the wrong brother. One has to sympathize.
And congratulations to Robert Dozier, the last pick in the 2009 NBA Draft. In three years you will either be averaging 35 a game for a D-League team, working at a local 7/11 or actually playing an important role on an NBA team. But probably not that last one. Good luck to you. And to all the other 59 draft picks. But mostly just our three. And to you, Dozier, always to you.
I'm ordering a Robert Horry jersey t-shirt. Just because. Anyone know where I can get one?
My favorite part of the draft has to be Adam Silver relieving David Stern somewhere around the start of the second round. Does Stern get tired? Does he get bored? How hard can it be to walk up to a podium and say fourteen words 60 times? How necessary is Silver coming in to replace Stern? It baffles me almost as much as the Timberwolves taking three point guards in the first round. Alright I'm done. I really am.
Before we finish off, I'd like to point out that someone actually stepped on Chase Budinger's face. Whoever this Aubrey Coleman fellow is, I don't like him. That's our Chase, you can't do that to him.
And with that, it looks like we're done. The 2009 NBA Draft was certainly an eventful one, even though it will probably be better remembered for the huge deals that were made in the days preceding it. I was looking forward to the Rockets grabbing a mid-first round pick, but I'll settle for Llull and Taylor. And Budinger, of course. Well not really, but I'm too busy hoping/praying for Amare (Amar'e) that it doesn't really matter to me.
First things first, I was at the Rockets Draft Party at the House of Blues. Joey Dorsey was there and I got him to sign my shirt, I caught a Rockets towel from the Power Dancers and I was interviewed by chron.com, which was probably the highlight of my night. Check for the video sometime tomorrow morning, there's some expert analysis in there from yours truly. Apparently Daryl Morey actually watches these videos so I got to throw my Pistons trade idea at him as well as beg him to somehow pull off the Amare trade. Now onto the actual draft.
What the hell were the Timberwolves doing? Apparently they've already sent Lawson to the Nuggets and are working on a deal with the Knicks for Rubio, but how necessary was it to take three point guards with your three picks in the first round? Were they just trying to screw with their fans? Are the Nuggets and Knicks really that desperate for Lawson and Rubio? Does anyone actually want any players on the Knicks roster anyways? What did the Timberwolves gain from drafting and trading Lawson and most likely Rubio instead of just drafting two other good players?
Since we're on the topic of Ty Lawson, Billy and I were discussing how we thought he'd be a good player if he was put on a good team. Well, he's on a good team. Now all that's left is the first half of that sentence, which is being a good player. I like him as an understudy to Chauncey and think he'll be ready to run the team in 2-3 years when Billups' deterioration really starts to pick up.
A little more on Ty Lawson. It's a little saddening to know that Lawson and UNC teammate Wayne Ellington won't stay together in the NBA. For the Timberwolves to reunite North Carolina's backcourt through the draft only to break it up again a few hours later was just cruel.
We just had three paragraphs centered around Ty Lawson. That should tell you all you need to know about this year's draft.
I called Indiana picking Tyler Hansbrough. I said that they would take the best available white guy to go along with Mike Dunleavy, Troy Murphy and Jeff Foster, and they took Hansbrough. I just love it when my thoroughly un-researched, unfounded and downright unintelligent guesses happen to be right by some random stroke of luck.
I was disappointed that the Rockets didn't trade up for a draft pick. After spending a week convincing myself we were going to get James Harden, I was actually a little surprised when we didn't. I knew we really had little to no shot of getting him, but I was still somehow expecting it to happen, if that makes any sense.
When the news that the Suns and Warriors were working on a deal that included Amare Stoudemire was announced at least half of the people in attendance booed. Now I'm just guessing here, but I think we really wanted Amare.
The Red Rowdies were present and had a full table to themselves, doing all sorts of rowdy, red activities. They look at lot more subdued in person. Go figure.
Brandon Jennings being brought in after he was originally not allowed inside the green room was one of the more entertaining moments of the night. The awkward introduction by Stern, the interview that was about four picks too late, Brandon Jennings not being there in the first place when he was almost an assured top-15 pick, all of it really meshed together into a high comedy moment.
We've gotten two second round draft picks so far: Jermaine Taylor and Sergio Llull. I'm not going to pretend that I know anything about either of them, but Taylor averaged 26 a game last year. And for some reason, Llull gives me Vasileios Spanoulis flashbacks. Which means I'm going to spend the next week and a half watching highlights of him and talking myself into him, only to have him never, you know, actually come and play for us for an extended amount of time.
A little side note here, if we get Amare, or Amar'e, he's going to have to remove that apostrophe from his name. It's a little ridiculous. Almost as ridiculous as taking three point guards in the first round.
And so it begins. Welcome to Houston, "Spanish Jordan." And let's not forget our other draft pick.
And we just bought Chase Budinger. Normally, I'd be doubtful that any championship building plan would be centered around buying three second round draft picks, but with Morey, anything's possible. And here are your Budinger highlights.
I'm starting to realize that in order for Budinger to become a regular contributor, he's going to need a roster spot. James White's roster spot. I'm torn. I love "Flight," but Budinger has a lot of potential and is already a more well-rounded player. Sorry James, Chase gets the rotation spot and the minutes. I'm going to go cry in a corner now.
How the hell did the Heat wind up with the last pick in the NBA Draft? They've had nothing remotely close to the best record in the NBA. It's the little things like this that confuse me. And the big things. Like the Timberwolves drafting three point guards in the first round. Whoops, I think I might have used that one a few times already. To hell with it, it needs to be said more than once.
Blake Griffin's brother, Taylor Griffin, was also in this draft. Too bad nobody said a word about him. In the irony of ironies, the Suns selected Griffin. In case you forgot, the Suns also have Robin Lopez. Or, as I like to call him, Not Brook Lopez. That's the second year in a row in which they've gotten the wrong brother. One has to sympathize.
And congratulations to Robert Dozier, the last pick in the 2009 NBA Draft. In three years you will either be averaging 35 a game for a D-League team, working at a local 7/11 or actually playing an important role on an NBA team. But probably not that last one. Good luck to you. And to all the other 59 draft picks. But mostly just our three. And to you, Dozier, always to you.
I'm ordering a Robert Horry jersey t-shirt. Just because. Anyone know where I can get one?
My favorite part of the draft has to be Adam Silver relieving David Stern somewhere around the start of the second round. Does Stern get tired? Does he get bored? How hard can it be to walk up to a podium and say fourteen words 60 times? How necessary is Silver coming in to replace Stern? It baffles me almost as much as the Timberwolves taking three point guards in the first round. Alright I'm done. I really am.
Before we finish off, I'd like to point out that someone actually stepped on Chase Budinger's face. Whoever this Aubrey Coleman fellow is, I don't like him. That's our Chase, you can't do that to him.
And with that, it looks like we're done. The 2009 NBA Draft was certainly an eventful one, even though it will probably be better remembered for the huge deals that were made in the days preceding it. I was looking forward to the Rockets grabbing a mid-first round pick, but I'll settle for Llull and Taylor. And Budinger, of course. Well not really, but I'm too busy hoping/praying for Amare (Amar'e) that it doesn't really matter to me.
Amare Stoudamire?
According to the same source that disclosed Terry Porter was about to be fired as Suns coach, the Rockets are leaning toward swapping Tracy McGrady's expiring $22M contract, Carl Landry and Aaron Brooks for Leandro Barbosa and Amare Stoudemire, who owns an escape clause after next season and is demanding an extension this summer to waive it.
(New York Post)
Not to boast or anything, but we predicted this trade here.
I would pretty much be happy with any trade that involves TMAC, but this is great because we get a dominant player that is still young. Amare could contribute for 7-8 more years if we resign him. He also has the ability to play center and could shift their when Yao suffers his next inevitable injury or misses time for his current injury.
(New York Post)
Not to boast or anything, but we predicted this trade here.
I would pretty much be happy with any trade that involves TMAC, but this is great because we get a dominant player that is still young. Amare could contribute for 7-8 more years if we resign him. He also has the ability to play center and could shift their when Yao suffers his next inevitable injury or misses time for his current injury.
More About Yao's Feet
Evidently someone up there isn't done tormenting us. Yao's foot isn't healing the way it should be. I was hoping this would be, like so many of Yao's other season-ending or season-ruining injuries, something that would be over and done with by the start of the new season. But apparently, that might not be the case. He's out "indefinitely" right now and they don't even have a timetable for him to return to basketball activities, let alone be able to play in NBA basketball games. So, if you couldn't guess, this is bad. Very, very, very bad. As in possibly career-ruining bad. As in if that happens, franchise-crippling bad. As in, all of those ideas we've been pitching around are utterly worthless if Great Wall isn't dominating the paint for us next year. There's no point in having the best supporting cast in the NBA if we're without the best center in the NBA. But I'm (hopefully) getting ahead of myself. All we know as of now is that Yao's foot is going to take a little longer to heal. Nothing more, nothing less. The rest is all just speculation on my part. Frightening, disconcerting and downright depressing speculation. Get well soon, Yao.
6/23/2009
Spurs Get Jefferson, Panic Ensues (And Other Draft Week Chaos)
Early today on Sportscenter, I saw that the Spurs had acquired Richard Jefferson from the Bucks for the expiring contracts of Bruce Bowen, Fabricio Oberto and Kurt Thomas. And, if I'm not mistaken, I think they also threw in a 25 dollar gift card to Best Buy. You know, just to sweeten the deal. This was clearly a financial move by the Bucks, as it gives them cap space for the free agent apocolypse that is the summer of 2010 as well as to resign players this year. This deal affects us in two ways. The obvious one is that our hopes for a wide-open Southwest Division next year were just shot. The second, more sneaky way it affects us is that now the Bucks have enough cap space to resign Ramon Sessions. Who, if you didn't know, is very, very, very good. So good that if we could somehow swap Brooks for Sessions straight up I'd do it in less time than it takes for Mcgrady to hurt something.
In other news, Chad Ford says that we've offered Mcgrady and Landry to the Wizards for their 5th pick. As you can see, I'm grabbing onto anything that gets us a chance at landing James Harden. Anything. And that includes eight word sentences in 3,000 words of rumors that will most likely never happen.
And since we're tossing out situations that'd never happen, I have a few guys I'd like to get this offseason. I'd love Zaza Pachulia as a backup center. I want a point guard, and if Sessions is unavailable, I wouldn't mind making a run at Bibby. Or, as unlikely as it may be, Rajon Rondo, since the Celtics seem to be shopping him. Why not throw Mcgrady and Brooks at them and see if we can land Rondo? I also wouldn't mind Mike Miller. After suffering through a year in Minnesota, also known as "Basketball Hell" and "The Place That Slowly Sucked Away Kevin Garnett's Will To Live," people have seemingly forgotten how good Miller is. If we could get him relatively cheap I'd take him over Wafer and probably even Artest. And, lastly, at least for now, Chris Bosh. I know it's highly unlikely, but we do know he hates it in Toronto. Instead of risking losing him for nothing, why wouldn't Toronto take Mcgrady's expiring contract, which would still give them money to throw around in 2010 and an actual building block for Bosh?
I'd also like Paul Millsap. If we can get him for the mid-level exception there's no need to chase after someone like Pachulia. I know, he deserves and is going to want a lot more than the (around) 5.8 million that is the mid-level, so we don't have much of a shot at getting him unless we choose not to resign Ron, but if he doesn't know how much he's worth, there's no reason we should tell him.
And there goes my hopes for getting Mike Miller. The Wizards are sending off their 5th pick along with a group of bad contracts for Mike Miller and Randy Foye. I love this deal for both teams. The Wizards get Mike Miller, who, in case you haven't heard from me already, is very, very, very good. They also get Randy Foye, and even though I don't know how he's going to coexist with Arenas, he's still a talented player that you don't want to pass up on. The Timberwolves now have the 5th and 6th pick in the draft as well as the 18th pick, which means they could be bringing in two difference makers and another solid rotation player to build around Kevin Love and Al Jefferson. Merits for everyone. Except us. I really, really wanted Mike Miller. Damn.
(Trading for the fifth pick was the most plausible way we could get into the top of the draft. Now, the T'wolves have ruined that possibility. -Billy)
So in one move the Timberwolves took away two of our best and options for find a wing player to replace Mcgrady: James Harden through the draft and Mike Miller. Damn you, David Kahn, damn you. But in other news the Hawks have just traded for Jamal Crawford and his huge contract, meaning that they won't have as much money to resign Bibby. Which means we could throw the midlevel at him just for the hell of it and hope he signs with us. And since we're sort of on the topic of Golden State, apparently Anthony Randolph just grew an inch and added 20 pounds over the offseason. We're all screwed.
Also, as promised, here's the immediate needs for the Rockets, courtesy of Hoops World. And come to the Rockets NBA Draft Party Thursday night at the House of Blues, we should be there.
Or we could trade Mcgrady's expiring contract for Rip Hamilton and sign Rasheed Wallace to the mid-level exception. Or trade Mcgrady and whatever other semi-expendable pieces the Pistons want for Hamilton and Rasheed in a sign and trade. Whatever it takes to get Rip and 'Sheed here and T-Mac all the way over there.
Billy posted about this, but we might get Amare and Barbosa for Mcgrady, Brooks and Landry. We could bring Barbosa off the bench and use him as a Manu Ginobili type player, allowing him to make the plays at the ends of games and have a starting five of Lowry (a better pure point guard than Brooks), Von Wafer, Artest, Amare and Yao. With Battier, Scola, Barbosa and White coming off the bench. That's a very, very solid rotation.
The Orlando Magic have agreed on a trade with the New Jersey Nets that will send Vince Carter to the Magic. The kicker is that Rafer Alston is the centerpiece of the trade. So we indirectly helped the Magic get a starting five of Nelson, Carter, Turkoglu, Lewis and Howard. That's the whole damned Eastern Conference All-Star Team. Looks like Cleveland still isn't going to be winning the East anytime soon.
That's all for now, but I'll keep adding paragraphs and thoughts to this as the days progress and more rumors/random ideas I think of start popping up.
In other news, Chad Ford says that we've offered Mcgrady and Landry to the Wizards for their 5th pick. As you can see, I'm grabbing onto anything that gets us a chance at landing James Harden. Anything. And that includes eight word sentences in 3,000 words of rumors that will most likely never happen.
And since we're tossing out situations that'd never happen, I have a few guys I'd like to get this offseason. I'd love Zaza Pachulia as a backup center. I want a point guard, and if Sessions is unavailable, I wouldn't mind making a run at Bibby. Or, as unlikely as it may be, Rajon Rondo, since the Celtics seem to be shopping him. Why not throw Mcgrady and Brooks at them and see if we can land Rondo? I also wouldn't mind Mike Miller. After suffering through a year in Minnesota, also known as "Basketball Hell" and "The Place That Slowly Sucked Away Kevin Garnett's Will To Live," people have seemingly forgotten how good Miller is. If we could get him relatively cheap I'd take him over Wafer and probably even Artest. And, lastly, at least for now, Chris Bosh. I know it's highly unlikely, but we do know he hates it in Toronto. Instead of risking losing him for nothing, why wouldn't Toronto take Mcgrady's expiring contract, which would still give them money to throw around in 2010 and an actual building block for Bosh?
I'd also like Paul Millsap. If we can get him for the mid-level exception there's no need to chase after someone like Pachulia. I know, he deserves and is going to want a lot more than the (around) 5.8 million that is the mid-level, so we don't have much of a shot at getting him unless we choose not to resign Ron, but if he doesn't know how much he's worth, there's no reason we should tell him.
And there goes my hopes for getting Mike Miller. The Wizards are sending off their 5th pick along with a group of bad contracts for Mike Miller and Randy Foye. I love this deal for both teams. The Wizards get Mike Miller, who, in case you haven't heard from me already, is very, very, very good. They also get Randy Foye, and even though I don't know how he's going to coexist with Arenas, he's still a talented player that you don't want to pass up on. The Timberwolves now have the 5th and 6th pick in the draft as well as the 18th pick, which means they could be bringing in two difference makers and another solid rotation player to build around Kevin Love and Al Jefferson. Merits for everyone. Except us. I really, really wanted Mike Miller. Damn.
(Trading for the fifth pick was the most plausible way we could get into the top of the draft. Now, the T'wolves have ruined that possibility. -Billy)
So in one move the Timberwolves took away two of our best and options for find a wing player to replace Mcgrady: James Harden through the draft and Mike Miller. Damn you, David Kahn, damn you. But in other news the Hawks have just traded for Jamal Crawford and his huge contract, meaning that they won't have as much money to resign Bibby. Which means we could throw the midlevel at him just for the hell of it and hope he signs with us. And since we're sort of on the topic of Golden State, apparently Anthony Randolph just grew an inch and added 20 pounds over the offseason. We're all screwed.
Also, as promised, here's the immediate needs for the Rockets, courtesy of Hoops World. And come to the Rockets NBA Draft Party Thursday night at the House of Blues, we should be there.
Or we could trade Mcgrady's expiring contract for Rip Hamilton and sign Rasheed Wallace to the mid-level exception. Or trade Mcgrady and whatever other semi-expendable pieces the Pistons want for Hamilton and Rasheed in a sign and trade. Whatever it takes to get Rip and 'Sheed here and T-Mac all the way over there.
Billy posted about this, but we might get Amare and Barbosa for Mcgrady, Brooks and Landry. We could bring Barbosa off the bench and use him as a Manu Ginobili type player, allowing him to make the plays at the ends of games and have a starting five of Lowry (a better pure point guard than Brooks), Von Wafer, Artest, Amare and Yao. With Battier, Scola, Barbosa and White coming off the bench. That's a very, very solid rotation.
The Orlando Magic have agreed on a trade with the New Jersey Nets that will send Vince Carter to the Magic. The kicker is that Rafer Alston is the centerpiece of the trade. So we indirectly helped the Magic get a starting five of Nelson, Carter, Turkoglu, Lewis and Howard. That's the whole damned Eastern Conference All-Star Team. Looks like Cleveland still isn't going to be winning the East anytime soon.
That's all for now, but I'll keep adding paragraphs and thoughts to this as the days progress and more rumors/random ideas I think of start popping up.
6/22/2009
Lottery Bound!
Thanks to a reliable source (a friend of mine with an ample amount of interest, and an even more ample amount of time) I was able to find this little tidbit. Search for the Rockets. If you're too lazy or aren't as blessed with your leisure time as we are, it says that the Rockets are shopping Carl Landry for a lottery pick. I'm all for it if it gives us a shot at landing James Harden. Or even DeMar DeRozan. And that's not just because he has four capital letters in his name. Or, as unlikely as it is, Ricky Rubio. A top 6 pick and I'm saying goodbye to Landry, anything less and I'll pass. Of course, the decision doesn't lie with me, so this paragraph was essentially pointless.
Ron's Adventure
According to various, semi-reliable sources, Ron Artest crashed a Transformers party in order to meet Megan Fox. Not that that's weird, I'd do far, far worse things to meet Mrs. Fox. What bothers me is his hat. If I'm not mistaken, that's a Detroit Tigers hat. There are talks about Ron-Ron signing with the Pistons. I can put two and two together. Or, in this case, one and one. Am I overreacting? Maybe. But there's still the chance Artest leaves for Detroit. Which means we would lose a proven, talented player. Which is, if you were wondering, actually the exact opposite of what we're trying to do. So that would be bad.
6/20/2009
No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. No. Hell no. No.
6/18/2009
A Few Links
Just to keep you going during the offseason
-Billy said we need to trade T-Mac. I said we need to trade T-Mac. The Rockets are trying to trade T-Mac. I'm glad we're all on the same page.
-We're still in win now mode. Fortunately for us, there are some less-than-intelligent GM's in the NBA. Possibly even more fortunately for us, Daryl Morey isn't one of them. Good things happen when your management is smarter than everyone else's.
-James White, inspired by Trevor Ariza's stellar play in the postseason, is hard at work trying to become a contributor on the Rockets next year.
-More talk about trading Mcgrady.
-Hoops World is doing an immediate needs series for each team. We're not on there yet, but we should be by either Monday or Tuesday. Keep checking. I'll probably post a link to our actual article when it comes out, this is just a heads up.
-It's good to know Yao's enjoying his summer.
-Nothing to do with the Rockets, especially since we don't have a draft pick, but still a beautiful, beautiful thing.
-Hopefully not.
-Another Mcgrady rumor, but one that I don't like. Why the hell would we do this again?
-We're nearing the NBA Draft so there's probably somewher around 4,327 mock drafts available for you to read if you want to find them, but if you're really, really lazy, this one's just a click away. And the first five picks of this one. And this one. Let's try to maintain a hold on things until next Thursday.
That's all for now, keep checking back when you're bored. And I mean really, really bored.
-Billy said we need to trade T-Mac. I said we need to trade T-Mac. The Rockets are trying to trade T-Mac. I'm glad we're all on the same page.
-We're still in win now mode. Fortunately for us, there are some less-than-intelligent GM's in the NBA. Possibly even more fortunately for us, Daryl Morey isn't one of them. Good things happen when your management is smarter than everyone else's.
-James White, inspired by Trevor Ariza's stellar play in the postseason, is hard at work trying to become a contributor on the Rockets next year.
-More talk about trading Mcgrady.
-Hoops World is doing an immediate needs series for each team. We're not on there yet, but we should be by either Monday or Tuesday. Keep checking. I'll probably post a link to our actual article when it comes out, this is just a heads up.
-It's good to know Yao's enjoying his summer.
-Nothing to do with the Rockets, especially since we don't have a draft pick, but still a beautiful, beautiful thing.
-Hopefully not.
-Another Mcgrady rumor, but one that I don't like. Why the hell would we do this again?
-We're nearing the NBA Draft so there's probably somewher around 4,327 mock drafts available for you to read if you want to find them, but if you're really, really lazy, this one's just a click away. And the first five picks of this one. And this one. Let's try to maintain a hold on things until next Thursday.
That's all for now, keep checking back when you're bored. And I mean really, really bored.
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