With all the talk of FA and the draft, I was curious what moves some of the wannabe GMs out there would make. Here are mine: I would buyout Mooch and Ward to clear roster spots for sure. i would also discuss a deal with Baker, although I am curious what he has left in the tank. I would attempt to work a trade with Memphis. Mem is loaded with a bunch of good but not great players, and come playoff time, it definitely helps to have that stud that can get his own shot or get to the line. They are saddled with a bunch of longer term contracts, so I would try to sell cap relief for a coulple of their guys. I would try to trade either Wesley or Spoon for Posey. Obviously Spoon is simply for salary dump purposes. Wesly plus filler would give them a good 2 to cover for Posey's loss and cap relief at the end of the year as well. In a separate deal I would trade a couple fo 2nd rounders plus filler in a sign and trade for Earl Watson. I would also possibly explore a trade of Sura for Watson plus picks to sweeten the deal for them. Then I would do what I could to bring in SAR. I think this guy could flourish on our team. I could see him being a 15-18 pt and 10reb guy for us, and I could see JVG getting his D to improve as well. There is no reason that his D shouldn't be better. I would also resign Deke and draft the best available player in the draft this year. Yao/Deke SAR/J-Ho T-mac/Posey Posey/ Wesly or Sura (depending on what it takes to get Posey) Watson/MJ (you could switch roles here if needed although I like MJs offenese off the bench) I think this is highly athletic team that should be able to defend and rebound well. There is alot of length there with Posey/T-mac and SAR all being over 6'8" and good quickness. We have also added a guy in SAR that can get his own shot if needed we opposing team double Yao and T-mac heavily.
First and foremost, resign Deke. He was amazing this year and with him we have hands down the best center rotation in the league. Second, I would also try to get SAR. I don't think Portland plans on being a contender next year even with the first pick and as such, they may very well be willing to do a sign and trade so that they get something out of SAR. Third, resign Barry. The guy has a high BBIQ, runs a fast break well (I love that fast break three pointer of his), and can hit the open three. I would give Badiane and Spanoulis a shot at the roster during the summer leagues and draft the best available player at 24. Other than that, I would stand pat until the trade deadline unless some amazing deal crops up before the season (our expiring contracts for Cassell, BJax, or something equally appealing). That way, we have several expiring contracts (Spoon, Mooch, Baker, Wesley) to use as trade bait for the teams that are out of the playoff hunt. At that point, we would also have a clearer picture of what we need after our team has another 50 games to highlight strengths and weaknesses.
1- S&T for SAR and DA with expiring contracts (e.i wesley, baker, norris) and future draft picks... 2- MLE or S&T for Daniels.... Mike James deal can probably get AD... 3- Draft a 2/3 or 3/4 to back up TMac. 4- Re-sign Deke and Barry Yao/Deke SAR/Howard Tmac/Draft pick Anderson/Barry Daniels/Sura our two project should fill that be on roster to start honing their skills that line-up should give you a very balanced offensive.... even tho SAR is not known for his Defense... JVG is big on TEAM defense so SAR wont hurt us much on that end of the court.
Well in a perfect (but realistic) world this is what would happen: 1. We land one of the best power forwards in the draft. 2. Spanoulis is ahead of schedule and ready to be a big contributor to our team. 3. We sign C. Anderson to a great (inexpensive ) deal. 4. Make a BOLD move by signing either B. Simmons, J. Johnson, or M. Redd with the majority of whatever we have to offer. 5. Resign Barry, Deke and Bowen. C- Yao, Deke, Anderson PF- Howard, Anderson, Draftee SF- Tmac, FA (2/3), Bowen SG- FA (2/3), Sura, Barry PG- MJ, VS BELIEVE
Resigning Deke and Barry is high on my list too. I believe Robert Horry is a free agent, ask him if he wants to come back. The reason for that is because of his ability to feed the post, along with all the other things he brings to the table. If he's too much Toni Kukoc should be the next guy on the list. Please, give Kwame Brown a look, just a look, see what he's all about. Other PFs - ex Rocket Othella Harrington, Darius Songaila, Udonis Haslem, along with the usual guys we talk about. In the draft they should go after the best available player, really at any position except maybe PG where there are just too many on the roster to add another. Unless Ward and Norris can be bought out or something. I also think giving the two foreign guys a shot in the summer leagues would be a good idea, too bad that's not until after the draft. Get a SG/SF that can help out with T-Mac's responsibilities. Make sure he has good size. Bobby Simmons would be great. Other guys that should be in the running - Demarr Johnson, Raja Bell, Kieth Bogans, Devin Brown and maybe a few more that I'm forgetting. All those guys would help out big time. PG can stand to see some improvement but were kinda screwed there because if we add one we would have Sura, James, Ward, Norris, and that PG on the roster. Still, it's worth talking about. Seeing Sarunas Jasikevicius win another championship for Tel Aviv convinced me that he can be a player in this league, see if he wants to play for Houston. Why not revisit the Gary Payton idea? Howard Eisley has played for Van Gundy and would come cheap. Just in case someone offers too much to Deke, Dan Gadzuric and Zaza Pachulia, would be nice options. Zeljko Rebraca, Vitaly Potapenko, and Vladimir Stepania are a few more Europeans that can be considered. Dale Davis and Elden Campbell would be fine too.
I'd hire CD to do all the work for me.. then stand around and play basketball with the guys, shave JVGs head and make YAO wear his girly panties on the outside of his game shorts every time he has a bad game.. Oh yeah, I would make Mooch be the new Turbo.. we are paying him good money, we should get something for it..
i agree with andymoon. nice job. stayted realistic. stevel, memphis would never deal with us. we are a rival and we are already better than them. now here is mine in order of the offseason: draft - best guy left, period. simien, diogu, garcia, fernandez, graham. since most mocks have us taking fernandez then i will go with him right now. trade - JVG wants to trade before FA signing begins. since there will be more FA guards in our price range than fowards i will trade for a 4. darius miles fits what JVG was talking about. risky move upgrades the talent. sura and baker should do the trick. why sura? portland wants a vet guard to backup telfair. baker gets a buyout. FA signing - Deke and JB first an foremost. now I have a large hole at the 1, so thats what i will target with the full MLE. AD, watson, jaric, mcinnis lead the list. no need to look past this because JVG wants AD just like he did last summer and the summer before that. september - by this point we will be looking at: yao-deke-spoon Jho-miles-pad tmac-fernandez-bowen wesley-JB-ward AD-james-moochie trade deadline 2006 - spoon, wesley, and moochie can all be traded for a bigger 2.
Based on priorities, may not be exact in timeline (draft versus FA season). 1) Acquire a PF (SAR and Swift top targets, full MLE or S&T) 2) Resign Deke 3) Resign Barry 4) Draft best available player 5) Buy out Ward (Mooch's is expiring and more expensive to do) 6) If #4 is not an athletic SG/SF with decent size, go bargain shopping late in FA with the 1.6 exemption (e.g., 2 year 3.4 mil with player option) or part of the MLE if we have not used in for #1 for a 6'4"+ swingman. My top targets here would be Raja Bell, than Spree, or than perhaps someone like Kittles. I would be ecstatic if we went in the season with this team. I am not convinced our guards can't get it done, but the extra more athletic 6'5"-6'8" swingman (even if he has his own limitations) via the draft or bargain FA shopping would really help. If the guards are not getting it done then we could trade Wesley, Sura or James + expiring contract for a guy we think would make more of an impact before the trade deadline--but no need to move on this now. I'd rather have longer to evaluate Sura, James and Wesley's fit and usefullness into next season.
1) Sign a 2 : Bonzi Wells/Joe Johnson 2) Sign or draft a 4: Wayne Simien/SAR 3) S&T: Antonio Daniels 4) Resign Deke 1: Daniels/Sura 2: Johnson/FA 3: T-mac/Johnson 4: Howard/Simien 5: Yao/Deke
Lot of ways you could go. Here's a way that's been on my mind lately. I think it is pretty reasonable with a little bit of luck (Swift). • Draft the best available player. Either a swingman or a PF • Trade Mike James to Seattle for Antonio Daniels in a S&T • Convince Stromile Swift to take our MLE and start here. • Trade Wesley for a S&T Latrell Sprewell. • Bring over Spanoulis • Resign Barry and Deke PG: Daniels/Sura/Spanoulis SG: Sprewell/Barry {2005 1st round pick} SF: McGrady/Bowen PF: Swift/Howard/Spoon C: Yao/Deke Ward, Baker, Moochie You would then let the expiring contracts to expire to help pay for Yao's raise. You would get younger with Swift, 2005 1st rounder, Spanoulis and Daniels isnt young but he isnt all that old either at 30. You bring in Sprewell who is only a year older than Wesley but is 4 inches taller and quicker at SG. Plus Sprewell can create his own shot and could be our 3rd scorer we are looking for. You would have a solid bench of Sura, Howard, Barry and Deke plus our 2005 1st round pick.
What's with all of the buyout talk? When a guy is in the final year of his contract, it doesn't do you a whole lot of good, other than to open a roster spot. You still end up paying the guy, and rarely do players take any less than the face amount of their contract. Mooch would have to be an idiot to that. So would Baker. It would be much wiser to hold onto that player as a possible expiring contract that can be traded to a team needing to clear cap room, even if it done at mid-season. Weatherspoon, Wesley, Moochie, and Baker are all expiring contracts. Usually, teams only do buyouts if the contract is expiring and the trade deadline has passed. Then it is either to do the player a favor, or just because they don't want the player on the team in the first place. Combine Spoon, Norris, and Baker and you instantly have $14 million to trade with. The question now becomes "Who would go after that makes less than $14 million?" Only CD knows for sure....
My opinion, as of May 25 ... Well, my challenge, as GM, is how to keep the chemistry, but increase the talent on the team, enough to win a championship built around TMac and Yao. I have a number of resources to work with: (1) a draft pick that can actually gain a starting quality player in an unusually deep draft, where picks 14-35 are of similar value, (2) future draft picks, (3) a TE worth around 3 mil, (4) Howard, Wesley and James, (5) the hot spot that FA's want to come to, (6) our MLE, (7) and around 19 mil of expiring contracts that can be traded to teams looking to cut their budget. I need a smart playmaking PG and a young rebounding banger PF who can grow with TMac and Yao. I need to add some depth to the team, especially a defensive 2/3 who can shut down our opponents best player, so TMac can be freed to do his superstar thing. With the information that I have on the table here in May, I would do the following: 1) Number ONE priority is to sign Yao Ming to an extension. If other players know he is locked down, this becomes a great place to play, both in certain players potentially forcing trades, but also in FA's who might give us good deals. Also, by getting Yao's contract out of the way, we won't have to worry about trades affecting how he feels about signing a contract, especially if friends are involved. 2) TRADES: Make some trades before the draft, using our pick, some of our players, and our expiring contracts. My first trade would be to Toronto for Eric Williams, a defensive beast. Of course, if Artest was available, he would be better, but I highly doubt we have what it would take to get him, and not sure he'd be the best for chemistry. We might actually get Williams with our TE and a second rounder. Second would be to investigate ANY possibilities of getting Chandler, Duhon and Kidd. Kidd said it could get done with expiring contracts. Is that really possible? If it is, I DO it! He could take us to the chamionship, and would be a great mentor to whomever we groom. He'd move the ball upcourt quickly and into the hands of Yao and TMac. No brainer, even if his knees are shot. Its the best use of those expiring contracts, IMHO. But, I seriously doubt this would happen. My next challenge would be to see if Chandler wants to come here bad enough to force a trade and Chicago would take a couple draft choices and players, such as Howard and Wesley. If neither of those become available, my next pursuit would be SAR in Portland with a S&T. If that didn't develop, try to make a trade to SEA for Daniels. 3) DRAFT: If we still have a draft choice after attempting trades, then we should just pick the best player available. We need depth and future trading chits. They won't start for another few years, so we shouldn't pick based on current need, such as at PF. We could certainly use a Center for when Deke retires, but we need a PF and PG who are veterans who can start now, not sometime in the future. Another option is to trade our pick for a lottery team's future pick, who's trying to pick up players this year to turn things around, such as Portland, Orlando, New Orleans, or Charlotte, and possibly get a better player next year. 4) FA: Wow, I look forward to seeing how Houston being the FA hot spot works out. Should be interesting. But, all we have is the million exception and the MLE, as well as veteran's minimums, so we won't get more than 2 or 3 players this way. The players we should try to obtain are Swift, Duhon and Flip Murray, IMHO. We could also sign Jay Williams at PG. If Swift will take our MLE, we should grab him, even its just for depth. If not, both Duhon and Murray are players who fit our team well. I believe Murray could be the next Redd. Otherwise, we might be able to get Donyell Marshell, but I hope it doesn't come to that. 5) Resign Deke and Jon Barry, and possibly Bowen. I love these guys! They are essential for chemistry and depth. 6) Bring over Spanoulis and Badianne. I have a feeling Badianne is another year from being ready, but we ought to find out. So, if everything goes perfect, LIKE LAST SUMMER, I'd love to end up with: Yao/Deke Chandler/Swift/Padgett/Badiane E.Williams/Barry/Bowen TMac/Sura/James Kidd/Spanoulis/J.Williams More realistically, it'll be more like: Yao/Deke/(rookie) SAR/Swift/Padgett TMac/E.Williams/Barry Anderson/Sura/James Duhon/J.Williams/Norris Worst case, it might be: Yao/Deke/Baker Howard/Marshall/Spoon TMac/Barry/(rookie) E.Williams/Sura/James Daniels/Spanoulis/Norris All of those possibilities are upgrades to our current team ...
Another option... • Draft the best available player. Either a swingman or a PF • Trade Mike James to Seattle for Antonio Daniels in a S&T • Trade Wesley and 2006 1st Roung Pick for Darius Miles. • Sign Donyell Marshall to the MLE • Bring over Spanoulis • Resign Barry and Deke PG: Daniels/Sura/Spanoulis SG: Miles/Barry {2005 1st round pick} SF: McGrady/Bowen PF: Marshall/Howard/Spoon C: Yao/Deke Ward, Baker, Moochie Again you upgrade the PG spot in getting Daniels. Same reasoning as I mentioned in my previous post. In this scenario you move Wesley's expiring contract and a 1st round pick (2006) for the disgrunteled Darius Miles. Miles is young and atheltic. Maybe getting out of Portland will do him some good. With Miles you have a guy that can guard 4 positions on the floor. He would be our defensive ace being able to hound PGs and defend swingmen much like Tayshaun Prince does for the Pistons. Miles could even play the 4 spot against quicker PFs. Going the Miles route I decided not to persue Swift because I felt since Miles isnt much of a shooter we need a 4 that can shoot so I signed up Donyell Marshall. Not a young guy but someone that is atheltic and quick and can hit the 3pt shot. We still have added youth here. Miles, our 2005 1st round pick and Spanoulis. We dont have the 2006 1st rounder in this scenario but could always use the MLE that summer to add another young player.
My first concern would be Juwan Howard’s status. I am worried that he may not play again. Power forward was already the biggest need. My second concern is the age of the team. We have five players under 30: T-Mac, Yao, James, Padgett, and Bowen. None of the other current players will be on this team in three years. I think Padgett will stick but Bowen will also be gone within 3 years. So CD needs to address 3 starting positions and 3 to 5 rotational players. That is a lot for any team. 1. In the draft I would take the best player long term for the Rockets. This year it would mean probably taking one of the high school kids: Bynum, Blatche, or Miles. All three should be solid starters in 2-3 years with the potential to be all-stars. While I like Simien and Turiaf I think they are more likely to become role players. 2. Look to trade our expiring contracts for an expiring contract in 07 or 08: Theo Ratliff for Norris, Spoon, Ward The other two players that would be interesting are: Brian Grant and Grant Hill 3. With the MLE I would go after two players 1 Shooting guard/small forward: Bobby Simmons, Bonzi Wells, Dermarr Johnson, or Kareem Rush 1 PF/backup center: Chris Anderson or Dan Gadzuric I don’t think we can afford Simmons or Wells. Milwaukee would be stupid to let go of Gadzuric. But they did give away Ray Allen. Denver is short of guards and also should resign Johnson. Adds Bynum – center, age 17 Theo Ratliff – PF/center, age 32 Rush – sg/sf, age 25 Anderson – PF/center, age 27 Deducts Ward, age 35 Norris, age 32 Spoon, age 35 4. That would leave the Rockets with 13 players on the roster. I would look to find two other young players. This will depend on who does not get drafted or signed. Some of the players I would expect to be left on the board are: Taylor Coppenrath, Sorrentine (no I’m not from Vermont), Courtney Alexander (27), and Eddie Robinson (29). There will also be a bunch of underclassmen with potential that need to work. Guys like Sean Banks from Memphis (head case), Amir Johnson 6-10 PF from LA (should go to Louisville), and Brandon Rush (Kareem’s lil brother).
My #1 targets this summer are Swift and Simmons. First thing I would do is try and work out a trade for one of them and then fill out the rest of the team depending on which one we can get. Plan A: Trade - Wesley, Mike James, and Spoon for Swift and Brian Cardinal. Get a shotblocking power forward that can do the dirty work and a quality backup small forward for Mcgrady. MLE - Sign Damon Stoudamire for the MLE. Gives the Rockets a true 3rd playmaker. Someone that can orchestrate the offense when Mcgrady is out. Draft - pick Francisco Garcia. Infuses some youth into the team. Good size, shooting, speed, athleticism, and defense (ie. Tayshaun Prince). Yao/Swift Swift/Howard Mcgrady/Cardinal Garcia/Sura/Barry Stoudamire/Sura Plan B: Trade - Wesley and Mike James for Bobby Simmons (resigned at $8 mile per). 3rd option on offense. Young and athletic. Can grow with Yao and Mcgrady. Draft - pick Hakim Warrick or Wayne Simien. MLE - Antonio Daniels Yao/Deke Howard/Warrick or Simien Mcgrady/Simmons Simmons/Barry Daniels/Sura
1) Sign and Trade-- Weatherspoon + 1st round pick to Portland for Abdur-Rahim 2) Sign and Trade--Mike James to Seattle for Antonio Daniels 3) Use MLE to sign Bonzi Wells 4) Use #24 overall pick and draft Kennedy Winston, swingman from Alabama 5) Re-sign Mutombo 6) Take a flyer on Jay Williams and use the 1.6 million veterans exemption. C: Yao/Dikembe Mutombo PF: SAR/Juwan Howard/Scott Padgett SF: T-Mac/Kennedy Winston SG: Bonzi Wells/Bob Sura/David Wesley PG: Antonio Daniels/Jay Williams 1) Why this lineup works? You have two-way basketball players. They can contribute on both ends of the floor. And with a combination of T-Mac, Wells, and Daniels, you have alot more athleticism on the perimeter and will cut down on the amount of dribble penetration into the lane, making Yao less vulnerable to foul trouble. Also, you're oldest starter is only 30 years old. 2) Why SAR? He's a legit 3rd scoring option and gives the rockets a third player who can create his own shot. Him and Howard have redudant talents, however, he's just a better basketball player. And he's already had his big pay day and isn't a guy just looking to sit on a new fat contract. He's still only 28 and is more of a sure thing as a contributer than Stromile Swift. With SAR, you know what you're getting. With Swift, you HOPE you get someting. 3) Why Bonzi Wells, afterall he's a headcase? I know. But he's just a better basketball player than any 2 guard the rockets currently have. They just need an upgrade in overall talent level in the backcourt. No more one dimensional role players. 4) Why Jay Williams, you're crazy to give him anything more than the minimum?? I know....However, like the Wells thing, you sometimes have to roll the dice. Stop the Bobby Hurley comparisons. This guy was the #2 draft pick for a reason. The kid can ball, and you're not counting on him as a starter. Even if he can't cut it as a backup, you still have Sura on the roster as insurance for a backup PG. There's slim chance here you could strike rich with a huge reward. 5) Why not re-sign Jon Barry? He'll be 36 when the season opens, and again, the rockets already have a one dimensional shooting guard. They don't need to keep another one around.
