I'm sure that as a Rockets fan you don't like the idea of losing Artest as a UFA, but it is certainly possible. Secondly, I'll go Outlaw + Sergio!
Cleveland might offer Lebron for Rudy, but if they refused to throw in their first, I'd probably just respectfully decline. Rudy's going nowhere.
I mentioned this in another thread, but I would be interested in exploring a Jeff Green for Rudy trade. I think it solves problems for both teams. Green and Durant play the same position, much like how Rudy and Roy play the same position.
I don't want green b/c he's too young. batum is the future..bottom line. I just want a vet to shore up the SF spot until batum's game matures.
I would contest, at this juncture, that Green is a better prospect than Nic. Batum may well be our small forward of the future, but he's still got a ways to go, and I'd rather hedge my bet. If Batum ends up being the guy, then you trade Green.
Why trade Rudy? He was a rookie, looked brilliant at times, and I personally don't think we put Rudy in a position to thrive. Watching Rudy, when he comes in, he needs to be freed up and have the offense run a little bit more through him. He's a good 3-point shooter, but having him sit out up top isn't the best use of his talent. Dude has hops and can make crazy interior shots while he's contorted and drawing contact.
Really? Jeff Green at this juncture has "average" written all over him. His production went up once he was moved to PF from his natural position - but he is undersized over there. He had a win-score of 4.3 vs. 3.5 for Batum - but Batum did it in half the minutes (1,400 vs 2,800) as a much smaller part of the team's offense (his usage percent is less than half of Green's) as a rookie, while Green has an NBA body but Nicolas still has 20-30lbs of muscle to grow into. I just do not see anything special with Jeff Green as a prospect at this point - he is older, only slightly better as a player at this point and is a tweener with less impressive physical attributes. There is just no way I would consider him a better prospect - Batum is a classic defensive SF with the ability to guard 3 positions effectively, he has fantastic speed and great court awareness. Jeff green is arguable a slightly better player than Nic - but he is not a better prospect.
Being able to contribute in the NBA from day 1 as a raw 19 year old is highly impressive. I think Batum has a much higher ceiling than Green and is only a bit worse than him right now. I agree with andalusian that Green projects as an average small forward to me. It's still beneficial to OKC have a young, average starter, but I wouldn't take Green's future over Batum's.
