With the upcoming expansion draft, who should we protect? I think we have to expose one of Taylor, Cato and Spoon and hope the Bobcats take one of them off our hands. <u>Protect</u> Francis Yao Mobley Jackson Nachbar Cato Taylor Griffin <u>Unprotected</u> Piatkowski Weatherspoon Wilks <u>FA</u> Padgett The last player we protect should be a toss-up between Pike and Griffin. One provides offense and one provides defense. I say protect Griffin since he makes less money and his defense makes him a Van Gundy favorite.
yeh thats a pretty good list. I just dont like seeing all these teams drop Mike Wilks. He looks to me to be a pretty good pg. I think a team just needs to give him a chance. While he was here in atl playing for the hawks. I watched him play in his last game here; i think it was sgainst the sixers, and he played solid. Ai was fouling him knocking him to the ground trying to frustrate him and discourage the rook. but he didnt faltar. he dropped his dimes like a man and got the ball up the court. And if the Rocks are really trying to get rid of Steve, Wilks could be there guy to help them in the future. Or until at least they get a better pg. but i dont think anyone really will know Wilks potential until they give him a chance.
Ah, i havent posted in a while.. what happend to the Elton Brand thread? anyways, here goes: <u>Protect</u> YAO J. JACKSON NACHBAR TAYLOR - tho, we can find replacement <u>Trade</u> FRANCIS MOBLEY CATO <u>Players I dont care what we do with</u> Pitakowski Griffin Weatherspoon Wilks Padgett -About Mark Jackson, the guy needs to retire, we cannot get anything from him anymore. I think I got a good deal for the Rockets, tho it lacks experience: Trade Mobley and Cato to Chicago, for Hinrich (sp?) and Chandler. Trade Francis for Elton Brand, deal Chandler and get a solid Shooting Guard -- i think Drew Gooden (sp?) could play well at Shooting Guard, I would say Michael Redd, but the Bucks wont trade him for Chandler -- maybe Payton? I bet he could, but hes still got 2 years on his contract right? I, was one of the biggest fans of Mobley when he came to houston, but of late, he hasnt developed to where he should be.. He still plays like a Rookie, turning the ball over and all that, his shot selection is horrible, and he makes the mistakes that can really kill us, the taking it to the rim, when he cant create, or shooting 3s or going for alley-oops on fast breaks.. Speaking of which, fast breaks - its 2 on 1 - this was against New York btw.. i think.. and Mobley lobs the ball above the backboard and Francis, being the inexperienced one he is, tries one handing the ball into the net. He totally missed, ball flutters out of bounds.. what i still dont understand is why they dint stop n' pop, or lay it in.. I think we need to keep Yao (duh..) and Jackson (Solid Numbers, Experience, Reliable) and Nachbar, when he came to Houston he was dubbed the next Peja.. now, wouldnt that be nice? And Malik Badiane (sp?), the guy we drafted last year, i think, is a solid rebounder, and hes as fast as some Guards, maybe the next Hakeem? hes a reserve on the team hes playin for right now, but he has put up points in the 20s...
We need to get rid of Cato! He might be an alright player, but not for his massive contract! He gets 8 million a year!
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting insanitarium:</div><div class="quote_post">We need to get rid of Cato! He might be an alright player, but not for his massive contract! He gets 8 million a year!</div> I feel you. When Cato was signed, he was projected to be the starting center of our future. However, we got Yao and the rest was history. As good as his defense was, Cato's contract and lack of offensive skills make him hard to get off our hands.
we should leave Taylor unprotected too, imo. He makes too much money to come off the bench, and a PF who doesn't rebound well or defend well in the Western Conference is a liability. Plus his contract will cripple the franchise for years to come. Don't get me wrong, I think he's awesome coming off the bench and providing scoring up front, but for the Rockets to pick up future free agents and not go way over the cap, they need to get rid of him and Cato.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting johnny33:</div><div class="quote_post">we should leave Taylor unprotected too, imo. He makes too much money to come off the bench, and a PF who doesn't rebound well or defend well in the Western Conference is a liability. Plus his contract will cripple the franchise for years to come. Don't get me wrong, I think he's awesome coming off the bench and providing scoring up front, but for the Rockets to pick up future free agents and not go way over the cap, they need to get rid of him and Cato.</div> Our three power forwards in Weatherspoon, Cato and Taylor take up about a quarter of our cap room. That would eventually cripple us FA-wise. However, I doubt that Charlotte would not take interest in any of these players. Btw, Welcome To JBB!
According to Chad Ford on espn.com the Rockets have left Maurice Taylor, Eric Piakowski, and Adrian Griffin unprotected...
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting RocketLaunch:</div><div class="quote_post">According to Chad Ford on espn.com the Rockets have left Maurice Taylor, Eric Piakowski, and Adrian Griffin unprotected...</div> i have no grouch against not protecting Taylor and Piatkowski, but Griffin is on a minimum contract and his defensive skills should have made him a protected player. Wilks is a good third point guard but I don't think he is worth losing Griffin for.
Ford says the only guy worth taking is Pike... I don't know about his defensive skills, the Mavericks had him and they have always starved for defense, but they still wanted someone better...
