AZ REPublic say we may get Ostertag (?)

[Cheesebeef]

You made some good points.

Anyways, am I the only person who doesn't think that the Rockets will be a big time future contender? Their supporting cast is pathetic, they draft horrible, and I'm not sold on Yao being the best center in the league soon. He has the tools, but not the personality. Not to mention he plays year round, and plays pretty limitied minutes in the season.....

Who knows how Tmac will wind up playing with Yao. I think they will be constant playoff locks, near the 5th or 6th seed. People will claim they are title contenders, but no one will believe it. Kind of like how people viewed the Mavs the last few years.


I think the Nuggets are better built than the Rockets.

The Bugget scare the hell out of me actually. Their front-court, if they stay healthy is scary and they already have their go-to guy - who's only in his second year and already a proven leader/champion.

As far as the Rocks go - I think people forget how amazing Tracy was his first three years with the Magic -when he was getting the same rag-tag group of nobodies into the playoffs - hell - thhey almost beat Detriot in the first round two years ago. That kid needed a new lease on life and I'm pretty sure we're gonna see him be an absolute monster again this coming season. As far as Yao - I agree with you on his personality, but the I don't think that will be an issue, because he's not gonna have to be the leader of that team - that mantra falls directly on Van Gundy and McGrady. Howard's a decent role player as is JJ and as is Taylor and that team is gonna be big. I also think that Van Guindy has more talent on this team than any team he's ever coached before and we're truly gonna see how great that little schlub of a man really is at coaching.

A lot of people count them out, but Yao will get better and I believe Van Gundy will motivate this squad even above the already decent level. Regardless - I have never seen an NBA summer like this one - it seems like the only teams that are the same are the T-Wolves and Spurs and EVERYONE else is radically different. Should be an awesome season overall - so many storylines.

 

[fordronken]

The Bugget scare the hell out of me actually. Their front-court, if they stay healthy is scary and they already have their go-to guy - who's only in his second year and already a proven leader/champion.

As far as the Rocks go - I think people forget how amazing Tracy was his first three years with the Magic -when he was getting the same rag-tag group of nobodies into the playoffs - hell - thhey almost beat Detriot in the first round two years ago. That kid needed a new lease on life and I'm pretty sure we're gonna see him be an absolute monster again this coming season. As far as Yao - I agree with you on his personality, but the I don't think that will be an issue, because he's not gonna have to be the leader of that team - that mantra falls directly on Van Gundy and McGrady. Howard's a decent role player as is JJ and as is Taylor and that team is gonna be big. I also think that Van Guindy has more talent on this team than any team he's ever coached before and we're truly gonna see how great that little schlub of a man really is at coaching.

A lot of people count them out, but Yao will get better and I believe Van Gundy will motivate this squad even above the already decent level. Regardless - I have never seen an NBA summer like this one - it seems like the only teams that are the same are the T-Wolves and Spurs and EVERYONE else is radically different. Should be an awesome season overall - so many storylines.

"You know, I just haven't had a chance to showcase my defense because I've had to carry the scoring load for my team."

 

[cepstrum]

I think K-mart really puts the nuggets at the top of the western conference. As far as the rox go, doesnt YM play for chinese national team every summer? The kid is gonna wear down pretty quick if that's the case. Just look at the US team from last year. All those guys (except one or two) were on the unjured list for at least a little while. Plus there isnt really someone that's known as a vocal leader on that team. I thought they shouldve made a run at avery johnson. He is a pt guard and a pretty vocal leader also.

 

[F-Dog]

The Rockets scare me a lot more than the Nuggets going forward.


The Nuggets have used up the rest of their vaunted flexibility in the K-Mart deal, so going forward, what you see is pretty much what you get. (They'll be able to add a decent SG at some point, as long as they're willing to spend money, of course.) The thing is, their team of the future is K-Mart at PF, 'Dre Miller at PG and Nene at C, and all those guys look like career supporting players; their other guys are role players or potential role players. Tskitishvili is the only Nugget with scary upside, and there's no room in their rotation for him to find success in a Nuggets uniform any longer.

IMO the Nuggets are going to go as far as Carmelo Anthony carries them, and I'll take my chances with Amare over 'Melo any day of the week (even with Nene guarding him). Kiki is going to have to be insanely good or insanely lucky to win a championship with their current core.


Rockets' management sucks, but they've got the skeleton of a champion with Yao and McGrady; it's just not that hard to find good PFs, complementary wings or even PGs. What's more, as long as Yao and McGrady are healthy, they're going to attract quality basketball players and coaches who think they can be difference-makers in supporting roles. It wouldn't surprise me at all if the Rockets' next coach was Phil Jackson, and once he pushes Carroll Dawson out of the decision-making process, the rest of the league is in trouble.

If Yao or McGrady has a chronic injury the Rockets are done, of course. But there's still a decent chance they'll both stay healthy--not something I'd like to gamble with on my team, but I can't dismiss them as potential rivals because of it, either.

 

[Joe Mama]

The Denver Nuggets scare me a lot more than the Houston Rockets at this point. However if Tracy McGrady can stay healthy, and if they can add a few pieces they have the most potential. As good as Anthony is he will never be in the class of Tracy McGrady or Kobe Bryant or Amare Stoudemire (where he will be next season). He reminds me of Paul Pierce with less defense.

If Marcus Camby and the rest of the Nuggets can stay healthy I think they will be the team to beat in the Western Conference this year. That will be especially true if they use the remainder of their salary cap to get a player like Trenton Hassell.

Joe Mama

 

[George O'Brien]

I was wondering if the Clippers might decide to go after Trenton Hassell rather than re-sign Q.

Hassell is 25 years old. He had a bad year with Chicago in 2002-02 and signed as a free agent with the Timberwolves after being released by the Bulls. He was not a big scorer at 5 ppg in 28 minutes, but still managed to be the starter much through most of latter parter of the season.

Hassell's big plus is that he hits a high percertange of shots, 46.5% for the season and 52.1% in the playoffs. He is a career 35.3% three point shooter, but hit only 30.8% over the last season.

Right now most conversation has been that he is being targeted by the Nuggets, who have only $2.5 million in cap space. He could be had for $3 million and probably on a shorter deal than Q. If the Clippers signed Hassell, they would still have enough cap room to go after Dampier or make a major trade deal.

 

[F-Dog]

If Marcus Camby and the rest of the Nuggets can stay healthy I think they will be the team to beat in the Western Conference this year. That will be especially true if they use the remainder of their salary cap to get a player like Trenton Hassell.

Joe Mama

Better than the Spurs and Wolves?

I believe the Nuggets have about $3m in cap room left at the moment--the way this offseason has gone, I'm not sure that will be enough to get Hassell.

 

[cepstrum]

Getting back to Ostertag, I just looked at his matchups last year against the top ten centers at www.hoopsstats.com and he seems to keep them under their averages for the most part (nothing earthshattering, but still encouraging). I know usually it's only like 4 games that they compare, but thats still better than nothing. I hate having to watch the suns get dominated by some scrub center as we have all witnessed many a times.

 

[Joe Mama]

I didn't realize that the Nuggets have so little room under the salary cap left. I'm not sure that is enough to get Hassell either. If it was, I would much prefer the Phoenix Suns did not get Richardson and instead got Greg Ostertag and Trenton Hassell. Of course I realize that's very unlikely. Hassell was one of the best scorers in college basketball when he came out. Now he is known as a defender. I'll bet he could still put up some decent offensive numbers if he was given the chance.

Joe Mama

 

[George O'Brien]

I didn't realize that the Nuggets have so little room under the salary cap left. I'm not sure that is enough to get Hassell either. If it was, I would much prefer the Phoenix Suns did not get Richardson and instead got Greg Ostertag and Trenton Hassell. Of course I realize that's very unlikely. Hassell was one of the best scorers in college basketball when he came out. Now he is known as a defender. I'll bet he could still put up some decent offensive numbers if he was given the chance.

Joe Mama

I don't know a lot about Hassel except from reading his stats. Obviously the Wolves did not need a lot of scoring from him with their lineup of Garnett 24.2 ppg, Cassell 19.8 ppg, Sprewell 16.8 ppg, and when healthy Szczerbiak at 10.2 ppg. As a team they shot 46.2%. Still, Hassell played well enough to justify 28.0 minutes a game.

 

[Dave64]

Hassell would be a good pick up for his defense on a team with few defensive players. If he play 28 minutes for last year's T-Wolves, he certainly should get PT here.