Something I don't understand, is that the vast majority of posters on this board are all hot to trot for Odom & dog Rashard at every chance. Personally, I could care less that Rashard is from Houston. It's my sincere opinion that we need a SF that is both consistent & productive. Whether you like it or not, the way our offense is set up, we need to have a SF that can consistently spot up & hit the 3. We know that it works, because of that 20 game stretch a couple of years ago, when Walt was hitting everything he threw up. Now, if we assume that the Rockets intend to land one of them for a moment, which one would you want them to get? Before you answer, let's look at some facts first. Fact #1: Rashard has stated that he's going to opt out of his contract this year & could be signed outright. Fact #2: Odom is still under contract through next year & would involve doing a trade with the Clippers. Fact #3: The Rockets won't have any available cap space for the foreseeable future. Fact #4: The Rockets will have the mid-level exception of approximately $5 million. Fact #5: Rashard has publicly stated that he will seriously consider Houston as an option. If we trade for Odom, it'll cost us in draft picks & key players. If we offer Rashard the mid-level, it wouldn't cost us anything but money. I posed this idea in another thread, but I think it bears repeating here: The Rockets have a reputation of taking care of their players financially. They took care of Shandon, Taylor, Dream (his last contract with us), Barkley, etc. with wink wink deals (Dream wasn't a wink wink deal). Since the Rockets don't have any cap space & only have the mid-level exception (about $5 mill), why not offer him that with a wink wink deal. In other words, if he'll sign with us for the mid-level, we'll give him the max deal when his next contract comes up. If he opt's out of his contract with Seattle, there is nothing that can force him to resign with Seattle. He becomes an unrestricted free agent. This wouldn't be another Golden State fiasco. In order to keep the league office from thinking we're circumventing the CBA, we could make it a 6 year guaranteed contract, with a player option after the 3rd year. He could then opt out &, because we'd have his full Bird Rights, we could resign him to the max. This way, we would get our SF, Rashard would get to come home & get his max contract in 3 years, & we wouldn't have to give up anything for him. Of course, all of this would depend on what Rashard really wants. Now, let's take a look at the stats of the two players. They are within 3 months of being the same age, they are the same size, & both play the SF position. At the end of this year, Rashard will have 4 years experience & Odom will have about 3 years experience. Rashard's stats have improved in every catagory every year, while Odom's stats have not shown the same improvement. http://www.nba.com/playerfile/rashard_lewis/career_statistics.html Rashard: CAREER AVERAGES REBOUNDS PER GAME YEAR TEAM G GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% OFF DEF RPG APG SPG BPG TO PF PPG 98-99 SEA 20 7 7.3 .365 .167 .571 .70 .60 1.30 .2 .40 .05 1.00 1.00 2.4 99-00 SEA 82 8 19.2 .486 .333 .683 1.50 2.50 4.10 .9 .76 .44 .95 2.00 8.2 00-01 SEA 78 78 34.9 .480 .432 .826 1.80 5.10 6.90 1.6 1.17 .58 1.65 2.40 14.8 01-02 SEA 65 64 36.9 .463 .391 .814 1.90 5.10 7.00 1.7 1.45 .58 1.38 2.50 16.9 Career 245 157 27.9 .473 .396 .782 1.70 3.90 5.50 1.3 1.04 .49 1.29 2.20 12.1 Playoff 5 5 31.4 .441 .474 .800 2.40 3.80 6.20 .6 1.00 .60 2.00 2.20 15.4 http://www.nba.com/playerfile/lamar_odom/career_statistics.html Odom: CAREER AVERAGES REBOUNDS PER GAME YEAR TEAM G GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% OFF DEF RPG APG SPG BPG TO PF PPG 99-00 LAC 76 70 36.4 .438 .360 .719 2.10 5.70 7.80 4.2 1.20 1.25 3.39 3.80 16.6 00-01 LAC 76 74 37.3 .460 .316 .679 1.40 6.30 7.80 5.2 .97 1.61 3.47 3.10 17.2 01-02 LAC 29 25 34.4 .419 .190 .656 1.10 5.00 6.10 5.9 .79 1.24 3.34 3.10 13.1 Career 181 169 36.5 .445 .309 .695 1.70 5.90 7.50 4.9 1.04 1.40 3.42 3.40 16.3 I'm not saying that Odom wouldn't be a valuable addition to the Rockets. It just appears to me, based on the stats & what it would cost us to acquire each of them, that Rashard would be the better fit for our team. Could someone please explain to me, how Odom would be the better fit?
None of the above, if everything I hear is correct about Qyntel Woods, I'd rather go with him. He is cheaper, younger, and can develop under Glen Rice until his contract is up. Before I'm flamed, I just want to say that although I like the idea of Lewis and Odom, and I'd prefer Odom to Lewis, these guys aren't franchise-type players who should get the max. Unfortunately the Rockets are tied up in big contracts with Moochie, Rice and Taylor. Personally I'm a little gun shy to giving out a max contract to another player before the Rockets are cap-strapped even more than what they are now. Of course I'm not writing the checks, so what do I care? But I know that the Rockets need to unload one of those contracts before they go out and give out another one. To answer your question, Odom fits the team better because he can handle the ball, which means when Rudy wants to run the "three guard line-up", Odom can distribute the ball. Also I don't see Rashard wanting to sit out at the three point stripe waiting for the ball, as where Odom can create his own shoot, slash to the basket, and cause mismatches with his size. Also I've seen Odom play D, and its much better than Rashard's (for whatever thats worth). Before you say it, I know that Odom's shot is suspect, but I think he can work on it.
If we have Odom, him, Mobley, Francis and Moochie all together, we will be lucky to get a shot off within 24 seconds. The last thing we need is a guy who has to have the ball in his hands.
Kidrock8,Odom is a very unselfish player,who can play the point as well as a SF,He also is a good clutch shooter and a decent defender,I don't think he is worth the Max,but he is better than Lewis.
By all means I would take either of them if: A. They were realistic. B. Somehow we could unload some of the logjam we already have at our forward spots. Neither of them are going to save our team, but both would be excellent additions. Both are better than anything else we have at the SF position already. Rice was better at one time, but even if he's still as good as either Odom or Lewis, he's done in the very near future, and this team should be looking to the future. That said, do you honestly think the Rockets have a legitimate shot at these guys?
I never said Odom is selfish. I just said that Odom, Francis, and Mobley are all best effective with the ball in their hands. They are not used to getting open without the ball in their hands.
i'd love to have either one but i'd prefer odom. i think wizard's return to the lineup has been huge, alot more than most think. he understands the offense and he's a solid passer. you put odom in there and i imagine us even more fluid. in this aspect he is superior to rashard. also i think mobley is actually more effective off the ball even though he loves to dribble. odom is one more person to create for him, imo.
I agree about Mobley. Would he be content with being asked to move without the ball as opposed to having the ball in his hands?
While you may be right about them not being franchise players, more than likely, someone will offer them max contracts. As for the Rocket's big contracts, if we were able to sign Rashard as I stated in my original post, he would not get the max deal for 3 years. Rice's contract expires in 2 years & his last year salary of $9.6 million will have dropped off the books by the time Rashard gets the max. Also, as far as team cap room goes, we're going to be at or above the salary cap, after next year, when both Francis & KT resign. Francis will get a max contract & if KT keeps raising his game to the next level, he'll also get a nice raise. Why would Odom need to distribute the ball, when we have both Moochie & Francis to do that? Odom doesn't seem to be able to hit the three with any consistency. I have to question your last comment about him being able to work on his shot. If we're going to be giving him a max contract, I would want a player that has shown steady improvement, leading up to his contract. This team needs someone that can camp out on the three point line & hit them at will. That would stretch the defense out & open the lanes for the slashers we already have in Francis, Cat, Moochie, & KT down low. Something else, that most everyone here has forgotten, is that when the league announced the change to a zone defense, there was an intense discussion in the front office (according to Oeilpere) as to how to deal with the zone defense. Should we build the team to attack it or defend it? Rudy wanted to attack it with offense & apparently won the discussion. His thinking, as I understand it, is to stretch the defense away from the middle, to open the lanes for our slashers. In order to have that happen, you have to have 5 good shooters on the floor at the same time, that command respect from the opposition. As an example, Cato can't (or hasn't shown the ability yet) shoot with any range at all, so his man just has to worry about Cato cutting in for a dunk & staying out of the paint. I was watching one play in particular the other day involving Cato. Cato had slid out to the left baseline, but his defender stayed just outside of the paint & kept an eye out for Cato, but was right there at the edge of the paint the whole time. Thus, being close enough to clog the lane. Imo, the ideal scenario would be to sign Rashard as I stated above, have Griffin bulk up this off season & develop a low post game, then insert Griffin in at the starting center position next year. With Taylor & Rice back at full health, we'd have a 12 man roster of: C: Griffin/Cato(defensive purposes)/Collier(if he fully realizes his shooting abilities)PF: Taylor/KT SF: Rashard/Rice/T-Mo SG: Mobley/Torres PG: Francis/Moochie The starting 5 would definitely stretch the floor, with KT & Cato bringing more of a low post game. That lineup doesn't even take into account what rookie or rookies we might add this year. That team would be set for years. By the way, thanks for explaining your reasons for preferring Odom over Rashard. Even though I disagree with you, at least you took the time to explain it, while everyone else just says that Odom is better, with no explanation as to why.
If we're just looking for stretch-the-defense guys, I'm fine with Rice and Walt. I'd let Morris, and even Torres, groom under those guys. You can get 3-pt shooters a heck of a lot cheaper than Lewis. Les has already opened up the checkbook a lot recently, I'd imagine he'd want to see some results soon. I mean, Glen Rice, Mo Taylor, and Moochie Norris are all on the hook for big money, with little to show -- don't you think Les would be a little hesitant to sign anyone else to a high-dollar deal? I guess he was prepared to sign Marc Jackson to decent money, so maybe he doesn't feel snakebit. I don't know. Also, with Griffin and Mo, two guys whose games are predominately outside ones, seemingly getting a lot of time at the 4 and the 5, is it really that important that we add another shooter to the mix? It would seem to me that with Griffin throwing in a lot of bombs, and Mo hitting that 18-footer consistently, that the need for a stretch-the-defense guy at the small forward spot is diminished. Terence Morris, anyone? Put Morris out there as a defensive specialist, and let our 'big' guys hit the outside shot. Just my two cents.
