What about Ron Artest?

[cfan79]

He seems like the perfect shooting guard for Thibodeau's defense. Meanwhile Ray could come off the bench for a year and provide much needed scoring.

[Rocky5000]

In the wiretap they have an article on the Rockets offering up Battier to Minnesota for Rubio. Perhaps Houston is going into a restructuring and we could work a trade for Battier. If Houston is willing to trade Brooks and Battier for Rubio, what could we get for Rondo? Probably at least as much.

[cfan79]

In the wiretap they have an article on the Rockets offering up Battier to Minnesota for Rubio. Perhaps Houston is going into a restructuring and we could work a trade for Battier. If Houston is willing to trade Brooks and Battier for Rubio, what could we get for Rondo? Probably at least as much.

I was thinking the same thing, but I don't think they have enough to trade for Rondo. They aren't going to trade Yao Ming because he's a 7 ft 6 cash cow.

[cfan79]

Houston was crazy to offer Battier and Brooks for Rubio. He's too big of a question mark right now. Maybe they are thinking about chinese and spanish dollars.

[Colossus]

I wish we could get Artest, always loved his game. However, he's a free agent and we don't have any money to offer him, and he surely will get more than the MLE this year after he revived his career nicely this past season.

[Colossus]

Houston was crazy to offer Battier and Brooks for Rubio. He's too big of a question mark right now. Maybe they are thinking about chinese and spanish dollars.

I can see Houston's thinking, Brooks just had a real nice postseason, and with T-Mac coming back and Artest there they wouldn't have minutes for Battier anyway (until T-Mac gets injured again anyway). And they'd get Rubio, who I think will be awesome.

Brooks and Battier are good players, but if you can get a "transformational pg" for them, I think you do it. You're supposed to swing for the fences, right?

[cfan79]

I wish we could get Artest, always loved his game. However, he's a free agent and we don't have any money to offer him, and he surely will get more than the MLE this year after he revived his career nicely this past season.

Maybe the 1st year could be cheap, but the following years could be much higher. Let Ray walk after this next season and we can afford him.

[BillessuR6]

Maybe the 1st year could be cheap, but the following years could be much higher. Let Ray walk after this next season and we can afford him.

You can`t structure contract like that...

Artest would be nice off the bench but he will get better offers...

[cfan79]

I can see Houston's thinking, Brooks just had a real nice postseason, and with T-Mac coming back and Artest there they wouldn't have minutes for Battier anyway (until T-Mac gets injured again anyway). And they'd get Rubio, who I think will be awesome.

Like you said T-Mac is so injury prone though that Battier will probably be the starter for most of the games anyway. I think they should trade or buy him out. They seem to be better without him.

[Colossus]

I wish we could get Artest, always loved his game. However, he's a free agent and we don't have any money to offer him, and he surely will get more than the MLE this year after he revived his career nicely this past season.

Maybe the 1st year could be cheap, but the following years could be much higher. Let Ray walk after this next season and we can afford him.

How much money is MLE with max raises nowadays? Maybe he'll take it if it means playing with Pierce and KG. I know he's had issues with Pierce in the past but I recall they respect each other, that'd be an awesome duo. Maybe Houston would be open to a sign and trade and they get Ray's expiring deal and more? more pieces would have to be involved of course.

[Colossus]

I can see Houston's thinking, Brooks just had a real nice postseason, and with T-Mac coming back and Artest there they wouldn't have minutes for Battier anyway (until T-Mac gets injured again anyway). And they'd get Rubio, who I think will be awesome.

Like you said T-Mac is so injury prone though that Battier will probably be the starter for most of the games anyway. I think they should trade or buy him out. They seem to be better without him.

Yeah, if I was Houston, I'd trade Yao and T-Mac, they were doing just fine without those injury prone guys, and they could bring in a lot of other talent by trading those two.

[cfan79]

You can`t structure contract like that...

Artest would be nice off the bench but he will get better offers...

****, I would have loved to sign him to a deal like that. Well at least we would save money if we didn't resign Baby, Mikki, Eddie and Pruitt.

[cfan79]

Yeah, if I was Houston, I'd trade Yao and T-Mac, they were doing just fine without those injury prone guys, and they could bring in a lot of other talent by trading those two.

If they weren't so compelled to keep Yao because of the chinese dollars they could quickly rebuild. Golden State (Biedrins etc) and Clippers (Blake etc) would probably offer some decent packages.

[Inside/Outside]

Houston doesn't keep Yao around because of Chinese dollars, which they don't get any more of than Boston does because of revenue sharing. They keep him around because, when healthy, he's the best pure center in the game.

Artest would be fantastic off the bench but it's not going to happen, he's out of our price range. The safe bet would be to assume he's going to resign with Houston.

[cfan79]

Houston doesn't keep Yao around because of Chinese dollars, which they don't get any more of than Boston does because of revenue sharing. They keep him around because, when healthy, he's the best pure center in the game.

Artest would be fantastic off the bench but it's not going to happen, he's out of our price range. The safe bet would be to assume he's going to resign with Houston.

That makes no sense. Why would teams spend more money then others if they didn't make more from it? If that was the case and I owned a team I'd just sign the worst D-leaguers to play for free.

Also Artest would be starting ahead of Ray. Maybe Ray would show up in the playoffs for more then 1 or 2 series if he came off the bench.

[Inside/Outside]

I can't find a link to back me up other than a random blog talking about it, but I'm 90% sure that each team gets an equal cut of broadcasting and merchandise deals. It doesn't apply to things like ticket sales so that's why you can't trot out a team of D-Leaguers and expect to make any money because no one would want to see them, not that that hasn't stopped Donald Sterling from trying his hardest over the years. It could be that I'm misunderstanding it and that it's a percentage of the revenue being redistributed, but even then it's more of a bonus for having Yao rather than the sole reason for keeping him.

[CelticFaninLBC]

Seems Houston may be trying to rebuild considering they offered Battier and Brooks for Rubio. Yes, Brooks is nothing special, but he'll give them more than Rubio next year and Battier's a key role player for them. So maybe Artest is available via sign-n-trade??

[Lewis35]

cf do you ever come up with trade ideas or players signing that are even remotely possible? Artest will not take the MLE. There is no chance of that, none whatsoever. Celtics have a 0.00% chance of signing Artest.

[Inside/Outside]

Looks like I might have spoken too soon. Yao is probably going to miss all of next season and maybe more.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=a ... &type=lgns

[Marley2Hendrix]

I believe Simmons was one of the first to really push the argument, but people that big are simply not built for taking the punishment that an NBA season entails of. Any big of that size is operating under borrowed time