Final_quest Posted July 9, 2004 Report Share Posted July 9, 2004 Who do you guys think the big winners are this offseason so far? I can think of more losers than winners at this point. Two teams that have improved themselves most, Utah and Houston. Golden state signing Foyle to an outrageous contract = loser. Phoenix signing a 30 year old point guard who could fall off any moment now = loser. However, they did sign Q. Next year they should be good, but can they do much better than reaching the western conference semis, doubt it. Cleveland and a contract disaster = big loser. Spurs resigning Ginobli = winner. How do they do it every year? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member Diesel Posted July 9, 2004 Premium Member Report Share Posted July 9, 2004 Orlando. They land the top pick in the draft and they got a player who will be their future. They trade Tmac for Francis, Mobley, and C. But they got out of J Howard's awful contract. They got Jameer Nelson for nearly nothing. They still have Britton Johnson. They are young and still contenders. Not to mention Turk. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Weez Posted July 9, 2004 Report Share Posted July 9, 2004 Juwan's contract is NOT THAT BAD. not the new one. the dude can still play, esp. if yo'ure going to run a halfcourt set...JVG will love him. bye bye mo taylor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Packfill Posted July 9, 2004 Report Share Posted July 9, 2004 I think Utah has done a great job of amassing talent, thought it was at a cost. A potential starting line-up of Arroyo/Harpring/Kirilenko/Boozer/Okur with Lopez, Giricek, Snyder, Humphries and Collins off the bench is a solid team - especially since they were considered one of the least talented teams in the NBA a year ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cyman3 Posted July 9, 2004 Report Share Posted July 9, 2004 Orlando - it couldnt get any worse... so of course, they'll improve. Utah - w/ a team concept, they almost made the playoffs. I think Boozer will help them out tremendously. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Traceman Posted July 9, 2004 Report Share Posted July 9, 2004 they lost T Mac. T Mac is a top 5 player in the league. Even though I think Francis, Mobley and Cato was a decent return for T Mac, Howard and Lue, Houston got the better end of that deal. If they had drafted Okafor and acquired Nelson and Turkoglu while keeping T Mac, I think they would have been better off. Okafor J. Howard/Gooden Turk T Mac Nelson/Lue versus Cato D. Howard/Gooden Turk Mobley Francis/Nelson The 2nd team certainly isn't bad and ORL did good by getting SOMETHING for T Mac but Francis is not T Mac. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Packfill Posted July 9, 2004 Report Share Posted July 9, 2004 I agree completely. The first team is much better. Would they have had the cap space to sign Turkoglu without the trade? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Traceman Posted July 9, 2004 Report Share Posted July 9, 2004 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ATLien_ Posted July 9, 2004 Report Share Posted July 9, 2004 I agree with Diesel Orlando had one of the best off season's. You can't compare this team to a team with McGrady staying because he wanted to leave, so how good that team is becomes mute. They got very good value for McGrady. Francis is a star. Mobley is above solid and approaches star quality. They also get a good rebounding and shot blocking center in Cato. It is of my opinion that McGrady really isn't a superstar either. He has all the tools, but like many of the other NBA players today, he lacks the heart of a champion. I wouldn't be suprised to see the Rockets get put out in the first round even with McGrady. I expect Orlando to be balanced and good. I do expect them to make it to the playoffs this year easily. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cyman3 Posted July 9, 2004 Report Share Posted July 9, 2004 u cant blame ORLANDO tho... they HAD to do it its either lose him for nothing, or get 3 potential starters for him. if i was mcgrady, id want to play w/ YAO.. so i dont blame him for leaving. plus, w/o GRANT HILL and the subtration of CATO's contract... Houston is open to do some things in the future. i think its a WIN-WIN situation for everyone. but yea, that orlando team (had they kept MCGRADY) would have been a good team Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Packfill Posted July 9, 2004 Report Share Posted July 9, 2004 They should make the playoffs but Houston was a much more talented team last year (Francis/Mobley/Jackson/Cato/Yao) than Orlando will be this year (Francis/Mobley/Turkoglu/Howard/Cato), so there is no guarantee. I wouldn't trade Yao and Jackson for Howard and Turk, and I would take Van Gundy over whomever Orlando is trotting out there at coach. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member Diesel Posted July 9, 2004 Premium Member Report Share Posted July 9, 2004 J Howard's contract goes all the way to 2010.... He's going to be 42 playing for the Rockets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member Diesel Posted July 9, 2004 Premium Member Report Share Posted July 9, 2004 Tmac is a top 5 player... However, Francis is one of 2 PGs able to put up 20/6/6 nightly. Mobley is a 14-15 ppg SG. Cato is Solid. Howard is got more upside than Okafor and he will be a stud. Turk and Nelson will be solid role players. Actually, Nelson might be traded. I like what Utah has done too.. But Utah has just loaded up on Role players. It works for their team concept but you got to watch Howard/Francis... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ATLien_ Posted July 9, 2004 Report Share Posted July 9, 2004 Yea but Orlando didn't make the playoffs last year with a supposed top 5 player in the leauge. If they make the playoffs this year ( I think they will) and get Howard and Nelson much needed experience they are much better off. Especially when you realize that McGrady would have walked for nothing after this year. McGrady got his way and he is now in Houston, lets see what his excuse will be now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Packfill Posted July 9, 2004 Report Share Posted July 9, 2004 Orlando definitely had no choice in the matter, so they did well to get some value in return. Francis can put up stats but I think he has some limitations as a point guard that can prohibit a team from playing up to its potential. He will probably put up huge stats this year because Dwight will not be ready to carry the load - much like Yao as a rookie - the question is whether he will learn to defer/feed dwight when he matures. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Traceman Posted July 9, 2004 Report Share Posted July 9, 2004 "winners." I don't disagree with any of your comments about the players ORL has now. I still would rather have T Mac though. To me, so far, Utah has to be up there when you talk about great off seasons. I think they had a GREAT draft, they have signed to big name FAs and they resigned all of their key FAs. Okur/Collins/Borchardt Boozer/Humphries Kirilenko/Harpring/Raja Bell Snyder/Giricek Lopez/Arroyo/Maurice Williams That is a solid, if unspectacular, squad that will be able to compete. They have terrific depth as well as promising young talent. I won't be surprised to see them in the playoffs this year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ATLien_ Posted July 9, 2004 Report Share Posted July 9, 2004 As far as offseason moves go Utah would have taken my first place prize, but they didn't attain anyone on the level of McGrady or Francis so I give a slight edge to Orlando. Actually I take that back. I think Utah made better moves, but Orlando had better pieces that had to be moved. I would really like to try and trade for Humphries since it looks like they will sign Boozer. How about JT for Humphries and Harpring? Actually I would probably rather have Arroyo depending on what kind of contract they gave him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beav Posted July 10, 2004 Report Share Posted July 10, 2004 Utah and Houston of course did well but with the addition of Nash I'm placing PHO up there too(plus they still have some capspace). But given Utah's theft of Boozer and they're outstanding (but lucky as hell) draft I'll give them the edge. Dallas is the biggest loser (you can't blame cleveland for the boozer incident so much, honor should count for something) after losing Nash with no compensation and taking on laettner and stackhouse two losers with no defense on a crappy defensive team. They will have zero chemistry next year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member Diesel Posted July 10, 2004 Premium Member Report Share Posted July 10, 2004 I got to disagree Beav. You're a midwest guy... You should know better. Phoenix loses because they spent so much on Nash and he's already what 32? I don't think Nash with his style of play will finish out his contract.... Phoenix also missed out on a C posturing around with Kobe? I think they might make a bid on Damp though? Lastly, why trade Matrix?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DominiqueWilkins Posted July 10, 2004 Report Share Posted July 10, 2004 Free Agency Winners: Utah and the Suns. The Jazz land Okur and Boozer. Okur isn't worth the money he was offered, but he has the future to prove himself. Carlos Boozer was defently a outstanding signing, and I only see positive players on the Utah Jazz. The Suns signed Steve Nash, and his stock wont fall. They traded a much more expensive point guard in Marbury, and signed Nash to a muchless contract than Marbury had. If the Suns are now able to sign Q-Rich, without the Clippers matching you are looking at a very good team, and playoff contender. Steve Nash will be the heart that pumps that team, so I don't see why you are bashing him so poorly. The Suns have had talent for a couple of years now, and have been unable to do anything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Please sign in to comment
You will be able to leave a comment after signing in
Sign In Now