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/gg, Morey is God
No beating around the Bosh
By RICHARD JUSTICE
Copyright 2010 Houston Chronicle
May 1, 2010, 11:36PM
Chris Bosh will open his front door at 12:01 a.m. July 1 and see a smiling Daryl Morey standing between Hakeem Olajuwon and Yao Ming.
How's that for a first impression?
Morey will have a bag of other goodies, including a video showing off Houston and a testimonial from Rockets season-ticket holder Andre Johnson urging Bosh to join him in Clutch City.
There will be hundreds of Facebook and Twitter posts from fans, a Rockets jersey with Bosh's name on it and I almost forgot this teensy-weensy part of the presentation a contract worth $120 million.
At least, this is how it might go. The Rockets haven't decided who will accompany Morey to the presentation, but they have spent the last few weeks discussing how best to persuade him.
Here's guessing Rockets owner Leslie Alexander appeals to Dream and Yao to be part of the recruiting process and that they both agree.
At the heart of the issue is, first, persuading Bosh to play for the Rockets. If they're able to do that, everything else almost certainly will fall into place. That's why the Rockets are spending so much time and energy coming up with the right recruiting pitch.
What could be better than having this city's greatest professional athlete standing with one of the NBA players every other NBA player would love to play with?
Yao represents what the Rockets want to be about. He's a great teammate, a great person, someone who personifies everything Alexander believes his franchise should be about.
The Rockets are convinced Yao will resume his career next season. They're not sure how many minutes he'll play or what level he'll be at in the beginning.
The sales pitch
But they're confident his surgically repaired foot will hold up, and when Bosh stands there and looks up at Yao on July 1, he just might think playing with someone capable of sharing the load is a good idea.
And when Yao isn't on the floor, the Rockets want Bosh to know they're going to play fast, have fun and win.
They'll let him know there's no better coach to play for than Rick Adelman, and hope that when Bosh begins measuring other NBA franchises against the Rockets, he'll find there's no better owner than Alexander and no better general manager than Morey.
If Bosh wants a place where he can live comfortably, raise a family and call home, and if he wants a franchise that attempts to do everything right, he might just shake Yao's hand that night and say, See you at training camp.
He'll have options. The Bulls, Knicks, Nets and Heat probably will make offers. The Mavericks and Lakers might be in the mix as well.
What might separate the Rockets from those other teams is that Bosh is their first choice. Everything they hope to accomplish this offseason begins with the acquisition of Bosh.
There's no, If LeBron says no, we'll be in touch, or Let us get back to you after we hear from Dwyane Wade.
The Rockets believe putting Bosh beside Yao would give them the corner-stone of a team capable of winning a championship. And if the worst happened, and if Yao was injured again, the 6-10 Bosh would give them the low-post presence they don't have.
A rare breed
He's 26 years old and has averaged 20 points and 9.4 rebounds for his seven-year career. He's coming off a season in which he averaged 24 points and 10.8 rebounds.
(Zach Randolph and David Lee were the only other 20-and-10 NBA players this season. Yao has averaged 19.7 and 9.9 for his career.)
The Knicks and Nets are believed to be targeting LeBron James and perhaps Wade. If James re-signs with the Cavaliers before July 1, the New York teams will be focused on Bosh.
The Bulls are believed to be targeting Wade. The Heat could be mapping out a plan to have both Wade and James. Only one team is likely to have Bosh atop their list.
The Rockets can offer something else: The chance to win quickly. As attractive as New York might be, the Knicks and Nets have miles to go. The Bulls and Heat were playoff teams, but Bosh won't be their top priority.
The Rockets would have to surrender a package of draft choices and players to get him, but Morey has shown he can build a roster quickly and without mega-resources.
Bosh and Yao represent a foundation to build around. The Bulls and Heat do have the salary-cap space to sign Bosh. However, he'd have to take $30 million less to sign with any team except Toronto.
That's why Morey spent the past year acquiring talented younger players and an additional first-round draft pick. From the moment he learned he wouldn't have Yao last season, Morey began preparing for this summer's pitch to Bosh and to the Raptors.
Ducks in a row
Nine of the NBA's last 11 max-contract free agents switched teams through sign-and-trade deals. So while Morey's first priority will be persuading Bosh to play for the Rockets, his other will be making a deal with Raptors general manager Bryan Colangelo.
There seems little doubt around the NBA that financial issues will force the Raptors to trade Bosh.
If Bosh tells the Raptors he wants to play for the Rockets, the Raptors will make it happen. First, though, he has to decide, and that's why spending these next few weeks preparing for that first handshake is important.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/...n/6985746.html
/gg, Morey is God
It's kinda creepy how the recruitment process goes these days.
If I were a player I think I'd prefer my agent collect the offers and give me a call to mention the dollar figures and nothing else at brunch, around 11 in the morning, after a good night's sleep and no weird-ass late night visitors.
rockets are still crippled by yao's contract. what will happen if yao goes down again? bosh and martin aren't exactly the two knockout punches the rockets can deliver. and i'm pretty sure the bulls and heat will have bosh as their top priority, especially if wade stays with miami.
I'll believe it when I see it.
if rockets use their pick well ( and they generally do so) they will have ALOT of depth. The draft seems to be filled with decent role players at least.
And I see bosh going there. Don't know about the sign and trade, if it happens and for what pieces but morey has a history
Yao/bosh/hill/scola is a contender frontline. Add to that brooks, budinger, hayes, lowry and other very cheap good/decent players .. houston's quite alluring. Add to that the fact that bosh is from texas.
If Yao goes down again, than it will be Bosh at center, and Scola at PF. The amazing thing is Morey doesn't have to give Scola up to get Bosh. And it's about where Bosh wants to go
IF Morey gets Bosh, then he said he would get someone else for the mid level exception. Hopefully we will be stacked
Couldn't a lot of what the author states apply equally well to the Mavericks? Except their star player isn't a fragile China doll?
OK, so maybe he *is* a "better coach to play for" than Carlisle, but is Adelman *really* the best coach to play for in the NBA? Seems a bit hyperbolic.
Richard Justice, on Twitter, has been sucking Bosh like the NY media does with Lebron.
They'll let him know there's no better coach to play for than Rick Adelman, and hope that when Bosh begins measuring other NBA franchises against the Rockets, he'll find there's no better owner than Alexander and no better general manager than Morey.
The Lakers FO say hi.
He is the biggest tool at the Chronicle. Sadly, no one good writes for them anymore, well maybe Jonathan Feignen, but that's it. Justice, and Jerome Solomon have NO place in journalism.
If you ever read this guy's articles, you'd know that he is a tool, and writes alot of his articles based on sarcasm. We all know Les isn't the greatest owner, and Morey isn't the best YET, but Morey has a chance
I would be interested to know how many of these S&T's involved situations where the team acquiring the player had the cap room to sign the player without having to do a S&T. Rashard Lewis' S&T from Seattle to Orlando for a 2nd round pick (resulting in Seattle also getting a fat trade exception) being the prime example. Peja going from Indiana to New Orleans being another one. Off the top of my head I can't think of an example where a team who couldn't offer a max contract on their own was able to work out an S&T with a max contract free agent and the previous team.
As for Bosh wanting to go to Houston, I don't see it. Bosh can go play with Wade in Miami, Rose in Chicago, maybe even Lebron in New York. There's far better situations for Bosh than going to a Houston team with Kevin Martin and a perennially injured Yao.
If I'm a power free agent, I'd go the sign and trade route for a couple reasons:
1- I dont screw the previous fan base. i know many will say who gives a "f" but, to me that is how you maintain some of your previous fanbase loyalty and protect your "legacy" with your FIRST franchise.
2-I get to pick a team that has talent. If it's a sign and trade option there is a good chance that there is STILL some talent in the cupboard EVEN AFTER I sign ...The ROX being a PERFECT example of this ... but there are others. If you sign with just HUGE cap space ...you get paid but the team sucks (Knicks, Nets)
3- You can have some say ...Kobe (for example) let it be known he did not want to go to a bulls team without Deng or a Mavs team sans Dirk.
i think Bosh is a great player and could help rox but they have a lot of young talent that have similar attributes and skillsets. That blueprint has ALMOST NEVER worked you want TOP SHELF talent ...package some of those guys and get one ...
all the young, overloaded with talent teams of recent years, have never gotten over the hump.
Jailblazers of 2000's
Sonics of the 90's
Nuggets this year
Mavs this year
Portland this year
having the most talent creates more issues than it helps ...
Most of the recent champs have had good veteran role players, a TRUE superstar in their prime and a 2nd all-star to help carry the load ...
Rest of th roster just needs some speed, defense and some size
This is usually the case, but this year Bosh has at least two options to sign with a team with cap space and talent. In Chicago, he fits in nicely with Rose, Noah, Deng, Hinrich, and Gibson. In Miami, you would have Wade, Bosh, Beasley, Chalmers,and whatever Pat Riley could buy with the last 10M of cap space.
If Im him id prefer chicago over Miami because Noah could do the dirty work ...while Bosh scores and helps off of the "weaker" big man.
Also Rose and him in pnr would be sick
I admit Wade is the better player than Rose but even if they rid of hinrich to free up cap space a core of Deng, Bosh noah and rose Only needs a pure shooter to coplete that 5 maybe sign Ray allen for a smaller deal
I'd agree. From a basketball-only perspective, Chicago makes the most sense for Bosh.
What makes this whole thing so interesting is that none of us have any idea what his priorities are. I expect him enjoy all the attention, especially once it becomes obvious that LeBron and Wade aren't changing teams.
You do remember that our role players took the Lakers to 7 games? So stop acting like Brooks, Budinger, Lowry, Scola, Martin, Ariza, Battier, Hill (if he stays), Hayes, Martin, is a ty team to play with. Bosh doesn't want to play second fiddle to LeBron or Wade. And he doesn't have to play second fiddle to Yao
He didn't say that Houston was that bad, just that there were better situations available.
I notice you have the Rockets getting Bosh while keeping all of their best current pieces. What package of assets do you believe would be enough to motivate Toronto to cooperate in an S&T to Houston? Expiring contracts plus Hill won't be enough.
Toronto has NO say in where they trade Bosh. It's up to Bosh to say "I want to go to Houston", then they will have to make it happen, or risk losing him for nothing. A package of Hill, Knicks 2012 First Rounder, Jermaine Taylor, and some other pieces to make it work, but the core stays as is
What the rockets role players did last year is irrelevant. If you're Bosh you're interested in what's going to happen over the next 5 or 6 years, not what happened last year. All due respect to Scola, Brooks & company, but come on. They're not Wade or Lebron. Houston has nice role players, but any team that had Wade/Bosh or Lebron/Bosh or even Rose/Bosh on it would have no trouble finding role players whatsoever.
Toronto has no say if Bosh wants to go to a team with cap room. Toronto does have some say if Bosh wants to go to a team that doesn't have cap room like the rockets.
Toronto would gladly deal Bosh to anyone who will also take Hedo.
This is where we absolutely disagree. Bosh won't get traded to Houston unless Toronto is happy with package of players/picks it gets in return. Without Toronto's cooperation, he can't get more than the MLE from Houston. Toronto will be paid for their cooperation or they'll tell him to find another team.
Toronto has no leverage here, Bosh and Toronto already agreed to work on a sign and trade, If Bosh wants to go to Houston, Toronto can't tell him to look for another team because they don't like what they get. If he is intent on playing here, then Toronto HAS to accept the offer. Or, they could lose him for nothing. A Knicks first rounder, Jordan Hill (Which has been stated that they want him in a deal) Jermaine Taylor, and possibly Trevor Ariza. Also they can't forcefeed Hedo on anyone.
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