Wells talk with Rockets

[ImAKing]

Free agent Wells talks with Rockets
Spending limit makes pursuing guard a long shot
By JONATHAN FEIGEN
Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle


Free agent Bonzi Wells met with Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy and general manager Carroll Dawson on Monday at Toyota Center as the Rockets stepped up their long-shot pursuit of the veteran guard.
Though the Rockets are limited by the salary cap and some of their free-agent spending this summer, Wells has clearly not ruled out the Rockets while also considering the Nuggets, Heat and Bobcats.

Wells, who went from expecting to be a top free agent to searching for a place to land two weeks before training camps open, replaced longtime agent William Phillips last month, with the switch to Merle Scott forcing a delay in the already protracted process.
Wells, who turns 30 on Wednesday, averaged 13.6 points and 7.7 rebounds with the Kings last season and 23.2 points and 12 rebounds in the playoffs against the Spurs.
After earning $8 million last season, he turned down a five-year, $36 million offer from the Kings, a strong indication that an offer of a mid-level exception would not work. The Kings instead signed John Salmons, and the majority of teams over the cap spent their mid-level exceptions.
The Rockets have just $2.1 million of their mid-level exception remaining to offer unless they can work out a sign-and-trade deal with the Kings. The Rockets have a $4.2 million trade exception in which they could sign a free agent for as much as $4.2 million and send only a draft choice, but as with any sign-and-trade arrangement, that would require an agreement with the Kings.
Wells was the 11th pick of the 1998 NBA Draft out of Ball State and was immediately traded by the Pistons to the Trail Blazers, where he played five-plus seasons before he was traded to the Grizzlies. The Grizzlies sent him to the Kings for Bobby Jackson and Greg Ostertag.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/bk/bkn/4196635.html

since the Rockets have that 4.2 mil TE, i dont mind doing a S&T with Houston for a draft pick.

 

[bibbysac]

sounds like a good plan......i wouldnt mind that

 

[HndsmCelt]

Might be Wells best pay day but how much PT will he get and how far will that Squad go? But hey anything the Kings get would be a bonus at this stage. A first round pick would be pure gravy.

 

[Circa_1985_Fan]

Might be Wells best pay day but how much PT will he get and how far will that Squad go? But hey anything the Kings get would be a bonus at this stage. A first round pick would be pure gravy.

Probably would be a 2nd rounder, which would be fine, I guess.

 

[Bricklayer]

Probably would be a 2nd rounder, which would be fine, I guess.

I'd hold out for the first, and we could probably get it. TMac/Yao/Battier/Bonzi is a tough squad with any kind of health. Would mean that Battier would probably end up playing a lot of PF, but when your PF position sucks as bad as the Rockets, that's not really a bad thing.

 

[KingKong]

Such a shame really. Bonzi had a great opportunity here on the Kings. He ad a great long term deal, with a decent 7.2 m offer. He had also become a crowd favourite. Might still get the mins if Tmac's health problems persist. But he has to prove himself all over again and is now basically getting almost half of what was intially offered to him. Futhermore, how Bonzi and Gundy get along is a huge question mark.

 

[BRad1055]

Well according to the Rockets board on espn.com if they get Wells people over there are expecting nothing less than a WCF appearance and believe they have enough to possibly win the whole thing.

 

[Big Cuz 15]

it would be great if the kings could swing this deal~! trade exception + a draft pick

 

[Jerryaki]

yup, getting anything for bonzi at this point is a plus.

 

[JB_kings]

I'm all for making another western conference opponent better. Especially one that we fight with to make the playoffs.

 

[Big Cuz 15]

is he they're answer long term? it's not like we're contending now anyway

 

[Bricklayer]

I'm all for making another western conference opponent better. Especially one that we fight with to make the playoffs.

Unfortunate downside, but I'm all for making US better. Worry about the Rockets if and when we start becoming significant again. Wouldn't have traded with the Lakers or Spurs back at our peak for obvious reasons, but the Rockets are a pretty remote threat to our hopes, and scoring a first and a trade exception instead of getting nothing back at all trumps that sort of remote threat in my mind.

 

[Bricklayer]

Well according to the Rockets board on espn.com if they get Wells people over there are expecting nothing less than a WCF appearance and believe they have enough to possibly win the whole thing.

I will say this, if they did pull it off, and if they stayed healthy, I could actually see them being the 4th best team in the West, and maybe more legitimately dangeorus than the Suns. Maybe. At the very least they would have stars, a #1 (TMac), #2 (Yao) and #3 (Bonzi) scorer, inside scoring, tough guys and roleplayers. Just a question of whether Rafer could pull a Jwill and wise up, whetehr enough roleplayers could hit threes, and whether the utter crap they call the PF position could hold up its end.

 

[GoGoGadget]

I'm all for making another western conference opponent better. Especially one that we fight with to make the playoffs.

I still don't think it's THAT big of a concern.

Will it make the Rockets better? Yes. But how much better?

Either it makes them so much better that they're on the same level as the other teams in the west that already completely out-class us, in which case we just end up losing to a different team; or it makes them slightly better than they were last year and they are in the fight for the last few spots, in which case it'll be a battle to see who goes home in the first round.

I just don't think that the current roster is one that needs to worry about last minute playoff berths. Turn the Bonzi loss into a draft pick and a trade exemption, however, and that could change next year.

 

[AriesMar27]

either way, if they make this trade losing tmac for however many games wont hurt as much.... but if they are healthy, they would be a dangerous team....

 

[JB_kings]

Well if the Rockets make the playoffs, who doesn't?

 

[GoGoGadget]

Well if the Rockets make the playoffs, who doesn't?

Possibly us. But if we're fighting to slide into the 8th spot again, does it really matter?

 

[bajaden]

Push

I'm all for making another western conference opponent better. Especially one that we fight with to make the playoffs. [/quote

If we don't do the deal and Bonzi signs with them anyway for the 2 plus mil, we get nothing and they still get Bonzi. Either way they get Bonzi, so why not get something in return. I'd certainly like a first round pick, and the 4.2 mil excemption could be handy next year.

 

[Starting Five]

Yeah getting something for Bonzi like a first round pick and a TE makes sense to me..

Let's get it done!!

 

[Sac.Kings]

I would do it for Bonzi, he obviously doesn't want to come back so im all for kicking his *** out of Sac and the trade with the rockets is solid and probably better than anything else we could get.

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

Well according to the Rockets board on espn.com if they get Wells people over there are expecting nothing less than a WCF appearance and believe they have enough to possibly win the whole thing.

I said it last week about RealGM, and I'll say it again now: anybody that considers the espn.com message boards to be a credible source of information needs to re-evaluate their definition of "credible."

If you really want the pulse of Rockets fans, there's only one board that you should bother with...

 

[RS189]

awesome news, this is probably the most realistic bonzi trade yet

 

[Padrino]

I would do it for Bonzi, he obviously doesn't want to come back so im all for kicking his *** out of Sac and the trade with the rockets is solid and probably better than anything else we could get.

he's not even a member of the kings right now. you can't very well kick him out of town if he's not here to begin with. bonzi and his agent showed an error in judgement when they passed on the kings deal. oh well. if the kings were able to squeeze a pick and trade exemption outta the rockets in a sign-and-trade, then that's cool. otherwise, bonzi simply walked. you can't really bear ill will towards him for exercising his right to free agency. we can call it a stupid move (cuz it was), but that's about it...

 

[phasefour]

i would do this deal for sure, although id rather hold out for a 1st rounder. 2nd ronder would really be ok too.

i have a question about the TPE, if the kings let it expire, wouldnt it just turn into cash? in that case, wouldnt that be enough $$ to eat, say, jason harts contract?

 

[VF21]

i have a question about the TPE, if the kings let it expire, wouldnt it just turn into cash?

No. If it's not used in conjunction with a trade, it simply expires. It NEVER converts to cash.

 

[kpm308]

I think getting the Rockets to agree to giving up a first will depend on if Bonzi decides to sign a long term deal with them. I think if they can get him for 5 years, they would part with a 1st for him. However, if Bonzi is still looking to sign a one year deal and try again next year, I can't see the Rockets giving up a 1st for a one or two year rental.

 

[Bricklayer]

I will say this -- I actually do NOT think I would do this for a 2nd rounder. A second rounder from a Rockets team loaded up with TMac, Yao, Bonzi, Battier is practically worthless. Pick #50-55 in the draft or something, and oh yay, maybe a 5% chance to even stick in the NBA. Giving the Rockets the goods to kick our *** for such a piddly pick wouldn't be worth it unless we had IMMINENT plans to use that trade exception.

Do it for a first though, and wouldn't want to hear any bunk about it from the Rockets either. Bonzi is a better player than all but a handful of first rounders any given year, and certainly far more ready to help a seriosu team step up into contention. Put another way, if the Rockets felt that Shane Battier was worth the #7 pick in the draft, then Bonzi Wells is worth a first rounder as well.

 

[DaMan]

^^^completely agree

 

[Smills91]

I demand the TPE and 1st BARE minimum...I'd even see if we could squeeze Luther Head into the deal for Jason hart. Bonzi wants to get paid...we can just say to him...hold out til they give in, cuz if they give us a solid offer for you, you just DOUBLED you paycheck. This way Bonzi leaves without harse feelings...we used each other to get the best deal we could. Rockets don't really lose out because they end up with Bonzi services...

our new line-up:

C: Brad Miller, Loren Woods, Vitaly Potapenko
PF: Kenny Thomas, Shareef Abdur-Rahim, Louis Amundson
SF: Ron Artest, Francisco Garcia, Corliss Williamson
SG: Kevin Martin, John Salmons, Quincy Douby
PG: Mike Bibby, Luther Head, Ronnie Price

Our 2007 first round pick
Rockets 2007 first round pick

There's A LOT of trade ammunition on that roster come deadline time....for us.

 

[BMiller52]

I demand the TPE and 1st BARE minimum...I'd even see if we could squeeze Luther Head into the deal for Jason hart. Bonzi wants to get paid...we can just say to him...hold out til they give in, cuz if they give us a solid offer for you, you just DOUBLED you paycheck. This way Bonzi leaves without harse feelings...we used each other to get the best deal we could. Rockets don't really lose out because they end up with Bonzi services...

our new line-up:

C: Brad Miller, Loren Woods, Vitaly Potapenko
PF: Kenny Thomas, Shareef Abdur-Rahim, Louis Amundson
SF: Ron Artest, Francisco Garcia, Corliss Williamson
SG: Kevin Martin, John Salmons, Quincy Douby
PG: Mike Bibby, Luther Head, Ronnie Price

Our 2007 first round pick
Rockets 2007 first round pick

There's A LOT of trade ammunition on that roster come deadline time....for us.

I would love that but I don't see the rockets doing it.