But Hughes didn't stop there for Rockets rumors. The writer seemed to be overloaded with Houston Rockets information, which makes you wonder how he got it if it's legit, or if he just "Vecseyed it".
So let's break them each down.
"If the Rockets cannot land Lewis, they will consider offering Battier for Chris Wilcox"
Wilcox signed a 3-year, $24 million deal last year to remain with the Sonics, and the 6-foot-10, 235-pound forward responded with 13.5 points on 53% shooting to go with 7.7 boards.
Wilcox reminds you some of Stromile Swift, but obviously is a better player than the failed Rocket experiment. He would definitely be an upgrade at the power forward position over both Chuck Hayes and Juwan Howard ... but at the cost of Battier? Not terrible, but that's certainly not the home run that the proposed swap for Lewis could be.
Wilcox would give Rick Adelman a big, athletic four who can run though:
Look for Seattle to make some changes regardless. The franchise is looking at relocating. Assuming Lewis stays in this scenario and the Sonics draft Kevin Durant with the #2 pick, something will have to give at the four position in Seattle as the Sonics have Wilcox and Nick Collison there. The Rockets would be wise to stay in touch with Seattle brass.
"The Rockets plan to talk with the Minnesota Timberwolves about swapping Juwan Howard for Mike James"
This looks like a rehash of a rumor that existed at the last February trade deadline.
I just get upset when I think of the fiasco that is James being in Minnesota. Had the Rockets not traded James for Rafer Alston two seasons ago they wouldn't be left holding the bag on Skip's contract with 3 years remaining. Had they signed James outright last offseason, they wouldn't have had to deal with Bonzi Wells, they wouldn't have brought Vassilis Spanoulis over a year early (which still has him sour), they would have had a guy who can create his own shot against Utah and Jeff Van Gundy would still be head coach. Had James not selfishly gone to Minnesota, the Timberwolves wouldn't have a glut of combo guards.
The stars aligned perfectly here, but none of the parties involved could recognize it.
As for James, I would want him in either case, but I liked him better for the JVG team, which required efficient shooters/scorers in a halfcourt offense that depended upon McGrady doing most of the real point guard work. James' strength as a scorer and less as a "true point" are what were ideal for the JVG team. Adelman has always seemed to have had very good all-around PGs (Terry Porter, Rod Strickland and Mike Bibby come to mind) and James is still an upgrade over Rafer, but he would seem to fit the Bobby Jackson-instant offense role more for a coach like Adelman.
Still nice to look back at James' second game as a Rocket in 04-05, when he played 35 minutes in place of Bobby Sura and hit 11-15 shots (4-5 from long range) for 26 points, 5 assists and 3 steals.
"[The Rockets] are attempting to send the expiring contract of Bob Sura to the Golden State Warriors for Sarunas Jasikevicius"
Sura's expiring contract is a trade asset for the Rockets, so you'd like to see the team package it with something else to get more than Jasikevicius, but the 6-foot-4, 200 pound guard would be an improvement at backup point guard.
Jasikevicius, 31, was one of the biggest names in Europe from 2000-2005 and came to the Pacers in 2005 with great fanfare. He lit up the United States team in the 2004 Summer Olympics when he hit 7 triples (28 points) in an upset win by Lithuania. However, he joins Spanoulis and Carlos Arroyo as point guards who lit up the US in International competition but have yet to see the same success in the NBA.
He's a very good passer and shooter, but he's a touch slow and is not a good defender. He's entering the final year of a 3-year, $12 million contract.
