If Carl Landry can be had, the Bucks ought to have him
I realize the Milwaukee Bucks are over the salary cap, and I also realize Carl Landry of the Houston Rockets is a restricted free agent, but if there was any way in hell the Bucks could land the hometown boy, they ought to do so.
Landry is exactly the kind of interior player the Bucks need. Physical, aggressive... and hugely productive. Though I normally despise undersized power forwards (Landry's standing reach is a meager 8'6''. That's about the NBA average -- for a shooting guard!!), Landry's rookie numbers cannot be ignored. They were nothing short of incredible. When I did my Win Profile for the Houston Rockets, I was stunned by what he accomplished.
Using up only 3.8% of the Rockets total allotment of player floor time, I calculate that Landry added 3.5 wins to the Rockets total (remember, under my variation of Wins Produced, which attempts to consider each player's defensive production as well as his offensive numbers, a half a win for every one percent of floor time can be considered stellar Win Production -- and Landry nearly doubled that). Better still, Landry showed incredible balance to his game for a rookie. The native Milwaukeean made huge Win Contributions on both the offensive (+0.187) and defensive (+0.118) ends of the court. Very unusual for a rookie.
What's more, by my reckoning Landry's win productivity was, per minute, comparable to the very elite players in the NBA (his personal win-loss record of 99-(-17), and his Wins Produced per 48 of +0.236 puts him in the top 10 best Win Producers per minute in the entire Association.)
Yet despite what he did, I'm reading that the Rockets might not have any use for Landry. They certainly made him redundant when they acquired Memphis' Joey Dorsey. Maybe the really would let him walk. If so, the Bucks ought to pounce. Championship teams are built on these kinds of personnel blunders.
Now again, I don't know if the Bucks are even capable of making Landry an offer under the bizarre terms of the NBA's Rube Goldbergesque Salary Cap. (Anyone who knows or wants to sift through the terms of the CBA to find out, please advise me on that). But if they are, they should not hesitate to do so.
posted by Ty Will @ Thursday, September 11, 2008
5 Comments:
Landry has a knee problem. He is refusing to let the Rockets examine him without a contract, the Rockets are refusing to offer him a contract without examining his knee.
I haven't been keeping up, how is this knee problem different from the one that let him drop so far in the draft in the first place?
Imagine if Coach Adelman had given Landry any sort of chance to play the first 2 months of the season? Coach "A" historically doesn't like to play rookies (yes Luis Scola is a rookie but he's like 48yrs old, right?). Landry is a hard worker with the Gene Keady "hard nosed-play hard" philosophy (see Brian Cardinal work ethic). Would love to see him as a Buck.
A sign and trade might be the only way to get Landry over to Milwaukee. In this case Landry would have to accept the qualifying offer. Otherwise Houston can only use the MLE to offer him any other amount. A player signed with an exception can't be S&T-ed.
Carl Landry (Q.O.) + Luther Head = Joe Alexander.
Are the Bucks willing to give up Alexander? Is Landry willing to take the gamble on an one year contract?
Landry would have been a truly spectacular fit for the Bucks.
Bogut desperately needs someone to help him in the paint ... the toughness, the muscle, the rebounding, the defense, the efficient scoring. A true power forward who could balance the floor. He'd have been a great role player for the Bucks.
Houston are very lucky to have Landry.
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