Sorry for the long post, i am at work with a lot of free time and have taken some to have a look at where our great franchise is at.. I like so many of you right now am disappointed that after a season of expectation with the return of Yao, seemed dead 5 games in. I love this franchise and am a big fan of the roster, but after two seasons of 9th seed in the west with the worst possible lottery pick, something's gotta give. For me the franchise can go in one of two directions. Option 1. re-sign Yao, try and keepn the team together (including the coaching staff) and try one last time to win with the big man from China. I have a mountain of respect for Yao, and i am open to him staying on a small contract but it is debateable whether his body will hold up. The risk with this option is that if Yao breaks down then we are in the same position - with a high pay role and a medicre team. Someone like Kevin Martin is a great complimentary player, he is not a number 1 option adn we all know this so it is very risky to re-sign Yao and hope he can stay healthy. If we take option one, keeping Luis will obviously happen, meaning Patterson's progress will be stunted - and the kid looks to be an absolute stud. Pat is a great defender, and has a great mid-range shooter but his post game needs a lot of work and the coaching staff will have to make that the priority for Pat. Option 2 - blow it up and start all over. I think if we take this route, we must move Scola and Miller and possibly even make a tough call on Yao, thank him for the great memories and move on. Scola and Miller both have pretty big contracts, but Luis' would be easier to move because his offensive post game is excellent. We would almost have to buyout Miller in order for him to not clog up a roster spot. He is old, awful at defending and his shooting is declining. We have a good young core of Lowry, Lee, Patterson, Dragic etc. and if we blow it up we may cop a short-term hit, but being down in the lottery could bring us the star we have been missing for the past few seasons. The Roster decisions which must be made. I am no expert with contracts and the like so i have no idea where all these guys are at contractually but we need to make some tough calls... COACH ADELMAN: Will he or will he not re-sign? The case for: - Ricks offense is great, we look good running it, and the current team are comfortable playing in it. - You don't win the amount of games Rick has won in this league if you are a bad coach, there is no doubt he is a good coach, but is he the right coach to take us forward? The case against: - Rick is getting old, and has been in the league a long time.. is the hunger to coach a middling team with little hope of winning a championship any time soon still there? i'm not so sure. - Defense: or lack thereof. We have been awful this season of the defensive end, this isn't entirely Ricks fault but the buck must stop somewhere. - Is rick the right guy to develop young guys? He has his favorites and i'm not so sure that if we go with a young team next season that Rick is the guy to develop them. He is a stubborn guy and prefers to use guys who are tried and tested in his system see Martin, Kevin and Miller, Brad. Either way i could handle having Rick back, i respect the guy and his record and it's debateable we would find a better coach on the open market. CHUCK HAYES: No matter which direction this team goes, we must re-sign Chuck - this is a no-brainer, he is the heart and soul of the team and he deserves a solid contract. I love the guy to bits, but if we re-sign him he should be playing as a back-up even if it's for big minutes because we need a shot-blocking defensive C stating games. TERRENCE WILLIAMS: We gave up a lottery pick for this guy, and he tweeted his way to ricks doghouse. The guy has potential but does not seem to be an Adelman's system guy.. His talent, is often overlooked because he has a mouth, and has not made a good impression in little game-time. We must decide whether to give him a chance to resurrect his career in Houston or be done with him. He has to take a good hard look at himself either way. HASHEEM THABEET: So we signed the long, tall shot-blocking center we have so long craved - too bad this guy is a complete stiff, and weighs about 80 pounds. I think we should put some work into Hasheem and try to get him to develop into a solid backup C, the problem is that the guy has been in the league 2 years and is still a 7'3 twig with no offensive game and no BBIQ. since we traded for him i believe we should try devlop him, but he has to play in order for that to happen. Perhaps we should give him minutes in the final 4 games now this season is done. BRAD MILLER: Mentioned above, but this guy is of no use to us and mus be waived, traded for a packet of chips...either way he must go. JORDAN HILL: Much-maligned, and much like Thabeet he was a lottery pick who is still way too raw after 2 seasons in the league. He is the most frustrating player i have ever seen wear rockets red in the 7-8 years i have watched the rockets for 70+ games a season. One minute he will show you the potential that got him drafted so high, the next he will make the dumbest play of the season. Morey has to decide whether to upgrade on Hill and hope someone will trade for him, or whether he will be part of the young core which will take us forward. I am not sure he is capable of much more than he is showing right now, but i would give him one more season to see if he can improve. CHASE BUDINGER; Chase has improved on both ends of the court as a starter, but is he a starting calibre SF? it's debateable for me. He is on a low contract, and is a team guy but i think we need to upgrade at the 3 spot and have Chase coming off the bench. WHAT WE KNOW: Kyle Lowry is a stud, he is the leader of this team, and the improvement he has made this season proves to me he is the starting PG of this team for the next 3-4 years at least. Courtney Lee is a keeper - His defensive energy and his athleticism are a great asset to this team. He helps us in many ways and must stay on this team. Kevin Martin can score, but goes missing in the big moment often.. I think he will be a rocket next year, but if he continues to be our first option we will again be a lottery team. I respect his ability to score freely, but he contributes nothing in terms of intangibles and does not fill the box score with assists and rebounds. a great piece in a good team, but not a 1st option. Either way this off-season is critical for the franchise, something must be done - we can't afford to just sit in this mediocre position of 9th seed again, and free agency doesn't have a lot of super players who can dramatically improve this team. This is all keeping in mind that we might not even have a season to talk about due to the lockout, but there are questions to be answered eithwer way.
The stars will fall in align for us soon enough. Just gotta keep our chin up! Knocked down 7 times get back up 8
Nice post, I agree on almost all points. Should make for some good discussion that I will be happy to participate in when im not so tired
Definite keepers: Lowry -- efficient, ever-improving floor general; 25 years old. Lee -- energetic, effective 2-way player; 25. Hayes -- heart of the team, defensive powerhouse; 27. Patterson -- rock-solid PF with solid mid-range game; 22. Martin -- dynamite 2nd/3rd option, superb FT shooter; 28. Thabeet -- raw, shot-blocking 7-footer, wait-and-see; 24. Dangle Scola for youth/size or the opportunity to climb the board in the Draft. T-Will may be damaged goods, and I'd be inclined to keep him on board for at least another year, but if the right offer comes around/teams express interest as a sweetener in a Scola deal, pull the trigger.
I agree that we keep Hayes, but not for more than 3 mill/ year. I would not keep backup material for more than that. I know people love him in this board but as Battier he is over rated because he is a nice guy and hard worker. However, this team won't go anywhere past what we have achieved in the last couple of years with him playing big minutes. I thing he is a great situational player but not close to starter.
I agree on all your points, i'm just not sure we keep t-will if Rick stays..first impressions are hard to change, both Avery Johnson and Rick have been unable to overcome the attitude the boy has.
The first chance we get to improve is the NBA Draft. There's about eight prospects in this draft that I'd be pretty happy coming away with (excluding Sullinger/Barnes).
I agree with all excpet Martin. If Scola goes then Martin goes. And keep Dragic too. Get a new coach who can develop and incorporate T-Will and Thabeet.
Gotta think Yao will be a keeper forever, for business reasons (China). He has said pretty strongly that he has little interest in going elsewhere. I can see him taking a much lower salary and just chillaxing Shaq style. I bet both parties would be fine with that.
Keep Martin , P-Pat , Bud, Hayes , Scola, Hill, Dragic, Lee, T-Will, Thabeet, and then ship em to Orlando for D-Howard and some other folks
The draft and free agency in 2012 ... that's the next big date to look forward to. I agree with signing a new coach. Someone who has a variety of offensive systems and can teach defense and show trust in his young guys. Perhaps some good can come out of our late run in the sense that it has increased the value of some of our players, like Chase and Jordan. So we can actually trade them unlike this past trade deadline. Daryl, you won't get away this time with not getting us a decent center. Toyota Center will explode next season if we still trot out Chuck Hayes as our starting center. That's two seasons that you failed to get a decent big. Even Les Alexander is looking at your track record.
Oh, and keep Lowry, Hayes, PPat. Keep Scola and Martin too unless we can get an upgrade at center for them. I can live with Lee but am not that sold that he can give us Kevin's production. We need an upgrade at SF if TWill won't pan out. I'm willing to take a chance on Thabeet. I would ship out JHill because he wasted this year already. We need a solid performer. I will buy out Brad Miller just so he doesn't take up bench space.
Forget Yao. If resigns for the vet minimum then bring him back as a backup Center but otherwise let him go because if your wagon is hitched to him you’re going to end up getting stranded. This team needs in the following order: -Length/Athleticism at C -A long, defensive minded SF who is a competent and efficient but not necessarily prolific scorer -Upgrade at backup PG Who we give up to fill those needs: -Scola (obviously is the only player with real value) -Miller (if anyone will take him) -Dragic (he is ok but the team could replace him relatively easy) -Hill (bum) -Budinger (has some value and the price is right) Who we keep: -Hayes -Lowry -Patterson -Martin -Lee Take those five guys above and a few decent upgrades and you win 50 games. Take those five guys and add a superstar and some size up front and you are contending.
a truth that alot of folks on here fail to realize. adelman is the key. this whole "get a coach who can develope young guys" theory is retareded. has adelman and his staff not done a solid job developing our guys we have now? i think they have done great actually. they dont have to be 1st and 2nd yr guys to "develop". lowry has turned into a hell of a pg, patterson is coming around showing his potential. the original post i quoted mentioned a coach to develop twill and thabeet? i mean seriously??? and dragic as mentioned as well as a keeper? i mean the guy shows some decent stuff from time to time but he is no where near the "must keep" category for this team.
Pretty sound thinking .... I'm down with most of the post. 2 things - I would hang on to Dragic and be open to dealing Kevin Martin.
Tell me which player that is actually worth a darn would actually want to play in Houston? I'm just worried that we're going to be suck at the 9-11th seed for years to come!
