I think this trade deadline, the Rockets will definitely choose a direction

Last year Melo held the while league hostage, it went down tot he wire and no one made a move until the Melo saga played out. b Teasm traded in the very last hours of the deadline.

I think the same thing will happen this season with Dwight, no one will make a move until Orlando makes a formal legit decision. And it could go down tot he wire last lasts season with Denver.

Chances of landing a star will be minimal, we might be able to get a 1st round pick from a semi-crap team and hope the lottery pushes it up to 6-8th spot. Our best hope lies with combining Lowry/Martin/Scola along with Dragic/Lee/Pat. They are the only ones who have value.

 

Eric Maynor juse tore his acl. Since the thunder has seen Dragic, do some good things, I think it would be a good time to trade him if the thunder are willing to give up this year's draft pick and next years 1st. Dragic is good enough to start for 50 % of teams in the leauge but he'll will prob. demand a 20 mill contract. And with him and Lowry thats like 40 mill on two players. Trade him NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

The Dwight-Deron drama has the whole league in a mexican standoff.

 

Random trade idea, at the trade deadline on March 15th:

Houston trades: Kevin Martin, Luis Scola, Samuel Dalembert, Goran Dragic
Houston receives: Andrew Bynum

Lakers trade: Andrew Bynum, Pau Gasol
Lakers receive: Dwight Howard, Luis Scola, Chris Duhon

Orlando trades: Dwight Howard, Chris Duhon
Orlando receives: Pau Gasol, Kevin Martin, Dalembert, Dragic

 

Thunders is going to have one of the best records in the league this year.

What makes you think trading him for a draft pick next year is going to be any benefits for us? You might as well trade him for chips.

 

camt wait till the deadline

 

cant*

 

We already have a business direction. By the time Rox signed Dalembert, I don't see Les has any intention to tank at all.

 

At this point I am fine with trading anyone not named Lowry and thats not because I feel Lowry is a player you can build around but because:

1 - he has shown he is a great guy to get the offense going and set the tempo on both ends of the floor
2 - his contract which many here felt was too much is actually now one of the best values in the league
3 - most importantly that contract will still be valid in 2-3 seasons when whoever "young guys" the rockets may acquire via trade or draft would be coming into their own and he will still be in his "prime years"

outside of that the guys from the 09 class they all can leave the team for nothing IMO they all sucks and the only one that has a shot at becoming a good NBA player, maybe even an all-star is Williams and thats only IF he matures which he hasnt shown at all so far so I wouldnt take that bet that he will.

the rest of the roster?

scola - LOVE the guy and his spirit but he isnt going to help this team long term the Rockets could and should move him to a team that could use him in exchange for first round picks and or ineresting prospects

Martin - not on a terrible contract and could easily help one of the 'contending' teams get over the hump with his scoring prowess - get an expiring and first round pick(s) if possible for him or to a middle of the pack team for something.

Lee - I would honestly like to see him resigned but my gut tells me he is going to get a deal from another team that will be too rich for the Rockets to match at this stage of the 'rebuilding' phase for the team.

Budinger - should not be a starter in the NBA but a good player to bring off the bench i think he will stay on the Rockets considering the price that they have him for.

Dalembert - Please let this become a contract that because very useful to the team because Dalembert the player isnt I am hoping Dalembert the contract is.

Dragic - Probably a guy if given the chance could be a starting PG in the nba, exhibits many of the similar traits as Lowry does and I dont think he will want to remain a 6th man for much longer. I think he also signs elsewhere he has some big games to his names and these last two games with Lowry hurt he has done well too. I think a Lowry/Dragic tandem is one of the best and underrated PG tandems in the league but I dont see it lasting too long.

Patterson - He is also a keeper if he can bounce back from the injuries he sustained over the summer. So far he hasnt shown the same type of play from his rookie season but I believe he will pick it up soon enough.

Parsons/Morris/D-Mo - I wouldnt say all are "keepers" for sure but they havent played enough to warrant trying to move on but Morris and D-Mo have a lot of good potential and Parsons has shown he can be a solid rotational player so far, but I have to wonder is that because the rockets front court positions are so thin that he is forced to play or because he has the talent to deserve that sort of spot on most NBA teams?


The idea of trying to rebuild while fielding a competitive team is IMO silly. We are not the Heat, Lakers or big name media centers that seemingly have trades come to them in lopsided fashion or are able to sign big name free agents. I think its a lot easier to rebuild through the draft AND its a lot easier to keep any superstar (Esp with the new CBA) you could end up drafting on your team. Or at the very least get back some sort of value in return because as much as all these guys say they want to play with their friends its the $$$ that will dictate where they go (even bosh and lebron they took a small paycut but with the lack of a state income tax in FL I would say that the disposable income that they actually see probably isnt that much lower at all, if it is lower) and even the two of them got their teams to do a s&t so they could get the big payday in the last year of the deal.

I wish Les would get it out of his head that the Rockets could achieve this...Boston, OKC you could say became good to great in a season but look at OKC/Seattle they had some terrible seasons that lead to Durant and even after Durant they were bad. Boston was terrible for several seasons until they were able to swing the trades for Allen and Garnett.

I hate saying the work 'tank' i dont think this team needs to actively lose games but it sure needs to move its larger contracts that will not help the team in the future, cut its loses on players (the 2009 class) so that heading into this offseason it has as many draft picks as possible and as low of a payroll as possible - they probably will end up losing more games because of this since there will be a talent deficiency but its a necessary poison pill to take to hope for a brighter future that is sustained for more than just 1-2 seasons.

 

1977 agrees with you.

 

March 15th. Way too long to stick with roster. Last season it hurt waiting for that long.

 

Yeah, Bynum is really something ......great footwork ...silky smooth moves for a guy his size... with the ability to pound the boards and play interior D.
That said, as good as Bynum can be if he stays healthy, the downside risk is unacceptable due to the severity of his injuries. I think we can get a more insulated deal for a top player. (preferably a big)
Kevin Martin, Luis Scola, Dalembert (a good backup/ contract), and Dragic......heck, the Lakers might even want picks too. It's just too much to commit under the circumstances. I mean, we just went through the decade of Yao and Tracy. Time is on our side now. We can afford to be patient while rebuilding, with an eye towards a reload. (if the right opportunity presents itself) While I love the upside of this move, I can't reconcile forcing it and taking on the degree of unnecessary risk at this point.

 

Not going to quote the entire thing, but anybody thinking TLDR, would be missing an excellent bit of writing by YY.

Nicely said.

DD

 

He cripppled himself too.

 

How much would you be happy to get back for Scola and Martin? One thing that people should consider is the difference in return from trading at the deadline vs trading during the offseason. Look at how the Charlotte Bobcats have begun their rebuilding effort; they traded their best player, Gerald Wallace, who is injury prone, and had $19M/2 years, during the season to Portland, who in return gave them a future lottery protected pick in 2013, and New Orleans' 2011 pick (#19), along with a few expirings. In comparison, they traded their 2nd best player, Stephen Jackson, who along with being 33, had $19.5M/2 years, right before the draft, and were able to trade him for Corey Maggette ($21M/2 years) and a trade up from #19 to #7. To me, the return they got on Jackson was better, since there is a decent chance Maggette can be flipped again when he's an expiring deal.

I think it would be very hard to expect to get more than the 'Cats got for Gerald Wallace if the Rockets try to trade them in-season, and you'd be limited to the teams who were competing for the playoffs; those with low draft picks and likely, not a lot of bad contracts. If you wait until draft day, or after the major free agents sign, you might be able to get a much better trade, since teams will know their draft spots, as well as knowing who's available. Unless it's not allowed by the CBA, unprotected lottery picks are never traded anymore; too many GMs have been burnt. Since the Rockets seemingly have a much different draft board than most teams, they might really be able to move up from that Knicks pick in the 20s and get someone they think has superstar potential, rather than just get 2 more picks in the 20s that everyone here complains about. Heck, Mike Miller and Randy Foye once got the #5 pick (Rubio), and that was David Kahn pulling the strings!

 

I said for 2 draft picks. This year's draft is gonna be the best in years. IF we are able to get one for trading Dragon, we would have 3 picks in the first round in a deep draft to play with. I would rather get something rather then nothing. And no one else is is gonna want to give up their first round pick. But since, you know what f it your a troll Idon't needto explain any more.

 

Doesn't it look like groundhog day every year. How many times have we heard that the Rockets were going to make a major move on the trade deadline? I really wish they would this time but I am not holding my breath.

 

IMHO the mark of good management is not setting a game plan and sticking with it, but rather taking advantage of the changing environment. Kodak for example set out a good plan to invest more in their photography business, didn't help them the least big when the digital age exploded. OTH Facebook started out as a university friendster clone but then quickly realized the potential for apps and ads through social networking.

IMHO the Rockets have been trying to do the same, get predatory at the trade deadline. I agree with the OP, because of the stated reasons it makes more sense to see where your team is first before you go ahead and make moves that will lock you out of possible scenarios.

I guess I'm the optimist on this board, I look at the pieces we have now and I think we're just a piece or two away from contending. Let's be real here, a lot of unforeseen factors are affecting the Rox play, the most pressing of which is how Dalembert seems to regress with every game, which doesn't make sense at all. If Dalembert played like he did the first game, or actually became better every game would we be looking at a 4 game losing streak? I think not. Not to mention Adrien and Flynn giving 0 on the court after we cut Smith and Lin for them, PP, T-will and C-bud playing like crap, Lowry with the battery charges etc. etc.