Ok not to cut things short but our chances of winning the championship are slim this year. I can very well see us advancing to the second round though. Possibly further depending on matchups. Any of those scenarios will be a success in my book. Anyways to get to the point. What about next year? Artest said he would like to stay in houston but for what price? Can we afford him? Our biggest problem is obviously Tmac. This guy has been my favorite player since he got traded to the magic. If we could have the tracy we had his first year in houston I would cream my pants. That is not very likely though and he has been steadily declining. At this point I would like to just get rid of him. The guy has all the talent in the world but enough is enough. This guy is just not going to cut it. So is there any chance we can cut him? A steve francis type high dollar buyout? Obviously if he is deemed unable to play by doctors we can exclude his salary from our cap but that needs to be done before the start of next season or else we are stuck in the same situation we are in now. He expires in '10 so that would not help us. My perfect scenario would be to buy him out soon and sign a few free agents this summer for 1 yr contracts. Anyone got any ideas?
Well if Morey is sticking with Adelman we need players who can run TRUE motion offense. Basically we become the Kings v2.0. However, Real motion offense + Yao = does not compute The problem is we brought in RA but we still have JVG players. Right now we're playing a motion offense that looks JVG-ish at times and not up to it's full potential. The players I see who can succeed in a true motion offense are Scola, Landry, Lowry, Wafer...basically all the players Morey brought in after RA became coach. I won't count Artest since he was a 'win now' move and not a long term consideration. The one year contract is an indication of that. Don't be surprised if Morey gets rid of Yao, Shane, Artest, and Hayes. It'd be like a lot of Morey's moves actually, unconventional and badly received at first, but hailed as genius later on. He's already got rid of Rafer. T-mac being traded for his expiring is a foregone conclusion. It depends on the relationship between Morey and Les. Les probably wants to keep Yao, the one-man economic stimulus package, for as long as possible. But Morey and Adelman would probably prefer a more mobile center. Basically, Yao and motion offense are a bad match and a compromise won't win you a championship. Either you go with a Yao-centric offense or with a full fledged motion offense. Yao is not being used to his full potential because he's playing in a motion offense, but you could also say the motion offense is not at its maximum effectiveness due to Yao. They're killing each other. It really depends on which offense you want. It's just like the current situation with Shaq and the Suns...Shaq and run and gun offense does not fit with each other. Their damage was amplified by a crappy coach and a coaching change. The Rockets are faring better because RA has been the coach for two years and he's simply a better coach and motivator overall. But our offense certainly looked bad early in the season and it still looks bad sometimes despite the absence of McGrady and best efforts of our players, simply because RA's offense doesn't fit our players.
Yeah, T-Mac was a all-star player in the first two years in Houston. But after the 3rd year, he became worse and worse,both with his hurting back and legs.
Nobody knows what is in store for the offseason, lots of question marks. I have a damn good feeling whatever happens we will be a much better team next year so long as Les doesn't get too stingy. History has shown Les goes above and beyond to land players, now with Morey's guidance it truly is a sure fire combination.
I think Les will become the biggest trouble in front of our way to signing decent role players, considering Les's personality and the bad economy. it's true that the finacial storm comes to all of us, but the leaves always fall off the trees before the branches do. Les truely has earned a fortune since yao became a rocket but he is still a mid-class relative to Mark Cuban.
Its never stopped him before. And if it does hinder his spending it will hinder the rest of the NBA proportionately. Ive said it before, only contenders want Artest, that means the MLE is his ceiling. You can make the case that the bad economy will actually make things easier for the Rockets who need to re-up Wafer, Artest, and possibly offer an expiring McGrady.
No, no, no, no... This is all wrong. Yao and Shane are not going anywhere... When you have a big man with the skill set like Yao's your offense goes through him. Period. I believe that Yao is playing as close to his maximum potential as he possibly can. He's never going to be able to get the ball when the defense tightens up, and that's not because of the offense. It's because he's 7'6 300+ and immobile. The motion offense, I feel, should be used whenever Yao isn't on the court. We are one dominant perimeter player away from making this possible and unstoppable. But no worries... Joe Johnson will be here soon enough!!!
Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift. That's why its called the present. -Kung-Fu Panda
Trade Ron in a S&T, and trade Tmac....and get a quality PG, and PF that can stretch the D by hitting 3s and blocking shots on the weakside. DD
I don't see a better PF that we can attain than Ron Artest at the moment. Even in the off-season, Ron Artest sounds more promising than a lot of the other players in the PF position. Trading TMac is going to be hard, he'll have to prove himself worth a damn when next season starts before other teams start to flirt with the idea of "testing" a new SG before their 2010 season. I'm all down for the PG idea. PF position, I think, is pretty much set already for the Rockets, but we certainly can use a dependable 3-pt shooter. But I'd also like a back-up C... Seriously.
The big pieces will all depend on Tracy McGrady and Ron Artest. If McGrady really won't be able to play until late in the season, we will probably trade him or do that injury exemption to keep his pay off our books. Artest if we can't get for a reasonable price will probably be let go. We could probably start Von Wafer in SG position but we will need another scorer coming off the bench and for Wafer to mature into a all star level player. He doesn't have to have Artest's elite defensive skills or T-Mac's scoring but he will need to be a guy will draw attention and if Yao is getting locked down be able to do damage. No telling if that is asking to much of him for next season yet, but time will tell. Anyway, those are the main concerns for next year. Unless Morey can get use for some of our guys in trades, I expect Brooks and/or Lowry are still our PGs in fall of 09. I don't see us trading Scola or Landry either. We might see a certain rookie get minutes as the backup center, if he improves his game a little, because I expect Yao will start getting reduced minutes to save up for big games, if we don't get out of the first round and lose both Artest and McGrady.
There are plenty of quality PG's out there, but can you name one PF in the league that can hit 3's AND block shots? I don't think there's a big man out there that can do both reliably. I don't even think there's an attainable PF that would be an upgrade to Scola.
Sign Ron to a fat, 3 year contract with a Team Option in the third year (fat enough to keep him happy, but a team option makes him an expiring contract for 2 out of the three years), make some minor tweaks (like buying someone else's draft picks, etc) and let the team grow. Every year since I can remember we are always adjusting to new players, coaches, etc., how about a little continuity? Since the all star break our winning percentage is excellent, and we can reasonably expect internal improvement via landry, brooks, wafer, lowry, and possibly Scola (longshots: James White and Dorsey). We have some good young talent, we just need to give them room to grow, and grow together.
leebigez? First Shane and now this. EDIT: What's funny is that i think that if he would have said it in this same thread people would have been dogging him about how he only cares about athleticism and we are fine at the 4.
You have miserably failed. Thats the best idea I can come up with. Here is why. #1 you said T-Mac has been your favorite player since he got traded to the Magic. He never got traded to Orlando. He and Grant Hill signed there when they were free agents so you should have known that. #2. Why would you want to cut a guy who is in his last year of his contract or rather buy him out when he is in his last year of a contract which is going to be 23 mil I believe just to sign another player for a one year contract. That makes no sense. Dont read this and think im trying to get at you because I'm not
Ron Artest was brought here to stretch the floor. In case you didn't know which I'm sure you do. Nobody in the NBA plays their natural position anymore. Ron can play the 2,3, and 4. Ron was going to be our 4 on some nights so he can stretch the floor. The thing is shots just aren't falling. Who is to say that the PF we trade for will knock down 3s. We have Brent Barry right?? His 3s aren't falling for us. So I hope you get what Im saying with that. As for McGrady you might as well let it go because a guy who is in his last year of his contract you are going to say trade it away? That makes no sense. They are trading 23 million when they can keep it for themselves and basically sign whomever they want come 2010. With this one year deal remaining on McGrady's contract its basically a win/ lose situation just like we are doing with Artest right now. If things pan out great we can resign McGrady. If not just let him walk.
