http://www.1560thegame.com/media/?p=2447 http://www.1560thegame.com/media/podpress_trac/web/2447/0/Hardisty - 022311.mp3
Not sure where to post this but Clutch on 1560 earlier today Dave, welcome back. How are you? Good, how are you. Good. Before we talk Rockets, reaction to Carmelo/Deron trades? Did Knicks flinch? Nets played them. Forced them to give up pieces when they knew Carmelo wanted to be there. Now we know for sure thats where he wanted to be the whole time. Maybe they did give up a litte much. Nets deal shocked me. Amazing deal for Jazz. That is a team that doesnt attract FAs. They were proactive and made the trade early. Got Favors and 2 potential lottery picks. Anti-sign-&-trade deal there. This is the Jazz getting better package than in a S&T. And btw, Deron Williams, you go figure out what to do with your extension with the Nets. Absolutely. Refreshing to see a team use their strength. We've seen teams get walked on. Utah used their own strength and traded him to the Nets whether he liked it or not. Jason Sheppard of ESPN700 in Salt Lake mentioned rumors swirling around Williams --one involving Houston. Do we know if true? Not sure. Looking at what Jazz were able to get for Williams, any combo the Rockets could part with that could beat that offer or package? Dont see any way they could have. Who could the Rockets, of all of their roster, who beats those 3 main assets? Cant see the Rockets being able to offer anything up that is comparible. No way they could've pulled off D-Will trade. There was a twitter rumor of possible 3 way trade but havent heard anything to confirm. Almost like the Rockets have the poor man of everything the Nets got. Poor man Favors and Harris, and picks. ... Carmelo going to Knicks not good for Rockets picks from NY. Yeah, it does hurt. Does put all of NY's chip into 2 players. One injury or something goes wrong, that changes their fortune. To have Amare and Carmelo, much more difficult. Dont think they were going to flip picks this year but next year's pick, top 5 protected, you were hopeful that was a lottery pick but that isnt looking promising. So where do Rockets go from here? I'm a believer you need to have...they're a team of guys who try hard but you need a superstar. Seems all superstars are off the market or almost off the market. Where does Daryl go from here to find next big thing. Does he need to take risks on guys with upside like Mayo or someone similar? Good question. What Daryl has hoped to do is fill the 2 big holes which was superstar wing and center. Was going after Nene and were hoping Granger was going to be dealt, which doesnt look likely but...barring the unforseen, there have been whispers of guys like Curry or Ellis going out of GS, barring something they can get involved in that realm, they got to head towards draft picks and the draft. I dont see any other way...they are sorta stuck. Whether you look at this team as the future or right now, they're stuck in/around the 10th spot. You can list teams ahead of them that have a brighter future or brighter pieces ahead of the Rockets. They got to pick a direction. They got to contend right now or sell some pieces and head towards the draft. Of the pieces, which pieces are most valued around the league? Lee is drawing the most interest. He wont bring back what you hope for. A lot of teams calling on him specifically. Battier too but I'm speculating there. Does the...does movement of Williams to NJ shut down the Brooks chatter? It hurts. Wont see NJ coming after Brooks now. Hurts that the Nets had all kinds of draft picks, including a Rockets lottery protected pick but they had 5 future picks in next 2 years. They were a good match if they were looking to rebuild. That move does hurt. Caught me by surprise --NJ that is. What do you do with Aaron Brooks now? Pretend the deadline comes and goes and he is here. Time to extend is coming up. Lowry has played well. What to do with Aaron? Hopeful they'll move him. They talked how he was still in his plans but I think they would like to move him. If not, Daryl has done a good job leveraging in FA. Did it with Lowry and Landry, and sorta with Luis. He does that well. Aaron will be a RFA. Rockets can match any offer he gets. You may see a team like the Kings overpay. Overall, they'll have the power to match that contract or not. Dont think they'll be over concerned if he's still on the roster come offseason. How do you like Hornets getting Landry? Good move for the Hornets. Similar skillset to David West so some overlap. I was happy for Carl. I got a chance to interview before a Kings-Rockets game, he did not sound happy there. He was starting to lose playing time. He was not happy with the situation. I'm happy he is back on a contending team, not happy it's the Hornets. When he signed that deal, Charlotte signed him to offer sheet, Rockets matched. You said, he's getting 3 mil a year next 3 years, if he does right things with money, he'll be ok. Now you say, damn he's only making 3 mil a year. What's the market for him in FA? Hard to project as far as dollar value. Think a lot of teams will come after him. He's a high enery guy though a little short for starting PF. Good market for him. 5-7 mil maybe I'd say. General league question --are we seeing quick drastic change in balance of power from West to East? Yeah we are. Certainly w/ top level guys, Amare-Carmelo-Deron. Right now the East bottom half is ugly. West is 11-12 teams battling it out. Top top teams, seems to be shifting to the East right now. Appreciate the convo. Thanks You bet.
Clutch nailed it, like I said in other thread, Morey backed himself into a corner and needs a way out of it and this is it.
I just want to say thank you for all the legwork you do around here. If I see a thread with hsf09 as the last post I always click on it. You're constantly the first to post twitter news, general web news, and podcast transcripts like this. This reply was in lieu of rep, because I'm unable to do that again.
Are the warriors really that serious about moving curry? Monta i'd understand, he's older, also plays PG, and more one dimensional, but Curry?
Whats going on? Not much. How are you? Doing fine. Times are good if you are a Rockets fan. Curious....do you see more traffic when something big hits or more traffic on a day like last Friday? Does negativity get more traffic than positivity? Occasionally. We see more posts or more people talking after a game they should've won. People are checking in pretty heavily after a game like last night or the Hornets. Though trade deadline, after they made some trades, that is a whole different league --site crippling traffic. In the moves we're talking about, I look at the moves, the trade deadline is a microcosm of what has gone on Rockets transaction wise during Daryl Morey's time as GM. It's 2 deals, if you evaluate outside of the next 2 weeks or month, they look like good deals but not game changing deals. Your evaluation? Looking at it going in, it is a massive disappointment to come away with what they did considering what/where they hoped for or to be. They had 2 windows: summer of 2010 and this trade deadline to flip those assets.. Since game 82 of last year, up until the trade deadline, it was a stock market crash of the Rockets assets. Saw what happen to Knicks pick and every player they considered deadling --they went down in some sense value wise. Once Yao went out, the plan changed. Getting past the initial disappointment, they arent bad moves. Classic Daryl Morey moves. Could have good upside and very low risk. Contracts could expire next year. They'll give it another try this summer and next deadline. What should we expect to change for Hasheem Thabeet now that he's in Houston, as opposed to Memphis. Got a great staff as far as working with big guys. Experienced guys. They'll put a lot into him. Expectations, as far as fans should be concerned, should be low. Keep the bar low. Any progress with him, any at all, then he becomes a trade asset or you can continue to develop him. Dont expect to see a miracle turn around. To have a disappointing rookie season and then really flop in his 2nd season, that is a bad sign. Give your evaluation...talk about the position Rockets are in heading into this offseason. From salary standpoint and draft picks standpoint. How well positioned are they to become a better team this offseason? Good question. Dont want to take credit for this but one of our users BimaThug does a good job, he is an attorney by trade, does a good job breaking this all down. The way he has it down, if CBA stays the same and not safe assumption, you'll have 7-8 mil in cap room. Thats letting go of Chuck and Yao --not letting their capholds stay on. Not a year you'll see them add a significant piece in FA. What he breaks down, they are positioned well for trade. Where you hope to see this team go is trade --thats where they're best positioned. Unbelievable breakdown. ... One of the things, Morey intimated during the PC, was the future of Yao. No downside to doing this right now but...he left the door open to Yao returning. Is that Daryl leaving the door open because there is no downside or do you believe there is an actual chance he comes back next year? I think there is a chance. I heard different things. Things that people dont expect him back and others say he's going to give it another shot. I dont think anyone in Rockets organization is counting on it anymore. They did this year. They tried to hedge their bets. Didnt work out. Not counting on it period. There is a chance he does come back. He had the surgery. When he gets to that stage, I think he is rehabbing to make a return. Hate to talk about "Hey, if he gets back to previous self" but if he does, that makes the Rockets more attractive to a star. Rockets are way down the list of star's location to play. We talk about those markets. Certain markets that stars go to unconditionally. But Houston one of the best conditional markets. People loved to play in the 90s with Olajuwon. I get frustrated when I hear about Houston being dogged out for not being a good NBA market. Players bring players in most places right? I agree. Houston is a great location. Tax situation, weather. Though what we're seeing, is the trend of superstar friends teaming up. Thats pushed the Rockets down the list. Anyone that comes here is starting that on their own. They need someone who will take that risk. Looking at John Hollinger stats/odds of making the playoffs, today is 41% which is up 12% from yesterday. Do you feel better or worst than the 41% chance. Pretty good estimation. I wouldnt say 50/50 bet. ... Definitely increasing my projections but not a safe bet to make it. Not to jinx the Rockets or putting the cart ahead of the horse, looking at top 3 teams in the West, SA, LA and Dallas, which 3 do Rockets match up best with? To be honest, off the bat, NOT Dallas. LA looks vulnerable. I hate to pick the Lakers but they look vulnerable. SA has had an amazing season. Would be tough for the Rockets to upset them. I would say 1. LA, SA a close second and would not pick the Mavs. Appreciate the time. Take care. http://www.1560thegame.com/media/
Pretty sure Clutch had inside info that the Mavs were signing Corey Brewer and thats why he wouldnt want to match up with them in any hypothetical playoff matchup
I agree that Dallas is the team I least want to see, but I think SA is much more vulnerable than LA. The age factor, potential injuries, and the letdown following a magical regular season all work in our favor I believe. LA is a flip-the-switch team. You never want to be the one to try to knock out the defending champs, especially if you're the lower seed.
Not sure i'd want to face LA, with Odom, Gasol and Bynum as they are going to make it very tough on the Rockets. Plus, being the 2-time defending champs they will be out to make a statement. Spurs have had a GREAT season but their lack of size plays right into the Rockets hands. They don't play the shut down defense they are known for and not sure I want to count on Blair to shut down Scola.
Lakers are toughest matchup because of their size, length, and championship experience. If we gonna get beat in the playoffs, I'd rather get beat by them and know exactly where we are in terms of our big men, etc., then to get beat by Dallas, who doesn't play true defense and always has big turnover from year to year. Dallas is a gimmick team. LA and SA are not. If Parker stays injured throughout the balance of the season, they are the most vulnerable to being beaten, although not likely to be beaten by us even then. If we gonna get in and go down, I wanna give LA a run for their money and make them work their freaking tails off.
Where's the hsf09 Appreciation Thread? I agree, don't want to play the Mavs, though I was thinking that with Courtney Lee, we may have a shot at containing the Rocket Killer.
Spoiler How's it going? Good, how are you? Doing good. Good to have you on. I want to start with not with just the Suns game but to me, other than the Rockets lost the game, the story was Kyle Lowry. Lowry has been unbelievable since this Rockets hot streak since the ASB. With Deron Williams moved out of WC and Billups too, where do you put Lowry in the ranking of the PGs in the WC? Clearly in the upper-half right now. Yeah, you have to put him in that category. Good question, hadnt considered that. He is moving up the charts. People forget Lowry is only 24. Turns 25 later this month. He's been around awhile but was only 20 when he was drafted. He is starting to develop an outside shot now which makes him scary. We knew he was a good PG though had a weak shot. What we've seen lately, this was a guy who shot 27% from distance his entire Rockets career. 38% this year, 44% from 3 in the last 16 games from beyond the arc so starting to see him develop an outside shot which makes him so scary now. Last night, Rockets lose to Phoenix. Not a good last minute or so. Really latter part of the 4th quarter. Brad Miller had a tough night. Definitely not his finest hour. Saw big reaction from fans. Was trending worldwide on twitter last night. A really bad performance. That pass around 31 secs was ill-advised. Then nearly threw it away again with 10 secs left. Dont think that airball 3 not really his fault -- he was put in a bad position. Considering it was a big game and it happened in the final 30 secs, did not look good for him. How much of a problem will Scola's knee be rest of the way? Margin for error is slim. Knee something that can linger. Missed last night. I look at it as...I take a long-term view. Hurts the playoff chase but I'm excited in a way to see Patterson. Had a good game last night. Scola has been excellent on O but since trade deadline, grabbing 6 boards a game. They could certainly get more out of that spot. But they'll be ok without him. Not for a long stretch, like I said, looking at the playoff pursuit, but for player development, this is nice for Patterson to see some action. Along those same lines, how important clarity--rotation clarity--swapped out some rotation guys for a guy who doesnt play and then Dragic who knows his role is as a bench guy, as Aaron wasnt happy with that. How much rotation clarity has played a role in this streak, especially for a guy like Chase Budinger. Has helped him a lot. Hitting 50% from the field since TD. He is a confidence guy. That has boosted him considerably. Taking Brooks out, who was struggling, and most of his minutes, some minutes going to Dragic, but most of those minutes are going to Lee and Lowry, those guys are playing out of their mind. Lee isnt getting enough credit for what he is doing. Almost 52% from the field. That's why their offense is really clicking. Whether they can sustain this, what we're seeing from Lowry, Lee, and Budinger, that's debatable. They are playing a little over their heads. Those guys are the reason though for this Rockets jump. Schedule coming up,almost a mini-ASB coming up, but where do you put....looking at these next 6 games at home, what's the bare minimum they have to win? 4 right? Bare minimum 4. 16 games left--11 at home, 5 on the road. Half of those are tough. Really tough. Spurs twice, those both in Houston, Boston, Dallas, thats 4 tough ones, then Hawks and Jazz. Then Hornets and Heat on the road still. 16 games left, 45- maybe 46 wins to get in considering Rockets horribly positioned tie-breaker wise, they'll have to go 13-3 or 12-4 the rest of the way to make it. If they go 4-2 on homestand, they can only lose 1 or maybe 2 rest of the way. Margin of error slim. Amazing how...the thing is, normally you think we're chasing for the 8th seed, so we're chasing middle of the pack teams but those teams in that part of the Western Conference have been frisky. Especially Memphis and Portland. They're playing Well lately. Battier has helped the Grizzlies and Portland looks good. Roy playing well off the bench. They got a lot of big wing type players. Aldridge playing outstanding. They look really good. Right now, team you would hope, team you hoped would fall out is Denver, they stayed strong. Now it's New Orleans. Gotta hope they slip out and then the Rockets still have to leapfrog Utah and Phoenix. One more question, do you think the Rockets in watching Miami and the way Bosh has played, that the Rockets feel they have dodged a bullet by not signing Bosh and comitting 100+ million to him? I would say probably so. They planned on having Yao. They wanted Bosh alongside with Yao and also insurance should Yao go down. Right now they would be stuck with him. He is a better player than you see in Miami because there is one basketball but they probably did dodge a bullet. Right now, they're looking for that one foundation player, I dont know if you can say Bosh is that foundation piece. He would've been a nice piece on contending team with Yao Ming but not sure you can say foundation piece. Good stuff. Appreciate the time. Sounds good. Take care.
