These trades were reported to be close to be done deals last season. For reasons one or the other, they fell through. Let's revisit them and see if we missed some opportunities or dodged some bullets. 1. Mo Taylor + a first round pick for PJ Brown - last year, we were desperately trying to deal Mo Taylor. We talked with the Hornets, and they made this offer. We turned it down because we wanted to keep the first rounder. PJ Brown received some MVP votes last year for his leadership and production. This year, he is still doing an admirable job (10/8) at the age of 36. His defense and leadership skills would have been a huge addition to us last year. It's reasonable to say, that with Juwan on the bench, we would have beaten Dallas in the playoffs had we had PJ Brown as our power forward instead of Ryan Bowen. We might or might not get past the Suns, and probably wasn't going to beat the Spurs. However, we didn't do the trade, and the first round pick turned into Luther Head. In the short term, we missed out. PJ Brown's effectiveness on this team would have been 10 times more than Moochie Norris, whom MoT was traded for. In the long term, we keep Head, who is a very promising young player. 2. Juwan Howard for Sam Cassell - the TWolves offered it and we turned it down in the last minute. Juwan went down later last year due to injuries and disease. Cassell got traded to the Clippers. In my opinion, this is a huge loss for us not to do the trade. Looking at how much Cassell has turned the Clippers franchise, his presence here would have prepelled the Rockets into another gear. We have someone like that in Bob Sura, but he's down. Cassell would have been a great great addition. In the long term, we also dump Howard's contract. He still has few years left on it. Plus, the Wolves could get Marko Jaric from Cassell, there is no way the same can be said of Juwan Howard. Either Cassell or Jaric would have been better here than Juwan. Again, I believe this is a major miss of opportunity. 3. Mo Taylor for Derek Anderson - the deal was close to be done (Anderson's agent already informed him that he will get traded), until the Blazers shut it down, which some believed to be the Blazers' way of sticking it to Anderson. We eventually traded Taylor to NY for Moochie Norris and Vin Baker. Of course, we got Anderson anyway in the offseason with a much lower price, benefitting from the NBA's aminesty clause. It's a good idea that we didn't do this. Anderson's contract was identical to Taylors. By getting Anderson through LLE rather than a trade, Les saved some major cash for a year. 4. Not doing the Mo Taylor for Moochie and Baker deal - this is a very interesting thought. We traded Taylor because JVG didn't like his work-ethic. After Taylor went on to IL for flu last year, we started winning games. And Taylor's never got off it until he was traded. However, Juwan wend down later the year, and all we had to offer was Ryan Bowen and Vin Baker. I am always wondering what if Taylor was still with the Rockets when we played the Mavs in the playoffs. We almost pulled it off with Bowen. Had the officiating been alittle bit fairer in the first 6 games, we would have pulled it off. So, if we had Taylor instead of Bowen, what would the results be? It just had to be better, right? We would never know the answer.
I never knew there was a chance of trading Juwan for Cassell?? Anbody have links to that story? Man if that was true I would of pullled that trigger in a heartbeat.
I neve rheard that either. I would have done that trade real quick too. Cassell would have bene a great addition to this team. He always did well with Hakeem when he was a rookie, and he showed that he is capable of knocking down the big shot too
David Aldridge reported it on Inside the NBA after the trade deadline in which I hear it was VERY close, in which we would have probably still have MoT if this happened, because both have similar skills, contracts, college. I bet the Cassell trade was VERY tempting for CD, since he is the former Rocket, CD coached him, and was a fan favorite for the Rockets. It wouldve been great but some things were not meant to be.
It's strange how many times we've come very close to reacquiring Cassell, but just haven't done it. IIRC, there have been at least 3 occasions in which the Rockets were close to bringing back Sam-I-am. I wish one of them had worked out.
The cassell trade was about to go down, i remember it being mentioned. All these trades would have helped us. PJ brown would have helped a lot with the absense of Howard. Even though TMac played great, he might have been able to be more effective offensively and not created so many double teams on Dirk. Cassell would make a great PG and provide that leadership and clutch shooting in teh playoffs. Mike James got traded for alston who struggled and is currently injured. Cassell would really help right now. DA would give us a big contract, but we got a couple anyways. DA would actually help, unlike moochie and baker. DA could also bring a lot of leadership in the playoffs and keep Bowen out of the rotation, defend what wesley couldnt, and be that third option.
when you look back at the playoffs ...we were one player away from going to the second round. We would of most likely lost to the suns but still to beat Dallas and advance to give the suns a run for their money would of been great for the CITY OF HOUSTON.
I recall that the reason why Juwan wasn't traded for Cassell was because it would have left us without a PF.Mo might have already been traded to the Knicks. Sam was also injured last year and we did pick up Mike James as well. Cassell is playing great right now and we certainly could use someone like him.
Cassell seems great this year but I dont know how much he would have helped last year. He was injured most of the time. Maybe he would have been less injured if he actually cared, but who knows? If he was the Cassell of this year, then I think we would have been pretty strong going into the playoffs if we also pulled off the Brown trade: PG: Sam Cassell SG: David Wesley SF: Tracy McGrady PF: PJ Brown C: Yao Ming We get more offense, another rebounder, and another clutch performer. We would be pretty thin at pf, but no worse than we ended up being without Jhoward. So tempting!! Oh well. I still like Head and am gald we have him.
Thats a sweet lineup. little old, but sweet nontheless. plenty of defense and offene. nice combination of everything.
Realistically, there was no chance we could've gotten Sam for Juwan at the time. Sam was injured and his trade value was probably at the lowest of his entire career. Furthermore, it would've left us with Padgett and Bowen at the 4 position... weak saue to say the least.
Yeah, this is the first time for me to catch wind of a Juwan for Sam Cassell trade too. Assuming it could have actually happened, I'd MUCH rather have MoT & Sam Cassell on this team than Juwan Howard, Moochie Norris and Vin Baker. I'm guessing a major reason we didn't do this trade is because at the time we already had plenty of guards on the bench and not enough forwards. Yeah, like Vin Baker did much more than take up space though.
