To be competitive, we really need to overhaul the roaster and get a good combination of seasoned NBA caliber players (not senior citizens and CBA collection), and some kids who could be groomed into solid contributors in a year or two. The Swift move has clearly not paid off and it is embarrassing to see Hayes, Bowen, Bogan and even grandpa Mutombo to get playing time ahead of our price free agent pick up from the last year. He does not fit in JVG’s game plan(s), but still could flourish in a faster pace team. From our stand point, the question is what can we get for him? Can we send him to Seattle for the player they desperately want to get rid-off Danny Forston + their Ist round pick (10th overall). Unlike a big man selected at ten (which will probably take 2-3 years to contribute), Swift could be a good spark plug behind Wilcox and enable Seattle right away. We can then pick Shelden William’s with our pick and Rodney Carney/Ronnie Brewer with Seattles’s pick, or we can send that pick and our TE for say Josh Childress. We can then either hold on to Forston’s expiring contract (6.5-7 M) to get a better value around the trade dead line or trade him for a player with long bolsted contract + a high lottery pick/promising young player, say (Fisher + Pietrus or Fisher+9th pick) or package him with Sura and Bowen to say Boston for Reuf + 7th pick pick or Reuf and Gerald Geen). For Boston it is a simple salary dump. They save approx 20 M. As far as Rockets are concerned, despite taking the massive contract of Reuf, it will hit us (by 7M, as compared to existing payroll) only in the third and final year of Reuf’s contract (since Sura and Swift ,who will be traded to Seattle, are under contract for 2 and 3 more years, respectively). Using Boston’s pick we can pick Gay/Roy. Essentially we trade Swift+Sura+Bowen+7M for 7th and 10th pick and Reuf. Reuf’s range will spread the floor for Yao and TMac. Shelden Williams will provide rebounding and defense. Chidress/Green/Gay/Roy/Carney/Brewer will provide size, youth and athleticism at the 2/3. Then we can pick up Cassell/Claxton/MJ for MLE and use the TE to get a serviceable veteran at two. Bottom line, we have options a plenty this off season, but can we capitalize on them? Imagine: Yao/Reuf/Mutombo Howard/Reuf/SheldenWilliams TMac/Gay Chidress/Gay/Head Cassell/Alston/Head Comments---
I dont know why u love rookies that much..! ... u cant win a championship with rookies playing major roles in the team... Rookies are inexperienced and make stupid mistakes.. and we dont have to time to fix these mistakes.. we have max. 3 good years left in T-mac and the team in general.. we better make some moves to get some experienced veterans (veterans, not senior citizens of course) and win a championship in the next 2-3 years or we will never do...
Guy, you need to organize your thoughts better. I had to read it three times just to see that all of the deals hinge on being able to trade Stro to Seattle for Fortson + #10. Stro isn't worth the #10. Let alone the #10 plus an expiring contract.
There is no way that Seattle trades their pick for Swift. Would you trade our pick for Swift? I wouldn't, and Seattle's pick is only two after ours. Seattle would probably prefer to keep their pick, and trade Fortson straight to Boston for Raef (not Reuf) and their pick. A bust, a guy that hasn't played in over a year and a never was don't get you 2 lotto picks.
Wasn't Robert Horry a rookie in our first championship win and Cassell a rookie in our second? We dont have the resources to obtain the QUALITY veterans that we need, so it might be necessary to use younger quality players and give them experience! Besides the way the game is changing the young athletic players are better suited to to-day's game.In either case I cant see the Rockets winning a championship in the next three seasons.
I believe Cassell was a rookie in during our first championship, Horry was in his second season during the first c'ship.
u r right.. CAssell and Horry were rookies.. but they didn't PLAY MAJOR ROLES in the team..we had Kenny Smith at the 1 ahead of Sam .. and we had many players to play in Horry's position.. on the other hand, SHelden will have to play major minutes because JHO and Raef are TRASH.. and Gay will have to play starter's minutes at the 2 (Childeress aint that good)... all of that not mentioning Luther HEad, who is still young and inexperienced in the backcourt... I agree with u that we need athletic young players to win, but not in the back court.. Guards MUST have some kind of experience for u to win a championship...
This is simply a fantasy trade. Seattle nor Boston is not even close to having a championship caliber team right now, so there is no way they would even contemplate trading their picks for our garbage now. At least their picks have a chance of being great, whereas those players on offer from the Rockets... 7th and 10th pick? Those three players combined would be lucky to net Rockets' a late first round pick, since both Sura and Bowen has a no trade value at this moment with the latter a likelihood of a negative trade value. If this kind of trade ever goes down, the Seattle and Boston fans should call the police for reports of a highway robbery. -G'day-
clearly we could get much more for a bench player with no game, a player on the verge of retirement, and a player who has zero feel for the game of basketball. maybe we can throw in rick brunson and try to get d-wade and a couple picks.
So we trade Swift for Fortson and the 10th pick, then Fortson turns into Fisher and the 9th pick? That is Fisher, the 9th pick, and the 10th pick for Swift... sounds great. BTW, who is Reuf?
Wrong again Sam Cassell (Rookie) contributed heavily in the championship run. Split time with Kenny. Hit clutch shots in playoffs. Game 3 of the 94 finals especially. 95 he played more minutes than kenny. Robert Horry (2nd Year) Started at Small Forward and played majority of minutes. 30+ (bullard/chillcut got the scraps and was worthless in the finals of 94.) 95 horry started at sf then moved into 4spot in crunch time. Especially shutting down barkley and phoenix. Sam and Robert had major roles. They were on the floor in crunch time and hit big shots and played solid d. IF we had to rely on Matt Bullard and Scotty Brooks for these roles instead of Robert and Sam there is no way we would have gotten out of the second round in 94 (Suns 7 games). or the first round in 95 (Jazz 5 games) BasketBall is a team game my friend and they played MAJOR roles for us in our championship run. Its not your fault kid, you would know this is if you were older than five years old when the rockets were the champions of the world.
so u r saying that Kenny's role and impact on the team is similar to JHO ?? I dont know.. JHO is trash, Williams will have to play major minutes to fix his mess, on the other hand, Kenny was reliable, Cassell came off the bench and put up good numbers.... same story with Childress/ Gay .... Horry was an exceptional player (even though he was in his 2nd year, he wasn't a rook..) ... so yes, I know what I am talking about, and being 5 years old when we won the championships doesn't mean that I dont have full tapes of the games and I haven't watched them a 100 times..
Doubtful. Reading your post, you are either lying about having watching the Rockets championships ONE HUNDRED times or you know nothing about basketball. That's like me saying I know everything about the Celtics 80's championships.
Consider this :- It is going to take about two or three offseasons for the Rockets to have all the pieces in place, so why dont we get the best young athletic rookies and train them to play our game, so when we have our championship roster, they will have had three years experience playing with Yao Ming etc.
