This is a fantastic trade. Morey swapped out Rafer for a better and younger player, all while dumping about $4million in salary. Awesome.
I think it's a good thing we have a PG who knows he can't shoot 3s. Given space on a 3 kick out from Yao, it will be easier for him to penetrate and finish or drop pass for easier buckets than chucking 3s.
[Rockets.com]Welcome to Houston Houston - Five minutes turned into ten. Then fifteen. Then half an hour. The media horde assembled at Toyota Center for Coach Adelman’s standard post-practice interview session was starting to get antsy. On any other day, most of the masses probably would have packed up and left. But with the trade deadline quickly approaching, everyone knew better. Something was clearly cooking in Daryl Morey’s kitchen, but no one knew exactly what that might be. Now they do. In a deal submitted just before Thursday's 2 PM deadline, Houston acquired former Memphis Grizzlies point guard Kyle Lowry and Orlando forward Brian Cook. In return, the Rockets sent Rafer Alston to the Magic, with Memphis receiving a first round draft pick from Orlando. The Magic also shipped center Adonal Foyle and Mike Wilks to Memphis in order to make the salaries work. "We feel like we got better today," said Morey. "Upgrading [the point guard] position was a goal of ours heading into the deadline and we feel like we accomplished it. "Kyle is going to be a guy the town really loves. He's a really tough competitor, uptempo player and a winner. He's someone we've had our eyes on for a few years. We feel like he's a player who can really fit well here and contribute. He's a very good defender, a good rebounder on both ends, can attack the hoop in the halfcourt or in transition and gets to the line. We feel like he's a young player who can help us now and who we can build around for the future." A promising third-year player out of Villanova, Lowry is known as a ferocious defender who excels in an uptempo game. He is averaging 7.6 points and 3.6 assists per game this season while playing nearly 22 minutes per contest, and will team up with Aaron Brooks to anchor the club's point guard position. Morey said he'll leave the decision as to whom will start up to Coach Rick Adelman. "We love Aaron's future and Kyle's future. We think both those guys can be guys we build around. Aaron's played better than anyone at that spot with the starters this year. They're two guys who give us great depth at that spot going forward and both have different skills that complement each other." Cook, meanwhile, is a sweet-shooting forward who sports a .394 shooting percentage from beyond the three-point arc over the course of his six-year career; including a career-high 44% clip from downtown this season. http://www.nba.com/rockets/news/Rockets_Acquire_Lowry_Cook_In-301460-34.html
The question is which team needs T-mac, he has a big contract, but he always gets injury, he cant afford any contributions to any team. So, it's bad, Rockets is not lucky.
You have players that can score at will and shut down opposing players...these are the stars of the league. We are not going to get one of those for Rafer. Essentially we need scoring to make up for Tmac...that means letting the pg drive and score a little bit more. Brooks is great at this and Rafer is decent. Brooks is not so great at defense and again Rafer is only decent. Neither can really stop opposing star pgs nor match their scoring. We can't afford to give other teams that much of an advantage when we are handicap. Enter Lowery who is considered a good if not great defender at his position. We need our pg to give us an edge now. Against other pgs it would play out ike this- offensive pg- Alston/Brooks score and they score- wash defensive pg- Alston/Brooks can't score and the other pg can't score- wash star pg- Alston/Brooks can't score and can't stop- we lose it is the last category that this trade was designed for (Spurs, Hornets, Jazz..ect) Against offensive or defensive pgs we can still play them to a wash (perhaps win) but against star pgs after this trade- Lowery can't score but they will have trouble scoring too. He is thick and quick. And while he is not Brooks-like offensively, this still works to our advantage because Brooks isn't going to go lights out on cp3. It's like forcing Kobe or Lebron to guard Bowen...it is a waste- they are so good they can stop better players. As 2s and 3s there can be some interchanging on defense. However, pgs usually guard each other exclusively...they are too quick and fast for most 2s and 3s with few exceptions. We now have a guy that can slow down the top pgs for stretchs of the game. We can still have Brooks come in and dominate their backup. Suddenly a big weakness isn't such a big weakness anymore. Lowerym Battier and Artest.... now that's no lay ups! -V
alot of people that are happy about trade, are nothing but stupid, how can u happy when is your starting point guard has been donated to another team, i can't believe this trade, why would NBA manager with his fully functional brain donate his point guard to another team, despite T-mac situation, and now you trade your point guard for someone who only played 21 or 21 games this season, and honestly who the hell is Mike lawry? when T-mac went down for the season yesterday, i said to myself well we have ron artest, yao ming, and rafer alston they can make something in the playoff, but now we are just throwing the towel for the season, or saying good bye 2009. I"M speechless, All I can say Daryl morey you are nothing but dump.
I'll really like to see Brooks running the offense, we will see if he can be a great player or just a mediocre one like Alston. Not the big move we expected but hey, one half of the cancer is gone. Hope Tracy is next.
ok, good luck in Orlando Rafer. Appreciate what you did for this team. You ran the offense quite well. Advance with Orlando in the playoffs.
What argument can you guys make a bout Rafer being gone that makes it a bad thing for the Rockets? Look here is the thing Rafer Alston is suppoused to be a PENETRATING PG(he sucks at making layups if you watch basketball you know) he is suppoused to be an EFFICIENT PG(he rarely gets to the line but when he does he hardly makes Free Throws) he TURNS THE BALL over way too much for a guy who really...no *** "really"...NEVER gets easy shots for players. He is suppoused to be a 3 POINT SHOOTING PG(he is really inconsistent mostly to the point that it kills us MOST of the time) he takes ALL STAR type shots where he pulls up with no offense set and 15 to 20 secs left on shot clock(he does this a lot..if you disagree please watch more basketball). Only thing that made Rafer Alston tolerable on this team was his DEFENSE he is good defender in my opinion.
If you just look at this season, I think this trade left us weaker at the pg positon rather than stronger. Lowry is not a three point threat and won't be able to run the offense for awhile. So whereas before the trade you had two pgs that could run it, the Rockets now just have one. This trade makes more sense as a before or after season trade. I hope it works out, but I just don't get it. Seems like an uneeded gamble.
As for Kyle Lowry He is young and explosive he can finish at the rim something we dont see much from alston and he is a Lockdown defender but i think alston has da team defense edge on him but maybe with artest and battier on the team Lowry can learn a few things as for his shooting it is something we are going to have to see for ourselves not every player in the NBA plays next to a Yao Ming so you cant judge his wide open spot up 3 point shot. As for Cook he is a proven shooter but also a proven poor defender and rebounder
Exactly. Come on guys, kid is only 22 with a ton of potential. Plus, with McGrady out for the season, its pretty clear we're not going to be competing for much more than the second round. This is about the future. I like the deal.
yall's got your panties all bunched up about this trade. i can't believe people really thought that Morey was going to turn water into wine yet again. other GMs are on to him by now. it takes players to get players and you can't trade away an injured player with 50 million left on his contract. it's common sense. what did you really think you could get for Rafah? Vince Carter? Baron Davis? Caron Butler? even Mike Bibby or Mike Miller? all of the "good" players besides 111 on the Rockets are on relatively inexpensive contracts that are either expiring this year or next. you're not going to get equal value back unless you can trade for another underpaid star and who wants to give those up? in the long run, the Rockets win because they got the better player right now and for the future. it's as if they Rudy Gayed Orlando, who are giving up a first rounder for a mediocre 32 year old PG, except that Lowry's not even as raw as Rudy Gay was, and Battier was still in his prime. Stro = Cook. what would all of you armchair GMs have done to improve the Rockets for the immediate and distant future?
I know enough about Lowry to know that he is a player in this league. But what I didn't know is that some see him as a pass-first PG. I always thought he was an attacker. i think the comparison to Rondo is a good one. I question Lowry's ability to run an offense though...and this is important for any team coached by Rick Adelman. If Brooks and Lowry struggle getting the offense under control, Brent Barry's role becomes MUCH bigger. I think he's the guy that steps in and calms the offense down. I like the trade because I've been a fan of Lowry's. But my judgement is only based on every time the Rockets have played the Grizzlies
I have lightened up on my Rafer hate since last year.....however.... Some of you donkeys are acting like we just unloaded Magic Johnson for Vanilis Spanoulis. This team wasn't winning a title with Rafer being the man at the 1 and jacking up shot after shot. It ain't winning one with Lowry or Brooks either. Garbage in....garbage out......whatever. treadmill is a treadmill.
