We now have 18 players on our team (some FA's) to deal with this offseason. The Rockets usually go with (MAX) 14-15 players, 2-3 of those on IR. So it appears there must be a trade in the works or Rudy is just going to start releasing players. But if we are trading, what position are we trying to improve? We currently have: 4 pgs (francis, moochie, tier & maddux) 2 sg (cat & torres) 5 sf (rice, nachbar, walt, TM, Langhi) 3 pfs (taylor, KT, Griffin) 4 centers (cato, collier, willis & Ming) TOTAL - 18 players. Rockets had 15 players last year, with 2-3 on IR. So who could be going? 1. PG's either Tier or Maddux (will be determined at training camp) 2. Torres - but he did come close to hitting cuttino's numbers, when Cat was injured. 3. Walt & Langhi - are gone 4. Willis is a question mark, but he would be a better tutor to Ming then Cato (would be great on the IR). So that leaves us with 14-15 players on our active list next season. Now if you go a step further into Rudys rotation, you are looking at about 9 players. So the easy picks are: PG - Francis, Moochie SG - Cat SF - Rice, Nachbar (might play some 2) PF - Taylor, Griffin, KT C - Cato, Ming So if no playing time is given to: Collier, Torres, Tier/Maddux, T. Morris, then Rudy would have a 10 player rotation (which is still to much). Any thoughts?
best thread tonight.I was about to start it. It just dawned on me.Thomas played some sf(now taken by nachbar) and some pf(now taken by griffin and taylor) There is NO way Thomas is not traded this summer.He is too good to be stuck as a third string. Wilcox in La?I immediately thought we are trading for Wilcox,since Wilcox doesnt want to be a backup his whole life to Brand.Why Id trade Thomas for Wilcox is simply to make steve happy and add running to our team. Then la goes on to get Ely.And Baylor didnt even mentian Wilcox in his interview.I hope I wake up tomarow and find out we traded Thomas + fodder for WIlcox.Although Id rather have Amare Stoudomire.
shouldgetodom== The Clips got Wilcox and ELY, not Haislip. Also, the reason Elgin Baylor didn't talk about Wilcox was because the interviewer messed up the question. Instead of asking him about his two new PFs, Wilcox and Ely, she asked about "Melvin and Ely"!!! Stupid question.
what's the purpose of trading KT away for another PF? just to make francis happy? but i'll agree....one of our PFs have got to be traded.
* knock on wood* You keep extra big men around, because you never know who will get injured. If the Rocks can get rid of Collier, they should do it. I don't have issues with him as a 3rd string center, but it makes less sense to trade KT right now. However, five big men in Yao, Cato, MoTay, Eddie, and KT is not too many. They can find minutes. Divided equally, that comes out to 19.2 mpg. That's not too bad.
I disagree. Having five men is ok,but five very good men is making them lose minutes. Ok,maybe baylor isnt tradeing WIlcox.SOrry But,19.2mpg is WAY to few. Taylor should be a starter in the east and be getting 36 mpg.Thomas should also deserve 36mg.Eddie in a year will be 36 mpg.If ming is good like we hope,36 for him,only 12 for cato. Somethings GOT to give fast. We also have Rice and Nachbar and Morris at three.Thomas wont play there either.I say let him walk.
Iwould actually prefer to keep the following big men: Yao, Willis, Cato, Taylor, Griffin, Thomas with Willis as tutor (injured list). The other big man not playing a lot would be injury insurance and trading bait in the regular season. Problem is none of them are at all star level, but some will get there. As long as they peak when Francis' team spirit shows up for good. Rice, Nachbar, Torres, Morris, Langhi as SF and SG back ups are clearly not sufficient. The only guys I would keep on the rockets roster there, are Nachbar, W Williams. Trade all the other SF/SG and eventually Thomas for good all around and above all defensive SF. Point guard is really not an issue, we shouldn't even bother about it with Francis, Moochie and the loads of CBA subs. But it would be great to have another SG/PG combo guard as a sub. Waive the rest (definitively Langhi, Collier, Torres, Morris, Tierre) .
Kenny Thomas appeared on the radio talk show tonight over where I live at, around the Albuquerque Radio stations. He called in from his Houston home in a pretty modest mood (not really sure what his position was on the team) since he called 10-15 minutes after Yao was selected. His mood wasn't at all like Rudy T's was(100% enthusiastic about the picks) but Kenny Kept his cool. He hadn't had much to say about playing side by side with Yao. So maybe something is in the works with him. He did say though that he is hustling and doing the best of his ability and trying to do whats best for the rockets in the off season ( staying off the couch and not eatting those Shaq Packs) and that he'll be working hard to get even better. He also stated, "I've done everything my agent and my coaches have told me to do and to work on, but things do happen in this league and I understand." He's just that type of cool, low to the ground, modest type of guy, who didn't really hype too much about Yao or his position with the Rockets team in the future.
SF to me is Rice, Nachbar and TMo. I'd like to see us hang on to TMo and have him back up Nachbar after Rice's contract ends, but I don't know if that's fair to him. People want a defensive SF, I think TMo is perfect. He just needs to find his shot again. getodom, I concede that 20mpg on average is probably too little for five quality big men. I was thinking Cato could take less minutes, but that really doesn't do too much for the others.
I also don't understand why you draft Kenny Thomas and then 2 years later trade 3 picks for Eddie Griffin. Maybe Rudy hadn't planned KT to stay longer than his Rookie contract takes him to. I'm losing my hope as a Rockets(KT) fan
Ill tell you why.I think Rudy thought Eddie was a "pippen" type player at sf.With Taylor and THomas doing the pf. We also didnt expect Thomas to improve so much this season to deserve a starters spot. Then mid way into season,it becomes apparent Griffin is really a pf also. WE also planned on putting Taylor as a backup to cato as a center with griffin and thomas doing the pf,with adding a sf in the draft like jeffries or butler/ THEN we win the lottery.Everything changes.We now have to take ming,and put cato as a backup center,with taylor moving back to pf,making thomas a sf. THEN,we find out we get the 15th pick because toronto missed playoffs.Then we draft a good sf in nachbar at 15,making the thomas at sf eliminated for ever. He will be traded for a backup sg/sf that plays defense.Artest anyone?
If I were KT, I would want to go to a situation with some real playing time. I'd want to go to another team where I can make a mark. This team is going ot be really deep next year. I'm already excited.
I'm thinking that either Cato or Rice has to go to eliminate their salaries. Cato at $6 million is a very expensive back up. The same is true for Rice at $9 million Griffin played some 5 this past year, so I could see a 4/5 rotation of Yao, MoTay and Griffin. I would like to see KT and Nachbar platoon at the 3 spot. Nachbar can give us the perimeter shooting to compliment the penetration of our guards (What Rice was suppose to do) and KT can be the go to guy of the second unit, ala Corliss Williamson.
Where can we improve, if we do trade. Here is a look at our current/future 5 positions: PG - Francis (done) SG - Cat (done) SF - Nachbar (??? might be the best 6th man for SF/SG duties) PF - Griffin (done) C - Ming (done) Then the backups PG - Moochie (improvable - we need a bobby jackson clone "mattox?") SG - Torres (improvable - eventhough I see Nachbar getting some minutes here) SF - Rice (one injury from retirement), TM (improvable - good defender, but poor shooter) PF - Taylor (improvable, but he would be a good fit for backup), KT (would be a great backup, but he will never accept a backup role over griffin) C - Cato (improvable - we need a Scott Pollard type here. Cato would be a decent back up if he can mentally take it) I think Nachbar & Ming will help kill the 3 guard lineup. When Francis & Cat penetrate, their is no reason not to outlet the pass to Ming or Nachbar. Either guy can probably hit a wide open 15-17 footer 80% of the time. That is something the Rockets have not had in a while. Since Nachbar is labeled as a deadly 15-17 shooter, perhaps we will not have to LIVE & DIE by the 3 pointer next season. Ming will probably be the biggest reason to kill some of the ISO's and 3 guard lineups. Rudy has no choice but to give Ming 15-20 shots a game. China will be breathing down his throat, if he treats MIng like Griffin (last year). This might be a blessing in disguise.
