[Chron] Rockets most likely won't make any move before thursday's deadline

[Chron]Rockets most likely won't make any move before thursday's deadline

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/sports/3048330


Feb. 20, 2005, 1:29AM

NBA NOTEBOOK
Talk not too serious as trading deadline nears
Salary-cap issues keep negotiations from heating up
By JONATHAN FEIGEN
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle
RESOURCES




DENVER - The talk is everywhere. General managers always get together at the All-Star Weekend to talk about trades. But rarely have they talked as much as they are now.


However, the subject has changed.

This season, the theme of the talk about trades has been about the lack of legitimate trade talk.

Meetings end, and instead of breaking off into small huddles to work toward deals, general managers leave.

By now, GMs usually have a pretty good idea what will come in the next few days. But the talks have been so salary-cap driven, they have stalled before they really get going.

The teams looking to deal ?Minnesota, Toronto, Atlanta, Golden State ?want to take back only contracts that are close to ending. With the uncertainty of the upcoming talks on a collective bargaining agreement, suggestions of deals usually change the conversation to dinner plans.

For the Rockets, that likely will mean nothing will happen before Thursday's deadline.

The worst time to make trades is when teams are going very well or very badly.

When teams are struggling, the calls come seeking to steal talent from the desperate franchises. When teams are going well, small deals that change rotations become far more risky.

When the Rockets were between their bad start and winning streak, they were in a position to make moves and did, picking up David Wesley and Jon Barry, changing the chemistry and finding a mix that has worked.

Now that they are winning and will take an eight-game winning streak out of the All-Star break, small deals that would change the rotation become riskier.

The Rockets presumably are not kidding themselves into thinking they are a masterpiece. Their 29 remaining games will test their revival, and even now, they are far from complete.

But a large part of their recent success has been in putting together a rotation of players in well-defined roles.

"It's harder to tinker when you're going well," Rockets general manager Carroll Dawson said. "You're always looking to get better, but generally when people are going really well, you have to be hesitant to tinker with team, unless someone not in the rotation. But even then, you're mindset is on the chemistry of your team."

That leaves the big deals, the Clyde Drexler to the Rockets or Rasheed Wallace to Detroit trades that complete a team.

Those don't come around often. This year, there has not even been talk of those kinds of players moving.

The usual trade deadline movers, from Boston to Dallas, seem to be sitting out. The teams with bloated contracts, from New York to Portland, seem to be shut out.

The best rumors of the weekend involved the Lakers. One scenario had Lamar Odom going from the Lakers to Sacramento for possibly Peja Stojakovic, and the other had Caron Butler and a package of others going to Utah for Carlos Boozer.

Kings experiencing tough times
The Kings hit the All-Star break with losses in six of their past seven games.

"No doubt, this is the toughest stretch we've gone through since I've been here," said coach Rick Adelman, who is in his seventh year in Sacramento. "But when I look back on it, I can see how it has happened.

"We've had starters in and out of the lineup, the trade (Cuttino Mobley for Doug Christie), then the starters came back, and now Peja (Stojakovic) was out (with the flu). And then there are all the other things that have gone on recently, and you can understand somewhat why things have happened. The important thing is that we stay together as a group, and I think we'll be fine."

The Kings, all over All-Star Weekend in past sea-
sons, had no one in the game or the events; Mobley declined an invitation to shoot 3-pointers.

Duncan's injury a concern
West All-Star coach Gregg Popovich probably would have rather had the weekend off. Asked what he got out of the experience, he lifted a duffel bag and said, "I got all kinds of stuff, and it's all free."

He later said that he enjoys the time with the players in the meeting and on the court. But the Spurs coach has sounded as if he would have preferred that Tim Duncan was not among them. Duncan sprained his right ankle two weeks ago, hyperextended his left knee Feb. 3 and has been playing with a sore hip.

"He can't explode," Popovich said. "He can't pivot. You can see he can't be dynamic offensively. And the ankle's not strong enough for him to hold his position defensively.

"All I care about is: Is he healthy and should he be off his ankle? If he should be off the ankle, if it's not getting better, then I need to make sure he's off it."

He did have a plan for that.

"We play Houston on Wednesday, so ( Tracy) McGrady and Yao Ming are going to play 47 (minutes)," Popovich said, "and Tim is going to play about five."

Countered McGrady, "I told Pops I'm playing 15 minutes. We got two big games coming up ?Seattle and San Antonio back-to-back, 15 minutes, Pop."


Spark back in Seattle
The Rockets will get their first look at the rejuvenated Sonics on Tuesday, but Seattle already has demonstrated its revival is real.

The SuperSonics might have proved themselves with their previous trip to Texas when they swept a back-to-back in San Antonio and Dallas. But earlier this month, they made another statement, beating Sacramento on Feb. 11 at home before flying to Phoenix, getting in at 4:30 a.m. and defeating the Suns the next night.

"We had every excuse in the world not to win this game," Antonio Daniels said. "We chose not to take that route. Nobody in here talked about being tired. We all said we would rest (the next day). Guys are believing in each other, man, and believing that we have an opportunity to make something happen. We need to keep moving."

Seattle is 2-0 against the Heat, 2-1 against the Spurs and 1-1 against the Suns.


Nothing to say
When Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal attended the rookie game on Friday, both managed to sit on the same baseline, a few feet apart, without ever feeling the need to turn their head in a direction that might have meant seeing one another.

Things might have been more fun if O'Neal decided to give Bryant some noogies, but he settled for joking with the Los Angeles media about his attire, "That's why my team's in first place and your team's in eighth."

Asked if he had spoken to Bryant, O'Neal said he had not and had no plans to talk to Bryant.

Though he did not want to chat about or with Bryant, O'Neal saved a shot for Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak.

"He must have become the general manager when I left," O'Neal said, "because when I was there, I was the general manager."


Life without Nash
Steve Nash might have sounded as if he was trying to make a point about the Mavericks' decision to let him go to Phoenix, where he has become the All-Stars' most-popular pick as MVP so far.

He said last week that he would be playing just as well had he stayed with the Mavericks. But he then added: "They (the Mavericks) are doing fine without me."

That said, Nash believes what he is doing for the Suns is no different from what he could have done for the Mavericks.

"I'm not playing any differently," Nash said. "I've improved every year."

The Mavericks have adjusted and hit the break on a roll. But Dirk Nowitzki sounded as if he still misses his friend and former point guard.

"Nash really made the game so much easier for all of us," Nowitzki said. "Getting in the lane, kicking the ball out and giving us open looks. You saw that at the beginning of the season, we really struggled without him.

"We didn't have a guy who got out there into the lane and made the game easier for us. It's been a struggle, but we have come a long way the past two months.

"Obviously, I wish Steve was still there, but he's not, so we will have to adjust, and I think we have been doing well."


Discipline problem
When the Magic were rebuilt, general manager John Weisbrod said he wanted players with fight, speaking figuratively, but pointing out the literal fight Steve Francis showed when he took a shot at Amare Stoudemire last season. Now, he would like some self control.

"You can win based on emotion and fight ?and no one likes guys with heart, guys who compete and play with emotion more than I do ?but those are things you have to put on top of discipline. It can't replace discipline," Weisbrod said. "The bigger issue to me is that if you are a team that wins or loses based on emotion you aren't going to be a successful playoff team.

"We win the games we do based on emotion and fight, and that's a great thing,
but we rarely win games because we outexecute teams or because we have good, disciplined habits."

With Dwight Howard showing indications that he will eventually grow into a low-post force, the Magic likely will move Francis to shooting guard by next season, something the Rockets considered doing. Francis has excelled when finishing games at the two lately.


Forever in cement
Incidentally, now you too can act like an NBA superstar. Next month, Jim Gray will be given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Soon you can walk all over Gray just like Kobe Bryant.

Jonathan Feigen covers pro basketball for the Chronicle. jonathan.feigen@chron.com