Houston Rockets: Guards Bob Sura and John Lucas III were among four players cut by the Houston Rockets on Monday, the eve of their season opener. Forwards Jackie Butler and Justin Reed were also released as the team reduced its roster to 15 players. The 6-foot-5 Sura has been plagued by back and knee injuries almost since the day he signed with Houston in 2004. He missed the 2005-06 season after arthroscopic knee surgery. Two months later, he had surgery to fix a herniated disk in his back. The 34-year-old Sura also sat out last season as the back injury lingered. The former Florida State star averaged 8.6 points, 3.4 rebounds and 3.8 assists in 10 NBA seasons. The 5-11 Lucas, son of former Rocket John Lucas, appeared in 60 regular-season games over the past two seasons and averaged 3.1 points. Lucas had an outside shot but a defensive liability because of his height. And when the Rockets acquired point guards Mike James and Steve Francis in the offseason, the release of Lucas seemed inevitable. Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3085467
dang... i wanted reed to stay, instead of novak. i want to hear the reason for keeping novak over reed or harris.
Yes they have. Not the way I would have gone. I think we needed insurance and should not have cut Harris. My cuts would have been Novak, Reed, Lucas, and Snyder.
I mean insurance and kept Butler. I don't think Novak will develop and looks lost all the time. Snyder is not smart. He thinks he is better than he is.
Butler sucks, if you have Battier at the three and we didn't have wells. You don't sign Ryan Bowen just so we have insurance. Also, I find it funny that on all the sports sites the story is about how the rockets cut Sura and three others as if we didn't already know that.
I agree! Reed has pretty well no game - which puts him in the same class as Novak, but at least Novak can shoot the 3 pointer. That's a valuable asset in a big man, and it's worth more than anything Reed or Butler combined could offer (which isn't saying a whole lot) Happy Landry made it - when a guy has a few post moves then he needs to stick!
Looking at Sura's photo on the front page made me feel sad.He was the heart of the Rockets,and brought toughness to the team before his injuries brought his career to a premature end.
I agree....Bobby will always be one of my favorite "forgotten" rockets....I'll never forget him laying out Daniels (or Howard) when they took a shot at Yao......
looks like Novak was right when he said he'd still be on the team.. i wonder what sort of role Adelman has for him. Most likely the homeless man's Peja
the problem with Novak seems to be he is only comfortable when he's stationary......he's a great shooter if the offense is slowed down with a guard or a big man kicking it out to him, but he's not that good on the move.....
So far Butler has not shown that he is worth of being called an NBA Basketball Player! In my books he was an obvious choice to be cut! PS I would have cut Novac as well
well, i think Morey said one time that the best players for a roster should be those who have one very very good skill, and novak could become a very very good shooter. its just like mutombo can play now even at his age because he is still a very very good shotblocker. reed is more versatile than novak, but he doesn't have any one aspect of his game that really stands out. harris was cut just simply for financial reasons, which makes it very unfair. therefore, i'm all in for trading snyder and/or novak to free a roster spot in order to get mike harris back.
It's funny how last season all the JVG haters bashed him for not playing Novak, who was NOT ready to play NBA b-ball, now are questioning why he was not cut? Funny how things go.
I'm not saying it as "man I'm so jacked to keep BUTLER" It's more like a "I hope Yao and Deke don't break and we don't have a big body to fill that hole and there's a bunch of crappy free agents who are worse than Butler" kind of thing. Novak is pretty terrible.
For our team, I could see Novak in a JVG system where outside shooting is a priority, but in this system, I don't see how keeping Novak helps us. If it's because he's a good shooter, well you have that in Aaron Brooks as well as the quickness and other skills he brings to the table. I knew Harris would get cut, but I was surprised to see Novak stay because I believe that Harris was a better player. I thought that they would keep Butler instead of Novak because he's young and has a big body. They think big men are a dime a dozen in today's NBA, which isn't true. I think we'll have a hard time with that choice next year when Deke is gone.
