Interesting POV you offer here. I would like to add that based on what I've seen from the Rockets' organization for the past 12 years, your last question applies to them as well.
1) Tiago Splitter (okay, the Spurs took him just before #31 2) Nick Fazekas and for good measure 3) Josh McRoberts 4) Glen Davis
I have no problem criticizing coaches, GM's, owners and whoever else deserves it. However, I believe we should hold judgment until it is deserved. None of us know how good Landry is going to be. I know it doesn't mean much, but he looked solid in the first summer league game. So far those 4 supposed superior pf's have looked pretty awful with the exception of Big Baby who hasn't put up good scoring numbers, but has put up some good rebounding numbers and is in great shape.
I just want the on-going mystery trade to finally happen so the fans can actually evaluate the team instead of looking at holes. As a fan, its hard to get excited about next season, when you dont see any direction. I bet it hurts the Rockets off-season income. Who wants to buy a Battier jersey right now, knowing he could be gone? I bet since the the splash hasnt happened, I'm sure Rockets gear isnt the hottest item of the week on NBA.com. Instead teams like the Blazers, Sonics, and Magic have their fans excited for next year. Just a opinion, dont hate.
I'll be honest...I haven't seen Splitter so he might be better. But the rest of them. Fazekas-Weak, all he can do is shoot the ball. He put good numbers up in a weak conference. McRoberts-Also weak, his best ability is passing which he is good at but that's about it. Put up decent numbers in the ACC. Davis-I think he's probly the only one that can compete with Landry's strength. He's the same height but not as athletic. You might be right with Splitter, but I'm pretty sure that's your only good point here.
They are restricted by the league to spending ~5.5 mil on free agents - what does that have to do with the LT? Who out there deserves 5.5 right now? It seems the only ones are the guys who are trying to get more. The Rockets cannot offer more (except in a sign and trade) so what do you expect them to do on the FA market the first day? Again, I don't see what waiting for guys (Darko?) to possibly fall to MLE level has to do with the LT.
1) I haven't seen Johnson play....that's why every post in here clearly states a "Johnson-type" player. 2) Oh, wow...we're going to give you a special medal for not wanting to acquire Stromile Swift. Poor dumbass Gater...how could he dare want to place a mobile shot-blocker next to Yao. Care to enlighten us as to who your big PF FA signing was that summer...Antoine Walker...Sharif Abdur-Rahim...Donyell Marshall...what a killer's row of talent. If you don't see the need for athleticism at PF on this team...you just might be a $Ball Fan.
When talking about FAs, keep in mind that if the Rockets want to sign Landry to a contract longer than 2 years, they'll need to use part of the MLE to do it like they did with Novak last year. I expect we'll see a trade involving 1-2 of our guards and cap relief contracts for a decent 4, but not until the initial FA rush ends. Sucks to just sit and wait, though -- I guess that's why there is a 30+ page on the 1st summer league game, lol.
no thats pretty much normal when you have a game where the majority of members cant watch. You get these guys posting 10-20 times just to comment on plays. It would have been easier to do the same in chat, but that wouldnt jack up their postcounts. my take the offseason is just starting alot of you are acting like if we dont make all our moves right now, they will never happen by the start of the season. being hasty and making the wrong move would just give yall more ammo to b**** and whine, so I totally agree with taking our time and thinking things thru before acting.
Nothing, I have been saying all along they will wait, the only possible move they could have made was trying to sign Amir to a larger contract and force Detroits hand..... Sorry, I confused threads, and I agree with waiting until all the teams that can go over the MLE spend their money and the rest of the players that WANTED more than MLE will have to settle. It is the only thing they can do outside of trades. Of course Amir is not worth the full MLE right now, but in 3 years he very well could be....why not outbid Detroit, force them into Lux tax land and see what happens? DD
Groovy. I was confused because I knew you knew better than some who say we should offer 10 mil to some FA. As far as Amir goes, I thought Dumars was basically daring people to make an offer. I know it could be a bluff, but he says he will match any MLE offer. If Darko or somebody expecting big money gets nothing I would have to imagine that Houston is attractive. Is there a better team out there that has no starting power forward? Guaranteed role on a playoff team should be a good draw.
If I recall correctly, as posted by another gentleman in another thread on this board, it was stated that Detroit was willing to match offers of up to 3 million per year for Amir Johnson. Do you think he is worth that much for the Rockets to gamble on calling Detroit's bluff?
Yeah, it does. Everyone has his mistakes, no one's right all the time. For example, I criticized GATER for wanting Swift, but that same offseason I wanted Antonio Daniels for starting PG (yikes!). Even a legendary GM like Jerry West has has own Brian Cardinal. Our organization has more mistakes than most in the past decade. Who can deny that? If CD ever came up to me and acted like the smartest guy in the room, I'd happily call him out on all the crappy contracts, all the blown draft picks, and all the missed free agents. If he's humble about his approach, what can I really say? I'll only knock a guy down a peg if he's asking for it. A lot of guys around here are asking for it. Sorry, but I'll never see eye to eye with someone who's idea of scouting is reading a few scouting reports, watching a couple of highlight reels, and calling it a day. The irony is that those guys are the most likely to be adamant about their positions. It's hard to argue with someone who has no idea what they're talking about, but act like you're clueless.
Hard for me and most posters to comment on Splitter when they have not seen him play in multiple games. I have seen Fazekas play abit in college and the Vegas summer league, the guy looks like he can shoot, but is just not athletic at all. Davis is a combined 2-13 from the field in his 1st two summer league games, 15 rbs, 4 assists, 7 TO and 12 personal fouls. I like the way Davis rebounds though.
The article might be right, but the writing is terrible. Lame jokes, pointless allusions, and terrible similes. He's been talking to Blinebury too much.
it looks like i'm reading a lot of complaining just to complain, no? there's just not many, if any, viable full-mle candidates out there and i don't see where les' cheapness is involved. i mean what players are people looking at that would be satisfactory?
None is for sure better than Landry. Splitter is a good position defender, but not a shot blocker, not much offense, and not a great rebounder, either. He has length on Landry, but Landry has scoring ability (a jump shot, in particular), and probably atheleticism on him. Fazekas is a good 3 pt shooter and rebounder (against WAC competition), but has not proven he can bang with the bigger and quicker guys, either in the NCAA tourney or, so far, in the summer league. McRoberts: overhyped and under-productive at Duke. Glen Davis: Apparently the Rockets thought hard deciding between him and Landry. My guess is that, in the end, they had a hard time imagining a 290 lb PF (assuming he doesn't go Robert Traylor on us) next to a 300 lb center (or a 40-year old center). The plan is likely to get as quick a guy as you can at the 4.
You're a pretty strong advocate of Johnson himself in the other Amir Johnson thread. Apparently, not going after Johnson specifically indicates a lack of vision from our front office. It's a lack shared by many other GM's around the league. And what exactly is a "Johnson-type" player? All I know is that he's 6'11" and supposedly atheletic. What are his strengths and weaknesses? What is his playing style? How's his decision making? You couldn't tell me that, but you're telling us we need someone like him? I wanted a mobile shotblocker too. I've said before that the perfect complementary player for Yao is Tyson Chandler, but I knew he was well out of our price range that year. I didn't bring up Swift because I was right and others were wrong. Nobody can tell the future. But everyone's reasoning is what gets me. Tell me the truth, how many games did you see Swift play before we signed him? No one saw him play, but he was our savior. You probably still think we need someone "like Swift" to play next to Yao, intangibles be damned. Hell, you probably think we should go after Darko. Look before you leap, is all I'm sayin.
So, what's our sample size with Amir Johnson- 5 games? You want to give him $5million a year? Stop posting.
Yes, I don't consider 4 million a year for 3 years to be much of a gamble, and if the player pans out...you got a free lottery pick. DD
