This article really brightened my day, I value Hollinger's opinions more than most journalists. If Yao is missing the majority of the season, I am 100% on board with "punting" this season as Hollinger put it, in order to do a quick rebuild next summer. Is there anyone here that would rather have Yao-Tracy or Yao-Artest more than having Yao-Bosh? even if it means having 1 down year? Especially with a lottery pick in what looks to be a pretty strong draft, I could see our team as is (which means not resigning Artest. and Yao and Tracy miss most or all of the season) drafting in the 5-10 range, and who knows maybe we would hit the jackpot and get a top 3 pick. Chris Bosh would be itching to get to Houston.
This is a problem. We're too good to become an out and out lottery team. Even if we don't have Artest, Yao and Tmac if Morey can get a decent big via free agency and manages to retain Wafer, I still see us making playoffs in the West, or barely missing it at least. You are severely underestimating the skils of Scola, Landry, ABm Battier and Lowry. No way we become 1-3 lottery teams with that core.
I can't see the Rockets willfully squandering the buzz they've attained in the city the last couple of seasons. They just made it past the first round for the first time this millennium and they're going to tank next season? Not these Rockets. They don't ever lie down. They're setting up the lemonade stand as we speak. The Rockets have tickets to sell, and I'm confident they're going to put a competitive team on the floor next season, with or without any max contract players. The team will weigh all of its options, but in the end I predict that Yao will have surgery, come back at some point next year, and the Rockets will make a playoffs push. I just don't see a mass sell-off or tanking in the cards, not when this organization from top to bottom has established its identity as a never-say-die scrapper. Everyone from Les Alexander on down is going to be loathe to surrender that. If you're hoping for a lottery season, you're going to be disappointed.
You think a team who's best scorer is Aaron Brooks and Center is either Chuck Hayes or some journeyman getting his 1st starting job will make the playoffs or barely miss it? What big men do you see us getting? I'm with Hollinger on this, we won't make any big signings, just decent players on 1 year deals, you really think they will make us better than the teams vying for the 8 spot? Utah, Phoenix, New Orleans, etc... Not with no Artest, Yao, or McGrady, sorry its just not going to happen, Scola and Brooks aren't going to beat out Boozer-Williams, Amare-Nash, or Paul-West. I'm not being negative I'm being realistic, I will still watch every game and cheer as if we were on a championship run, but come on guys.
"......Also, some suspect the Houston market may be especially alluring to players who hail from Texas, especially those who play in Canada for a losing team......" This talk about Bosh has heated up quickly.....
Hollinger did a great job breaking down our options. I would go for the rebuilding route and I suspect Morey is leaning that way too, considering the efforts to get Rubio and trade into the lottery. We cannot expect to contend next season with Yao's health so uncertain. Rebuild and we can have over 20 million in capspace next year with a likely lotto pick and our full lineup of roleplayers. Try to add Bosh and another playmaking wing and our lost season was not in vain. And who knows, maybe Yao can even come back after that.
I would not be at all surprised if this Yao Ming injury story was purposely timed and blown out of proportion by the Rockets' front office. Think about it: --The Rockets knew about Yao's injury before the draft, yet they downplayed the injury in order to keep trade partners from becoming "predatory" on a potentially re-building Rockets team. --Once the draft passed (along with various trade options being foreclosed), all of a sudden the Rockets' team doctor (I know he recently left the team, but still) comes out publicly on the status of Yao's injury, bemoaning the fact that it could be career-threatening and setting off a fire-storm of national publicity about how the Rockets need to rebuild. --The idea is implanted around the league that the Rockets may just "punt" the 2009-10 season, not re-sign Artest, allow McGrady's contract to expire, possibly make some other salary-dumping maneuvers, and come away with a bunch of cap room in the summer of 2010 to go after major free agents, like . . . --Toronto is rapidly coming to the realization that it will not be able to retain Chris Bosh beyond next season and now needs to figure out how to maximize what they can get for Bosh in a trade. A Bosh trade made this summer will undoubtedly net the Raptors more than if they wait until February, when they will be much more desperate to trade Bosh or avoid getting anything of value in return. --The "re-building Houston Rockets" present a far lesser threat to Toronto as a trade partner than do the "championship contending Houston Rockets", since Brian Colangelo does not want to be labeled "The Next Chris Wallace" by trading an All-Star to a good team and instantly making that team a top contender year in and year out. --The Rockets (regardless of Yao's injury) still present an attractive trade partner for Toronto, as they have a number of trade assets that the Raptors would covet, such as: Aaron Brooks (a quick PG to complement Calderon), Luis Scola (a quality international player to play in an international city), Shane Battier (a glue guy to keep a re-building Raptors team competitive, as well as a potential temporary face of the franchise; great PR guy), Carl Landry (young PF to potentially start in place of Bosh), and even possibly a signed-and-traded Ron Artest (if both parties are interested - Artest gets more total salary via the S&T; Toronto gets a marquee player and the inevitable media coverage he brings). --If the Rockets can somehow pull off a Chris Bosh trade THIS summer, and Yao somehow miraculously (wink, wink) comes back from his injury during the 2009-10 season, the Houston Rockets are instantly contenders. Couple that with T-Mac possibly coming back (or a trade of T-Mac for other good players), and the Rockets all of a sudden look fairly formidable. I'm not necessarily saying this is a ploy by Daryl Morey and the Rockets' management, but I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if it were. And if it is, that is some freakin' SHREWD gamesmanship by the Rockets. Let the games begin.
??? i was born and raised in h-town. after 25+ years of it, i couldn't wait to get the hell out. doesn't make me any less of a rockets fan.
I grew up in Houston and love the area with all my heart, but I loved to San Diego 3 years ago and can't imagine living anywhere else. The weather is phenomenal. It is 70 degrees 90% of the year. Having said that, I can totally see why NBA players would love Houston. The no tax thing is no joke, and the cost of living is so much lower then in other nice citys. I think also the ROckets have shown that they are supremely concerned with winning and the same cannot be said with other franchises. I hope Yao makes it back, but if not it won't take the Rockets long to jump back to the top tier of the NBA Peace
Okay, this comments is a little too weird and random NOT to be some sort of elaborate clue. And away . . . we . . . GO!
Yeh man what Dallas are you living in? I went down there on business Sunday and couldnt wait to get out of there. Downtown is raggedy and whoever designed the freeways didnt believe in feeders and might have been blind.
Here are some guesses: 1. Dwayne Wade - Miami - lives next to an ocean. 2. Kobe - lives next to an ocean. 3. LeBron - lives next to Lake Erie.
I generally don't like quoting this amount of text, but I think he outlined perfectly what the Rocket's Summer strategy should be. I would make an exception for Wafer (if he's cheap) or Gortat (for the mid), because both are young and have upside, but no creaky expensive veterans please!
Regardless of what hapens with Yao, one gets the feeling that the situation will somehow pass with little effect on the team. As Rockets fans, we know that the team wasn't built that way by chance but it's good to read that others inside the league and out take notice and give credit to the organization for knowing what they're doing. Hollinger's comment that the Rockets could make the playoffs next year while their two maxed out contracts might be on the outside looking in is a testament to their management for knowing how to build a basketball team. Morey and company were masterful at making the team up of interchangeable pieces where one piece gets plugged in readily when another piece is taken out -- plug-n-play .
