Let me first say that I have admired CD for a long time both as a man and a guy that has bled ROCKET RED for many years.He is a more than competent GM who we are lucky to have.There have been some picks over the years that have confounded us,but I chalk that up more to others who have been included in that decision making process.When it comes to signing high profile free agents or orchestrating big deals,CD is one of the best. It has disturbed me to no end to see him villified and treated like some kind of village idiot in here.The escalation of this from clutchcity to clutchfans has been pretty sad. NOW - THIS IS YOUR CHANCE - GIVE CARROLL DAWSON THE LOVE AND PROPS HE DESERVES!
I did in the ESPN/Bonzi thread, but I will here too. He does a good job every year to bring in what we need. He may not hit 100% of the time, but he's better than most GMs out there.
In my opinion, the true measure of a GM is whether he can close deals. The scouting staff and coaches need to be a major part of the talent evaluation and roster philosophy. The GM's biggest task is bringing in those targets. CD has been fantastic in closing those deals. Evan
The drafting is questionable and he had some bad moves...but overall he has been pretty darn good. Def above average GM in the league. THANKS CD!
Sometimes I wonder if fans expect him to hit it 100% of the time. Seems like he takes so much heat when he doesn't, but NO GM does. I was pissed we didn't sign MJ, I was OK with the Rudy Gay deal, but with the Bonzi signing, I think it's safe to say we had a pretty good offseason. Much better than last summer. Good job CD (and TMac.....)
I could not agree more. I don't think the Rocket's organization has ever been given enough credit for actually "trying" to improve all the time. They trade Otis Thorpe for Clyde and it worked, they traded Horry/Cassell for Barkley and it didn't. They signed Scottie Pippen and it didn't but they traded Dickerson and others for Francis and I believe it did work for awhile. They took the risk on Yao and made a great deal for T-Mac. They signed many free agents that they were hopeful would pan out... some do, and some don't. The point here is they are not afraid to try new things to make it work and it has been completely and utterly unfair of many of the fans to get down on them for doing whatever they can to make things happen. It takes years to rebuild teams and the Rocket's have been trying their best. I hate when they lose but I can understand that not everything will work nor is everything within their control. You'll have busts, bad chemistry, and injuries along the way before you get all the pieces correct. I believe that this could finally be the completion to the puzzle, however I am willing to also live with the results if it does not work ahead of time and not bash them when it doesn't. If things don't go well this season for whatever reason, please remember how you felt today because if things don't workout I think it would be a crime to blame the Rocket's organization again (like always) for making seamingly good moves that just don't work out. Maybe next time you might be a little more understanding of how hard it is to build a champion. Patience is key and I believe they finally have the pieces to do it. -- And Van Gundy is a great coach no matter what the VG haters say.
Not every signing is going to work out but you have to give him respect for going after big FA and signing them usually with less to offer than other teams. In my opinion, we'll never really know what last years team would have looked like because of the massive injury issue
You can't blaime CD and the Rockets for sitting on their hands. They been MASSIVELY active the past 3-4 years. We've basically turned over 100% of the roster at least twice in 4 years. For the past 4 years, virtually every move appeared to be "good" at the time. Sometimes things work out and sometime they don't ...but like Bill Clinton said: "I tried but failed ...but at least I tried." The Rockets have continually made moves to get better the past 4 years. That's really all you can ask. Hopefully this time it will payoff.
Injuries had nothing to do with Derek Anderson and Stromile Swift not being what we'd hoped, and Rafer Alston being a disaster and the James trade blowing up in the Rockets' faces.
Hindsight is a beautiful thing. Besides the Mike James deal, the moves you mention were considered good moves at the time. And like was stated before, no one hits it 100% of the time. And it can at least be argued that Alston's play last year had something to do with all the injuries, since he didn't have anyone to distribute the ball to .
I still say he's an okay GM. Everybody just all on the bandwagon because everything fell into place and that's good thing. I just don't put him up their with the top GM's. Every year their are free agents out there to be had and they always get snatched up. We always get the leftovers and Bonzi Wells just happen to be one of them.
Honestly, has a team ever done this much with so little in a single offseason? Let's take a look at what we had to work with this offseason: #8 draft pick #31 draft pick Mid Level Exception 4.3 million trade exception (these seem to be fairly worthless -- can't think of many major deals where they have been used) We've added Shane Battier, Vassilis Spanoulis, Bonzi Wells, John Lucas III (hey, other temas including the Suns were hot for him), Steve Novak, and Kirk Snyder. IMO, that is an AWESOME offseason all things considered. I am hyped up for this regular season... CD, you've done a great job, now take some of the big bucks you've earned over your career and buy a new pair of glasses or get some lasik-surgery.
that's the same thing I was going to post. let's wait and see, we were doing the same thing last season. on paper yes, the bonzi move seems to clean up an off season that started with a questionable draft but like you write, the proof is in winning.
my how standards have fallen since t-mac was signed. samfisher is dead on right on this one folks. we have been claiming this team is a championship contender for the last three off seasons, lets just wait and see.
i think it's more of a "how quickly we forget" situation.... people here are so preemptive on proclaiming our championship contender status when we haven't even hit the court.
That's fine but you can't blaim the rockets for sitting on their hands. At least they are ALWAYS active and trying to improve. This ain't Golden State. CD made some really bad moves near the end of the Rudy era. At this point, I declare CD officially unburried from all those moves. We now have a good looking team with some tradable assets. The rest is just hoping the stars align.
