Well, people that know me in the world keep telling me they are sorry about the Rockets loss. I am sure that the majority of folks here can identify with that. You know how it works, you live, breath and die it. Maybe it amuses your wife or patronizes your co-workers. But after losing game 7 all the people that I know, keep trying to console me that our season is over. I don't know about y'all folks, but this is the first time in like 10 years, where I don't need the consoling. My automatic retort up to this point has been "it really doesn't bother me, they had a great year!" And we did. Pushing the #1 seed in the west to 7 games amid injury woes, would have been an acceptable fate to most of us in November and February. I'll always wonder about Vince Carter, if that was true, or just smoke. Would Carter have been the offensive push that we needed? Would he have somehow changed Yao and his fate (or feet)? Or would he have been an unwelcome and unneeded element in our brilliant chemistry and charisma. Would he have spoiled our spoils? I also damn T-Mac simply because I don't believe athletes should wield and use power like he did. Whether to prevent a trade to a bottomfeeder, or simply as an act of primaddonna revenge. What he did should expel him from this city and team. It goes against the reason behind Luis Scolas will. Against the passion that got Von got sent to the locker room, and against the reasons why Rick Adelman stays with his starters. We have championship level defense.... We have championship level chemistry. Pining to trade Tmac and Shane Battier both is contradictive. Trade the player that is an abcess (Tracy) He is NO PART of the special thing we have going on with the Rockets. He is possibly malign. He can damage the organization while still inside of it. Anything he were to spew when traded would be superficial. By trading Shane (production over intangibles ) You are taking for granite, qualities such as heart, LEADERSHIP, intelligence, and what I believe to be a cumulative effect on the team that makes the sum even greater than the whole. If you have to trade anything, deal Ron, but I would rather keep him.
Oops, drinking, hit enter.... But what I do wish for this team, if I could take one player, is to not mess up the core, but to add a shooter, someone who manuevers well on offense, and is the antithesis of stagnation. My campaign here is for Richard Hamilton. Maybe Detroit would give us Rip and Fillers for a chance into the Lebron Sweepstakes.... This guys game, is perfect for this team. The next year or two, we need to make our offensive championship caliber and we will be right there with Cleveland and LA.
I'm all for that. I've been thinking about Richard Hamilton for awhile. We all talk about acquiring a player who has a decent inside-out game to complement Yao. Richard Hamilton fits everything we need in terms of scoring. We have too many guys who resort to the three-point shot, but not enough guys who are comfortable making the shot from inside the three and below the freethrow line. Rip would do well running off of screens to get open. He doesn't need to dribble the ball to score which is really important. He just needs a solid pick to have a quick release. Also, Rip is incredibly efficient at the freethrow line. That's important when we get into the penalty. Yao won't be the only person on the team who can be counted on to hit both under pressure. I don't know if Joe Dumars is even considering giving Rip up, but I would be thrilled to have him on the Rockets.
doesn't AI's contract already come off the books? I don't see Detroit trading Rip away unless they are completely rebuilding. Actually, maybe Detroit will rebuild after failing in the playoffs. Rip+Prince would match Tmac's contract. Signing Ron would become redundant at this point though.
Do you also believe that the Rockets should have traded Olajuwon in the early 1990s when he also threw fits, claimed he had an injury that management said he didn't (sound familiar?), and complained about management and the owner?
no thanks. we need someone that can create off the dribble. rip hamilton that is not. i'll pass on using our last significant trading chip for the foreseeable future for a 30 year old jump shooter in decline.
rip will be 36 when his contract is up and making 11 - 12 million. so hell to the naw. I am not worried about that anyway because Morey is a whole lot smarter than that
I'd take rip if we get tayshaun as well. Rips a player that doesnt utilise much of his athleticism, i mean i could still see rip putting up 15ppg at 36. all he does is run off screens to hit jumpers, cut into the lane and dish out a couple assists a night. If we get tayshuan with him itll be well worth it. I doubt pistons give them both up though, its a bit of a pipedream.
The Dream was traded but Rudy interceded. Besides, I know Olajuwon, he is a friend of mine, and Mr McGrady is no Hakeem Olajuwon.
I am no historian, but wasn't Hakeem a totally different person before he found Islam? So maybe he WAS like Tracy, but changed his attitude.
Major- Like I said, there is a line, that I believe employees should not cross. I see the parrallel that you are drawing and it is somewhat valid. I would counter by asking you if you think there is a remote possibility of McGrady leading us to 2 championships and having multiple seasons of MVP caliber. The reason why your argument ultimately fails, is that Olajuwon was at a completely different stage in his career in regards to age, potential etc etc. I do make the statement, that there is a 0 percent chance, that McGrady comes back, has multiple MVP type years and leads us to 2 championships. Not gonna happen.
Cabbage- Valid argument and you may indeed be right. Hamilton is underrated though, around the rim and in creating his own shot. He is actually decent at it. I would argue that his effectiveness and constant movement create a lot of the benefits that a penetrator does in regards to making his team better. As well, he has a ring and is by all accounts a standup guy.
Rip could help rockets win more and run deep into the playoffs. I wanted to have him here since last year in place of T-Mac. His contract is not an issue at all at 10M/11M per year. He hits jumper consistently. He is the one rockets has been searching for.
please do not compare tmac to hakeem. hakeem workd his ass off. he had mediocre role players for a large chunk of his career. tmac is an underachieving primadonna who never made it out of the first round. hakeem was in the finals and lost to a stackd celtics team which included larry legend before the 90's.
As others have pointed out, Hamilton is a superb scorer but one who often relies on others to set up his shot. This was a reason why he was so effective playing next to Chauncey Billups but also why I'm not sold on the idea of a Brooks-and-Hamilton backcourt.
Yo, Cabbage! Why not just run Hamilton off screens? Fitting Hamilton into the offense would not be difficult especially when you consider that he is Mr. Midrange Game in the NBA. He wouldn't interfere with Yao or force an abundance of bad 3s.
