As much as Stromile Swift upset me with his lack of intensity and his seemingly aversion to contact, the fact is that he took much less money to play for a team that he loved. He easily gave up a few million dollars a year in order to come home to Houston and play with Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady. With Houston being a great location for players because of: A.) Quality Organization B.) Open looks b/c of Yao/Tmac C.) No State Taxes D.) Cosmopolitan City that lots of NBA players live in the offseason. Do you think that players will give second thoughts to playing for the rockets or especially taking less to play for the Rockets seeing how they treated stromile? We've had a number of coveted free agents: Shandon Anderson, Mo Taylor, Derek Anderson, Stromile Swift, Jim Jackson, etc. that took pay cuts to come to Houston. We've been loyal in the past but the last few years we seem to stick it to some of the guys like Stromile in light of the sacrifice and dollars he left on the table to play for us. Do you think this will be in the minds of some free agents that before would consider taking less to play here??
I don't get the impression that Swift sacrificed many dollars to come to us. I think he was basically choosing between MLE deals. Either way, I don't think it hurts the Rockets. He signed a long-term deal. If he signed a short deal with a wink-wink understanding that he'd get big bucks later (like we did with Anderson and Taylor), and then we traded him, that would hurt. I don't think we did wrong by Swift.
I thought I read somewhere that Swift wanted out of Houston as well. I don't think his fragile mind could take JVG's badgering of him.
I still think money is the biggest factor for FA's but both Yao and T-Mac are coming off injuries and we are such a slow moving team that I feel athletic FA's might choice to go to a better fit if all other things were equal.
Come on. This post is ridiculous and you guys are reading way too much into this. Stro got his ass run out of town b/c he is SOFT and STUPID. Not a good combination to play for Van Gundy.
I think the biggest thing is that players do not want to come to a chronic loser. And that is what we seemed to be last year. Double that with the fact that we have the most boring game plan in NBA history. Who want's to be a Bored Loser for a management team that would give Stro and Gay up for Battier?
The DA thing hurts more than Swift, DA took a paycut to be here. Swift wasn't getting any more than he got.
Yeah I really want to be know as the team that you can go to who will give you a slightly reduced contract and all you have to do in return is be a lazy, slacking, usless piece of cap eating roster trash.
No way, it's the opposite. The Anderson trade helped us. He wanted out, we acceded to his wishes and sent him packing (where he fizzled) but he picked up a shiny gold ring in the process for letting Wade burn somebody in practice. Had we forced him to stay here and ride out the miserable lotto season then it would have been worse for the Rox rep among players.
Swift trade means we need a new PF. Ben Wallace is a FA this summer. Alston/M James T-Mac Battier B Wallace Yao
I think we would all love to get Ben Wallace, but the thing about ex championship teams is that all their players tend to get more money than they're actually worth. Just look at Derek Fisher! I have a feeling that Ben Wallace is either going to be maxed out or pretty close!!
As long as T-mac and Yao are here there will be plenty of players wanting to come here. I liked Swift but he did pretty much what he did for the Grizz, underachieve
I don't think Wallace would ever get max in any team unless he went to Bobcats. Plus he naturally would want to sign with a team he would easily fit. Rockets are one of them. There are not that many teams out there that have such a strong post presence that he wouldn't have to worry about producing on offense.
CD to next FA ":Come her. Let JVG piss you off and keep you on the inactive list. And we will eventually trade you. If you get lucky, your new team might win you a ring."
It's better than saying "disgruntled losers of the world, please come here and dog it" Free agents go where the money is, where the rings are, or the city they want to be. Look at the clippers, they have treated their players like garbage and have the worst owner in the league, yet they're able to sign people You think anybody really cares when it comes time to get paid?
