First just let me say that it completely blows my mind that CD had no plan b in place in case Mike James did not sign. Further more it shocks the hell out of me that there is not one single free agent left that he has been planning to go after. I’m sure every one has read this little tid-bit by now: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/bk/bkn/4043336.html What the hell! He has had all off season to look for and evaluate the free agents. Am I to believe that he was so sure of getting James that he did nothing in the mean time to decide who he would want in case James signed somewhere else? Other teams went into free agency with a plan and executed beautifully. The stocked and re-stocked their teams with quality NBA players and young athletic players that are full of talent. What have the Rockets done? Nothing. Most of the quality free agents that we can point at as big time contributors are gone. How many more free agents will be signed while we wait for CD and company to NOT KNEE JERK. When was the last time we entered an off season with this much ammunition to make drastic improvements to the Rockets? - #8 and #32 draft pick - MLE - 4.2 TE -1.8 TE - Stromile Swift - a young athletic PF making a little over 5 mil a year and we can’t get a legit trade for him? Tyson Chandlers stats are not much better than Swift and the Bulls parlayed Tyson into JR Smith and PJ Brown. Surely we could have gotten at least a late first round pick for Swift or something. But CD just packages him into the Battier deal as a way to match salaries. There are players out there that can help the Rockets but are there any that fit the Win Now philosophy? I don’t know. As it stands right now we have 3 quality NBA starters. Yao, T-Mac and Battier. No one else on the team should be starting in this league. As it stands we have a back court of Alston (should be a back up) and Luther (should be a back up). Can anyone imagine how abused that back court is going to be going up against the most of the back courts in the NBA night in and night out? Hey I am excited about the potential of: JLIII Steve Novak Chuck Hayes V-Span Pat Carroll I think they all have some skills that the Rockets desperately need…but they are unproven NBA players! JLIII has 2 ten day contracts and Hayes has about half a season averaging less than 14 minutes a game. Win now should have been about pulling out all of the stops to acquire the best talent to put around Yao and T-Mac. Clearly that has not been the case. My god lets hope Sura’s back and knee make a miraculous recovery and he can play next season. Why didn’t CD have a list of guys already evaluated and ready to call the second the James negotiations fell through? He should have already known what plan B is. Cuban got Greg Buckner today. He was a player that would have easily been the best perimeter defender on the team as a two guard and his 3pt shooting is about .350 he is a smart player and does not turn the ball over. I don’t know what he cost but I bet it was not much. He is so much better than Bogans it’s scary. Why is it scary you ask? Because while Buckner will come off of the Dallas bench behind Stackhouse, Bogans could actually end up starting on the Rockets. Bogans could not make the Mavericks training camp roster much less their regular season roster….that is scary! Win Now…a flat out lie! If we go into next season with a crappy ass back court don’t look for the addition of Battier to make a dramatic difference.
I assumed CD had some players lined up for the TE's and the MLE, ready to deal as soon as James was signed, or got through giving us payback for sending him to the frozen north. I'm still hoping he does, but I really expected some moves very quickly. Like today, or tomorrow. Guys are getting snapped up, the guys that are left from the small pool of quality players this off-season. If we go into the weekend without hearing about a deal, either some inside info that points to some signings, or actual signings, I'm going to get more ticked off than I am already. There's not that much out there. Patience is a virtue... up to a point.
Out of all the things that have happened in this short off-season, this is by far the worst and most revealing admission. We are in serious, serious trouble if CD just dusted off the tape library yesterday. Worst of all... we have two GM's right now doing one person's job.
All moves this offseason seem to point to taking on as little salary as possible so that Les can show off a clean balance sheet before his prospective buyers. The front office has offered woefully pathetic excuses and pulled out stall tactics, with the very convenient result of not having added on to Les' payroll. And on the contrary, with the Gay trade they've actually shaved off about two mil per year. Either this has all been a payroll downsize or CD is a jackass of all trades.
Van Gundy’s gloomy pessimistic attitude is really starting to rub off on CD. First he basically says the draft sucked and there was nobody available that would contribute. Now he says that the free agent pool sucks. I know there are not many proven big name players available, but is it so hard to actually go out and scout some of these young under-the-radar guys and FIND somebody who might be able to contribute next season. If someone like Salmons or Banks has a huge breakout season next season, it’s really going to annoy me knowing the Rockets could have had them had they just spent a little time scouting instead of wasting their time going “this free agent class is weak, we might as well not sign anyone” or “this draft is weak, we might as well trade our pick”.
Isnt he also supposedly teaching morey the ropes... I hope this was a lesson on what you are not supposed to do as a gm. Not having a plan B is horrible, but I said this before james decided where he is going. I said we probably have no other plan put all your eggs in james basket once he does not sign then we settle for what we already have. Its sad but it is the reality of this team..
I totally agree with you. We were jobbed by Memphis to not have at least gotten their 24 pick in the first round. With it our worst case Plan B could have been to add any one of the following available guards for an inexpensive contract: Kyle Lowry; Shannon Brown; Jordan Farmar; Maurice Ager; Mardy Collins; James White.....the list goes on. Buckner helps Dallas with its plan B. Yet Dallas already has Devin Harris, Jason Terry, Jerry Stackhouse, Josh Howard and Maurice Ager in their backcourt, but at least they had and quickly executed a viable plan B. What do the Rockets have in their back court Rafer Alston and Luther Head (unless you are a complete optimist and believe Sura will be his old self again). Where is our quickly implemented solid Plan B? I am completely disgusted with our offseason.
No need to panic now. Well okay... It is understandable. BUT... Those TEs are gonna carry more value later in the season (unless they expire?) and I am sure Rockets mgmt has some kind of positive move envisioned with them. There just arent many impact free agents to go after. Why commit money to weak players? No need to force anything. It sucks but we dont have much to work with at this time.
He didn't say that their plan was to wait and use the trade exceptions later because what they want is not currently available. He said that they don't know what to do right now.
well in all honesty, i don't see any FA's that would be lock solid deals for the rockets. i do understand that we need a backup PG and even a F/C, maybe even a 2/3. i'm sure we will fill some holes, but with short term solutions until next summer rolls along. i'm very upset with the way this summer is going and unfortunately it doesn't look to be getting any better.
this is what pisses me off the most we have a chance to look back at last year's abysmal season almost as a blessing in disguise, but instead we completely blow it. so many damn chances to improve this team if we just stuck to what we had instead of KNEE JERKING into a "win now" bullsh!t attitude. and now we're stuck w/o a plan b just twiddling our damn thumbs hoping players like marcus banks, john lucas III and ariza ( ) can become saviors.
Plan B never begins until Plan A fails. They aren't saying they are now forming a plan B. They said Plan B began! That's very different.
But its much more fun to start a new irrational thread, take someone's words, twist them to mean something else, and then yell at them for saying your new distorted words.
That's not what the Chronicle said, though. The writer explicitly states they began formulating Plan B (not executing it). Why on earth are they looking at film now and not the last two weeks? Film evaluation should have been finished long ago.
