Gay is a significant upgrade over Chase Buddinger. That's obvious to all of us. I'm not suggesting that Gay is the missing piece that turns Houston into a contender again, though. It's obvious that true superstars are not lining up to join the Houston Rockets. In fact, it doesn't seem like any of them have even considered it. Having a guy like Gay on the Rockets could change that drastically though. I haven't crunched the numbers, but if we could trade for Gay without giving up much more than a scola/martin, and still have the room to sign something close to max..... well I think Houston will sound much more attractive to some big name players out there. Maybe that's just me though. I guess we could just got get Dwight Howard, Chri Paul, and any other allstars we want since Gay isn't elite enough to be on the Rockets.
I don't agree with you here. Taking into account how cheap Budinger is, I don't think Gay with his huge contract is a better value. If we can resign Battier for cheap, that is definitely the way to go. We have a huge hole defending the 2 and 3. We need something there for sure. Courtney Lee is just not enough.
Gay is a better player, but at 13 times the price, I don't think he is 13 times better than C-Bud nor do I think Gay makes us a better "team". The success of Memphis despite Gay is proof of that. I don't think you would see any playoff team effected less by losing a $13mill/year player like what you see in Memphis. Gay is a bit of a ball stopper and his team seems to be better when they are spreading the ball around....I would argue you would see a similar outcome here in Houston if Gay were here.
I posted this in another thread but to expand the idea, the reason players want to play for LA, NY, Dallas, Orlando, etc is that those teams tend to overpay for their players and I think that's where agents come in as they are advising these clients on where to play. I don't think it's that players don't like Houston so much as their agents know Morey's rep for playing hardball with contracts and would prefer steer their clients to the teams willing to pay more because they tend to make more in that scenario. What we know about agents in today's NBA is that they are taking an overall view of all the players in their portfolio and figuring out how to leverage that to the advantage of ALL their players. In that case, it's not just important that star X gets paid, but also that star X's agent gets good money for role player B. It's the game behind the game. If the league tightens up the soft cap as expected, I think you'll see Houston return as a more desirable market for stars. The players are going to suffer financially in the NEW CBA but let's be clear - this really isn't so much about the owners v the players as it is about owners out to stop agents like Lebron's playing power brokers at the expense of entire franchises. If there is one unanimous sentiment around the league about something they want to end, it's that. ....now if the new CBA doesn't tight up the soft cap, I think it's a fairly safe bet that Les is going to have to open up the pocketbook wide or get lucky in the lotto a few times.
he signed a 5year contract worth 82mil, 2011 salary is 13.6mil with yearly increment of 10%, so next season he will make close to 15mil, you sure you want him? i think the label overpaid is written all over him. and who do we give up to get him? and why is memphis now playing much better without him? we trashed memphis in a couple of games early this season when he played but without him they seem harder to beat. put it this way, if the money is coming out of ur pocket, would u get rudy gay? im not saying he's a lousy player, he's a good scorer (we already have a better efficient scorer named Kevin Martin) but our most important needs now is at center.
THere's no point in getting Gay because he makes 20M a year. WOuld you really want a guy who plays less than LBJ/Durant but will make more than them in the coming years?
Brayndon: Great idea. I was thinking the same thing. Gay might be someone undervalued by his team, but he's still a heck of a player. He already is better than Martin (two way player). I wouldn't mind trading for Gay and then dealing Martin for a high draft choice.
Dear Darwin you have got to be kidding. Rudy Gay challenges Kevin Martin , Jamal Crawford and Johnny Flynn as one of the worst perimeter defenders in the entire league. His lateral quickness, awful boxouts and lazy closeouts make me want to gauge my eyes out...
Apparently you've seen everything but Rudy Gay play this year. Of course, you were also the person saying Zach Randolph would never be a winner and that he was comparable to Scola -- so we at least know you've never seen the Grizzlies play lately.
He was having a career year but he's still really overpaid. Although compared to Melo or Joe Johnson or some other offensive specialist he's not really overpaid since he does play decent D. Oh and please stop talking about Zach Randolph like he's been playing this well his entire career. We might as well put Bonzi in the HoF based on that kind of reasoning.
Gay would be a nice addition to the Rox. That being said, his max (or near it) contract that probably gets grandfathered in with the looming CBA negotiations kills this notion outright. He's a definite upgrade to Bud but there's no way a team will take him outright without the Grizz really sweetening the pot for someone to take him off their hands especially with the emergence of the Grizz into the playoffs. They'd essentially be paying another team to take him off their hands. Also, consider the circumstance that the Grizz find themselves in; they're currently viewed as contenders, they're trying to re-sign a productive, legitimate center, they're known to be tight on the cap, and the glimpse of the Howard/CP3 sweepstakes looming in the background for about the same amount of money. Any GM worth his title will take advantage of those. I can see why they signed him to the max when they did but, in retrospect, they most probably shot themselves in the foot. Heck, I thought the Grizz going into the regular season that just finished were a bunch of underachieving players given their size and talent. No way I saw a 2nd round team, and still going strong, in them.
What the heck do you base this on? Just because one is a two way player doesn't mean he's better. Captain Jack is a much better two way player than Dirk Nowitzki, who is the better player? Offensively speaking KM blew Gay out of the water, its not even close when you compare their TS% for the season. Gay also has the same issues as Melo (plays soft, doesn't drive to the rim enough) but is extremely inferior and will be making just as much as Melo over the coming years. Just look at how the Grizz have taken off when Gay got replaced by Battier to see how "good" his two way ability really is. There's also a thing called the "salary cap" which discourages trading for overpaid players like Rudy Gay. If you trade for him at that price he'll likely be your most expensive player (ie:best player). I can't imagine how a pick and Rudy freaking Gay will magically turn us into contenders.
Gay is better defender than you guys think, but since the grizzlies haven't gotten much national attention, before now, opinions seem to revert back to what he used to be. If you look deep into the numbers, gay improved every aspect of his game BESIDES scoring, which indicates what he thought he needed to improve. He still needs better handles, but when you think gay think Randolph and how he is shedding the cancer label in these playoffs. Really our whole team has been shedding labels all year. It is really too bad that Gay isn't around to enjoy this run with us. He is beloved in Memphis.
A new novel concept I like to call "watching both players." Rockets fans and their love for TS% -- it is adorable. Rudy Gay is a better basketball player than Kevin Martin. He's a better defender, better rebounder, better shot blocker, comparable 3PT shooter, and most importantly Gay is 10x more clutch than Martin. Martin's the better overall scorer, but basketball is about more than just offense. Rudy Gay's overall game > Kevin Martin's overall game. "Just look at how the Grizz have taken off by replacing Battier with Gay." The Grizzlies were 11-3 in Rudy Gay's final 14 games -- but I bet you didn't know that, did you? what-- as far as the OP, do you think the Grizzlies would consider dealing Gay to open up cap space for Marc? I'm not sure if the Rockets are a good trading fit, but I think someone might be able to take advantage of your playoff success without Gay + cap room flexibility in order to get an (IMO) undervalued Rudy Gay.
