[Feigen] How Rockets could get better quickly after lockout ends

The Rockets are now under a new coach and should really have a year to just play around. Keep Thabeet, start him, heck start that loser who's hungry at SF, just play around with minutes and play everyone on the roster. That way, after a year, we know what kind of players we have, hopefully have a terrible record and a high draft pick next year + maybe a chance at a good SF / C.

 

I think Morey is tanking. I mean look at his roster moves in the last two seasons, if you look at the 08/09 team compared to last years roster, the team has gone really young. Not only that, but he got rid of a proven coach in Adelman, who was producing wins despite the lack of talent. To a coach in McHale, who hasen't had much success as a coach, but is more willing to help develop the young players with his "learning by doing" approach.

I think Morey is tanking, just not at the pace everyone expects.

 

For those hoping to tank this season, just realize that the owners are pushing to move the age limit back another year, requiring a player to be TWO years removed for his high school graduation class before being eligible for the NBA Draft.

If the owners win on this (and given their leverage right now, they very well could), then the 2012 NBA Draft could be very bad at the top (aside from Harrison Barnes and maybe Perry Jones). I don't know if it'd be worth it to tank if those were the only studs in the draft, since the Rockets will likely be no worse than, say, the 7th or 8th worst team no matter how hard they try.

Just something to think about.

 

Good point. However, my guess is the owners give on this one because it is not one of those real $ issues. So far, owners have been willing to give on a bunch of ancillary issues (hard cap, non-guaranteed deal, roll-back) and focus on the bottom-line. I think the BRI split is reallly the owner side's only remaining "blood issue."

And don't even try to argue with me since you already had to SUCK IT on the whole declining soft cap thing.

 

If we really wanted to tank, we'd make Feigan the GM

 

Tanking is not really an issue with what Morey does (anymore than what he already did last year); McHale can handle the tanking from here...if he wants to...as long as Les tells him that he won't be fired based on this years w/l record.

The "leverage" the owners have is from the majority, which are small market teams, who want/need a good draft. I would assume they will give this up.

 

I hate to say this and believe me it pains me to no end but this band-aid approach reminds me a lot of another owner in town on Crawford. We can stay competitive but the land scape has changed...why would Deron, Chris or Dwight want to come here?

What is a bigger risk...wait for another FAgent class and using IPad 3 to lure them here or start to rebuild now and be good again in 3 years when we can trade for or sign a legit star to go with our young core talent?

 

Saw the title, Rockets getting better quickly..... then I skimmed the article... saw names like Lewis & Okur. Sigh...

The season cant get here soon enough.

 

Rashard Lewis isn't good enough for Howard in Orlando; why would he be good enough for him here?

Lol.

I don't think Morey will try to tank. But, if he did tank, I have confidence we could be the worst in the league. There's no point in deciding to tank before the offseason even starts unless you're shooting to be the best at being the worst. Fire your proven coach and hire one with a bad track record (check), trade away vets and bring in gambles on rookie deals (ongoing), acquire a headcase (check), let key free agents walk (coming soon), and save the lion's share of your cap space for the following offseason (coming soon). The one real big to-do left is to finish trading away the vets (Martin and Scola), and once Hayes walks we should be absolutely terrible.

But, I think it's self-delusion to pin this winning-without-tanking strategy on Les. It is part-and-parcel with the trade-for-a-superstar strategy that Morey helped Boston with, and that he brought to Houston and has been selling to us for the last 400 years. Even if Les is onboard, that doesn't mean it isn't Morey's baby. It has his fingerprints all over it.

 

First of all, Rashard WAS good enough to get a young (not-as-good-as-he-is-now) Howard to the NBA Finals.

Second, I don't think Rashard would be the one and only roster spot luring Howard to Houston. Personally, I think Howard should definitely be able to contend with a roster that includes (most/all of) the following:

Kyle Lowry (young PG who is rapidly climbing up the NBA ranks among starting PGs)
Kevin Martin (a top-10 SG, legit top-10 scorer in the league and a "cooler" to ice games with FTs)
Courtney Lee (top-notch backup SG/legit starter; good defense; Dwight's buddy)
Rashard Lewis (on a minimum deal? THAT wouldn't help the Rockets?)
Luis Scola (sturdy PF who can be the 3rd or 4th best player on a championship team)

Plus a slew of young talent like Patrick Patterson and Marcus Morris.

I'm not saying that Dwight will be banging on Morey's door at midnight on July 1, 2012, begging to sign with Houston. I'm not even saying that Houston would necessarily be his first choice. But that roster PLUS HIM would be very enticing to any reasonable person, having far more depth than any roster he could join with another "superstar" that will be forced to sign aging vets and minimum scrubs to fill out their rotation.

Now, let's just hope that Dwight is reasonable enough to at least consider Houston.

 

I always wanted Rashard back home. Maybe playing for the home team can motivate him to be a real 100 million dollar man.

 

I'd settle for Rashard the Rocket being "The Best League Minimum Salary Player in the League."

 

What are the chances that the Grizzlies amnesty cut Rudy Gay to free up some cap space to re-sign Marc Gasol?

I'd much rather have Rudy Gay than Rashard Lewis.

 

I know it seems like the Rockets are getting screwed under the new CBA, and they are of course, but dont forget that the Amnesty clause is NOT something teams will be able to use year after year. The same teams that made bad signings once, will do it again, and teams like the Magic have more than just one bad contract they would like to shed.

As for Rashard Lewis, I think he would be a good pickup for the right price. Seeing as though he is heading towards being a very mediocre player in the second half of his career, there are far better teams out there that can offer the same amount of money. The main question is, would Lewis be a major upgrade to Chase Budinger or Marcus Morris (also a tweener with a solid 3pt shot)???.... I say no. Pass.

However, I think there are other unlikely characters on smaller contracts that could be very valuable to the Rockets in the near future.

For instance, if no teams are able to make a valid trade attempt at Kaman the Clippers might act in a hurry to sign DeAndre Jordan and Amnesty Kaman out of scheer lack of time to find a trade in Market. Also, dont discount Sarver in Phoenix. This guy is BROKE. Steve Nash could very well be in play, maybe not this season, but next.

 

Seeing as though the salary cap most likely will not change I assume the Grizzlies will be "all in" this next season. Also, there should be a trade good market out there for Rudy Gay. Most likely mid-season he will be shopped. However, if they underachieve this year, and there are no great deals for the Grizzlies in trade, dont think for a minute Rudy Gay wont be considered for Amnesty.

 

There is NO WAY that Rudy Gay gets amnesty cut this year. Remember, you still have to pay the player's FULL SALARY if you amnesty cut him. Michael Heisley has lost enough money in the past few years. He's not about to have that much dead money on his payroll for the next four years. That's $69 million!

As dobro mentioned, there's a trade market for Rudy. Why cut him and eat his salary when you could trade him? One simple example:

Rudy Gay to Cleveland for Antawn Jamison (expiring contract) and a first round pick.

Boom. Done. Cleveland makes that trade in a second. In fact, they'd give up more than that for Rudy.

Thinking that he'll be amnesty cut THIS YEAR is flat out silly.

 

Epic post, and this sums up how I've felt for a few years about free agents and the Rockets.

Unfortunately we can't seem to be able to assume that NBA players act rationally.

 

I trust Howard, unlike Melo, he doesn't seem as worried about being in a big market, I think he really wants to
1) Join a better team so he can compete with the stacked teams.
2) Be the main guy on that team.

He talks about his legacy, I interepert that as he wants to be remembered as an Olajuwon, someone who led a good team to greatness, as opposed to a Barkley (a good player who never won) or a Lebron (a great player who played on a stacked team).

 

It would still be better than this past year's.

Barnes, Jones, Sullinger, Lamb, Robinson, Young....there are plenty of guys.

I honestly think this current draft class will be as forgotten about as this lockout-shortened season.

I detest tanking....but if there was a season to clean your cupboard and not be in a position to win games....this would be a good opportunity.

 

He wants to start acting, which is why he has Hollywood on his mind. Playing devil's advocate here, why would he choose Houston over LA or even Brooklyn?

Play with Kobe and Gasol, or play with Deron in Brooklyn or play with Martin and Lowry in Houston?

Which would he choose?

Plus Bynum and Lopez trump anything we can offer.