I was on the bandwagon a few years back. It seemed like a great plan. Acquire as many good players on cheap contracts as possible while still playing decent basketball. This would enable us to not only trade for a superstar but give the superstar an incentive to play for us because the Rockets were already a decent team. Well folks things have changed. The plan has not worked.......and i don't see it working in the foreseeable future. I know Morey is smarter than I am.......does he see something I don't see ? Is the owner pulling all the strings ? This team needs a superstar in the baddest way. The only way you can attain one is via the draft. I don't see us trading for one considering all the superstars want to play in california, miami, or NY. I know it hurts to admit that the Rockets are nowhere near championship contenders but that is a FACT. If we have no way of attaining a superstar other than draft then what is Morey and Alexander's final game plan ?
Their plan is to earn money and they just did that in a tough economy with a mediocre team. why change?
Wait it out and let one of our young guys (lowry, twill, bud, lee, etc.) develop into a star. To answer your question, we probably can't trade for a superstar because no superstar wants to come to houston.
The only desperate long shot that Morey has is for one of the dream teams to start feuding. Then if a star player demands a trade, try to swoop in and trade for them. If so, that is an insane excuse for not tanking, the hollow excuse that no pouting star would want to join a lottery team. God, the lengths of denial the Rockets much grasp at in order to justify not rebuilding is pathetic.
Cap room, good contracts and high draft picks are the way to go. Easier said than done though. I like our strategy to this point. Because it hasnt netted a few superstars doesnt mean the model is broke. Players, more than ever, choose where they want to play. Short of a hometown favorite who wants to play here more than anywhere, Houston is at a disadvantage compared to LA, NY, Miami, Boston, and Chicago. Enticing someone here isnt impossible, it just means we have to have stronger bait. Since we cant reinvent Houston, change its weather, or make it a glamor magnet, we have to make it a place where players think they can win. Dallas has finally gotten to that status, and lately seem to have little problem attracting the good FA's. Winning a title will do that. The NY model actually I think was a good one. Clear enough cap space for 2 max contracts, and time it such as to when a number of big time FA's are to become available. In their case, they only snatched one star (Amare), but were able to get the 2nd via a disgruntled star wanting to be elsewhere (Melo). What was key to this was have star #1 already there. I am pretty sure Melo wouldnt have gone there otherwise. We have a plethora of assets to trade for a star, but it will matter little without star #1 already planted here, for they probably wouldnt stay. Getting that #1 has been the focus for some time. Basically, all we can do is set the stage. make good decisions and be in a position to move quickly when a situation develops. I am as sorry as anyone that this hasnt happened yet, but we are as primed as we can be to pull a trigger.
We had Gasol, then we got vetoed by Stern in the biggest travesty the NBA has ever seen. Plan worked, not our fault something historical had to happen to ruin it.
Define: superstar. For example, I believe Josh Smith is within our trading range. Is he a superstar? Upgrade from Luis? BTW - - I would not be shocked to find Rox 'in' on DH12 as the third tam, no not Howard's destination. BTW II - - is all known about SD deal? I wonder if there is a trade buried in that transaction?
Jesus Christ, I'm gonna start reporting you for this shet, Yeah a lot of us aren't in aggreement with Morey's decisions, we don't copy and paste that shet into every single thread.
We'll have to stay the course and roll with the plan we have. No sense in making trades just to trade unless it nets us a star (Dwight Howard) while contracting the team to get rid of all the spare parts. Or we could hope that one of the guys from the 2008 draft class (that is star-caliber) is unhappy with his situation and decides to bolt.
No superstars. Superstars all gone. Oh well. Houston has Terrence Williams anyways. Clutchfans told me he is going to be a superstar!
The trade that should happen is Bosh for Scola, Lowry and a pick. I don't want it to happen ... I don't think it will happen ... but I think we may be dumb enough to do it. It would definitely be in Miami's interest.
Trade the entire team except for Lowry and Patterson and Morris to Orlando for Dwight. Give them our picks, whatever. Convince Dwight that we have the cap flexibility to get another; NJ would probably roll over in their grave before helping us, but they can't sign Dwight out-right either so maybe they'd be willing to SnT us Deron Williams. Turn Patterson and Morris into all-star caliber players themselves. Play T-Will, Flynn some more and their values will also rise. If this doesn't work and Dwight still leaves, don't SnT him. Force him to leave a lot of money on the table. In the meantime, start over with no salary commitments whatsoever. This is the most immediate way to have a HUGE talent infusion into our team. Actually, trading all your decent-to-very good players away to dump salary is a win-win situation, regardless of whether or not the superstar you sign agrees to hang on longer term.
In 8 years, we take all our assets and trade them to the lakers for...Kobe Bryant. Just think of the ticket sales to your corp clients Les.
