Guess the trades the will happen this offseason, the moves the draft picks. And predict and show everyone what you think the rockets roster will look like?
Martin and Patterson for Josh Smith (1 year left) Scola, Lowry and Budinger for Gasol Gasol / Dally Smith / Monty Parsons / Morris Lee / Rookie Dragic / Rookie 99% chance of inaccuracy.
Alright, guess it's fun to see if someone comes close. Here's mine Dragic / Marshall / Fortson Martin / Lee Parsons / Budinger Scola / D-Mo / Patterson Dalembert / Zeller
That looks extremely accurate. I'd prefer River over Marshall, and trade Kevin Martin, but we all know Morey loves point guards and power forwards. Also, I think we will still have Camby, instead of Dalembert.
Heck I will stick my toe in those waters: 14th -> Lamb 16th -> Teague Dally's contract -> 2nd round pick -> Miles Plumlee Lowry + Scola + the Dallas protected first -> Gasol Gasol/Camby/Plumlee PPat/Motiejunas Parsons/Bud/Morris Martin/Lee/Lamb Dragic/Teague Without Gasol and Camby the team is probably under 24 years old on average. Expect Martin to be traded for whatever at the trade deadline unless it looks like the Rockets are going to be very competitive. 4 rookies true - but all of them are position average to very tall, and all of them are much above the average NBA player as far as athleticism goes. Gasol is just a convenient place to dump Lowry and Scola, while remaining competitive and keeping Les happy.
Dwight Howard Luis Scola Courtney Lee Chandler Parsons Goran Dragic I honestly think they might pull off the Howard trade, because I don't think the Magic will put up with his BS. Plus, I think they'll include the draft picks in the package.
C- Nene/Camby PF- Pau/Perry Jones SF- Parsons/Budinger/Morris SG- Lee/Austin Rivers PG- Dragic/Blake/Boykins Martin and Patterson for Nene Pick up Dalembert's option Scola, Lowry, Dalembert for Pau and Blake #14 ---> Rivers #16 ---> Jones Weak bench but maybe Morey can find some quality bench players.
I'll take a stab at how it shakes out: Spoiler -Lowry, Dalembert +2 draft picks, minor FA here and there Rumor comes out the Rockets are interested in moving up. ... Rockets end up staying put. Rockets draft ____[a 6'9 F] and ____. The Rockets will be happy to tell you that the players they drafted were rated Xth & Xth [very high] on their big board and they were happy that they were able to get him at 14/16. "We thought we might have to trade up to get him but when he was available when we picked, we were happy to take him. ... We really like both _____ & _____ . They both can _____. And both are great _____. We're excited to have them, we think they have a great future and can really help us here." Already believing they got the next [star player] & [star player], some Rockets fans, after listening to Morey, only makes them believe further that they actually did. [...Fast forward to TC & preseason...] Rockets fans predict this is a playoff team and team to be reckoned with! Morey comes out and says "Our goal is to make the playoffs." Season starts. ... A few weeks in, one or both of the draft picks are buried on the bench. Clutchfans begins to wonder why ____ and/or ____ aren't getting any playing time. Soon after, the Rockets announce that ____ and/or ____ have been sent down to the D-League. ____ and/or ____ do well in the D-League. They spend half of the season down there. Later on in the season, ____ and/or ____ is called back from the D-League. Clutchfans claims that someone is being traded but is also excited to see what ____ and/or ____ can do. Instead, ____ and/or ____ is buried on the bench again, only playing in blowouts if they're lucky. People will call for McHale's head and ask "Y U NO PLAY _____ MCFAIL!?!?! [Morey does his weekly show on 610: "We're working hard. We're always looking to upgrade the roster and we'll see how it shakes out at the deadline. If nothing happens, it certainly wasn't for a lack of trying. We feel good about our team. We're headed down the stretch here and need some wins. We have this home stand coming up, we still have some tickets available, we want all of our fans to come out to Toyota Center and support us. It should be a good time.] Meanwhile, here the Rockets teeter between the 8th and 9th seed. ... In the end, the Rockets end up with a 41-41 record, barely missing the playoffs for the 4th year in a row. [Morey calls into 610 for the final show of the season: "We're disappointed with the way the season ended. We expected to make the playoffs but obviously that didn't happen. We know the fans are angry. This isn't what we wanted either. With that said, we're headed in the right direction. This off-season, we'll have tons of cap space, roster flexibility, and potentially 2 draft picks, so we'll have many ways to upgrade the team. We'll also have [2012 draft pick 14] and [2012 draft pick 16] coming back. We're excited about them and hopefully we're able to see them help us next year. All we ask is the fans stick with us. We know it's been a rough go of things the last couple of years but we're on our way, headed in the right direction."] The draft lottery comes around in May. Rockets fan, knowing this position all too well, don't have to wait long. There they watch as Adam Silver opens the first envelope with the Rockets logo on it and for the 4th year in a row, the Rockets end up with the 14th pick. Some credit & thanks to Asian Sensation
