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Get in my time machine b**ch -- and try not to impregnate your own mother this time.

Discussion in 'Houston Rockets: Game Action & Roster Moves' started by HamJam, Jul 4, 2012.

  1. HamJam

    HamJam Contributing Member

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    The year is 2001. The Rockets just narrowly missed the playoffs, still things are looking good. They have three 1st round draft picks, a little cap space and some promising young players. But there were some important rotation players going into free agency. Namely, Moochie Norris, Mo Taylor and Shandon Anderson. None of them were stars, but they were all coveted enough in the league to get lucrative contracts somewhere. The Rockets faced a tough decision: do they keep their cap space, stay young and retool in the draft or do they preserve what they had going (which was missing the playoffs), consume all cap flexibility and bring back the veteran rotation players to long term lucrative deals.

    They of course did the latter (except Anderson was turned into the even more expensive Rice). And, as a result, the Rockets spent the early Yao and T-Mac years trying to get rid of those three terrible contracts instead of filling the roster around them to compete for a championship. And by the time they shed the contracts and built a supporting cast, Yao and T-Mac were destroyed by injuries.

    So, coming off a season where they barely missed the playoffs yet again, once again with three 1st rounders in the teens, and having some important players facing free agency, what have the Rockets chose to do? To use all of their cap space now. Again. There was once a term for mediocre teams who consume cap space to stay mediocre, and it was Atlanta Hawks -- maybe it is now Houston Rockets.

    The jury of course is still out. Maybe Asik and Lin don't even show up here. Maybe Morey is right (again) and they will be major contributors. Maybe they will perfectly compliment the deal he is apparently holding back Lowry and Martin for.

    However, the parallels are very ominous. Carroll Dawson was, in the end, fired because of the mistakes he made in 2001. This offseason could very well end up being Morey's 2001. I'm still hopeful it will not. But the extension of offers to Lin and Asik, because of what they do to future flexibility, are the biggest gambles he has ever taken as a GM (which, looking at his record, does not say much).
     
  2. ThatBoyNick

    ThatBoyNick Member

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    Agressive, agressive title.
     
  3. ZTiger87

    ZTiger87 Member

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    FIFY!
     
  4. Pizza_Da_Hut

    Pizza_Da_Hut I put on pants for this?

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    Wait... CD was fired? I could have sworn he trained his replacement.
     
  5. RocketRed4life

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    I hope not..I say we have a nice young squad to develop with a lot of upside..maybe draft top 7 next year, move up if need be for a franchise center with either Lin or Dragic running the point . Hopefully Dragic
     
  6. DAROckets

    DAROckets Contributing Member

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    [​IMG]
     
    1 person likes this.
  7. Zboy

    Zboy Contributing Member

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    <iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/enZotEY-6pA" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
     
  8. Zergling

    Zergling Member

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    If this means 3-4 years from now we'll once again get two superstars, l'll be happy.
     
  9. REEKO_HTOWN

    REEKO_HTOWN I'm Rich Biiiiaaatch!

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    I expect a lot more win based on the thread title
     
  10. tinman

    tinman Contributing Member
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    Pizza,

    People really need to go to Rockets History 101. I give this dude an F.

    http://www.nba.com/rockets/news/Dawson_set_to_end_a_27year_ru-221038-34.html

     
  11. tinman

    tinman Contributing Member
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    FAIL


    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carroll_Dawson

    Carroll Dawson


    From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


    Carroll Dawson is a retired American assistant coach and general manager in the National Basketball Association. He worked for the Houston Rockets franchise for twenty-seven years until announcing his retirement in 2007.

    A native of Alba, Texas, Dawson played collegiate basketball at Paris Junior College and Baylor University during the late 1950s and early 1960s. In 1960, the 6'5" center earned All-Southwest Conference honors after averaging 16.4 points per game for the Baylor Bears. After his college career, he was drafted into the Army, stationed in Fort Knox as a tank commander. From 1973 to 1977, he served as Baylor's men's basketball head coach. He then worked as a scout for the NFL's Dallas Cowboys and as a salesman for Converse shoes before becoming an assistant coach for the Houston Rockets in 1979.

    In 1989, Dawson was struck by lightning during a golf outing, and over the next few years his vision became progressively worse. Unable to continue his coaching duties, Dawson moved to the Rockets' front office, becoming general manager in 1996. Among his most notable accomplishments were his selection of Yao Ming in the 2002 NBA Draft and his seven-player trade to acquire NBA scoring champ Tracy McGrady in 2004.
    After announcing Daryl Morey as his successor, the Rockets honored Dawson by hanging a banner with the initials "CD" in the rafters of the Toyota Center during a game with the Phoenix Suns.
     
    1 person likes this.
  12. TheFreak

    TheFreak Contributing Member

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    The one vet they should have kept, Hakeem, they didn't. This is a misguided comparison. The team still stayed pretty young, as the core of their team (Francis, Mobley, Cato, Anderson, etc.) were all young players.
     
  13. LCII

    LCII Contributing Member

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    Whether the comparisons are fully accurate or not (cough..nitpickers) I appreciate the point OP is making. Signing Asik (a guy who played 13 mins/gm on the Bulls) and Lin (er..he's sorta like Lowry?) will not get our team anywhere and will just hold this team back in mediocre zone.
     
  14. eman

    eman Contributing Member

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    Wow to the thread title. Oedipus wrecks.
     
  15. Nero

    Nero Member

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    Maybe he's thinking of Teem Poopoorah ?
     
  16. ShiniKashi

    ShiniKashi Member

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    Fail thread is fail.
     
  17. rkh-dog

    rkh-dog Member

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    So, don't sign a young 7' center who just turned 26 and is already a defensive specialist (highly desirable), or a young PG (Lin) who already has shown capability to run a team and score, so you can maintain a 40 year old Camby who may play 50% of the season due to injuries, or maintain an existing disgruntled 6' PG who thinks he's the coach, or a disgruntled injury-prone SG who doesn't fit your system?

    Going with these young guys, even if you are still near the cap like last year, at least they are desirable by other teams as they progress in their development. Teams want young talent that has upside. There will always be demand for that.
     
  18. rkh-dog

    rkh-dog Member

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    So your point is what? You don't want to sign young up and comers like Asik and Lin now while they are still affordable? You would rather wait until the market rate for Asik is $12-$14 million per year because now he plays 30 minutes per game? Or pay Lin $12-$14 million per year when he has "proven" his true worth over the next couple of years?

    In todays NBA, you have to scout and find value and pick up these young players before they break-out or you will definately overpay when more teams are in the hunt to trade for these guys. I would rather slightly overpay for young up and comers than overpay for disgruntled old vets on the downside of their career. We are not a playoff team. We are a rebuilding team.
     
  19. LCII

    LCII Contributing Member

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    lol you're completely missing the point. we want cap flexibility and a clean slate. We don't want to hold ourselves hostage with these medium-sized contracts. There's no point signing these role players when we dont even have a centerpiece yet. Better to just completely suck until we find our centerpiece.
     
  20. rkh-dog

    rkh-dog Member

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    Cap flexibility for what? To sign all the free agent 2-way young starting centers averaging double doubles? To sign all the all-star free agents that are fighting to come here?

    Face it, there is no legit star free agent talent we can sign right now unless we trade Martin, Scola, Lowry. The trade can match cap to cap. Time to go young and develop. These 3 and 4 year contracts for young talent will not hold us hostage, young developing talent is highly tradeable in todays NBA. Its the aging vets with large, long term contracts that hold you hostage, and we ain't got none of those.
     

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