http://insider.espn.go.com/insider/story?id=1602405 Houston Rockets Key Additions: Eric Piatkowski, Adrian Griffin, Malick Badiane Key Subtractions: James Posey -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Skinny: Houston's biggest move this summer was hiring Jeff Van Gundy to coach the Rockets. But will it really make a difference? Rudy Tomjanovich was not the problem in Houston last season. The problem was lack of experience. Once Yao gets integrated into the offense, the Rockets should be better. Adding Piatkowski to the team will also be a plus, but it's basically evened out by the loss of Posey. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Grade: C .... Just for refenerence the other teams in our division got ranked as follows: Timberwolves: A Spurs: A- Mavericks: B+ Nuggets: B Rockets: C Grizzlies: C- Jazz: D Nothing really new in the grading but I tought some Rockets fans might enjoy reading it. It is a bit frustrating that the top 3 teams in the division last year all got the best offseason grades. Its the whole "rich getting richer' thing.
One may be able to argue that Rudy wasn't the problem last year, although I disagree, but the problem was definitely not lack of experience - that is an excuse, on the Spurs have never used, mind you. I think his grade completely overlooks the firing of Rudy and hiring of JVG, which, at least optimistically, would bring their grade up to a B-/B in my opinion - still below the top dogs, though, for sure.
I'm going to attempt to avoid the PRC/ARC debate but... IMHO, Ford is (indirectly) giving more credit to Van Gundy than he realizes. The Nuggets are only one letter grade better than the Rox and they added Andre Miller, Carmello Anthony, Jon Barry and Earl Boykins.
I think part of our problem was definitely lack of experience. Not on the part of SF or Cat but on Yao who will be the focal point of this team. When your main big man is new to the team and new to the league, you have lack of experience. That being said, with his development and EG hopefully getting stronger we should not have this as an excuse anymore.
Do we mean the same Adrian Griffin available for the league mimimum and whom the Mavs didn't think could earn their 12th roster spot?
What are you talking about. We all know it was a salary cap issue. "The Mavs would have kept Griffin if he was free" - Cannoner2002
Ford is an idiot, but we all knew that... I really liked Rudy, but he was apart of the problem, no discipline or respect... JVG will get that immediately and they will see an immediate improvement and will make the playoffs... I must admit I am disappointed in the lack of off-season activity...
I don't see why we didn't add Stephen Jackson for the mle instead of getting Pike. Jackson as erractic as he is, he's 24, atheletic and has shown he has the guts to take a big shot. He would have been a nice fit at the 3 unless Nachbar is going to turn it on after summer league.
That's not true at all. The Mavs considered keepign him and dumping Walt, but Jamison fell into their lap since they had been working on getting Jamison for a bit. I hope people don't start the revisionist history that the Mavs dumped him or he couldn't make the Mavs team.
This offseason is over already?!? There is still plenty of time to sign some guys or make a trade. Has Stephen Jackson been signed yet? I don't think so...but still...we would have too many guys. Then we could trade Mobley and somebody for a good power forward.
Ok we can leave it as the Mavs showed little interest on signing him for the minimum when his forte is their main weakness (something Jamison doesn't really address). They clearly thought Najera, Howard, Welsh, Mills all had more potential or at least just as much to offer right now. To say the Mavs showed much an effort to try to keep Griffin even at a minimal salary would be revisionist.
I would definetly stop my b****ing if we signed S. Jackson for the rest of the MLE (2.4 mil, as many years as he wants). S Jack, Pike and A Griff--yes I would say that is very much worth losing Posey over. So let's go all out for S. Jackson to be our starting small forward.
Free agent Griffin signs with Rockets 08/08/2003 By CHUCK CARLTON / The Dallas Morning News For the Mavericks, seeing Adrian Griffin leave for the Houston Rockets might have been more difficult personally than from a basketball standpoint. "We couldn't be happier for Adrian," said Donnie Nelson, the Mavericks' president of basketball operations. "He was an integral part of a our team. As good a player as he was, he's a better human being." The 6-5 Griffin signed a two-year deal Thursday with the Rockets for the veteran minimum. He'll probably serve as a defensive presence in Houston, much as he did the last two seasons with the Mavericks. Griffin, 29, averaged 4.4 points and 3.6 rebounds last season, starting 48 of the 74 games in which he played. But the emergence of first-round pick Josh Howard during the summer as a small-forward candidate made Griffin expendable. "With Josh, we're more athletic," Nelson said. "We'd rather get younger and better. But we have the utmost respect for that young man [Griffin]."
