Morey has done a tremendous job of navigating through the Tracy/Yao situations. Despite the chains which bound him DM has kept us flexible enough to feed the window or be in a fine position to head towards rebuilding. Looking at the situation now, I think we need to move Scola/Martin among others and go down that path.I know there are many that subscribe to trying to obtain Nene,Z.Randolph,the pipe dreams that are Anthony and Paul,etc.....I had been on board for the latter two but I think we've reached a point where we are chasing our tail by shooting for NOW. Wizard, I think it's time for you to do the voodoo that you do and put together a young team that can grow together ....It's taken patience for all of us to ride this out, now let's show a little more. I, for one, am looking forward to yet another age of Rocket hoops....Rebuild or reload at the deadline ?
Well you might be right. Morey hasn't built HIS team yet. Like you said, "navigating through the T-Mac/Yao situation". Daryl has yet to have his guys IMO...I feel like, however, starting with the Pat Pat draft pick, that we are going toward that point. Brooks, Landry, Chase, and Scola to me are HIS moves/oicks...everything else (to me) was done by using something someone else got. (yes, I know Scola was traded for V-Span)
Yes there is... there's a couple of players that need to be moved by the names of Luis Scola, Kevin Martin, Aaron Brooks, Brad Miller, Shane Battier and Jared Jeffries... None of these players are needed on a rebuilding team...
They were hoping Yao would be healthy this year, but that plan backfired on them. I don't blame them for thinking Yao would make this team better because he clearly does. But, knowing his injury history should've have also let management know that getting a decent big man should be priority number one.
Prime years for a big man. Celtics, Lakers, and Spurs say "Hi". The age thing is being overplayed. It's a concern when the player is declining. What's more important is if the player performs for the full life of his contract.
The problem with this is, as soon as he shows signs of decline, his value plummets relative to his contract. So while I agree he isn't necessarily on the decline, I think it's obvious that we're not a year or two away from competing. I think Scola would be more valuable to another franchise whose looking to win right away vs. the Rockets who are looking for "guys with more upside."
It's not like we have an old team, half of our crew are young bucks. Time to blow up your thread? You haven't stated anything new.. Sorry.
I would probably do the trade, even if it meant giving up Martin and Melo not signing an extension. I don't think Denver would be interested in taking Scola's contract. Scola's production vs salary is quite a bargain: http://www.nba.com/playerfile/andrew_bynum/index.html $13,842,332, 11.6 pts, 7.5 rpg, +16.19 http://www.nba.com/playerfile/andrew_bogut/index.html $11,000,000, 13.1 pts, 11.4 rpg, +19.93 http://www.nba.com/playerfile/antawn_jamison/index.html $13,348,905, 17.7 pts, 6.6 rpg, +15.96 http://www.nba.com/playerfile/emeka_okafor/index.html $11,540,375, 11.1pts, 10.1 rpg, +17.43 http://www.nba.com/playerfile/luis_scola/index.html $7,775,378, 19.1 pts, 8.3 rpg, +20.14 http://www.nba.com/playerfile/josh_smith/index.html $11,600,000, 16.7 pts, 8.9 rpg, +21.3 That said, I think scola is our most valuable piece economically. You don't pay for potential, you pay for bottom line production. Scola gives you bottom line production dollar for dollar, even more so than guys that are younger and make more. He is a bargain. I would have locked him up fir 4 years also cuz the going rate for 19/8 is a hell of a lot more than $8M/yr. Obviously....
Concur. These players would be great on a contending team surrounding a superstar or two, but with Yao down and out the equation is completely different. We need to start over. Barring a miracle (a la Gasol to LA), we must draft a superstar, and that means getting lucky in the draft. Getting rid of these guys not only could get us more picks, but will also contribute to a higher draft pick in the form of more losses.
Of course it's time to start over. It was time to start over two years ago. Luis, Shane, K-Mart, Brooks, Jeffries, and Brad should all be traded for picks or youngsters, preferably picks.
I think it will be very interesting to see what moves Morey can make between now and this summer. Dont forget about the cap space we will have this summer when Yao comes off the books (if he is not traded). So don't pass judgement after next week. Maybe he gets us a C by next week to help with a playoff push for this year. Then this summer he does a sign and trade for AB and can sign a FA with the money we get from Yao. This will show our new direction.
Who cares, we have cap room to spend if need be. Having Scola isnt preventing us from rebuilding. If trading Scola can net you a nice young prospect with upside, sure, but otherwise whats the point. "Blowing up" is when you have a solid but aging core, your locked in financially and you arent happy with performance. Like the Pistons did a few years ago. As I said, there is nothing to blow up. The Rockets are mostly filled with young guys and have flexibility.
