I was recently very much for the Rockets to draft Yao Ming but I am slowly starting to stray from that. A deal with the Clippers in my opinion would be a very good one. If a deal such as Rockets trade #1 Glen Rice #15 Clippers trade Lamar Odom #8 #12 In my opinion I would love to see the ROckets pick up Butler with the first but I doubt that will happen. The 8 and 12 picks could land some good players such as Wilcox, Woods, Hilario, etc. That would give our team alot of talent and alot more help now. I agree with Mobley that it is time for the Rockets to make a move for some help now any opinions?
before you get too excited about this, remember that you are giving LA exactly what they want, and we are competing against them, and you will have to pick Jay Williams for them, before you know who is available at the #8.
The Rockets do not have to deal with Clippers if our players are not there at #8 & #12. If the Rockets do not like who is available, they can deal Williams to pratically any other team in the league. The only team wanting Ming is NY, so we have plenty of choices. I would imagine the Rockets will have 2-3 backup plans before draft night. If the picks do not look good from the Clippers, they will deal with somebody else. I would not worry about delivering Williams to the clippers. The package being rumored, will get the Clippers a solid PG, regardless of what we do. Andre Miller, B. Davis, or #2 pick can be had this year.
Or they can just Draft Yao and call it a night. That is very dangerous what you're talking about. Drafting Jay without having a solid trade in place, and waiting to see who happens to be available in other teams' picks. I don't like that idea at all. None of the backup plans might work either. And each time they go to another backup plan they'll be settling for a less enticing trade.
Thats not dangerous, that is playing it smart. Nearly every team in the league will have guaranteed trades on the table come draft night. The Rockets will have their picking!! Dangerous would be to take a player that you can not medically examine or conduct a private workout on (in china or westside). A player that you know will not be available for summer leagues, big man camps, training camps, preseason and possible parts of the regular season. That is Dangerous! Walking away with a couple of top-notch players ready to give the Rockets 100% this summer is playing it smart. Aquiring proven NBA & College players is smart. Taking a crap shot is Dangerous! If something goes wrong with Ming (ANYTHING), then the Rockets are screwed. Nobody wants Ming but NY. What if this entire thing is a game. His owners want him in NY, but they know that he will not be available at #7. They verbally give Houston the okay, but after draft night they change their minds. The realize they will make more money with Ming in NY (marketing), so they refuse to sign the contract. What do the Rockets do, they have no more hands to play, no more smoke screens, they have to take whatever NY offers? That is Dangerous! You are playing "Who wants to be a Millionaire". You just won $500,000 and Regis ask you the following question, "Tell me for $1,000,000 does Yao Ming bring more to the table then Lamar Odom, Corey Maggette, #8 (nino) & #12 (tsiks)? "You can either quit and walk away with all the players mentioned or take your best guess on Yao Ming? But remember we have special NBA rules tonight, and if you miss the question you go home with nothing!
Big Laugh on that one. 'Nobody wants Ming but NY', not true at all. At the Chicago workouts he was the consensus #1 pick. Please put at least minimal thought into your comments. Also, you think its NOT dangerous to bring in **5 time drug test failure** Lamar Odom? Please. Lamar was hurt most of last season as well. Does the word 'busted' mean anything to you? It does to Lamar. The draft is anything but a sure thing, everybody knows that. None of the players are a 'lock' to be great players. So take the risk on Ming, certainly all the options presented here are 'dangerous' and 'risky' as well. Unless you plan on going to war with Cato as your center. Here's your 'great' lineup. C - Cato --- hahaha PF - MoT --- can get high with buddy Lamar after his 5 game suspension SF - Odom --- Will have a blast with MoT and trying to break 65% FT shooting SG - Cat --- Wants to party with Odom PG - Franchise --- Migranes, shoulder surgery and party time with Lamar!!
SuperKev... that was some funny sh*t......thanks for the laugh. I don't get these ppl who call Ming a risk (of course there are some concerns) and ignore Odoms' problems! Here's what I see in terms of risk/reward for the two: Ming: best case- one of the top 3 centers of his generation, dominates the NBA, make millions into Rockets fans, CHAMPIONSHIP(S). worst case- does not develop, or recalled by China, but at least bring Rockets into worldwide spotlight for a couple of years. Odom: best case- stay out of trouble, make the Rockets small-ball competitive with that of Sac and Dallas, also Clippers now they have Jay W. Maybe a championship, maybe. worst case- getting high in the Benz.....with MoT, Mobley, Francis, Cato, Norris.........................; his game, IMO, is not that proven either.
I have had a change of heart too. After a few weeks of reading about Yao Ming I am convinced that he has significantly more talent than I have given him credit for. I don't know if he will ever be as good as Kareem but he is a 7'5" player with a good hook shot, a good passer and can block shots. Like I said he may never be as good as Kareem but at 300 lbs he sounds closer to Kareem than Bradley like I first thought. At 7'2" Kareem had the most unstopable shot in NBA history. Imagine that shot comming off of the arms of a 7'5" player. Yao's body much more closely resembles that of Kareem. I am convinced that Yao comes from the kind of work ethic that will see him work non stop until he becomes a success and brings honor to his country and family. If CD, Rudy and Les can get the contract situation ironed out then I am all for it.
My main questions for Ming deal with China. How much time is he going to spend with the team outside the season? Can we get any gaurantees that he'll play the entire season and postseason with the team? I also have concerns about his health (the ankle fractures), but if we get a medical examination I'm sure our physicians can answer those questions. All my questionmarks about Ming will be answered by the time the draft takes place. We'll know by then how often he'll be here and what his health status is. If everything checks out then we draft Ming, if there are still question marks then we seriously consider a deal like the Odom trade.
You know what....it doesn't matter who we get......until we stop doing nothing but ISOs and continue to play no defense.....we're not winning more than 35 games......healthy. We have no true veteran, everyone on the team has the Bball IQ of a Junior college player, some even less, and Odom or Ming are supposed to fix this situation? Say all you want about Francis.....he's very talented physically.....but the main reason we won those 45 games a season ago is because during the second half of the season, Hakeem was playing for a contract, whether it would have been with us or another team. The Rockets, along with the majority of the fans, need to realize that the problems on this team won't be fixed for a couple years.
