Like I said, it would be nice to have another great player alongside SF and Yao, but again I just dont see it happening with our cap situation. What I am offering is the realistic view of what we can get given our team's situation. Cat isnt viewed as highly as some might think around the league, look at what the Cavs got for Ricky Davis who is a better talent than Cat. We all want the Rox to get good players, but realistically we can only expect so much. Thats the reality of the situation
You never know. If Detroit can have sheed by virtually giving up nothing, anything can happen. We just need to wait for the right player to be available. Maybe Antonio Mydycss recover well from his injure, won't command a long contract along with lots of money and willing to come to Houston to win a championship with Steve and Yao. Maybe we get lucky to have sheed sign MLE here this summer, maybe Camby want to play for his fomer coach ... this is NBA, anything can happen. If nothing is available, then developing team chemistry like Kings did in the past several season, waiting for the right piece (Mike Bibby come by). Messing our cap to trade for a player that will not help us win the championship and can be untradable later because of his contract is the last thing Rockets need to do.
Cat isnt viewed as highly as some might think around the league, look at what the Cavs got for Ricky Davis who is a better talent than Cat Do you think that maybe Davis' trade value was due to the fact that he's a head case?
That definetely had something to do with it. But Cat is almost in the same situation, he's a guy with talent that almost every team in the league already has. His locker room presence might not be as bad as Davis but on court, his game IMO approaches Davis' antics sometimes. Its not anything bad on Cat, I just dont think he is the man for JVG's system. Everyone thinks that SF will be traded this summer but I think Cat is the one who is most likely to go, you can quote me on that
You make a good point about team chemistry, however I think keeping certain characters on the team together will hamper any development of team chemistry. This team will go into the 2nd round this year but for them to go all the way, they need a new attitude. I think its a situation where its basically addition by subtraction. As for the comment about Kurt not helping us win a championship. I dont know if I can agree with you 100%. Our main problem is lack of depth at the G positions, lack of a true PG, and lack of a quick but strong PF who can hit the open J. My initial suggestyion about getting Kurt and then adding Brent Barry would solve 2 of those 3 problems. Getting a 3rd superstar isnt gonna get us a step closer if he dont wanna get with the program or do I have to bring up the Dream/Clyde/Barkley thing? The JailBlazers never did anything with their all stars excpet get to the conf finals once. So no I'd prefer not to sit and wait for that third star to come along when I can get someone who would upgrade us at a position that is vital in the West.
His locker room presence might not be as bad as Davis but on court, his game IMO approaches Davis' antics sometimes Davis shot at the wrong basket in an attempt to get his 10th rebound for a triple double. I don't believe that Mobley has ever done anything even remotely approaching that. Here's another little blurb on Davis: Paul Silas sent a message to the Cleveland Cavaliers on Monday by suspending forward Ira Newble for one game and banning guard Ricky Davis and forward Michael Stewart until after Wednesday night's game in New Orleans. Davis, who has a history of clashes with Silas dating to their time together in Charlotte, wasn't allowed to practice Monday and won't accompany the team on their trip to play the Hornets. Silas refused to give any specifics on his reasons for punishing Davis, who's averaging 15.3 points. On Saturday night, Silas benched Davis for the final 11 minutes as the Cavaliers lost their 29th straight road game. It was the second time in three games that Silas has sat Davis for an extended period. The guy is a cancer on the team and that is why his trade value is lower than his ability. Mobley doesn't pull that kind of stuff, so his trade value should be higher than Davis'. You might be right that their abilities are similar, but you can't separate Davis' behavior from his ability. Because of that, I don't see how Ricky Davis' trade value has any relevance to Mobley's trade value.
I was talking about how ones physical talent can be diminished by one's mental talent. Mobley is nowhere near the cancer Davis is. On court however, I believe his continued presence in the lineup subconscisouly encourages SF to have brain cramps sometimes. Kinda like the guy whos trying to get a job and playing it straight while having a frined who keeps telling him to stop working for the establishment. Pure speculation of course, but I havent seen anything different from Cat last 3 years and Cat this year. He's still the same guy who makes me scratch my head and ask why he makes such ridiculous shots sometimes. SF on the other hand has in my eyes been trying real hard to work with JVG and change/alter his game. Given the well documented freindship of the two, and Cat's initial reluctance to concede/defer his role on the team to Yao, I dont see how the situation I just laid out cant be happening in at least some aspect BTW, Cat's trade value should be higher than Davis in my opinion. Though, even without his erratic shot selection, there isnt much you gonna be able to get for a guy whose talents most teams already possess
Even though cris webber is some what of a cry baby and is not known as one of the greatest clutch players in NBA history, his great passing skills and above average offense would be a great compliment for Yao. Maybe we can package mobley with one of our forwards(Taylor or Cato) with trade exception for webber.
i don't believe the TE can be packaged to bring in more than what its worth. e.g. a $7M TE traded with a $3M contract cannot bring in a $10M contract.
You're joking right? When Antonio MyDyess was in his prime, he was possibly one of the best interior defenders in the league. During the infamous summer of '98 when the Rockets squandered away $10mill+ in cap space and 3 high first round draft picks turning a net result of Scottie Pippen and Michael Dickerson, Carrol Dawson and Rudy T were initially targeting McDyess as their first option. They ran a stat that out of all power forwards in the NBA, McDyess' opponents had the lowest collective field goal percentage while he was in the game.
Chance of us defeating any of 4 top teams in the play off without home court will be extremely hard. Our time will come, but may not this year. True point guard is way overrated in this board. Did lakers has true point guard during their three year play off run? Did Spurs have a true point guard last year? Did the great Chicago Bulls has true point guards? Do kings have true point guard during their recent championship run? BTW, Brent Berry is not a true point guard. They are against one of the best teams in the NBA history and they came as close as they could. The 99-00 lakers won 67 games in regular season, had one of the best coaches of NBA history, 2 top 5 players in the league, a Glen Rice and Robert Horry that are very good players. The blazers come up 10 minutes short of NBA final and never recover. If not that all stars team, they had no business to push lakers to game 7. The team had great chemistry but was blown up for the following season and never recover. I am not saying we need to bring super stars, but to compete the championship in western conference, a still growing Yao and Steve Franchis with K Thomas and whoever else will not get it done. At the time Yao finanlly have his own way to the whole NBA, Thomas will be too old to hold his own, and he will be untradeble due to his contract. Eddie Griffin can be the perfect guy to grow along with Yao, but...
Thanks for the reassurance but I'm very well aware that this isnt our year, why do you think I am suggesting OFFseason moves? They didnt have true PGs but thats because they play in a system that doesnt use pg's the way the rest of the NBA uses them. The triangle is based on an entire team setting up a play, not structured around one ball handler so naturally they wont be exactly pining for a PG. As for Bibby not being a true PG, and by a true PG I mean someone who sees the court and is able to make his mates better by delivering the ball to them when they need it, I'm sure there are 30 GMs in the NBA who dont feel the way you do. Spurs had TD, nuff said. When Yao is on his level or Franchise is on Kobe's level, then we can talk about not needing certain positions becuase their greatness allows them to overcome it. Brent Barry may not be a classic PG in the sense, but he sees the court, is unselfish and has the ability to deliver the ball to his teammates when necessary. Getting him here would allows us to keep SF and move him to the SG a la Iverson. Most people who watch the games know that Barry is a good defender who can hit the 3, runs the floor well, and is quite athletic. A backcourt of SF and Barry would be way better than SF and Cat. What games were you watching? You never read espn.com or cnnsi.com? Certain guys were at each others throats half the time. I aint even gonna say anything else about this, everyone knows about the Blazers and their problems of a few years ago. Let me ask you something, Why would you want all young guys on a team, no matter the talent level? You always need that veetran leadership presence, maybe you could ask ther Clips why with all their young talent they havent done squat. Why do you think Mark Jackson's arrival to the Rox was greeted with open arms by some of us on this board. Yes he is a defensive liability, but the man knows how to run an offense. If Thomas does get too old to hold his own, it will be probably in 2-3 years by which time he will have an expiring contract and will make him a tradeable coomodity. Besides, when Yao has his way with the whole NBA, then his greatness should be able to compensate for a old PF right?
R u serious? You think C-Webb can be had that easily? This guy is a legit top-10 player when he's healthy. if he is on Houston, Yao would be the complement, not him.
I watched NBA on NBC religisouly since I could remember and everytime I saw McDeyss on TV, he didnt stirke me as a good defender like Pippen who used his mind for D. McDeyss just seemed lucky whenever he made a good play because his athleticism got in the way by accident. Whatever the case, the point is his entire game D and Offense was based on his athleticism. Now that's been taken away, he's simply not that effective anymore
wow Kurt Thomas a guy who cant hit a 5 foot jump shot can block shots and get rebounds. So you telling me how trading Cato for him will help the team. He's the same damn player!
Yao is better than CWebb IMO, and I dont think there would be a big market for him considering his contract and his past injuries.
It is GM's job to make something special happen. If assembling a true championship team is easy, every teams will be competing for championship now. Unless the player is the last piece of the puzzle, there is no way Rockets will pay a player of Kurt Thomas Caliber 4Y/30M while not sure he is the one that will push us to the top.
