I think Cat brings more to the table than Dickerson. I don't think he's untouchable though. I'm not really sure that Steve or Eddie are untouchable. Anything can happen.
When you compare their jumpshots, yes Rashard is a better shooter. However, the last thing we need is the type of small forward that stands out at the three and shoots (see Glen Rice). With Odom you get a guy who is a scoring threat, is a slashing threat, and can do the little intangibles needed severely by this team. If Odom puts up numbers like 15ppg, 8rpg, and 5apg, I'd be happy with that. Not to mention the camraderie that already exists between Francis, Odom and Mobley.
I wasn't aware that Francis, Mobley and Odom were friends or worked out together or anything. Can anyone confirm that? If they have played extensively together before then that adds a little more to the table as far as chemistry goes.
I kind of disagree. I wonder how many more games the Rockets would have won this year if we had Rashard knocking down those open threes instead of the brickathon competition between Moochie, Torres, Griffin, Morris, and Rice. The Rockets were one of the worst (if not the worst) shooting team in the league, and could use a 3-point threat in the worst way. Having a 3-point shooter allows the Rockets to spread the floor for Steve or Cat's penetration. Despite everyone saying Steve didn't pass the ball enough, he gave teammates open 3-pointers all the time off of penetration and those guys just sucked it up. This is part of the reason Steve's assists were so low. I agree that we don't need a guy who can only hit threes and is not good at anything else, but I don't think that describes Lewis at all. He can rebound very good and he is VERY athletic. You're acting like he's a stick in the mud. I don't think there's anything he can't learn to do better. I'll tell you one thing we couldn't use, and that's more turnovers, which is something that Odom specializes in. Lewis, on the other hand rarely turns the ball over. In some cases it might be better to have a guy who just drains threes than a guy like Odom who tries to do too much and makes a lot of mistakes. Having said that, I would be happy with either Lewis or Odom. I'm not just as sold on Odom like some of you are.
Man I was just thinking about this situation. IF the Rocks get 1,2,or 3 I think they would seriously consider trying to trade down. The clippers would be a logical choice to do this with if they have the multiple picks(hopefully ATL doesn't land in the top 3 too). With the players in this draft and considering the Rockets needs I think trading a top 3 and either #15 or a future pick to the Clipshow for #'s 8 and 12 could be a good idea. Throw in KT or Cat to get Odom and we could be looking at a good trade for us. Then with #8 and #12 we could nab some quality players. I could possibly see Rudy spending one of those on Tskitivili or Hilario or maybe even both. I think these two guys would give us lots of options. Both are good size and athletic, as well as , being able to play mutiple positions. Rudy could have all sorts of fun playing position roulette with the team we would have if we could pull this off.
Castor, Thought that scenario may get us more talent in the long-run it won't happen. Our management wants a solid team going into the stadium, so we're looking to make the playoffs this year. Trading down to get guys like Hilario and Tskitivili would take a few years for those guys to be productive (specifically Tskitivili). We might take one guy in the draft that's a project, but we're looking to come out of this offseason with more experienced players, not less. I think we'll only get Odom if we keep Mobley. For Odom I think trading our first pick, KT and #15 for Odom and their #8. We could then take a project type big man at 8 and still have a lot of experience with Odom, Mobley, and Francis at the 1, 2, and 3. I think with that team I just mentioned that Hilario would be the best fit. He is a potential C that was been scouted with long arms, great rebounding, great shotblocking, and the ability to run the floor.
Well, not that I have pictures or anything, but Cat and Odom are good friends. Maybe they knew each other from Rhode Island? Steve and Odom looked good together at the Rookie All-Star game a couple years ago. I don't necessarily believe these two guys would give us a combined 7 turnovers per game. I'm not saying two wrongs make a right, but somehow I think they'll mesh pretty well. You can put Odom anywhere on the floor. I like that sort of versatility.
fyi, Cat's senior year was meant to be Odom's freshman year at RI. Even though Odom did not play that year (I forget if it was due to injury or ineligibility), I beleive Cat and Odom hung out and played a lot of pick up. A funny moment was during the rookie-sophomore game when they were guarding each other and Cat kept taunting Odom "What's up Money what's up?? What's up Money what's up" whilst draining 3's in his face
Clutch- Do you have any idea of what kind of package the Rox are looking at to get Odom? I think that he would be a great improvement to our team, but I worry about us trading out of this draft entirely. There are so many potential building blocks in this draft that I think it would behoove us to stay somewhere in the lottery for one of them. I personally love draft time and so I spend lots of time finding out as much as possible on these players and there are a couple of prospects that if what is written is true could really help us out. On a different note, what do you all think of Jiri Welsch? He is a 6'6'' point that could backup Cat and move Francis to the 2 in some rotations. I think that this guy is a mid-late first rounder and he is coming in for workouts soon.
I never said Rashard was a stick in the mud who just shoots threes. But lets face it, on this team, that would be his role. Whereas Odom would be more of an impact player, who can shoot mid-range jumpers (which he could work on), slashing to the basket with the ball, or drawing the defense and passing to the open man, you know showing some semblance of an offense rather than dribble, dribble, dribble, and saying,"oh ****, three seconds left!" and jacking up some ugly shot. I mean how many times could the Rockets have made at least one decent pass and it would have made the defense change accordingly and maybe open up a path to the basket, or have opened up a man to take a decent shot. With Odom you would get another option to bring the ball up and give Francis the opportunity to do what we all want him to do, shoot and score. I know Rashard can do more than shoot 3's. I played against him while he was @ Elsik, I know what he can do, and now that he is in the NBA, I know he can do it better. However, I think Odom would be more of an impact player.
Here's a question: If the Rockets got the #1 or #2 pick, would you take Jay Williams and trade Mobley + #15 to the Clips for Odom? A Williams-Francis backcourt would be amazing. While it would lack height, both players are strong, can handle the ball, shoot, slash to the basket, and SCORE! While I'm not sold on Odom, I would rather have Williams than Mobley.
I would say that the Rockets have probably made more deals over the past four years than any other team in the league. What they need to do is allow the cement to dry. I said earlier that this is a good young team with an opportunity to add some more talent. It is clearly not a time for them to take the posture that I am hearing. We are looking for trouble like we have ants in our pants for anyone to engage in a discussion about Mobes. All we need to do is concentrate on addressing our weaknesses of which our center position is the most important. What are we to think about the moves that were made last year if we seem to want to make more big changes, this year. We gave up 3 picks to get EG! Are we to assume that that did not work or it was a bad idea now that we want to take one pick to get three as we saw in the trade down thread. The draft is really a simple thing if you keep it simple, ****head, as Jerry West would tell you. The year Lewis was past on was the year the Rockets wanted to get cute. Last year they put all their eggs in one basket and then help NJ to get to the eastern finals. This year we want to get cute again. Sacramento has the best record in the league and it was not from playing the WEAKEST LINK or any other games. It was the deliberate process of adding goods and substracting the bads, like getting Bibby and sending Williams. How can we be even thinking about touching Mobes. There is no justification for that. All he and Francis did was be two of the top four scoring guards in the west. Let us consolidate our gains. Take any two of the top 15 players and let us roll. Why Odom? For what? The Kings got rid of Williams and we are going after Odom. There was a time when Rudy did alot with CBA talent but now two talented top 15 guys are not good enough, after you got a #3 in Francis, a #7 in EG and stars like Mobes and KT. I wonder if these big moves are to correct the bad contract decisions of Cato, MoT and Mooch when there was a much cheaper Damon Jones.
Will, You think Mobley will be gone? Anything's possible, yes, but I would think we'd move those draft picks and keep Mobley.
I don't think Mobley is going anywhere(unless a blockbuster comes along). My money is on Moochie and/or perhaps KT.
If Mobley is gone, I'd hope Moochie is gone, too. I can't see us getting someone better than Cat, and the thought of Moochie getting more minutes scares me. I see Wilcox/Butler as a Plan B option-the Rockets fall a couple slots in the draft due to teams leapfrogging into the top 3, and no one is really salivating over a player. Wilcox or Butler is a nice plan B option, no doubt about that. I think Stoudemire is a guy that the Rockets think will be within a few slots of 15, and therefore available to trade up for. If they like him, they may give up something to be able to move up the slots necessary to get him. This info on our interest in Odom does clue us in on things-The Rockets seem to be after a ball handler type at SF. This could cancel potential plans of a Rashard Lewis or Ron Artest types (or even Shawn Marion?), whose fortes are not handling the ball. Dunleavy fills this, allegedly so does Woods, and I think Butler is a good enough handler that it couldn't be called a weakness. IMO, getting rid of Cuttino means: a.) acquiring Yao Ming (Cat/draft pick for Ming/Jamal Crawford? using two hybrids in the backcourt) or b.) thinking a Jason Williams or Dejuan Wagner/Steve Francis backcourt works, and filling the SF hole by trading Cat, AND in position to draft Williams or Wagner. or c.) Getting a primo player in return for Cat (highly unlikely, since Cat is arguably the best bang for the buck of players on non-rookie contracts. 4.5 mill for a 20+ ppg scorer=highway robbery). Personally, I don't see much sense in trading Cat and drafting a guard-there are 3 good ones this year, and two of them are under 6'3'' (Williams, Wagner), and the third isn't as talented (Rush). You must be improving the team to trade him. The backcourt free agent pool sucks too, the best unrestricted candidates are Jeff McInnis, Travis Best and Chris Childs. The only 3 restricted ones that are any good are Larry "No jumpshot" Hughes, Mike Bibby, and Bonzi Wells. Good luck getting Wells or Bibby,
