It's not even close cap wise as Finley makes over twice as much as Cat. And there's no way they'd take Cato, or MoT to balance it.
Relativist and crash5179,I think if Steve is switched entirely to the 2 guard spot,then he will struggle because he is not an Iverson like player. If Odom or another point forward can share the point guard duties with him then he will be fine. My only concern is he might struggle defending against bigger SG's.
I don't think Cat and Odom played together at URI. Cat's senior season had them going deep in the tournament with Tyson Wheeler and Antonio Reynolds-Dean, but Odom was not among them. I believe Lamar came to URI a year or two after.
I think Odom was with the squad but sitting out the season as a transfer. I seem to remember him on the bench.
Steve would struggle trying to defend my 90 year old grandmother. Lets face it, until Steve dedicates a portion of his game to defense he will be a huge liability on defense regardless of who he is guarding.
Odom was in Rhode Island during Cat's senior season. He had to sit out a year after his signing and immediate transfer from UNLV. Odom and Cat used to go after each other one on one after practice that year. All I have to say about Odom is that he is a special player with tremendous versatility.
Well, you didn't really indicate who you were replying to, but I'll assume it was me. But so what? Their turnovers go down when they split the duties. That doesn't mean either of them are good playmakers. When it was their primary duties they were both miserable. Now we have two guys who try to do much and turnover the ball a lot instead of one. Yipee!!! It will still add up to the same amount of turnovers, because are previous starting small forward probably never turned the ball over. Well, I think the Rockets need for people who can actually shoot the ball (an important part of any succesful basketball team) is one of the Rockets most pressing needs. If Lewis isn't already one of the best shooters in the league, he will be. I think we would have faired better this season if we had Lewis knocking down those open threes instead of Morris, Torres, Rice, Griffin, Francis, Norris, Langhi throwing up bricks all season long. Face it, the Rockets are one of the worst, if not the worst oustide shooting team in the league. Odom is not going to help the situation. Lewis will. And so Lewis can't create off the dribble. My question is, do we really want ANOTHER player who can create off the dribble? We already have Francis and Mobley, how many more do we need. I thought we were hoping to cut down on the amount of dribbling, no? I wouldn't care if Lewis never dribbled the ball all season long if he could spread the defense by consistently draining 3's, thus allowing a lot of space for Steve and Cuttino to penetrate. Besides, I think of some you are underrating Lewis' abilities. Saying that all he can do is shoot 3's is not true at all. He's a very athletic kid. No, he isn't as versatile as Odom, but you're acting like Lewis is Danny Ferry or something. That's just proposterous. Lewis takes 4 to 5 three-pointers a game and about nine two-pointers per game. He doesn't only camp out at the 3-point line. And his 7 rebounds per game indicates that he is very active. People's main complaints about Steve are his poor decision making, his lack of assists, and his turnovers. Based on Odom's past with the Clippers I don't see ANY upgrade. However, it is true that Odom would free up Steve, which is why I would not be upset with Lamar. However, I would prefer Rashard. And don't even try to complain about Rashard's ego. Odom chose to do drugs a second time knowing he would be suspended again. Either he is a very dumb person or he just doesn't give a s**t. Personally, I just don't think he cares. So please, if you're going to use Rashard's charcter as a reason for not taking him, maybe you should think a little more about Odom.
They are also the worst passing/assist team in the league. Odom is probably the best passing/assist forward in the league. We DO need players that can create for others. When Cat goes off the dribble, it's usually for himself. Same with Steve and Moochie. Odom fixes that problem. Then again, there's always your happy medium of Mike Dunleavy-good passer/playmaker (not as good as Odom), good shooter (maybe not as good as Lewis).
DearRock, True we had 3 picks, but we also had 3 picks in the middle of the draft. Why did 15 teams behind us pass on him if he was such a sure shot to be a star? Can only we scout him if he's in our city? Are there laws that keep scouts from other franchises out of Houston? If every other team in the draft after us (which includes the top managements in the NBA) passed on Lewis then there was obviously some reason to doubt his skills. It worked out well for Seattle and we got burned, but hindsight is 20/20. No one thought he was KG or Kobe and EVERYONE passed on him. We have also gotten a 2nd round steal (in Mobley, who is better than Lewis), so its no like we're totally clueless. I'll take getting burned once and coming up huge another any day of the week. There are plenty of franchises that get burned picking in the top 5 every year where you'd think they'd have a good shot of accidentally finding someone.
Agreed, but I think you first must have good shooters. What good is it going to do Odom to create shots for a bunch of guys who can't shoot? With as many bad things that can be said about Steve's decision making, he gave his teammates open three's consistenly off penetration. Its not his fault they couldn't knock it down. Having good shooters will automatically help increase assists and allow the Rockets to spread the floor on offense. If the Rockets were even a halfway decent shooting team, Steve's assist would have been respectable. I completely disagree with the way some people call Steve a selfish player. Nobody said that his first two seasons, but after this season where he didn't even have a team to play with, all the sudden he's Allen Iverson. And yes, Odom is possibly the best forward in the league at getting assists, but he is most definitely the best forward at getting turnovers. And I know we all agree the turnovers need to go down. I don't see how Odom is going to change that. Many point guards don't even get as many turnovers as Odom. Hell, Steve even protected the ball better than Odom in the 2000-2001 season. I agree about Dunleavy. In fact, I would probably be more happy with him than Odom or Lewis. Primarily, because the ridiculous money Lewis is asking for and the lack of professionalism of Odom. I'm just not sure if the Rockets are going to pick low enough to snag him.
I'd like to see the Rockets use their lotto pick, wherever it ends up. I'd trade for a SF/Center (depending on which we don't take) if possible by dangling the #15 pick and either Moochie or KT. If that doesn't work, just use that pick on a foreigner like Nene or an Amare type bigman. Personnel changes via trade, in my opinion, won't make this team much better (unless it's an obvious superstar - which Odom isn't - for scrub player deal). They should just upgrade a couple of positions, with players returning from injuries then in effect making their bench much much better and deeper, and then concentrate on learning defense and becoming more effective on offense. That will be enough to get them into the playoffs next year with the chance to make some noise. Realize that if we draft somewaht decently (at both picks) and our players heal alright, we will bring in 4 new players who could potential recieve significant minutes (3 for sure). There's no need to continue cycling through even more new players.
DCKid, you keep tlakin about how it would be useless to get a playmaker if no one can knock down shots. Which one of these can't knock down shots: MoTaylor Cat Steve Rice (if healthy) KT If the starting line-up is: Cato MoTay Odom Cat Francis Then I don't think we'll have the same TO problem Odom had with the Clipps, or Francis had himself. Also, we'd have a lot of scorers, taking the pressure off Cato, while also giving Odom much easier shots.
