Well, we lost last night, that must mean we need a trade. You know, it seems for every loss, a simple trade would have prevented it. Surely trading for Lamar Odom would solve all our problems! Heck, the Lakers are thirteen trades away from being undefeated. At what point do we stop wanting more personnel moves? I mean, is it not enough that we've nabbed possibly the best player in two out of the last three drafts? How many trades did we make from Hakeem's first year in the league 'til the time we won a championship? We had the same four guys in the starting lineup for years, until we drafted Horry. Of course none of those guys were the prototypical player at their position, which apparently we need now to take it to the next level. You know, we're losing now because we don't have a "pass-first" point guard (Sam Cassell, Kenny Smith?), or a shooting guard that doesn't "take dumb shots" (Vernon Maxwell, anyone). Or maybe the root of our problems is that we don't have an all-world small forward, like a Robert Horry (all-world at throwing towels at coaches or knocking up famous Rockets' daughters, maybe). At what point did you need an All-Star at every position to win a championship? Let's see, the Lakers seemed to be able to win two with Derek Fisher and Ron Harper as their point guards, AC Green as their power forward, and Rick Fox as their small forward. The Spurs were able to win with Avery Johnson at point guard, Jaren Jackson (who?) at shooting guard, and Sean Elliott (the guy that was almost traded for the towel-throwing Robert Horry) at small forward. The Bulls won six championships with scrubs like John Paxson, Luc Longley, BJ Armstrong, and Ron Harper in their starting lineup. Are any of those guys on the trade wish-list of many posters? Probably not. The championships have spoiled people. Now, when the Rockets don't make the playoffs, it has to be someone's fault. Therefore, we must either fire the coach, or make a trade! That would solve everything, right? It doesn't work that way. Look around the league, and study history. Not competing for a title is the norm, not the exception.
I know, lets trade Cato (while his stock is high), Wiz and Langhi to Denver for Van Excel and Lafrentz.
I'm not looking for a blockbuster trade. but are you saying that if Odom is available for a relatively low price tag, the Rockets shouldn't tamper with the team? Call me crazy, but I think it's ok to improve the team. Besides that even, I think we do need a small trade to fix our glut of SF's and PF's. No one is ever done trading, unless you're winning like a champion. Even with a healthy squad, I don't know if we're chamionship quality. If there's is a trade out there that would net us Lamar Odom, or anyone that good or better, without trading Francis, Cato(we won't find a better C), Mobley, Griffin or Willis, then I say thrown everything in and let's go for it.
When everything is good, everything is good. When everything is bad.... Here is something that is specific to the Rockets woes: when they play badly they look even worse. The way Rudy coaches, the offensive system, the defensive effort. They all look horrible when we are losing. The Rockets have never been the prettiest team in basketball and this year has accentuated that. I definelty think the Rockets can have a great, playoff season next year without any personnel changes. There are probably trades out there that could help us also, so I'm not opposed to talking about them either.
I agree with you up to a point Freak. If the Rocks could nab Lewis(whose 3 pt shooting could really help this team) or Odom(mr. versatile) w/o giving up too much, then I would love that. If the Rocks have no chance for those 2 players who would help this team, imo, then I hope they do just keep this team together and perhaps just tweak it a little. AND I hope if they do try for them that they don't have to rip up the team to get them. This team is hella talented, they just need to learn to play smart every game and overcome obstacles like injuries and officiating.
I think a lot of you are missing the point (except Finn). We are not going to get a Lewis or an Odom for bench fodder. We have to give up quality to get quality. Why don't we play the hand we have for now?
One man's crap is another's shinola. I don't think that we would get either of those two really, but you never know. There were some pretty loopy trades last year alone. I'm just saying those are the only 2 guys that I would risk breaking up our "chemistry" for.
Couldn't you have just posted this in all the trade proposal threads? You either did this to make those people look bad or yourself look good.
I don't think that you can arrive at a hard and fast rule, insofar as personel moves are concerned...Saying " That's it, we've made enough moves, let's not make any more, damnit!" is just as wrong as saying " That's it, let's make a damn move, these guys suck!"....I think that you have to constantly be considering improving your team, and have to consider each possible move on it's individual merits...We haven't even made the playoffs yet, and you want to stick with what we have, for the simple reason that we need stability? Stability is great, and in theory a worthy goal...So is shaking up complacency, or a breath of fresh air, or any other trueism which supports the opposite view...I think that in practice, if you, as a GM, think that you can make a move to help your ball club, you make it, period. The Bad Boy Pistons replaced Dantley with Aguirre, the Lakers moved Rice, even the most locked in team, the 80's Celtics, weren't afraid to make a move for a Walton, etc...And those moves came at the possible expense of disturbing chemistrys with a lot more to show for them than ours... Don't get me wrong, I'm not in support of any of these " We've got to make a trade cause we suck!" ideas either, I'm just saying that it's easy to look askance at those type of ideas while advocating opposite but just as sophomoric policies... And, as I've stated previously, the only teams who have won championships with a PG as their best player, the Showtime Lakers and Bad Boy Pistons, had PG's who involved their teammates a lot more than Steve does currently...You have to, because it's too easy to remove the guy who keys the offense if he's also the guy who does most of your scoring, and the playoffs is no time to let the other team take you out of your regular offense...However, while I don't think we'll ever win without Steve being capable of being a "pass-first" guy, at least on demand, I also am pretty confident he's still developing, and I'll take my chances that a guy with that kind of talent will continue to learn the position...
I agree. I loved the old prototypical line-up tallies that crispee did. If a line-up has a "protypical" player at every position, then the team would score something like 150 points per game, lead the league in rebounding by 10, as well as blocks and assists. Unfortunatley, no team has that luxury these days. Starting Cato, Griffin, Taylor, Mobley, and Francis would give us 6 players... all above league average (assuming Taylor or Kenny could pay SF). I'd prefer to let these guys grow together than bark up a tree when there might not be a dividend. If something drops out of heaven on to CD's lap, great. But there's no point in acting like that's the only way this team can succeed, or even expecting it to happen in order to win.
ROTFLMFAO!!! Now, boys...we won't be having any of these spats on this BBS. Seriously, great post by Freak. What he is saying reminds me of what I have learned about the sim baseball league...you don't get something for nothing, you have to give up something good to get something good back.
Freak, that post was great. Let this team grow a bit, keep 'em together. I'm not in total disfavor of trading IF it gives an obvious large advantage to the team, but that's almost never. They'll learn and they'll become one of the best rockets teams ever. At least I hope.
Some of the trade posts I see here are insane. Quality for quality..even if they want to get rid of a player, they can do much better than what the Rockets have to offer, sans Mobley and Francis.
I would also like to iterate my appreciation of your post, Freak. This is a crappy season, but fans have to deal with crappy seasons on occasion. It is painful for us to watch what happens on the court, and our first instinct is to brainstorm possible solutions so we won't have to subject ourselves to that bad brand of basketball again. But the thing is, this team's problems are the kind of problems that are really only going to be solved through time and experience. If we as fans realize and accept this, we can enjoy this season for what it is: an exploration by a boatload of talented players in search of a winning system and a winning combination. It is exciting, it is invigorating and,<font size=1> if you look real hard</font>, it is progressing.
We traded for Thorpe, K.Smith, Maxwell, Elie and Drexler. I don't see anything wrong with making deals to improve.
