I think CD is waiting in order to let the teams with cap space clear out all their monies before we make our move. After that period ends, soon I hope, a lot of teams will be looking for trades, and will need a 3rd party team with a valuable trade exception. Which is us...so I think CD is sitting out for a bit, letting the big guns spend their cash, and now is sitting pretty going forward for teams that need help making trades. At least that is what I hope he is doing. DD
CD is dealing from a position of strength. I think it is best for us to wait out all this mess until the right deal comes along. How about the TE and MoT for Rashard and AD? Then sign Swift to the MLE and Ostertag to the vets minimum? Yao/Ostertag Howard/Swift/Spoon(DL) Rashard/JJ/Boki TMac/Pike AD/Lue/Gaines
Seattle wouldn't even look at that offer, maybe TE/MoT for AD/Booth. I'm pretty sure Swift will get more than the MLE, especially how the FA market has been.
You're probably right. So let's make them give us Jerome James instead of Booth, meet in the middle. Sign Swift to the MLE and then sign a vet 2/3 for the minimum or bring back someone like Padgett for the vet minimum. Yao/James Howard/Swift/MoT/Spoon(DL) JJ/Boki TMac/Pike AD/Lue/Gaines
I'm cool with CD waiting.... Whats the point in signing role players to inflated contracts? We need efficient players to round out the edges.... We don't need backups who make as much as our star players. We made those mistakes at the end of the Hakeem dynasty. Lets chill and wait for good deals to come around. We probably won't see nothing until August or even September. I'm cool with that.
Teams that have given these huge contracts out will feel it later. It will hurt there teams for a very long time. Do you guys remember Moochie's contract? I dont mind CD waiting one bit. I used to hate watching Moochie suck on the court and then thinking about how much he got paid to do that. I havent seen one descent contract all summer. CD learned his lesson and wont make that mistake again!
CD has the luxury to wait. He already got the league best duo in Yao and TMac. The best strategy from here on now is to surround them with solid role players with good financial situation, instead of spending blindly on role players. Yao and TMac has a window of roughly 7-8 years to win championship together. The team must stay flexible to adjust and to find good role players that fit Yao and TMac's play. Laker adjusted for 2-3 years before their championship run with Shaq and Kobe.
I think a lot of it depends on if there will be a lot of teams under the cap. If there is money to be spent, it will be spent. But if the LT comes into play it will hamper some teams. The teams that are wise and dont over spend this year might have money to use next year when teams will be afraid to spend. It might allow those teams to get real bargins in terms of contract vs. talent.
Interesting but given what just went down with T-Mac in Orlando, do you honestly believe he'll hang around here for 7-8 years waiting for CD to find solid role players? Which, I might add, is something that CD been terrible at doing since he's been here. And let's not even talk about his draft history...
Yes Hillboy CD bows down to you. You've brought the only two championships to Houston. The city of Houston, including us at the BBS, owes an immense dose of gratitude to you. We love you buddy!
Five or six years ago, CD developed the ability to see into the future. He saw how the Rockets would suck for 4 years. He saw Dream decline. He saw Barkley's Injury. He saw winning the Yao Lottery. He saw the TMac trade. And of course he saw that Shaq would jump back ot the Easter Conference. All of this gave him a vision: if he wanted great talent at cheap prices, he must nudge all GMs into over paying for people, thereby taking up all of their cap room, and leaving good players stuck with playing for the minimum. CD knew it would be 2004-5 before he needed these players, so, in the laboratory of the evil rocket genius, he devised a plan: he would give rediculous money to Matt Maloney. He followed this with even more rediculous money to Shandon Anderson. And to further force GM's to jump on the band wagon, he signed Cato, MoT, and Moochie to still more rediculous contracts. Suddenly(although it was very slowly), his evil plan came together, and soon everyone was spending rediculous money on players who still wore diapers and some who sttll had trouble with the safety pins. As the other teams slowly spent themselves into cap hell, CD emerged and said:" Now, my evil plan has worked, and I can get Michael Jordan for only $1.2 million a year!!" Unfortunately, CD failed to see that MJ would be 62, and barely able to beat Robert Parish off of the dribble at this point. Still, he was armed with the MLE, the TE, and alot of other letters and numbers that no one really understands but they talk alot about them. And now, as the world waits, the eveil genius of the Rockets sits by and waits to reap the benefits of his long and dasterdley plan.................................... Then again, even a blind hog occasionally finds an acorn...
No but there will be a better talent pool and with so many dollars being tied up in the scrubs in this free agent market, teams will get more for their dollar next off season. JMO. I'm glad CD is not jumping the gun on anyone. It's already public knowledge that he is working the phones and seeing what's on the block. That fact, coupled with the FA's still available make the decision to not do anything hasty, a very wise one.
I wonder if CD's taking into consideration that to sign T-Mac after this upcoming season, McGrady's got to feel optimistic about the starting PG, and maybe the reason CD feels that Lue is adequate is connected to McGrady's comfort level having already played with Lue (as well as using this as leverage to justify his patient approach). I'd be interested to see or know which PG Yao and T-Mac think would be a good fit for the team to seriously challenge for a championship. It's JVG's team but I think a good GM seeks the input from the franchise players in the decision making process, as well as obviously the head coach. I agree with Hillboy's take on CD's horrible drafts the last several years with Yao (who was a no brainer) and Mobley in the 2nd round being the exceptions, but I've got a gut feeling that CD knows it's more about fit, chemistry, work ethic and basketball smarts than about money with regards to the PG position and with 2 outstanding pieces in place, CD can't afford to NOT surround Yao and T-Mac with the right players and my gut says he makes the right move at PG. Other than the Barkley trade which had to be made to compete with Seattle and the Quitten deal, CD's record on making trades has been pretty good over the years and probably his strength as a GM. I also think CD has seen how restricted the Fakers have been in the FA market (the Payton/Mailman signings were atypical) with two very large contracts and he doesn't want to complicate matters by restricting what the team can do in the future with regards to signing FA role players. Once the lineup is set on a team with 2 superstars, a team has to use their marquee players to attract talented role players to sign for less money to have the chance to play for a championship; the Fakers used the allure of playing in (warm and glamorous) LA and Houston can use the tax situation in addition to playing with their dominant centers to sign players for less money
Just put Hillboy on your ignore list and move on. Your quality of life will improve almost immediaetly. Trust me on this one.
