Why do so many people want to make trades? My gut reaction is that most of these people are trolls, simply trying to stir things up. However, on the off chance some people actually believe a trade would help the Rockets, I'm gonna try and make the 'no-trade' side of the arguement. The Rockets are 6-2, playing with several important bench players out with injuries, out on drug suspensions, or out for being loony, and still all I hear is trade Mobley/Yao/Francis. Yes, Mobley takes wild and crazy shots, and is a poor passer. Yes, Yao annoys us all when he takes a more diffucult fade away jumper instead of going for an easy dunk. Yes, Francis isn't a pure point guard and we often wish he could play SG instead. That said, we have a team doing very well, with a good portion of the team's talent out. And who would we trade Yao for? I know no one has noticed, but he is quickly becoming one of the top 3 legit centers in the league, and it's only his second year. He's a legitimate 20-10 threat anytime he can get enough shots and he does take more shots of late it seems (even if they are the fade away kind), but again, he's still learning, and Van Gundy knows he needs to be more aggressive, and is working to make it so. What would we get if we traded him? Oh, and then we'd have Cato going back to center, and while most people here seem to have short memory, the season he started at Center was not a pretty one, how do you think we stumbled into the #1 pick in the first place? Francis is the best player on our team, even if he often seems out of position, he can take the ball and make miracles happen with it. Perhaps being a more consistent passer would be nice, but do you really think if we traded him we'd get someone like Jason Kidd? Of course not. And the complaints about Steve and Yao coexisting are nonsense, or has anyone looked at the record of Shaq and Kobe, and bye all accounts Yao and Steve get along much better than Shaq and Kobe ever have. Teams need to score 100 points a game, there are plenty of shots for Yao and Steve to take. Mobley is the most legitimate of any trade candidate. However his defense can be imposing, and Van Gundy is getting the most out of it, and it seems as if Mobley's offense is becoming smarter. Mobley goes into more of a passing mode when he realizes his shots aren't falling, rather than continuing to throw shots up. And both Mobley and Francis seem to be slowly realizing that hitting a 7 foot 6 center down low involves nothing more complex than lobbing a high pass and letting him pull it down. That said, this is a 6-2 team with a new coach, who seems to be making all the right moves. I can't imagine any reason to shake things up with an unnecessary trade at the moment. Van Gundy's system is not an easy one to buy into for most selfish NBA players, so any trade would take a while to work out. Instead of constantly pointing out the flaws on the floor, we should take enjoyment of the team doing well, and realize that of all NBA coaches Van Gundy is smart enough to see the same flaws we do, and he'll work to correct them without trading, until it is a last option.
I was just about to pop a cynical post about all this trade crap. Good job beating me to it! Everyone else just put the trades down and slowly back away! Weare 6-2 in first place...
Sweet! It's cool to see someone with a low post count starting a legit thread with a well-reasoned post for a change. Props to Random.
Thank you. At 6 -2 I'm elated considering current conditions. I think the Rockets roster reflects true life situations in their entirety. What more could you ask? Check back at playoff time.
I agree Cat is smarter than Steve. I would rather have Cat as the team leader than Steve. Face it. Steve is not your ideal PG and leader for a future contender. He's so immature and stubborn.
lets give him a bit more time, I think it won't be long before we see him mature. I think Steve is just starting to understanding how he should play. I think that in his mind he is now starting to understand how he has to play, its just a mater of waiting for his intuition on the court to catch up. He is, or has been immature over the past 4 years, but I think after a few more games under JVG he will change.