James will make just over $5M this season. Cassell just signed for 2 years and will make less than $6.5M this season. So, the Clips signed a guy that you say is three times better than James and it only cost less than $1.5M more? Ok, tell me again how Cassell's signing justifies giving James a four year deal w/ a trade kicker? Sorry, but your argument doesn't add up. Houston and Dallas both thought that he was a good pickup within certain limitations. Minnesota offered more, so at that price he was no longer a good deal. That's why neither Houston or Dallas would meet his demands.
At one point, Swift stated publicly that he would not report to Memphis. According to one report I heard, if he doesn't report in 72 hours, the deal is void. Anyone know if that is true?
It's up to the Nuggets, but if they value Gay that much they won't, and it wouldn't hurt them much since they could just suspend Swift without pay.
So do we still have TMAC and Ming? All this ranting and raving about how bad we're going to suck is ridiculous from "Rockets fans". Yes there is some displeasure in the fact that many of us do not concur with the management about how they've handled the offseason so far. Please remember though, the Rockets were pretty good with Yao and Tracy both healthy. I think if they stay healthy it will give the "scrubs" we have now a little confidence like what happened in Miami. Do you really think Haslem and JWill and those other has beens and wannabe's would have been that good without feeding off of the energy from Shaq, D Wade and the "great" calls the officials were giving them? Also, the management now may seem incompetent, really incompetent, but I believe Les and CD were both here for our beloved back to back titles. Let's atleast get the season started and see how it goes from there, hell the offseason isn't even over with. Take some Prozac folks and calm down. That was pretty good for my second post I think!!
Texasboy1978 (is that the year you were born?) - You advocate calmness and then instantly repost to oust JVG??? I'm all for ousting JVG (never wanted him here in the first place) but I refuse to stay "calm" while our front office assures us of nothing more than mediocrity. Yes, with Yao and Tracy we can win maybe 40 games and maybe, just maybe squeeze into a 7th or 8th place finish to avoid the lottery... But I am NOT optimistic about getting beyond the first round and I see no reason to expect anything more than that. Battier is simply not enough of an addition to one of the worst outside shooting teams in the league. With teams triple teaming Yao, (which by the way, everyone will be doing), TMac will get his, but will get tired and wear down over the course of a long season and possible playoffs, because we still don't have anyone else to take pressure off of these two guys who will again have to carry the entire load. Tell me, who on our "deep" bench gets your panties wet with the prospect that they can pump in 20 points on a given night when one of our big two have an off night? That's why not getting MJ was so incredibly stupid!!!
Please, don't compare T-Mac and Yao to Shaq and Kobe. Even before the Phil Jackson's Laker era, they made it to the Western Conference Finals. And we're not settling for "pretty good." If Yao and Tmac don't bring championships, they'll be the most disappointing, overrated dynamic duo since Starsky and Hutch...the MOVIE. As for Battier, every Memphis game I saw, he looked average. How much better can he really be? His defense is overrated. And he's not a winner. The Grizzlies haven't won a playoff game. He has the same numbers as Jumaine Jones, who's more athletic, younger and plays better D...and makes less money. I guarantee there will be a coaching change in mid January when the Rockets are five games under .500. JVG is too expensive as a moneyball coach. Tom will get promoted.
16 playoff wins, rather. But judging by the "5 games below .500" predictions, won't take much to prove the haters wrong. And Memphis is pretty much guaranteed for the lottery. Rudy Gay gets maybe 20 mpg.
But judging by the "16 playoff wins" predictions, won't take much to prove the CD/JVG/battier lovers wrong. I thought he's going to be a bust or not even contribute in his first year?
