This offseason WAS huge. 1. We had the potential to lose Dream, Taylor, Anderson, Norris, Bullard, and have a huge PR disaster with letting Dream go his way. We handled it all with dignity and kept the unusual chemistry that makes this team unique. 2. We got the steals of the draft, a probable superstar in Griffin, and a future starter in Morris from the second round, while keeping a winning spirit on this team. Most teams get stuck in the lottery, and a losing spirit sets in which is difficult to lose. Griffin, Taylor, Morris, Thomas and Langhi will rotate at forward, then we have probably the best backcourt in the league. We have some great players at all these positions now. Two or three of them will become excellent trade bait in the future to exchange for the missing center piece. 3. I admit that I had hoped to get Webber, although once I saw how badly he did in the playoffs, and then obtaining Griffin, the price seemed too high for what we would end up giving up. He'll be old when everyone else hits their prime. I guess that was where we are feeling let down, especially since CD always seems to pull a rabbit out of the hat with a monster trade. CD and Alexander are shrewd. Last year, when there weren't any more impact players in the draft, and Houston picked up Collier and a draft pick for this year, they made a good move, ultimately contributing to landing Griffin this year. I think they are doing the same type of thing this year with the cards they were dealt. I have a feeling we almost landed Curry, and perhaps LaFrentz or one of the guys from Atlanta, but we had to work with the cards we were dealt, when Dream went into his delay mode. We ended up with a large trade exception and an extra draft choice, and will be able to get rid of Williams and Bullard's salary next summer, giving us an extra 7 or 8 million to invest in one of a different set of players, including Olawakandi, LaFrentz, Clark, etc. Some of our players might have better trade value then, too. The key is we didn't panic on the situation with Dream and mortgage our future to hang onto him. That would have made this a much worse summer. We came out of it with pieces to use later in the fall or next summer. By then, Cato might have more trade value than he did this summer, and William providing someone cap relief for someone. 4. I like the experiment of Langhi at the 2. That would be strong if it works. The possibility of using Griffin at the 5 is intriguing too. Who knows? There are pieces we can use to get a starting center, and depth is growing. This summer was HUGE, not because we landed someone big (although we got Griffin and Morris), but because we navigated it well in rebuilding for the future.
With the west having so many big men, it's imperative that our big men stay healthy. I know that's not saying much, but we do need big bodys in there. Last year we went long stretches w/out any centers, playing Mo and Kenny as our C and PF. And even when Hakeem was healthy at the beginning he didn't have that much of a impact as he did after the allstar break. Having said that, I think if Cato can stay reasonable healthy and give us some the play that he gave 2 years ago, we may and should win more games. It's gonna be interesting having 2 shot blockers in Cato and Griffin.
It could have been a better offseason, I agree. But like some posters have mentioned, it could have been alot worse by losing more players. Who knows, Hakeem may have been injured most the season. I'm excited about Griffin and Morris. This team,which is very young, should keep on growing as a unit. For example, I would say it took Mo about half a season to get comfortable w/the team. After the all-star break, he averaged about 16. Now he starts the season already comfortable and we should see more consistent numbers which may lead to more wins. Also, Francis matured alot as a player, cutting down on his turnovers from his rookie season. Maybe this season he'll cut them down even more. And lastly I did notice Mobely playing smarter towards the end of the season by passing the ball more and taking less stupid shots, hopefully he'll continue to grow as a player. So even w/out making too many additions, there's no reason why this team can't continue to grow and get more victories and make the playoffs. You gotta have faith and be optimistic in Clutch City.
We didn't get Webber....Aw shoot! We got Griffin......CD is a nija genius, woo woo! We didn't resign Haeem........like having to shoot Old Yeller! We resigned Mo and Shandon for reasonable rates.....OK good. What a rollercoaster ride. I think we are set up an exciting future starting 2002-03. This year we can be competetive for a 7 or 8 seed depending on how Kelvin Cato handles the starting C. If he surprises us, management is again genius, it's playoffs bound. If he confirms what EVERYONE ELSE thinks about him it's 40 wins and a not many lottery balls. Weeeeeeeeee!
I may see the strategy in signing Taylor and keeping Cato, Tim Duncan in 2003. Mo's 7.5 and Cato's 7 will equal to Tim's 14 per . Maybe thats why they don't want to tie up money with jackson. They will need to put the behinds in the seat when the arena opens. SA will be in a rebuilding mode and SA will be looking to get something for him. It will be ideal for both teams. Let the team playout and see how it works, then in 2003, Duncan will be here.
The Rockets added a franchise rookie to the roster this year who is a big time rebounder, shot-blocker, defender, and is an ok scorer, who will probably develop into a go-to scorer, and people think that this offseason is a failure!? I guarantee, if somebody told us that we would lose an aging, injury-prone, moody center and replace him with a franchise player who is a SF/PF and is a prolific shot-blocker people would consider that a success!
Gene Peterson I agree with you 1000% on the rocket season hinging on how well Kelvin Cato plays. I think the 7th or 8th seed is within the rockets grasp and alot of that is going to depend on injuries.
I would say that all in all, we will be better at the end of this offseason than we were at the beginning. Basically, we've lost Carlos Rogers and Hakeem Olajuwon, and gotten Terrence Morris and Eddie Griffin. Heck, EG alone would've more than balanced it out. How you could call that anything but positive is beyond me. The ONLY negative is that we didn't get Dream -- there is NO WAY we'd have gotten Webber, and I don't think we were pursuing him very much anyways. All our guys will be better next year, they will be a better team chemistry-wise, and I think we'll have a playoff spot for sure, with a 6th seed not impossible.
Gene, Agree. GW, It's all about expectations bro, I had hoped we napped Web and Dream found the fountain of youth and we relived 93-95. But, when CWeb signed I recovered and when Dream left I wished him well...he was suppose to retire anyway and CD got 2 picks...nice move. Key to this summer when we look back in a few years is EG. If he works hard, continues to improve/grow this summer will rival the summer we got Stevie. TMo was a bonus and Langhi's development will also be a bonus. Catonic is the wild card. If he freaks and becomes a terror we may all be very, very happy with this team. If he doesn't and we don't pick up someone like Jahidi we'll be a small exciting team...sorta like PHOX use to be. Either way, fans always have bloated expectations. Be happy with Grif, TMo and signing MoT. We lost a legend, but we replaced him with a phenom. We did pretty well compared to the overall league. Look at SEA, DEN, MIA, etc. those fans have to be very disappointed in their summers.
No, Seattle had a great offseason. They picked up Calvin Booth for only a little more than 5 million a year. Grade A j/k
GranvilleWaders, I agree that this offseason had the potential to be one of the biggest in recent history, but, although the rockets did not make any earthshattering moves such as signing Webber, I think it has turned out about as well as it could have. We resigned Mo and likely will also resign Moochie and Shandon. While depending on the money the shandon signing may not be a great move the other two just may be. Mo is the team's third scorer and only real offensive force in the front court and thus helps to open things up for Francis and Mobley. While he is not Webber he is more affordable, really wants to be here, and will provide offense without taking touches away from Francis and Mobley. And while he is not an outstanding defender or rebounder, griffin will take up some of those responibilities. The resigning of Norris gives the rockets a backup point guard who they know can do the job and do it well and is really as good as the rockets can do now at that position. Looking back the only thing about this offseason that seems to me to be a negative is the loss of Hakeem and our resulting hole at center. I would have loved to see him finish his career as a rocket and as long as he is reasonably healthy the Rockets are a better team with him than without him. That said I think that for the future the Rockets are better off without Hakeem. By signing Hakeem the rockets would be better now if Hakeem could stay healthy, but what about next year and possibly the next depending on the deal. Given his history of injuries the last few years it is not likely he would be healthy for many games in those seasons and if he was could he really be effective? He would then be retiring just as the rest of the team was ready to truely contend. With him gone now the Rockets can start Cato and see once and for all if he is worth his contract or if he truely is a bust. If Cato stays healthy and gives them somewhere in the neighborhood of 10 points 7-9 boards and 2-3 blocks a game the rockets will have what they need in a center. With Francis, Mobley, Tayor and Griffin (if he develops into a star) the Rockets have all the offensive weapons they need. That is why giving Marc Jackson a long contract at the money he wants is a mistake. All he brings is some rebounding and his scoring. The Rockets don't really need the scoring and while the rebounding would be nice he doesn't have the defensive abilities that the rockets could really use at the 5. On the other hand if Cato shows himself to truely be a bust what have we lost really? The rockets are contending for the playoffs this year not the title. If he does not play well at worst they will probably finish about the same as this year just missing the playoffs. Adding another center like Jackson or White might then be the difference in just making the playoffs instead, but neither are the center that the Rockets need. But Cato IF he fulfills at least part of his potential could be. So if cato doesn't pan out and we get one of the other alternatives, we are only slightly better with still a hole at the 5 that needs to be addressed if we are to contend for the title and both Cato and this new guy taking up cap and roster space. So give cato a chance and if he doesn't show up we can address that need next year and we end up with a slightly better draft pick that we might be able to package with the Raptors pick to trade up for someone who will fill our needs. All in All I think this team will continue to improve and will likely make the playoffs. While we did not bring in an impact player from the outside (other than Griffin) we did protect the core of our roster which is still young and should continue to improve. The move and non-moves of this offseason were not bad and there were no possible moves out there (as far as I could tell) that would have made us real contenders this year or helped us any more in the long run.
I know Hakeems at the end of his career.. and probably be injured next season heh.. but you'd think the position he'd put the rockets in.. he wouldn't just leave without his previous loyal team in the lurch.. pity we couldnt have got a raptor centre instead, anything would be better than cato and collier
No he wont... Payton is the best point guard in the league. 4 more ppg, 2 more apg, 1 less to, 1 less foul a game. The only are where Steve has a significant edge over the Glove is in rebounding. Which can fairly be attributed to our lack of a good frontcourt.
i don't know... i think steve has less "cancerous attributes" than gary. and steve doesn't chew gum like a horse, either.
The truth be told, letting Dream go could be the one move that makes this off-season a big winner. Sometimes you must be bold enough to make change. And we did that. I'm not saying that it was good move, but I in general I think it was. Time will tell.
Granville, I have to disagree re Eddie. I just rewatched the RMR game that that I taped again. Eddie is great!! He is at a minimum the second coming of Marcus Camby and will be at least as good a center as Camby. Granted Shaq or Dream in his prime are the ideal. Eddie will eventually be a Webber, or Rasheed Wallace power forward type talent. He is probably farther along than such current stars as Duncan and Rasheed were at the same age. I predict that Eddie will make up for the loss of the Hakeem of last year in his rookie season. n just a few years he will be nearly equal to Hakeem in his prime! Be happy and remember that for three or four years before jelling and winning it all the Rockets had the reputation as an athletic, but underachieving team. Rudy and CD know how to do it again, but the Lakers, perhaps the best young team ever, stand in the way. For those of us who were bleeding Rocket fans before 1994, the future looks rosy.
Now, now. Dream is arguably the best ever at his position. So you are suggesting that EG will be the best PF in the history of the NBA? If EG can be half that good, then we should be happy. Remember, there are a lot of factors that make a great player. Longevity, mental stregth, leadership, etc. We don't know if EG has any of these other characteristics necessary to make a champion. He has the potential but lets wait and see how he uses it. I agree that defensively, he should contribute quickly but time will tell... -krosfyah
