I don't believe anything we're hearing from the Rockets brass these days. Read their words and then look at their actions. It doesn't add up. CD said he was focused on re-signing our free agents and keeping the team together. Now two starters and both holdovers from the championship teams are gone, and the bench guys are on their way out. He says the Rockets had to retool their roster and acquire a scorer because Hakeem unexpectedly left. But the Rockets didn’t negotiate with Hakeem the way you would if you really needed and wanted him to stay. CD and Rudy said signing Hakeem was the team’s top priority. The minute Hakeem left, they inked a deal with Mo Taylor for twice the salary they offered Hakeem. CD keeps saying he’s negotiating smoothly with Fegan and working things out. Each time, these assurances are followed by the player’s departure. Rudy says he picked up Rice because the team needs shooters. The team already had shooters. The Rockets let Hakeem walk so they could get on with their youth movement. Then they dealt for Rice. They said they couldn’t sign Marc Jackson because they needed to re-sign Anderson. Then they traded Anderson. They say they love Rice. They say they plan to keep him. Right.
This offseason I just wanted Walt, Bull, Mo, and Mooch to return. Mo is in the books, Bull might leave, Walt looks to be dealt and now Mooch is possibly gone. Hoochie Momma!!!
Will makes some good points here. I feel myself swaying back and forth on this whole thing. I get the vibe too that the Rox are blowing smoke out there asses.... Its like this HUGE campaign promise........They say one thing then do the complete opposite..... Youth Movement??.....um not exactly Keep the players we have now that Chris Webber resigned with the Kings??.......nope (except for Mo Taylor) Rockets Brass arent giving me much to believe in either Will.....
<b>Will</b>: I think it is just a matter of situations presenting themselves to Rudy and friends. I believe the Mo Taylor signing and the Hakeem negotiations were mutually exclusive. It was either Taylor or Hakeem, and the Rockets wanted it to be Taylor all along. I believe the Glen Rice acquisition was a matter of Rudy taking advantage of a scenario he did not expect to arise. He went into the Anderson negotiations expecting to lose Anderson for nothing. He felt like he could not pass up on Glen Rice. As Heypartner pointed out, the Rockets are not done spending. This move shows us that. You either save up in anticipation of the drought or dry up the well in one summer. I can only hope they do not trade Cato.
Lol. There is no market for Rice, its more likely that the Rockets solidified the SF so they could trade Griffen for a center.
Griffin is not going anyway. He is a future franchise player! The Rockets aren't complete morons! I'm all for getting rid of Griffen, however.
There were four major free agents (Shandon, Hakeem, Moochie, Maurice). It looks like 2 of the 4 are coming back. I also think they would have signed Shandon for the amount of money he wanted if he was interested in playing for the Rockets. Hakeem was an entirely different story... you just don't say that you don't want him back. You're right, the Rockets were saying one thing and doing another. Both parties were playing the press to keep things under control, not just the Rockets. I think it was easy to see the nature of the talks and there wasn't really any serious deception going on in this case. Can you really say you were surprised about what happened? Similar to above. We all know why they said what they said. We all know why they let Hakeem go. We all know why they signed Maurice. There was no serious deception going on to the people who know the situation. You just had to read between the lines. Negotiations WERE going smoothly with Fegan. Fegan said so too. Fegan, his client and the Rockets all got what they wanted. I don't think they said this. They actualy said, "I've got to sign some players and there isn't enough money to get Marc, too." That was true. The bottom line is, all the players involved are getting what they want. Hakeem and Shandon will probably both be happier on the teams they went to than with the Rockets.
I heard CD for a few minutes on 610 before the press conference and he said that the Rice situation was something the Knicks tried to present to the Rockets in order to do a sign and trade with Hakeem. Knowing that Shandon has been unhappy with his role on offense and probably Fegan trying to get more than the Rockets wanted to give, then Rice came back into their thinking I imagine. I don't think it's something they planned but rather something that worked itself out.
Yeah Cd said they offered Rice for Hakeem , but cd didnt want to trade him hakeem at that time because he wanted to sign him. ( yeah right ) Then when Hakeem left the knicks called back for Shandon and the rockets jumped on it. They have been a big rice fan for a while now.
CD and Rudy have always played a poker game when it comes to player movement and the draft. They say one thing and do another. But is this a bad thing? If they think it helps to create a sense of misdirection, who are we to argue? It seems like the results have been pretty good over the years.
