If third string positions mattered, then it'd be the 2006 season all over again. With that reasoning, might as well gamble.
I've got nothing against rookies or Raef...but if that's all your changing you haven't gained any ground. In your scenario of risk, someone new will not only have to produce from day 1, they'll have to be ROY. Fat chance as low as those picks are. Just because you're using a shotgun instead of a rifle doesn't guarantee you'll hit the bulls' eye.
Simple Plan... 1st. Trade Rafer and Juwan for Stevie. New York wants to rid itself of Steve and Adelman wants players to attack the basket. Stevie can do that. I think Adelman can get Stevie back to where he was and make him buy into the pass first team concept. If not he is still an upgrade over Rafer. Money works 2nd. Upgrade the PF spot. 1 option Trade Sura and Tsakalidas for Nazr or if We don;t use Juwan to get Stevie trade him Mohammed. Detroit has no use for Nazr and needs to make room for Chaucey's money. Nazr is an upgrade and can also backup the 5 and bring more shot blocking than we currently have. Perhaps not the best fix but better than what we got. They could also use Adelman's influence to get Chris over here for the LLE money (the key here is to find some players that are realistically attainable) 3rd Try to convince Bonzi to stay on one more year and not opt out. If he shows us his got what it takes then next year show him the money. 4th. If Josh Mcroberts or Tiago Splitter drop jump on them other wise draft Dominic McGuire or Sean Williams. 5th use part of the MLE money on signing Amir Johnson
He he, while everyone here is going on a alcohol fueled trade rampage, please allow me to add my own poison to the mix I would trade: Yao for the no. 1 pick! T-Mac for the no. 2 pick! Shane for the no. 3 pick! I will keep everyone else on the team. What say you guys And no, I don't take crack (or any drugs or illegal substances) nor am I an alcohol drinker (looks like you guys will shove it all down my throat now). Just kidding chaps. Hope you can take a joke
this seems odd to me. Morey is mr money ball. He got screwed over by Les. It is pretty much common knowledge here in Houston that Morey and Les were not in agreement at all. So, they made a pact with the devil. The Devil is that Les gets his way on coaches and play style and Morey gets to keep playing with his last money ball. his last money ball is Battier!
if we follow DD's strategy, we don't have much to trade with. my take? sign and draft as much talent as we can (regardless of position) and look to packge "post draft and pre season" a deal to land and athletic 4 or depth at the 4. battier is our most movable piece, but he doesn't yield the help we need. pick up a veteran pg for cheap. guards are a dime a dozen. it shouldn't be too hard to find one better than rafer. if all this ^^^^ isn't possible, hell... trade yao for KG. we might get pretty damn rich off of that deal. and no, i'm not r****ded. minnesota has to start over in a BAD way and now might be the time to make it happen. their division just got even tougher over the next 10 years.
oops hit submit too quick. Battier is Morey's last proof of money ball. Mon/rey balls mean you can't trade these guys for better. You have to keep them or give up your last ball of manhood...ie, your belief system... haha ironic isn't it.
no way would any team trade oden for yao. yes yao is better now, but his physical limitations prevent him from dominate EVERY team out there. see utah. see phoenix. see golden state. and he will never be as dominant as oden can be. u can argue next yr, oden will have a much bigger impact defensively than yao will ever have in his best yr. offensively, yao is better than oden b/c he's only a rookie. but oden can run the floor like a tim duncan. he basically played w/ one hand last yr and still put up patrick ewing, shaq o'neal #s in college during their rookie years. so oden has the ptoential to be a great offensive player too. trust me, portland will not even look to trade oden for anybody. that dude has the potential to be one of the top centers of all time. hell, he'll challegen for defensive player of the yr next yr.
First, I would trade Rafer Alston for Jose Calderon. PG problem solved! Second, I would trade Juwan Howard for Shareef Abdur-Rahim. PF problem solved! Third, I would draft the best available player at #26 regardless of position for added depth and a hopeful future. I like Morris Almond based on the predraft comments about his size and shooting skills. Fourth, I would waive or buyout Sura. He's a waste of a roster spot. Fifth, I would ask Adelman to start Bonzi. This is my most controversial move but I think a lineup of the following would be championship caliber: C - Yao/ Dikembe/ Tsak PF- SAR/ Hayes/ Novak SF- TMac/ Battier/ Snyder SG- Bonzi/ Head/ Almond PG- Calderon/ JL3/ Vspan All 5 starters are legit starters who would do well in Adelman's motion offense, while not sacrificing too much on D. SAR would be like the more youthful and athletic version of Jho. Yao would finally have a talented pass first PG in Calderon, who can also shoot around 50% overall. Bonzi will create all kinds of postup mismatches at the 2. T-Mac will slide over to the 3 where he is more comfortable outquicking slower SF's.
I don't see why we should trade our #1 pick + Head for an almost identical player. While Acie is probably the better player, I don't think he is the type of PG we need on this team. Both guys are shooters that can handle the ball, but I really wouldn't consider both of them a PG. Also, I don't think you would have to trade up to #10 to get Acie.
We have two flawed superstars. Either of which could break down at the end of the season or the playoffs. I really like both of them, but alas they are flawed. I suspect that Les brought in Adelman to see if he could take Yao to the next level on offense. Given that the Rockets may not be ready to send Yao packing yet, TMac should be the first of the two to go. Next year, it will be Yao's turn when the Adelman experiment flounders. The rest of the players are window dressing.
I don't know dude. I think all superstars are either a) flawed in one way or another or b) not perfectly complemented by the team. Nobody is perfect. Perhaps if you could name one superstar that is perfect, then maybe we can suggest a trade for him.
Posted this before, but everyone ignored it. PG: Maurice Williams (Full MLE, 3 years, team option 4th)/Alston/V-Span (Reminds me of Cassell's 1st season. Needs another season before give up)/Sura cuz he's still on roster and we can't get rid of him SG: T-Mac/Synder/Morris Almond (Lucas & Head to move up in draft to get Rush, Law, Splitter instead of Almond or get another pick in early 2nd round for Pruitt/Byars/Gray/Stuckey in that order) SF: Battier/Hayes/Novak(same another year to see) PF: Howard/Hayes (< 1.5 mil., otherwise is too much for a PF without size and no offense) /L. Roberts (sign for min.; young player, played well for Memphis, bigger version of Hayes; project) or 2nd pick if Gray or someone. C: Yao (needs to be able to hit jumpers from 15-18 feet out) / Mikki Moore (sign him, He didn't perform that well against Cleveland's front court, so should be cheaper than earlier in the postseason. Not great player, but a decent, somewhat athletic backup PF/C) /Deke at league minimum--Jake is not mobile enough-- Yeah I wish we could do more, try to trade Alston, Head, Lucas for someone, but I don't think any of them have a whole lot of value except to move up in a draft, maybe get another later draft pick. No one would want to take on Alston or Lucas's contract for what they give out. Basically, this team would rely less solely on 3-pt's, adding some driving. Also there is much more depth in big men than this years team.
We didn't ignore it. It just really didn't do much for anyone. Getting Maurice Williams for full MLE is a waste. We need a PF too much to spend it all on one person. Saying we can't get rid of Sura is incorrect too; TONS of teams will be knocking on the Rockets' door for his expiring contract. Chuck hayes will never play SF in Houston. Even when Shane is on the bench, Mac will be SF. And big men? Mikki Moore is not "depth" - you're asking to sign a guy who couldn't perform against a team as flawed as Cleveland? Gimmie a break. Big Jake will do just fine.
The point would be to picked a less flawed superstar in the trade. Both Yao and TMac have shown to be injury prone. Yao missed 59 games in the last two seasons while TMac missed 46 games. Without one of the superstars, the Rockets are lucky to be a 500 team, not withstanding the the rabbit that JVG and TMac pulled out of their hat last year. Without both superstars, the Rockets are a bad lottery team. Besides being injury prone, Yao has some holes in his D game (lack of quickness and stamina problems), which the Jazz fully exploited in the playoffs. Yao's D flaws will likely never be fixed. Thus, as long as Yao is a Rocket, the Rockets are always one matchup away from being bounced from the playoffs. Trading superstars you like sucks, but I can't how the Rockets can get better without making the trade(s).
As GM, I'd be looking hard for someone, preferably a PG, who can be a vocal leader on the court. He may not be the most talented player, but he would be invaluable in tight games by keeping the rest of the team focused and on the same page. Off the bat, I'd say someone in the Darrell Armstrong, Avery Johnston mold. Upgrades in talent in other positions are of course important, but I believe we need a vocal leader first and foremost. I don't see anyone on the roster who could fill this role, so we should make it a top priority to bring someone in.
I'd prepare two envelopes... For those unfamiliar with this there is a story about a man (Morey) who, on starting a new job, goes to his office and finds nothing there except two envelopes, labeled "one" and "two," in a desk drawer. There is an attached instruction sheet that says, "Open letter one when you get into your first crisis and letter two when you have your second." Sure enough time goes by and he gets into a big mess (team can't get out the first playoff round). He opens the first envelope and it says, "Blame everything on your predecessor." And so he does and all his problems magically disappear. Months go by and he gets into an even bigger mess than the first time. In a panic he remembers to open the second envelope. It says, "Make two envelopes..."
I am not quite sure that Battier can yield us the third overall. I think we may have to add our first and perhaps next years?
