I know several previews have been posted, but I don't think this one has. I found through ESPN's True Hoop. It is long so I will just give you the link. I like it better than any other's I read, because it is realistic, but dares to predict an increase in the Rocket's win total and says the Rockets are a team that most definitely could win it all if the pieces are in place come playoffs. It is tempered with little more realism than Hollinger's preview. They pick the Rockets to win 58 games (which is my prediction as well). Here's the link if you want to check it out. http://hoopsblogging.com/2007/10/06/houston-rockets-preview/
It's a good preview, however, it has one serious flaw. The writer suggests we try to trade Mike James and Rafer Alston for Jose Calderon. While he does acknowledge that Calderon probably isn't available, he doesn't mention that Calderon is on the Raptors and that both James and Alston played for the Raptors. More to the point, they both left on bad terms. I think that might just make such a trade a tad bit difficult for Morey to pull off. Still, I understand what he's saying. Personally, I think our point guard situation is fine for the moment.
Nicely written. Personally I'm hoping for more than their 58 predicted wins, but that's a very realistic number and I would certainly be fine with that. EDIT: I was going to comment on the Calderon bit as well, but decided not to because the writer said we should get "someone like Calderon", which is true.
I think that James will go insane if we trade him again. He really wants to put roots down in Houston.
if needed, i would trade MJ... sorry, business is business... right now we need a point guard that can distribute AND shoot the 3 so the floor is spread out... but we just dont have someone like that... rafer cant shoot, MJ and Stevie cant distribute, brooks is undersized... trade one of MJ or alston is my take... i think those european point guards is what we really need right now, strong team plays and nice shooting touch, but nothing too fancy... (spanoulis ??? lol )
I know you are right. I would rather trade Rafer though (as most would). Trading players is a dirty business. Glad that isn't my job!
I wouldn't mind trading James or Rafer, James and Rafer esp. for a young, tall serviceable player. We're short on backcourt height. Plus, James and Rafer are probably already past their peaks. I wanna most of the potential on the roster right now. We won't be landing any high picks in the draft anytime soon.
Given Rafer's crazy summer, if we were to trade him there's a good chance he'd slice up half of our players before police got to him. Better keep him.
Thats what stood out to me. We'd be insane to trade BOTH players. Leaving us with SF and Brooks?? I'd ony do that if we picked up a better PG or a top 10 player.
Calderón was a teammate of Scola in Spain. With them, Tau Ceramica got to the final of the Euroleague and won the King's Cup.
If we trade James one more time, he would go nuts and jump off of a building. Since Adelman doesn't like to play rookies, I would have him just trade away all our recent draft picks if possible, however unlikely. We NEED James and we need a solid distributor as PG, and that's Rafer at the moment. No way, MJ and Alston are keepers.
Chris Duhon!!! There could not be a more perfect fit for our team IMO. Imagine Duhon, Battier, and Scola as glue-guys. No team in the NBA could beat our role players; or score higher on the SATs for that matter. My #2 option behind Duhon is his cousin, Jarrett Jack. Also got a good head on his shoulders, and is a natural distributor.
I've always thought Jose Calderon was a perfect by the way. His a smart point guard that would be a good fit for Adelman's system too
good read. Very exciting to read that we have the talent and depth to BEAT any team, any night. Also, 2nd nights of a b2b against a good team are not Ls anymore, make it a W. Who cares if we win 52 or 62, all that matters is that we are healthy and winning out in the last 7-10 games of the season we don't need to trade rafer or james
If we could trade one or two guard like Head or James, and acquire another big man like Chris webber, it's time!!!
