No way! When he puts his mind to it.. he can be great.. he just doesn't have the mental capacity to carry a team for a whole game.. We just need a 3rd scorer.. and to keep battier..
For the past 6 seasons the Rockets at worst have been th 5th best defensive team in the league. The Rockets don't need Battier to play good D. Artest wants 13 million if he hits free agency. Brand is a max player and I'd assume his movie producer career on the side will see him favor a stay in LA.
Right.. you just watch how the Rockets play d w/o battier.. he's a glue guy.. with no leader.. there's no one to follow.
I think this is true but only to a degree. Officiating is always going to affect the game, but most of the time I think the bad calls even themselves out. And I may be making an obvious point, but a team has to be agressive on both ends of the court to get the calls to go their way.
We know you would even trade McGrady for AK47 but please stop it. He was the only one whop stepped up in Game 6, of course with help from Scola.
Resign Landry to a long term deal. Resign Harris as cheap insurance. Get some basketball players on this team as opposed to one trick ponies. Although, this was an amazing season and injuries took their toll, I'm tired of the futility. I'm tired of not winning a playoff series for over a decade. Get rid of Battier (trading for him just didn't work), B Jax, and Rafer (he's fool's gold). That's over $16 million off of the payroll. Get Ron Artest - do a sign and trade with the above players if you have to and include a 1st round pick if need be. He's probably the only player in the league who can truly dominate on both ends of the court. Make sure Luther Head is only a backup or 3rd string player and only plays spot mins during the regular season. He shouldn't be on the floor ever during the playoffs. I woud say trade him, but he's a cheap bench player. Novak needs to develop other aspects of his game, because he needs to play more due to his shooting. Chuck Hayes needs to become the 3rd string power forward. Essentially he should become an insurance policy if Scola and Landry are unable to play for some reason. Thus, Scola and Landry should get all the mins at the PF spot. Make sure Deke comes back for another year at least. Reduce Yao's mins during the regular season by playing Deke more. Also, reduce T-Mac's mins during the regular season so there's less wear and tear on his fragile body. Sign Gerald Green and let him develop under his idol McGrady. I'd rather have Green as a backup 2 than Luther Head anyday. I'm referring to the regular season of course - neither Green nor Head should play in the playoffs. See if Bonzi Wells will sign with the Rockets again for the MLE or something. He's a BASKETBALL player and will give the Rockets another weapon who creates matchup problems for other teams coming off the bench. 2008-09 Roster: PG Steve Francis/Aaron Brooks SG T-Mac/Gerald Green/Luther Head SF Ron Artest/Bonzi Wells/Steve Novak/Mike Harris PF Scola/Landry/Hayes C Yao/Deke Last roster spot can be taken by whoever they draft. That Rudy Gay trade hurt.
The question is what do we need? A backup center or is Deke good for another year? A backup PG or is Brooks good enough to play major minutes yet? A backup/starting SG/SF should be needed definetly. I`d like to get a backup or even started PG via trade. Andre Miller or TJ Ford would be great, but probably a little expensive. Beno Udrih played great for Scramento, but that probably makes him to expensive as well. Pheraps Duhon, he`d be a defensive upgrade over Brooks. As far as SG/SF, a player like Mike Miller would definetly be great, but also expensive. I`d also be really fine with a player like Josh Childress. I like the way he plays. Artest is probably out of our league. As far as backup center, I`d be fine if we draft one. Yao will play major minutes, Scola can play backup minutes, and maybe Deke is coming back. And there aren`t really that many big guys in the league anymore, so most of the time Scola won`t be too small. Who do we trade? Head and Novak are definetly expendable. Hayes probably as well. Brooks? Only if we get a good PG. BJ is probably our best trade asset. Maybe Battier if we decide to trade him. His attitude, leadership and defense definetly helps us, but on offense he actually hurts us. So, if we trade Head, Novak, Hayes and BJ and get back a good backup PG and a good SF/SG I`d be thrilled. If we trade Battier and Brooks I`d expect at least a borderline star (like Artest) in return. Anyways, next year should be a good Rockets year, if we stay healthy! Scola, Landry and Brooks will take the next step and the players know Adelman`s offense by now. Pheonix, Dallas and San Antonio are getting old...
if the rockets are unwilling to bite the bullet and spend money on talent, we're going to see a lot more wasted performances by the one man army known as tmac. despite all the years knowing what we need, tmac and yao are still our only reliable offensive weapons. scola is a trooper and he may develop into that 3rd threat, but battier is clearly not it. steve francis may be it but he's not even healthy. we have to bring in someone of corey maggette or mike miller's caliber. anything less simply will not be enough for us to maintain pace with the star-loaded elite teams.
Yeah, I`d love to have one of these two, but they will probably cost 10m+. It will be really tough for us to get this kinda money in a trade (they ain`t FA, are they?). And the PG spot will still be vacant (if Brooks can`t develop in this second PG). Steve Francis seemed to be done. I don`t think he has anything left in his tank, his body can`t take much more. And even before his last injury, he wasn`t much of a player.
Get Biedrins and start him. Yao is too brittle to be a starter in the NBA but off the bench... guaranteed 6th man winner! Get Okafor to start at PF. Get Calderon at PG. Keep Battier at SF. This should be a down dirty blue collar kind of team with an above 50% FG. That's plenty of help for TMac. I know it's close to impossible to put this together but what the heck... if you're gonna dream up stuff... might as well dream up something big.
I think I'm going to start blocking anyone who projects Francis as our starting point guard next season. It's delusional beyond belief.
I'm betting (and praying) that we get Artest in a sign & trade with Jackson, Brooks, Novak, and our draft pick going to Cow Town. Battier needs to be coming off the bench and Luther Head needs to be somewhere else.
andre miller will never be traded by sixers after their run. artest would be a great 3rd scorer, but he tends to jack up shots (heat checks) just like mcgrady. maggatte can go to the rim at will and is a decent free throw shooter. mike miller can create very little, but all the shots we missed this series, think of it as mike draining them, thus they can't double team tracy. shooters that don't choke. that's what we need. i think memphis should be our target. they have bunch of great young pgs that we should try to get. bobby and battier for mike miller and kyle lowry/jarvis crittenon. of course, we could do a smaller trade with clippers to get maggatte, but trading with memphis could patch mutiple holes that we have.
I don't think your statement that Yao is too brittle to be a starter is correct, but Yao coming off the bench does show imagination. If Morey could come up with a good, mobile, shot blocking starting Center the team would have more movement at the beginning of games. Yao would come off the bench and completely dominate. Definite sixth man of the year. Interesting. But, it will never happen. A move like that would cause a major fan revolt.
I'm not in the trade Yao/TMac camp just yet. I'm willing to give them one more season together. If one of them gets another big injury or they just can't work together like some claim, then yes blow the team up. Out of the players who I think are keepers (for this season at least): Yao/T-Mac/Scola. Everyone else is expendable with Battier probably being our biggest trade asset. Battier is a good player to have for championship teams, but not for teams still looking for a consistent 3rd scorer. The way I see it: Keepers: Yao/T-Mac/Scola For the right offer: Battier/Landry (possibly Rafer) Expendable: Everyone else Needs: 3rd Scorer Starting PG Excellent/athletic shooters (you know guys who can shoot but also DRIVE) Backup C If good Rafer is any indication, a PG with great shooting and ball-handling will do wonders for this team. And the way the league is headed, PGs are becoming just as important as a low-post player. I don't know if we could get Mike Miller that easily. Other teams are also needing a PG of his calibur (with better trade assets) and I don't know if Memphis will be that stupid again. I would love to see Ford or Calderon here also. Morey has quite a lot of work ahead of him. Of course for all this to happen our stars would to STAY HEALTHY!!!!
