Just a question for all those here, at what point do we forgo the "win now" mentality? What merits a rebuild if necessary? I'm not saying we did horribly this season or that I don't love our personnel, far from it. All I am saying is that what are some external indicators that we should pull the trigger on some controversial trades, when do we let go of certain players, and why. I think if the Rockets do not pass the first round of the playoffs next year we can say the Tmac and Yao combo didn't come to fruition and probably never will. I think on top of that, at that point we ditch the win-now mentality and rebuild by any means necessary. That doesn't mean we get rid of all cornerstone pieces, rather it means we chose, Tmac, or Yao (most likely Yao because of age) and move forward. Is that too soon? Too late? Am I not allowed to post on the BBS at work anymore? Answer these questions for me if you could.
Michael Jordan won his first championship at 28. Yao is only 27 and McGrady is only 28, and I have to admit they are no Michael Jordan. If you look at past championship winning teams, the average age of each winning team was about 32. Thats a long way to go for our core. I'd say we're in full winning now mode, and will be for the next 5 seasons
Took Hakeem until he was what 32 to get his? Plenty of time man. I don't understand the thought that we have to blow it up. Thats crazy talk. A piece here, a role player there, and some god given health and we have a top 3 team.
I have no problem whatsoever keeping both TMac and Yao until they retire. I'm weird that way. Maybe if I hadn't witnessed two glorious championship in my lifetime I would be impatient. But for me, and please don't argue with me because it's just my opinion; for me, once you have a HOF franchise player who you like (and we have two who I like), I want to watch their whole career.
Dallas' and Phoenix's versions of "Win Now" sure worked out for them didn't it? Let's just be like the Spurs and Pistons, draft well at our positions and win now AND later. Pop quiz hotshot: when is busting the bank to acquire an aging superstar worth it? Answer: NEVER.
Thats why we shouldn't be targeting aging superstars this offseason, and if we do we shouldn't be giving up much for it. Therefore the players we target do not command great salary(Artest), still young and have room for improvement(Calderon) and should be gotten for a bunch of expiring contracts and bench players/picks(Mike Miller). I'm sure Morey knows what hes doing. Looking back at his trade record, most of them have been good(unless you have to include him being part of the Gay/Battier trade). James for Howard, Jackson for Wells all are turning out to be logical trades.
Way too premature, but there are two things that could (should) trigger a complete rebuild. 1. Losing one of the big two for the season. 2. Getting booted in the first round. Seriously, you reach a point where you realize that it's not meant to be and you tear it down - all the way down. Championship teams are built with studs and those type of players rarely fall out of the lottery.
Comparing Tmac and Yao to MJ or Hakeem is pretty much ridiculous. Tmac and Yao are not as good or as durable as Mike or Dream. If this team doesn't make some real noise in the playoffs then it is time to rebuild. "make some noise" is vague, I know, but if this team gets out of the first round and then gets swept in the second round by a team that doesn't make it to the Finals then I consider that as bad as getting bounced in the first round. My point is that this team needs to prove itself as a top 2-3 team in the West. This year they had an excuse (no Yao) but last season they lost a series that they should have won. 4 years of the Tmac/Yao experiment has been a failure so year 5 is do or die. No excuses. None.
Durability is the issue. If we can't find a 3rd option in the next two years, I would pull the trigger. There's a lot of mental baggage building from the past 5 years, and even before that...
Just like I posted in another thread. If we can't make it through another season healthy we need to ship one of our big contracts out.
Except Jordan, Hakeem, Malone, Shaq, etc. were consistently getting out of the first round in their early 20s. McGrady has proven time and time again that he lacks what it takes to succeed in the postseason. The Rockets should wash their hands of him as quickly as possible.
Well I kind of think you make a valid point, however in McGrady's 7 (or 8?) playoff performances, in every series but one his team wasn't favoured to win. So basically he was like Michael Jordan without Scottie Pippen, except Michael Jordan did have Pippen most of the time, and Michael Jordan is a far greater player. McGrady is the way going forward. Do not trade him. We won't get anything of equal value back anyways and it would ruin Yao's prime years. I just hope Morey won't waste Yao's and McGrady's prime years by providing a useless support cast. But I don't think Morey is that bad, Scola is already the 1st step.
So we can have equally non-playoff advancers Yao Ming and Shane Battier? If you're gonna get rid of McGrady for that reason, might as well overhaul the entire roster
We have been in the STUPID 'Win Now Mode' for several sesons,we need to switch to we are building now and will win a soon as we are good enough mode . "Which could be as soon as the upcoming season"
I am not as patient as some of you here. If both Yao and Tmac are healthy next season and we still can't make it to at least to the Conference finals, I say we should go a different direction. I'd trade Yao because we won't get equal value for Tmac under any circumstances. I think we can at least get a package of one all-star player and two very good role players for Yao Ming. I know there are tons of Yao fans on this board. So please be told that I honestly think trading Yao instead of Tmac would help the team more before you guys start to flame me.
Yeah the rockets need to get rid of tmac asap, because we all know Yao was getting to the Nba finals on a consistant basis before Tmac came. Oh, and shane & yao have been such monsters in the playoffs, especially in the conference finals games. Does anybody know Shane & Yao's Conference finals numbers?
I would think Miami fans would disagree with you. They won the first championship in team history, took their lumps, and are on the fast track to rebuilding. And last I checked, Boston was still in the playoffs. If they manage to win a chip with the Jesus-Truth-Ticket, you have to think that their decision to go for it will be justified.
IMO, Yao and T-Mac works great. It has been proven both of them can work when healthy. It's our role players that have failed to produce over and over in the playoffs. Yao and T-Mac is a great combination. But man, if we get a true 3rd scoring option, then we would be truly dangerous. It's the main thing we are truly missing that keeps us from contending.
