I agree, that is what I meant by the team being in a "financial corner." They have very little wiggle room. I still hold to the position that a trade of either Yao or TMac, preferably TMac, is the only way to possibly upgrade the team. TMac is still appealing to several teams, but he is seriously in decline. His shooting has gone south and he shoots "alot." I think NOW is the time, but hardly anyone agrees. TMac for two or three solid players, but not going to happen. More of the same.
If we get Posey and Barry this offseason we are definitely championship ready in my opinion if everyone stays healthy. Barry can be a back up point and play 2 and 3 guard. Posey can play 2 or 3 and help Tracy. Big problems would be solved at leat temporarily. Head can be benched or traded.
We are not in a financial corner because of those 2...we have one of the best 1-2 punches in the league, and while T-Mac commands a lot of money, Yao's contract is one of the lightest for a superstar in the entire league. It is VERY rare a team won't be over the cap and is able to use more than the MLE for a single player. We have enough assets to make a big trade for that 3rd option...the question is if Morey and co. are willing to part with Scola or Battier. As for trading T-Mac...since his arrival the team has had a ridiculous winning % when he plays. In 06-07 he had arguably his best overall season as a Rocket, and last season he looked athletically his best since 2004-2005 (his injured shoulder killed his stats at the end of the season, but people forget that after the Rockets beat the Hornets at home deep into the 22 game win streak, his FG % was over 44%, which was it's highest since 2002-2003). He was awesome once again in the playoffs. You do NOT trade a superstar for a few role players, then expect another superstar who has never carried a team by himself and hasn't played more the 57 games in 4 seasons to lead the team past the first round.
You are probably right, I am just really frustrated with TMac: his attitude, his shooting, his lack of fire and leadership, his constant drama. I am ready to move on. His best basketball years are past.
yep....its not too boring because I know something will be done by the Wizard from now till the start of training camp. Right now our biggest need is a playmaker, upgrading our bench, more scoring, and a swingman. If barry agress to the LLE, then we should fix part of our bench and playmaker problems. Right now I think Morey is waiting for a player who can fix three needs all at once- scoring, bench, and swingman. I can tell you that if Mchale has exhasted all his options, he'll trade us Mike Miller with a decent return package from Morey. We'll have to be patient in waiting for this scoring swingman, because it has to be done vie trade. We have no cap room to attract anyone who is realistically going to be useful in the playoffs.
Here, a nice little article for the "mosting boring offseason ever" thread. We are opting and playing the waiting game rather than a quick fix. "Instead of a quick fix, Rockets might play the waiting game By STEVE CAMPBELL Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle THE first handful of names on the wish list stands headband, shoulder, biceps and tattoo above the rest. Those are the NBA players out there Daryl Morey considers the "perfect" complement to the Rockets' cornerstone pair, Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady. Perfect, and virtually unattainable. The next tier on the wish list has the names of 10 players who aren't quite perfect fits, which is why they're considerably more attainable when the time is right. Morey would love to share the list, of course. He really would, but then he'd have to eliminate everybody who reads it — and that's just plain bad business. But you just know somebody would start blabbing, and down the drain would go the Rockets' best-laid plans. Like it or not, Rockets fans will have to trust Morey and coach Rick Adelman on this. Actually, the fans don't have to trust anybody about anything, but Morey and Adelman are fully aware the Rockets as constructed are a nice team that doesn't have the chops to be a champion. As constructed. "That's our main focus: Get one more significant player on the roster somehow," Morey said. "That's the goal. That's my job, so hopefully we will get it done." Sorry, Rockets fans smarting from yet another hasty playoff departure: There is no immediate gratification in sight. In his second offseason as Rockets general manager, Morey's objectives are to add free-agent shooting guard Brent Barry and retain restricted free-agent forward Carl Landry. The rest of the NBA is not aquiver. The Rockets don't have the salary-cap room to get into the bidding for Elton Brand. They don't have anything to offer Corey Maggette that would make them any more attractive than Boston, San Antonio or Detroit. So they've set their sights on Barry, 36, a sharpshooter who averaged 7.1 points in 31 games last season. Barry won't tip the balance of power in the West, but he played a complementary role on two championship teams in San Antonio. As much of an imperative as Morey feels to make a wow move, the time is not now. Why not push for a major deal now, when it could create an enthusiasm and anticipation of the season to come for the fandom? Why not give the players and coaches an entire season to familiarize themselves with each other? Shouldn't Rockets owner Leslie Alexander be demanding immediate action?" Thats only about half of the article. You can go read more if you'd like.
and well I guess nevermind. Here is the other half. "Because other teams have hopes to stoke and tickets to sell, too. The Rockets aren't going to add a major piece to a championship puzzle by getting a contender to break up its core. Morey figures he'll have to bide his time until one of the pretenders gets a slap in the face from reality. "Teams can pretty unrealistically think they've got a shot ... go through the first month or two of the season," Morey said. "Then it becomes apparent that they don't have a shot." At that point, teams become willing to make moves for financial reasons. At that point, the expiring contracts of Bobby Jackson and Steve Francis (nearly $9 million between the two) could expedite a deal for that third scoring option the Rockets crave so much. At that point, the depth that rookies Donté Greene and Joey Dorsey provide come into play. If Greene and Dorsey aren't pieces to a trade puzzle, they can give the Rockets enough strength in numbers to part with one or more of the veterans ahead of them in the pecking order (Luis Scola, Shane Battier, Landry, Chuck Hayes). Sacramento has made little secret of its intention to move forward Ron Artest if it falls out of contention. The Rockets need to think long and hard about whether they would want to go that route. The correct answer: No. Maybe Milwaukee will take a leave of senses and put Michael Redd on the market, or Denver will decide it has overspent and underachieved. Some team somewhere is bound to get fed up with its core group and decide to make changes. Morey plans to be in position to, as he put it, "go all-in" when the time comes. "The thing I like most about our team is our great players are in their prime," Alexander said. "There's plenty of years for us to be really, really good." McGrady is under contract for two more seasons. By the end of the 2010 season, the only definite salary obligation on the books will be the $7.3 million coming to Battier. Yao has a player's option to play out the 2010-2011 season for just under $17 million, which means the Rockets will have salary-cap room to go in just about any direction they choose. Psst: That just happens to be the summer that LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, Manu Ginobili, among others, can be free agents. The Rockets could lock up Yao, a high-end free agent and have money to spend. "We're in a good situation," Morey said. "We can go all-in a little bit with this core, which we think is a good core. And if for whatever reason it doesn't work, we've got a lot of flexibility." "
I don't care who we add. I was just hoping that Luther Head gets traded somewhere this offseason. It got to the point where I cringed every time he had the ball, especially in the playoffs.... There is still time Morey, Luther needs a new home!
OMG!! yay! we are gonna be a contender in 2010! SWEET! uhh......what about the 2 seasons before......... btw, I will bet my sweet virgin ass LeBron James will never wear a Rockets uniform.
The point is, why financially strap ourselves beyond 2010, the biggest FA class ever, to try and win now? Take into consideration that the Rockets unit, as is, have been stellar for the most part. Yes, we haven't made it out of the first round, but we've come close. The Rockets have two years to try to make some noise, and if the Rockets woes continue, 2010 is the year to clean house. There's not just Lebron. There's Wade, Bosh, etc.
Less we forget, no other team that made it to the playoffs last year can say that they are adding a 7'6 all star center.
3 years ago: we drafted Luther Head we signed Stromile Swift with MLE we signed Dereck Anderson with LLE then what? 2 years ago: we drafted Rudy Gay and traded for Shane Battier we signed our 2nd round pick Steve Novak a 3 years deal using part of MLE we signed a Greek point guard Vassilis Spanoulis we traded a TE for Kirk Snyder we stealed Bonzi Wells then what? 1 years ago: we drafted Aaron Brooks, Carl Landry we signed Luis Scola we traded Juwan Howard to Mike James we stealed SF3 then what? so................
i am frustrated with him during the REG SEASON too. but as a rockets, you should know the playoffs are everything and tracy has been our best and fiery playoff performer ever since he became a rocket. the passion and leadership and determination he showed in this past jazz series is why morey and les are still sticking with him. and a guy who put up 27, 8, 7 as the primary scorer in a gruel playoff series v. an extremely physical team with 2 injuries -> he still has A LOT of game left. he's still a top 5 perimeter player. he's not the best like he once was, but he's still top 5 perimeter-wise. you don't trade him for 2-3 solid players. you trade him for 2-3 "good to great" players like a billups + hamilton + a pick.
I guess. Realistically there aren't a lot of great moves to be made until mid-season when those expirings start looking sexier. I'll be happy enough if we can keep Landry for a reasonable price and grab either Brent Barry or Mo Evans at the backup 2 spot. Mid-season is when I'll be looking for a big move... and I'll honestly be quite disappointed if we don't do something major.
Yup. I'd trade him for Billups and Hamilton. I really think that would do a lot for our offense. I love Prince to death, and I'm big into defense, but Prince and Battier on the floor at the same time would be death for our offense. We need more offense... Billups and Hamilton, Morey. Get it done.
The Pistons would be crazy to trade both Billups and Hamilton for Tmac, they would have a gaping PG problem with only Stuckey at the helm.
Yes alot of them were supposed to be good deals but last year i felt that it was a year where we moved up a step by signing scola and getting landry which patched our hole at PF as it was important because all contenders have a good power forward see here Celtics- Garnett Lakers- Pau when bynum is healthy Spurs-Timmy D Hornets-West Suns- Stoudamire Pistons- Rasheed Rox- Scolandry Jazz - Boozer Mavs- Norwitzki We just have to be patient and slowly add a piece to the puzzle or hope we strike gold because with the situation we are in now its hard to a star
