There's a lack of logic, because Rudy Gay WAS available when we picked. He was on the board and was far more talented than anyone else available. Even further, David Stern called his name and told the world the Rockets had drafted him. He probably even had on a little red rockets hat for part of the night. Arguably the most talented player in the draft was a rocket for a brief period of time. Do you think Portland Trailblazers fans find any solace in the fact that their team was never going to pick Michael Jordan because Sam Bowie was their guy??? Imagine a Portland fan saying they were okay with the decision because their front office wasn't drafting a guard anyway, they needed a big. The argument doensn't hold any water. If the trade never happened and the Rockets had picked Sefalosha, the debate would still rage on, except probably much much more one sided. But if the "we were never going to draft Gay" argument helps you sleep at night, then that's okay with me.
This is difficult debate to have since we're essentially talking about Battier/Artest vs. Gay. Too many hypothetical's. Too many "what if's". Not that we ever actually would have drafted Gay in the first place but from the Gay/Battier trade alone Memphis clearly got the better end. Sure, different circumstances since Memphis banked on getting a potential franchise player and we knew what we were getting from Battier. Both parties ended up winners and got what they were seeking, in that regard. Personally, I subscribed to the "one player away then, one player away now" type of logic before the Artest deal went down. Now, we have that elusive third option thus making eliminating the "risk" of the Gay/Battier trade. Battier is still a vital piece to our success and the best part is we can no longer consider his acquisition a mediocre move with good intentions.
There were a lot of factors besides the Battier Gay trade that played a role in their demise, including a coaching change, an injured star, and a general roster overhaul.
Fratello got fired because of the losses immediately after the trade. The major roster change was switching out Battier for Gay and Swift. Gasol and Miller were still there. Gasol had missed over 20 games in 03-04 and 05-06, when they went to the playoffs.
I just don't get the year after year debate over this trade. Gay has not become an allstar yet to my knowledge. We can't redo the past. So why continue to focus on that past trade instead of what our future holds? I mean, we could also debate forever that if we took Jordan over Hakeem, that we would have 6 championships instead of two....but it would still be hypothetical...and I am quite pleased with the two that we got! Maybe if Jordan came to the Rockets, we don't put the right team with him and he never becomes known as the greastest to ever play the game and Hakeem wins six championships in Chicago. Then what, we would have debated why we didn't draft the BIG hometown favorite instead of a guard?
THANK YOU. The Gay/Battier argument is so pointless. If that is still relevant then taking Hakeem over Jordan should still be a sticky thread. We love Hakeem because he was great for the city and brought 2 championships but anyone would be lying if they said they wouldn't go back in time and take the greatest of all time over Hakeem. Does anybody thing having Gay the past few years would have put us over the top? No, so whats the points.
Having Battier hasn't put us over the top either. Gay has better long term potential,that's the whole point. However,it's irrelevant now since we are getting a much better player in Artest.
I think it's definitely "arguable". in retrospect, every team in the lottery that year not named Portland would love to have a do-over. gay was rated as the top prospect in that draft heading into the season in most places. he slid because teams didn't think he had the attitude of a franchise player. he "deferred" to teammates too much. (think it's interesting that some players are considered unselfish and others are seen to have a lack of confidence or aggression when they pass too much) brandon roy has emerged, since the draft, as the best player from that class, but he was and still is far from a lock to have a great career. he's already had a major knee surgergy and has already missed more than a handful of games in his young career. aldridge is a nice player, but I don't think he's a clear cut above rudy gay. you have to look all the way down to rondo at the 21 pick to find a player who looks like he'll be anything other than your garden variety nba bench player. so, you might not agree, but I think it's probably arguable.
What's funny is that if you actually look at what each team got out of that draft, you can argue that Houston has benefited more these past two seasons from their draft day acquisition than any other team other than Portland. I think we've gotten good value out of that pick up to this point.
I agree with you. The Gay/Battier debate will rage on for years, but I would much much rather have an intelligent, high quality defender like Battier, as opposed to a guy like Sefalosha or any of the other scrubs to come out of that draft. Maybe a few will improve, but so far, not a strong draft class.
this subject is so old..... time to move on. I love this current team.... if we're healthy, we should be there at the end
They should have never played the playoffs in those 3 consecutive seasons if we are talking about coaching changes, an injured star, and roster overhaul. The first season was Hubie's only 2nd year. In the 2nd season, Hubie was gone after 12 games. Fratello took over without the benefit of an offseason. Pau Gasol was out for 20+ games in two of those 3 seasons. Miller was out for 17 games in their 50 win season. If excuses work for after Battier left, those should be good excuses to lose before the trade. They shouldn't have been in the playoffs, because of coaching changes, injured stars, and a general roster overhaul.
Essentially we have 3 choices: Battier and Artest ---> Very nice combo. A 3rd year Rudy gay is better than Battier today but I doubt Gay would've developed that nicely had he been with us since he was a rookie and we probably would've gone through a lot of growing pains and not won as many games as we did the past 2 seasons if we had Gay instead of Battier. Gay and Artest ---> Would be a nice combo today but we would've struggled the last 2 years with Gay. Gay and Greene ---> suits young rebuilding team i.e Sonics Clearly we made the decision to trade for Battier at the time because we were in a win now mode. Once again that win now mode is still in full effect with Ron Artest on board. I think we made the right decision in both scenarios acquiring Battier and Artest. If we were a young rebuilding team such as the Sonics or Grizz for example there's no way we take on a guy like Artest and would probably keep a young talented prospect such as Greene and Gay and not trade for a Battier. All the major pieces are here to win a ring. All we need to do is make some minor adjustments and fine touch up ... we should be on our way.
