So true. Come on Steve. Otherwise we may finally have the talent for the first time in years to trade for an average NBA starting point guard. In past years all it seemed we had was Tracy , Yao and Battier.
Brooks is well suited for instant offense off the bench. I agree rafer is worse but he knows the starters very well and is best suited the role at this time. Besides brooks would be useless against some of the bigger pg's we might see in the playoffs: dwill cp3 Rafer is not great against them but at least he has more strength.
Upgrading would mean giving up one of either Battier, or Scola, or Landry. Battier is looking very important to the team in his absence at the moment. Scola is the incumbent starter but Adelman is trusting Landry with 4th quarter minutes however I don't trust his knees. Another stickler is Landry has a no trade option for a year. If the Bulls can grease up Landry with a starting position... Alston +Landry +Hayes +Francis for Hinrich Difference to Rockets team salaries: 08-09, -$2.468M 09-10, -$617k Free agents: Robert Horry, Mike Harris, Bonzi Wells, Darrell Armstrong, Coby Karl, Mickael Gelabale (tore ACL in March) Free agent Cs: Alonzo Mourning, Jake Voskuhl, Scott Pollard, Michael Doleac Hinrich, Brooks, Head McGrady, Barry, Wafer Artest, Battier Scola, (Artest/Battier), (Horry), (Harris) Yao, Deke, (Free Agent C) 2009-10 Rockets team salary est. $73.41M [9 players including $12M to Artest] 2009-10 luxury tax threshold est. over $75M
If the Rockets are to do what the past title winners have done... get used to seeing Rafer bring the ball up after opening tip. By my own stat check, Of the title winners in the past 25 seasons there were only 4 TOTAL 1st or 2nd year players who were primary starters for the title winning teams: -Rajon Rondo, Celtics '08 -Robert Horry, Rockets '94 -AC Green, Lakers '87 -Byron Scott, Lakers '85 There was ONE rookie player: -Marc Iavaroni, Sixers '83 but Iavaroni was a Luis Scola-type rookie, played in Europe years before he arrived in the NBA. No Tony Parker, Manu, Kobe, etc...intentially left out the Magic and Bird teams cuz those guys were just ridiculous. The commonality of those teams was its star power, having 2-3 All Stars or Hall of Famers. 83 Sixers was the first year Moses Malone arrived, like a Kevin Garnett move. Lakers could win with Magic, Kareem, Worthy any year. Basically its almost like these teams won in SPITE of the Rajon Rondos... Except for the Rockets Shows how great Hakeem was in retrospect
While Hinrich would be a fine upgrade over Alston, this team can ill afford to give up a young, athletic player like Landry who is locked up for multiple years at a good price. Our tradable pieces, imo, are Alston, Head and Francis. I'm not sure why anybody would take Alston, especially if we are looking to acquire a PG in return but I don't think any of the following players should be moved for various reasons: Yao, McGrady, Artest, Battier, Scola, Landry, Hayes, Brooks, Barry, Dorsey. Dorsey is raw and has proven nothing but like Landry, I don't think we can afford letting go of a young, athletic player that is under control for cheap for several years. Unfortunately, Alston has 2 years left on his contract, including this season. Nobody wants that crap. Hinrich does have 4 years left at about $9 mill/per ($10 mill this season). Rose is already starting but I'm not sure they are satisfied with Sefalosha as a backup PG. I'd be more than willing to take on Hinrich's 4 years if the Bulls would take Alston, Head and Francis. That would probably work financially and would unburden Chicago from the 4 years left on Hinrich's contract. The problem with this is that the Rockets would go from 14 players on the roster to 12 while increasing the total payroll. We need more players than that and we need another big, too.
Brooks brings a different dimension to the team. His speed is a problem for defenders and they don't seem to know quite how to deal with it. He will need to improve his jump shot and not throw so many errant passes though.
Yeah I'm slowly coming around to thinking we just might need to replace Rafer in order to seriously win a title. The problem is that there isn't really a viable solution out there right now. PG isn't a position that we'll spend big bucks on especially now that we've got Artest looking for a new contract to include with TMac's and Yao's max contracts. I'm not a big fan of Hinrich, he makes too much money and no I don't want to give up Landry to get him. I would agree that he would be an upgrade over Rafer and is still young. You'd be tied up with alot of money on him for 4 more years though (about 36 million over 4 years).
When Rafer is hitting his 3's, as he did in the 22 game winning streak last year, then he is can get by ok at the point. Buit it is like he has forgotten how to drive to the basket or move the defense around with his dribbling to open things up. He is stuck in mud, brings the ball up and drops it off and disappears.
I'm with you the more I think about it. Hinrich is too pricey and I would like us to try to resign Artest. Maybe we just live with what we got and look to add a big (Deke or something in a similar price range).
I am still not comfortable with Aaron matching up with some of the better point guards in this league. . his size will always be his undoing. Rafer's defense is better, and while his shooting isn't fantastic, Brooks works best when Barry is in the game with him. Starting Brooks means McGrady is going to be doing a lot of the facilitating, which would add more pressure on him. Bring Brooks off the bench and let him be our spark plug. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
I don't know if this has been mentioned, but Adelman seems to to like to play Brooks only if Barry is on the floor with him.
IMO the Rockets chances with a Alston, Head and Francis package is more likley to attract a pure salary dump than finding an upgrade. Also Head and Francis are expiring contracts which doesn't work out for the Rockets. They'll need to dump future salary [players under contract for 09-10] to accomodate a bigger salary [it doesn't have to be Hinrich] if they are to keep Artest next season.
I think it may be interesting to see how Battier slots back into this team. It sounded like the original plan was for Battier to start and Artest to come off the bench -- if that does materialize, I could see Adelman also flipping Rafer and Brooks. Rafer's friendship with Artest would make the switch easier to handle if they were playing together on the 2nd unit.
They would be foolish to take on a contract like Hinrich. That basically kills any flexibility you might have had in 2010. Thankfully, a major acquisition isn't necessary. If McGrady is on the court, the point guard just needs to be able to hit the open 3. Even Matt Maloney would do. If he's not on the court, Brooks and Barry are more than adequate. A trade isn't necessary.
Hinrich is not bad, but who should we use to trade for him, only if it is Rafer or Head. Will bulls agree with that, the chance is very low How about Steve Blake, is he still with Portland? He would be a great fit for Rockets to displace Rafer
this is just like the championship rockets team. ppl wanted cassell to start o ver kenny smith, but cassell did a better job off the bench. rafer just needs to get back into the flow of the offense. once he and t-mac get going then we will have an excellent 1-2 punch with the t-mac rafer offense and the yao artest offense with brooks. maybe by mid-season it will click and post all-star break (injuries barred) we will be the scariest team in the league.
amen to that. Brooks is the perfect spark of the bench. He would not do the damage he does if he were starting. I am under the view that we should trade rafer for a 7' backup center and play T-Mac at pg. Have Battier, Artest and Scola all start. This would work very well, and we still have a strong bench (even without battier or artest on it). bench: Brooks Landry Barry 7' Center Head Dorsey Wafer The top 4 on that bench would be our constant rotation. Barry and Head would be great in clutch time
