I agree. I would go after Bosh and Wade and build around them. We might even keep Yao and that would be awesome!!
Wow..and you need to rein in your emotions there, Pal. FACT: T-Mac has been more negative than positive. He was almost traded last year because he was a malcontent. FACT: T-Mac is not worth his contract. FACT: T-Mac is on a steep decline. Sorry that you have trouble handling reality.
Fact, T- Mac led a supporting cast of a Mutombo, Shane Battier, Scolandry and Alston to 55 wins in the very tough West. If you were to ignore the impact he's made in the second half of the season then you obviously don't watch enough basketball.
too much can change to make a reasoned response. i really love our team's current roster, with some future success, i'd opt for keeping folks and adding more talent. but how could you possibly factor for the circumstances that led to TMac or Artest's acquisition? Landry or Scola's promise? etc ...? time alone can tell. btw, i'm pretty comfortable with Morey's performance thus far.
FACT: The only place T-Mac LED this team is FAILURE in the playoffs. People LOVE to accent T-Mac's "Leadership" during the 22 game streak. Huh? Excuse me. It was Yao's leadership during that drive. Yeah, he got injured, but T-Mac was no leader. Anyway, I am NOT going to continue arguing with T-Mac only Fans. It's pointless. I've stated my opinion. As a ROCKETS fan, I do NOT want T-Mac resigned. I think we can find better players to surround Yao Ming with. Another Opinion of mine: Ooh warning to T-Mac sensitive fans: Ron Artest was a BETTER player to team Yao with than T-mac and his host of issues.
Just so u know, this is the Houston Rockets. Not Yao Rockets or Tracy Rockets. Its evident who u root for through blindness. If you can't see the impact tracy has on this team, then just go look at the record with tracy and yao, without tracy and without yao. Once you see the facts, then maybe you can see clearly.
Personally i would not sign Tmac to anything over 10 mill in 2 years. As much as i love him Tmac is declining (hope it is his knee) but he is getting old and is only going to get more fragile, his 3pt shooting is average, he does not get much elevation on his jumpers anymore (like i said i hope it is his knee) but in 2 years time he is going to lose a lot of his athleticism anyway, hopefully we can win a championship and sign a big name player in 2010, the chances of him taking a pay cut and finishing as a Rocket will improve dramatically. Yao is a different story IMO, his early injuries are freak injuries and if he no longer plays for team China aka bunch of bums who can't shoot open 12fts i think he should be fine. Plus Yao had no athleticism to begin with so we are not losing that much there, his post game is not going to go backwards and his awareness can only get better. Like i said i hope all the money Lebron will get from the Chinese will make him come to Houston.
Ideally I''d like to see one of 2 scenarios: 1.) Resign Tracy for ~10 million, give Artest some money to stick around for 2-3 years, give Yao an extension. Upgrade the PG position and see what we can get until Tracy is done and Yao starts to decline. or 2.) Let Tracy walk and see if we can't get into the Bosh/Lebron sweepstakes to pair with Yao/Artest. I wouldnt pursue Wade, he is agreat player but I think he is a bit too injury prone.
Most teams are going to get into a battle to sign big dogs such as Lebron, Bosh, etc. I think we should concentrate on other players that might not be as famous, but can be good and cheap.
IN MOREY I TRUST and you should too. concentrate on this year because many things can happen in 2 seasons
T-Mac is in for a reality shock if he thinks he's going to continue to get paid 20M. Who's going to pay him 20M? Name ONE team who would pay him 20M. no way, those days are LONG gone. T-Mac probably right now is 12M / year player. Max. I could see him signing to some OTHER team for 4 years, 45 million or so. I think that's a fair amount for him.
I think we all have to trust Morey with his stats, it will tell us what to do and which player to pick. Just from my gut feelings: -Yao will not go anywhere, he's too loyal, he may even take a pay cut in order to allow cap flex for houston, just like what duncan did. -tmac will certainly also be here if the team still generate position atmosphere for tmac. he will certainly take a pay cut for the origanization too. Which it all boils down to who will we get in order to entice both our superstars? Lebron, Wade, Bosh, would be the top 3 players that everyone will want. Rockets got one thing that Knicks, Nets, (Pistons, maybe)...etc don't have. Rockets have a winning team and organization. All these superstars will realized that they no longer can do it all by themselves, they need teammates and Rockets got the best options. -Ron, may or may not be back, but he is good this year, expect him to be with us in many years and he will be a strong draw for the free agents. -landry, brooks, scola, battier, and dorsey may all be with us. so we have at least a good core.
I don't think its as hard as people think to get into the lebron sweepstakes. Let Rafer and scola walk in their contract yr. That's 7m. This summer, offer Artest 4yrs at 10m per. The summer of lebron, trade shane for a future pick like denver did with camby. So then u would have yao@ 15m, Artest @ 10m, Brooks @ 2m, Landry @ 3m, Dorsey @ 1.5m. That's 30 mil of a 57m cap. Offer James 16m, after he signs, offer tracy 8m per for 3 yrs. Use the mle,lle, and vets minimum to fill out the roster.
The best way for LeBron to reach $1B is through China and Yao. If Rockets are successful in the next 2 years, and Yao and T-Mac takes a paycut in 2010, there is a HUGE chance that Morey can land LeBron. That would be huge!
The most watched basketball game ever is the game between US and China in the Olympics, with 100M+ people watching it. LeBron knows that if he joins Yao and T-Mac, the ratings of Rockets will hit through the roof. If he thought playing along Big Z is fun, what about playing along Big Yao?
If TMac stays, it's not idea to sign another superstar wing player. In two years, TMac would be even more slower at the defense end, he will need some1 like Artest or Battier to cover his weakness. Yes, TMAC can be a sixth man, but 12M is kind of too much for a sixth man.
