Whether or not Billups was attainable by the Rox, he is actually the ideal PG for this team. Pistons let him go not because he's "not worth the money." It's because they wanted to develop a young Stuckey. Keep in mind, Billups one of the easiest PG to under rate. He wasn't even recognized as an elite player until he got his finals MVP. One main reason is because he doesn't do anything flashy, he doesn't put up monster numbers, and doesn't make it to sports center highlights. Instead, Billups simply gets things done: runs a smooth offense; sets up his teammates; defends tenaciously; makes big shots; and closes out games with a fantastic FT%. Exactly wut this Rockets team needs.
I'm not saying that Billups is not a good player, I consider him in the 2nd tier of pgs in the game today. But he's making top level money, Billups just signed a 5-year 60 million dollar contract last year and he's already 32 years old! He is exactly what this team needs, but with each passing year Billups' ability as a player goes down, and I expect him to become backup pg material in around 2-3 years. Yao Ming is too young to be saddled with an albatross contract by that time, he'll only be 29-30 and still have a couple of years left. I'd rather pay that kind of money for a player around Yao Ming's age, someone like Joe Johnson would do nicely if we don't get LBJ/Bosh/Dwade. Besides, its not like we need another good pg. I'm quite content with AB and Lowry (who has the makings of an above average pg). What we need to upgrade is our wing position and backup C. Artest is good defensively but can't score efficiently. If we had JJ here our problems would be solved. Hell I'd even settle for Jason Richardson at this point...
you guys know we arent going to get dwade or lebron or bosh, we could sign joe johnson id be veryy happpy n if artest resigns. Brooks Joe Johnson Artest Scola Yao battier/wafer/lawry on the bench. Also we sign some bigs that could easily compete with lakers
I agree. Those are the same kind of fans that regret drafting Hakeem over MJ. What if Rockets drafted MJ? What if? Too many what if's.
i think keeping our team in tact at the beginning of the year was important, we had our 3 headed monsters, yao, mac, and artest. we didn't exactly know that mac would get injured and be out for the whole year, but it's shown us that ronron is worth every bit of the money that mac is. we didn't know exactly how much billups had in his tank and how he would perfrom his year after last year's playoff collapse. it was a decision to keep mac because a healthy mac was worth more than a healthy billups at the beginning of the year.
We have enough all-stars on the team. Let's not turn into the Celtics trying to 'buy' a championship.
LBJ is NOT leaving cleveland. miami is a prim NBA free agent destination so Wade is NOT leaving. Bosh is leaving toronto but i doubt we get him, and I dont even know if I like him. JJ is overrated.
Ok, I see you point. And I do agree to a certain extent. Unfortunately the likes of LBJ/Bosh/Wade costs sig. more than Billups. Billups doesn't exactly rely on his youth to be effective. I'll be perfectly okay with Billups starting and Brooks as a 6th man (kind of like Kidd and Terry for the Mavs). An alternative I would actually like to see is for KL to develop a reliable consistent jumper and be our starting PG. And perhaps we mite land a phenomenal wing player like LBJ or Wade afterall. Heck I'd be happy if we had someone of Roy/Gay/Johnson/etc's caliber.
yeah, i would tend to agree with you, just because improving the team was only a secondary motive in the iverson-billups trade. the first motive was for dumars clearly immediate cap space, and i could see them filling their power forward position this season with boozer, milsap, or lee, just because detroit isn't an attractive destination for the 2010ers. mcgrady's contract was therefore most likely NOT sufficient.
not sure if we can compete with the lakers unless we have a top-tier superstar to counter kobe, they have gasol who is underrated, he is an unbelievable 7' footer, great hands, great passer, i'd say he's not much worse than yao. plus lamar odom and their bench, they are loaded. if kobe doesn't win it this year, i'd be really, really surprised.
JJ is overrated, but he shoots well, handles the rock well and is durable. can't ask much more from a 2, but he isn't going to make us a championship team imo. if Yao steps it up a notch, lets say 25-10, and the role players AB, Luis, Ron, and Shane all average double digits, we'd be a legit contender. can't wait til 2010 and to sign some FA's with mac's expiring. trust morey. the guy is a genius.
