Yep. IF, IF, IF YAO IS DONE. We have done nothing but try to maintain competitiveness and avoid rebuilding since the Championship years. I'm tired of it. On the otherhand some teams have wiped the slate and still struggled with mediocrity for years. You still need luck to rebuild fast. Let's hope for some good luck. Who wants Battier and Scola for young players or draft choices?
I wonder if we could trade Yao willing to take a gamble on his return -- one senior player for salary, a couple of high risk youngsters and maybe a pick?
I agree, and in fact I think we will benefit from this with a faster, younger center like Gortat who would be a monster on the boards. If we are able to pull a trade off for any of the Clippers bigs then go for it as well. We have a solid team and I think Les & Morey will get us some good guys in free agency or through trade.
Frankly I would be upset if we were to win 50 games next season with some patch jobs. Yao was done couple of season's ago! we need a SUPERSTAR, that's something we have not had since Dream. anything but starting fresh with the right planning is just delaying our true chance for our 3rd championship. This time we need a superstar that does not need a diper inside 2 minutes mark.
<BR> Whew! When I saw "Retool" I thought it was something about getting T-Mac back in the lineup. <BR><BR>
Truthfully, there is something more "obnoxious" than just sign Gortat and away we go. That something is evaluating the Lakers playoff series as anything other than super effort by the Rockets and total nonchalance on the part of Los Angeles. Blind and small-sampled fandom is far worse than the Gortat mantras.
I posted the following in another thread but I think it applies to this one too: If Yao retires, his remaining years/salary won't count towards the team's salary cap. More importantly it possibly doesn't count during 2010 free agency. That'll be two months (or even earlier since it involves an existing foot problem) after qualifying for a medical retirement where his 2009-10 salary will also be retroactively taken off. IMO the best course of action is for the Rockets to hedge their bets. Trade for cost-effective talent with Yao in mind, so they have the pieces to make a push in the playoffs. Those same role players can make the Rockets an attractive destination for a 2010 superstar free agent, if Yao retires. Completely re-building from ground up does not work unless a team lucks out in the lottery like Portland. Even with all the young talent they have, without Roy, aren't they just another Memphis, OKC, or Minnesota?
Everyone in this city seems to be OBSESSED with rebuilding, 2 weeks ago ppl were saying the astros should get rid of Osawlt and rebuild with minor league prospects, now they are only 4 games back of first place. I agree with the OP, retool, i dont want to see the rockets go 22-60 next year bc we decided to surrender before the season even starts.
nba is entirely different than mlb because of salary cap. i'm less for full-scale rebuild in mlb than i am for nba teams.
The Rockets still have enough pieces to compete next season. Tmac's contract is still very attractive for some teams especially when the trade deadlines comes along. With this trade, additional players will be added to complement the present line up.
i believe if the rockets play 82 games with neither of those dudes contributing, this is more than likely a lottery-bound team.
Here is a great retooling plan. I know you will all like it Tracy McGrady, Luis Scola, Aaron Brooks, and Joey Dorsey to the Suns for Amare Stoudemire and Leandro Barbosa. Carl Landry, Brent Barry, Brian Cook, and Chase Budinger to the Clippers for Marcus Camby. Rockets re-sign Artest to a 4 year 40 million dollar contract. Rockets sign Marcin Gortat to a 4 year 24 million dollar contract. Rockets sign Jason Williams to a 1 year 1.2 million dollar contract. Lineup: PF - Stoudemire SF - Battier C - Gortat SG - Artest PG - Lowry Bench: PG - Williams PG/SG - Barbosa SG/SF - Taylor PF/C - Camby PF - Hayes SG/SF - White SF - Leunen Hey.......................................................I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
that correct we have to retool i was cheking the free agency and if we play smart we can end with good names and young at a relative low cost this are the one i though Marquis Daniels 28yrs sg Anderson Varejao 26yrs sf,pf,c Brandom Bass 24yrs pf,c Trevor Ariza 24yrs sf Charlie Villanueva 24yrs pf Rodney Carney 25 yrs sf Marcin Gortat 25yrs c Matt Barnes 29yrs sf if we can add at least two or three of them we can have a competive team b/c all of them can score not 30ppg but all play a team ofense that can help at us
I'm a little confused by the people who think the world has collapsed because Yao is out. If this team is not a few trades away from contending now that Yao is out then it certainly never was a contender with Yao on the floor. The team has won exactly one playoff series with Yao and it wasn't like he carried the team to that victory. The Portland series was a great, great win but he was not a franchise-caliber player throughout the series. He had great moments and even a great half of a game here and there but he didn't lead or carry this team anywhere. The other players stepping their games up is what won that series. In the Lakers series, the Rockets were DOWN 2-1 with Yao on the court and went 2-2 without him. I'm not saying the Rockets win that series had Yao not played at all (because they certainly would not) but people need to stop acting like the Rockets had LA right where they wanted them before Yao went down. How soon we forget that night after night we wonder how this huge, skilled competitor can score 18 in one half and not score a basket in the second half or how a 7'6" can only grab 4 rebounds in a game while being guarded by 6'9" bench players from the other team. Or the nights when the minute Yao sat on the bench the young guys would rev into high gear and use team speed to erase deficits or build leads. Yao is a great player but he has huge weaknesses in his game that were exploited by other teams. Don't believe me. Look at any threads concerning the Utah Jazz and the topic that dominates is how to cover for all of Yao's weaknesses against them. Half of us were hinting that maybe he should sit out for large portions of those games while the other half thought the same thing but didn't want to say it. Morey definitely has his work cut out for him but if this team secures a mobile, 7 footer who at least plays some defense/rebounds and a legit, efficient scoring threat at the wing position this team is every bit as good or better than it was with Yao. No more stagnant half court game where the shot clock is wasted trying to get the ball to a guy who can't catch passes. No more sacrificing team speed because of the big guy and no more watching athletic front lines take advantage of Yao's speed by attacking him off the dribble. This roster is full of good (and improving) NBA players. The team needs size and a guy to get them buckets when the offense isn't working on some nights.
I agree, we don't have to necessarily we can just retool since we have good role players just need a star
