Had Martin been acquired this off-season, would it change your outlook?

Yeah, I think we've only scratched the surface of what Martin will truly bring to this team. Barring injury, I'd like to see him get back up to the 23-24 ppg that he averaged a couple seasons ago.

 

100% spot on, Martin will have had a full training camp to get used to this team etc, and he is not coming off of finger surgery anymore.

He will be huge for this team this year, and if he gets hurt or misses a game or so, we got him covered with Lee and Cbud....

If Yao is healthy, this team is going to be WAY better than most people think.

Top 2 or 3 in the WC and a championship contender.

We are built just like the Sacremento Kings of Webber and Bibby.

This team has it all...gonna be fun to watch, I love that style of play.

DD

 

Good point, Martin was basically our BIG FAgent acquisition while Patterson, Miller and Lee are excellent complementary pieces.

 

I do think people would have more to talk about if Martin hadn't played any games for us yet.

That said, I still think next season will be exciting.

 

How many teams count on losing 13m and 20 games every year? You dont and and cant replace that kind of money and production every year and expect to be ok. If so, that guy you're losing isnt as good as you think.

 

Every team deals with injuries and missed games.

And generally speaking the team that is the healthiest with talent has the best year.

The Rockets have had more injuries than most, but the worst thing is that their injuries were to their best players.

The way they are built now, they really don't have a dominant player they have a lot of good to really good ones.

So, they more than a team built around one or two players can take an injury hit.

And, if they get that lucky healthy year, they will be outstanding.

DD

 

Hmm, that seems a little backwards, it's probably more a case of mid season trades are for the immediate usually, but in this case it wasn't, but due to it being a little different, that its part of the perception.

 

Great point, but though I think I'd still be pissed that all we got for McGrady's expiring at the trade deadline was Jeffries, Hill and a some picks from NY.

 

Sometimes mid-season trades have immediate affect.

Cylde Drexler?
Rasheed Wallace?

It just depends on the situation. Nothing you can really generalize about.

 

Well essentially that is what we got for him. The Landry>Martin trade was already in place when Morey called Walsh for some hardball. It was one trade, but I've always thought of it as Martin for Landry, McGrady for the Knick assets.

To OP. Yes I completely agree. The team that finished the year was better than people realize. We just never got to see them really get going because of injuries to all our defensive players and chemistry issues making our defense porous to say the least.

I think that team, if healthy and given a full training camp, could net 47-49 wins without Yao.

 

great, great point! totally agree with OP

 

It's been pretty consistent that most mid season trades hurt before they help. Even if it's clear you got the better of the deal it takes time for players to adjust. Sometimes it will happen before the end of the season ala Clyde the glide. Sometimes it will take until the next ala Gasol Lakers. But make no mistake there is almost always an adjustment period.

Martin clearly did not look his best when he first got here. he was playing mostly on instinct. His numbers were poorer at first. Then he was injured and then he showed signs of him and Brooks looking deadly together. We only saw a piece of that and clearly even then there is room to improve. I think that was the point of the poster. Martin is like a new addition to because after trading Landry our team declined and only started playing a little better towards the very end. We should expect to see much more improvement his coming season.

I agree with the poster. I am actually excited about this year. I think Martin will play better. I think Lee is a great backup 2. I would like to have a more experienced backup power forward but outside of that we are 2 men deep. Oh and did I mention we have this 7'6" all star coming back next year.

 

You can't really think of it as one trade because Sac sent some assets NY's way (their other PG and a pick I think). Those assets must have made the trade more palatable in NY's eyes. Its quite hard for me to imagine NY trading Hill, a swap, a pick and Jeffries just for Tmac, or Sac trading Kevin Martin for just Landry.

 

I just looked up some articles about the trade, and I'd forgotten how much of the three teams needed one another.

New York was balking until Sacramento got involved and gave the Knicks a young player that they coveted in Sergio Rodriguez (while receiving Larry Hughes' expiring). Until the Kings entered the picture, the deal was Jeffries, Hill and Harrington or Hughes (expiring) for McGrady, Dorsey and Brian Cook, and New York was refusing to give up both the pick swap and the pick for that package.

As for Sacramento, they weren't going to give up Martin for just Landry: we would've had to give up McGrady along with Landry if the deal was just between Houston and Sacramento. It took Hughes' expiring contract from NY and cash from Houston for them to change their minds.

Now that I think of it, getting Jeffries, Hill and NY picks (and I suppose a hefty trade exception) would not have been so bad.

 

I couldn't care less what Sac and NY sent to each other. That doesn't affect us. :grin:

What I meant by that is we already had a deal in place with Sac that would have got us Martin with Landry being the main piece going out. For us, the assets from New York were aquired by McGrady going there. That's what I meant.

 

And did the Knicks get anything other than Rodriguez from the Kings? Is he even on the team now?

Seems like they really cared about getting him...

 

Sacramento would not have done the deal unless they got a hefty expiring contract along with Landry. If they didn't get Hughes from NY, it would've taken McGrady's contract.

Which would've meant no possible deal with NY, so no Hill or picks for Houston.

 

Martin's going to have a career year. Book it.