I do buy it that houston is not appealing. Where are the superstars? Don't think that free agents are not looking at the rockets track record of one playoff win in 15 years. Even the talent level surrounding Tmac and Yao was average (D-League ).
Houston is really not that far...what we have had is mediocre years and the team choking down the stretch this year...but I do believe that the Rockets were able to hit on this draft just solely based on the depth of this year's talent pool... I really see our team as having the right talent..sure we may lose...but we will have a decent lottery pick this year...and combine that with the possiblity of getting a Toronto lottery pick and dallas one??? there is so much upside...to the future... Houston's history of success has always come thru the draft.. and with success we were able to lure prime atheletes via trade...Hakeem, Yao via the draft.. TMAC, Barkley, Drexler, SF3 via trade...it all starts with drafting the right players...
No...that's saying that utilizing your current pieces and developing them whilst adding a couple veterans (maybe even a all-star calibar vet) will make you a contender in 3 years as opposed to 5. Which is true. If ONE of Lamb, Motie, Jones or White hit and become that guy we've been searching for on the FA market for years.....AND the 2013 Rox pick or 2013 Tor pick ends up being good.....With Lin and another High Quality vet (just one)....the Rox can in-fact be a serious competitor by 2014.
All the elites are locked (James, KD, Wade, Deron, Rose, CP3 .....). So it has to be done through the draft.
I agree with you, all the current elites are locked. That's why I felt this offseason with Dwight and DWill was critical to us vaulting into contender status through trade acquisitions. Now, we're going to have to wait to see who develops into that elite status. However, I do not necessarily agree with you that we have to draft them. Realistically, it's about 50/50 through draft and trade. Half the elite players in this league have been traded or signed elsewhere in free agency. Although the current elites are not available in trade, there could be guys in the league that are approaching elite status who may be acquirable by trade. One question we should be asking ourselves is looking around the league, who are the next players fixing to break into the elite class? There might be some out there that are on an upward career trajectory and just a notch below elite that are headed to elite. Can you pick 'em? It's really not much different than picking guys in the draft. You gotta be able to see talent on the rise and see that they are going to hit the elite plane. If we could pick out the guys already in the league that are approaching elite status (which I am confident Morey can) and if Morey could trade for a couple of those type players, then our developmental curve could be sped up quite a bit. While elite players are always drafted, the odds are less than 10% of acquiring an elite player through a lottery pick. There's simply not that many elite players in the league. So, drafting in the lottery and making that your goal to get in the lottery has its downside too. There's a reason there's only one OKC out there. They had a large portion of good luck to go with their tremendous player evaluation metrics. A ping pong ball here or there and they are Charlotte.
Actually it is. You have to have a contender already or a star to acquire another star. Shaq went to the Lakers because they were a playoff team without him who had Eddie Jones and Nick Van Exel (both All-Stars). Kobe was acquired on a stupid draft day trade (same as us giving Mem Rudy Gay). Shaq then went to Mia because of Wade and the fact that they were a Mid level playoff team already. LeBron went to the Heat because He is a lame for one and they had Wade and Bosh incoming. McGrady went to the Magic because they had also acquired Grant Hill and then came here because we had Yao and were a mid level Playoff team. I can go on and on but you get the point. We want get star free agents to come here because we aren't good enough and not because players don't like the city. We want get a star in a trade because we don't have the trade pieces. The only option is to tank or stay at the bottom.
Umm you are wrong.. LA and Dallas Traded for Kobe and Dirk on DRAFT NIGHT.. they were targeting Kobe and Dirk and had teams ahead of them draft FOR THEM so they wouldn't be taken then they drafted for the other team and swapped picks.. so YES LA and Dallas drafted Kobe and Dirk.. I will believe Les wants to tank when we trade KMart and give his valuable minutes to Lamb.. and if we really wanna develop our young talent we will trade PPat and play D-MO and T Jones at PF all season.. we could easily get a lottery protected first rounder for Kmart.. and a second rounder for PPAt.. if these guys aren't traded before the season then Les isn't tanking and believes we can snag up that 9th seed
Kevin Love. Just BEAST. I honestly think he will be one of those guys that plays better during the playoffs. I love the fact that he has repeatedly indicated he is not happy with what Minny have and I love how Minny have Kahn. Besides him I think Irving.
If "they" knew how to do it, "they" would have already done it. The luck factor certainly didn't help any. Hopefully, the Rockets struck gold on this crop of rookies because signing a superstar has not been successful.
