Hey ya'll, I normally post on bbb.net and am pretty much the only Rockets fan there that lives in Houston, so I decided to bring my views over here. First of all, let's realise the importance of James Posey. The Rockets must resign him. He is a blue collar type guard that can score as well as play great defense. The franchise players are set (Yao & Stevie), now a good cast of role players must be assembled. Why the Rockets threw it away. They had many many chances to close off the race. Especially after their victory over Phoenix. But they threw away every opportunity they got, and the Rockets definetly troubled better teams more than Phoenix. The Rockets would slack off against teams with under .500 averages. Against the better teams, the Rockets could simply not close out the games. The Rockets are 3 - 11 I believe in games decided by 3 points or less. I hate it how everyone says Yao does not get the ball enough. The Rockets run their damn offense through him. He touches the ball on every other Rockets play. Right now he is not physically too strong, and after scouting reports went around, the solution to stopping Yao was the quick double team and physically abusing him, forcing him to pass or take tough shots. Like Shaq, Yao needs to develop getting better positions when he receives the ball. Shaq dominates inside and can push his way into a great position around the basket before receiving the ball. The problem lies in Kelvin Cato, Mo Taylor and Glen Rice. These guys are getting paid between $8-10 million a year!!! Rice can easily be dealt to a championship calibre team or to a team in a situation like the Atlanta Hawks since his contract expires next year. But the Rockets are stuck with Taylor until 2007, and Cato until 2006. There is no possible way a team will want to be stuck with Taylor's gigantic contract until 2007, and I don't really see Cato being traded as well. Griffin, Mobley, Rice. These are the 3 valuable trade commodities the Rockets have. The Rockets need a playmaker, and they need a heavy duty PF. A dirty worker who would be a great complement to Yao. Let's hope Griffin can step up and play that role. And stop throwing up bricks. Hopefully Dunleavy/Gundy will begin to utilise Yao's size/passing skills. The Rockets mvoe the ball around occasionally, but are near bottom of the league in assists. Need to create some plays suitable for Yao, suitable for the kickout and plays that will highlight the strengths of this Rocket team. In short, the reason the Rockets are so weak is becasue of players like Mobley. He is the architect behinid there crumbling. How many inconsistent nights does he have? When he doesnt shoot well, he slacks off on defense. Sure he can guard Kobe for a day, and maybe put the breaks on Iverson, but he does nothing on certain days, and then on days when his offense doesn't go, he decides not to play defense. Carrol Dawson has talked about starting new things (new arena, new unis THANK GOD) with a bang. I'm expecting EITHER Griffin, Mobley or Rice to be traded this summer. Each is very tradeable. Other than that, Francis has got to improve. Become more of a leader Stevie, improve your jumpers, and start penetrating more. What people don't know about Francis is that he is as good as MArbruy if not better at covering up the ball as he goes to the basket, which makes it extremely difficult to swat away. Rockets fans need to understand how great a scorer Francis is. He needs to be freed up at SG for 20 minutes a game just to score points for the Rockets. The Rockets need a playmaker. Francis has already shown he struggle's scoring and creating at the same time. Emanuel Ginobli comes to mind... yes he is not a legit point guard but he does the little things so well, such as cutting to the basket (great for Yao's double teams) and he can really create for his team members. Spurs really want to hang on to this guy, but I suggest the Rockets pick another Argentinian, Carlos Delfino, if he falls to the second round (Memphis gets their first rounder). He is like Ginobli, but stronger and a better scorer. With that, I hope to see an active offseason for the Rockets, and I hope they can trade Moochie Norris and Rice during the offseason, and get some good value in return for them. <!--- Visit the Rockets forum at ********************* and lets get things lively in there! I've put up plenty of trade proposals, but I've convinced myself that we don't need a player like Abdur Rahim who wont be fully utilised with Yao. http://*********************/forum/forumdisplay.php?forumid=20 ---> Sorry if this is a bit unorganized... I did this very quickly.
In short, I agree. Moochie Norris should be with your list of Glen, Mo, and Kelvin. And......what's bbb.net?
Nice post, I would agree with most of it but I think SAR might be EXACTLY what the rockets need. During normal times your post would generate a fairly lively discussion but as of now the thing on most fans mind is the coaching search, but some good thoughts and analysis.
There are many aspects of trading to look at this season. I hope the management plays with every single one. It will be fun off season. We get a new coach, probably a some new asst. coachs. We get a new arena, new uniforms. Yes it will be fun indeed. Realistically I believe we can pull off a semi big trade that land us a third star (replacing Mobley who believes he is the the star). SAR or Robinson of Atlanta will be intersting to look at. Robinson for Rice has been mentioned and a trade of SAR for Griffen was mentioned. This will probly be a trade of SAR for Griffen and Rice. Many have discussed Garnett possibilities. I have come up with many fair trades to get him, but all have to be somewhat comlicated and would blow up the team. SF and Yao are the core, so Garnett possibilities look bleak. His trade would be a Multible team team more than likely and the Rocks could benefit possibly as the third wheel (ala Pistons for the 2nd pick) get something good or something we need out of it. O'neal was mentioned in a few articles of wanting to go to Texas. His first choice being Spurs. Will it be too hard to convince his that going to a team that has not tasted the playoffs and leading them to a championship brings more glory than going to a team that could get there without you anyways? Will it be too hard to convince him to at least help out his former team whom he has lots of love and respect for to do a sign and trade. One in which we send them Rice (for cap issues) and either Mobley or Griffen possibly both. And if SF really wants to move to sg than it should be Mobley who is offered before Griffen in the trades. Resigning Posey I agree is a big factor in our success next year. Would should also go after some pg fa such as Arenas. Arenas Francis Posey O'neal Ming With the right moves and a bit of bold decision making (ala finally listening to trades involving Griffen) a great team can emerge with Ming and Francis at the core. This team underachieved last year. It should not just aim for the next level (playoffs), its aim should be for the top four in the NBA. With a team like that, or team with similar talent, it should not be too hard a task.
TeamYaoX :- Moochie must go and so should any guard that cant pass at the right time and place. Mobley is not the reason that things dont work on the Rockets selfish ball. Its Steve Francis, the one that should lead, he is the one who dictated selfish ball. He will never have Yao Ming as the best player. I am sure that he hates it, as some writers are already calling the Rockets Yao Mings team and not Steve Francis team. He and Mobley have had Four Years together and we need to go away from their type of Basketball. Its going to happen, especially if we get a coach that wants to develop Yao Ming. Rudy T was one that alloweed this Guard situation to flourish and that is why we are getting a different type of Coach.
I've discussed this with so many ppl so many times, Abdur Rahim is exactly what the Rockets dont need. Although they need a stability at the 3rd scoring option, (Mobley is totally erratic), Abdur Rahim is not going to be willing to take a role behind Yao and Francis, and the Rockest are not gonna pay him $14 million a year to do so! And Abdur Rahim is a player who's playing style will downplay Yao, thereby creating a conflict. Denver can offer Arenas a 6 yr deal starting at $7 million... and Golden State does not have restricted rights over him, so a sign and trade seems very unlikely. And forget about Jermaine ONeal, with the Van Exel trade and the Spurs free cap space, we dont have much of a chance. Yao is the nucleus of the Rockets. Build around him, get hard working role players, and we can succeed.
Francis is a great guy. He is fun loving, and knows that he will eventually take the backseat to Yao. No need to hate on him. Yeah, I also am not a Moochie fan, but with his bogus contract it will really be tough to get rid of him. But I really am excited to see who the new coach will be, and what moves he will make with Rice's expiring contract.
Be sure you make a note of this fact! I dont hate on anybody! What has fun loving and being a great guy got to do with basketball. Steve Francis is a selfish scorer not a leader [playmaker] of our team. This is not hating on him its just the basic facts. If we cant see this, then we will never fix the problem, one way or another.
Rockets Play better Defense like they did when KT was hear and they would win more games Rocket River D-FENCE!!
Only problem with Francis is that he struggles to score as well as create for the team. He takes his PG role pretty seriously, and this kid isnt selfish. You'd know that by watching all 82 games last season.
I think physically Yao is close to be ready, but his fitness level is low. He can push other guys around for about 5 minutes, then he gets tired easily so that he would stop pushing other people. If he can maintain his energy for 30 minutes, he will wear people out in the second half instead of the other way around. He is too big and 310 pounds. M. Taylor definitely is a drag on the team as he costs too much to produce too little. Cato is okay, but as a backup center, costs too much. I think Cato is more tradable than Taylor because most teams need a center. Hey, look, even Seattle can trade whoever that PF to Boston, it is not hopeless for Houston.
