are you kidding? francis was an awful one-on-one defender. i still remember when utah's backup point, some little hispanic guy i forgot his name, gave francis the business during his last year before the trade
I really didn't like Morey's response on Tracy and Yao's injury ridden seasons. He says he anticipates it and hoping that they both end up healthy around playoff time... wtf.
Basically he said they are trying to build around it. Let's be honest, he's hedging his bets that the team will have to survive without one or the other of them at some point during the season. I would say that's a smart move. I also get the feeling from what he said about Yao Scola and Landry that Chuck is going to be used as trade bait. From my interpretation of what Morey was saying... definitely be back... Yao, Tmac, Shane, Scola, Brooks and Landry. Deke will probably retire... ...and that they are prepared to give up some of their assets (Chuck, Rafer, Luther, Novak etc) to get trades completed that they believe will upgrade the roster..
Chuck is good trade bait, very good defensive player... Head I don't even know if we could trade him away because he's been so poor in pressure situations. Rafer is really good trade bait atm, but shouldn't we be keeping him? I mean there's not many superstar PGs becoming available.
I wouldn't consider Rafer "good" trade bait. But I do agree that we need to keep him. Unless something amazing falls into our laps we can't afford to lose him. 2 years at the helm of the offense will give him added importance. Jackson is the tradeable one. God I would hate to see Hayes go. Thats the kind of player championship teams have on them. It would be a real big shame to lose him. Our most consistent player. The player I admired and took pleasure in watching early on when the Rockets performances were so dreadful.
i dont see us actually moving rafer. we're currently very thin at the 1 spot, with bobby jackson's expiring contract as probable trade bait, aaron brooks still a work in progress, and only the sincere hope that francis can not only stay healthy but run the offense (doubtful). that means we only have 1 real point guard. trading him means giving up the one guy who runs this team the way rick likes, so we'd have to get a better point guard in return (unlikely that a team will trade point guards straight up) or acquire a better one through free agency (possible but we'd still want to keep rafer as a backup, otherwise brooks is the primary backup). i also doubt rick wants to spend another year with a brand new point guard trying to run the system. the rockets are probably looking into getting another point guard, but as an addition to rafer, not a replacement. you always want at least 2 point guards on your team you can trust; swapping rafer with someone else still leaves this team with just one. as much potential as brooks has its a little soon to hand him the keys to the car; if anything we are keeping rafer and brooks, using our "assets" to acquire one more point guard who can split time with rafer while brooks continues to develop, and to bring in a backup slasher SG/SF (based on morey's comments). probably sign some stiffs to backup yao at center.
I don't believe that. The offense moves much smoother with Rafer in the game. Jackson can't even play PG. He was a game changer in Sacramento, not a system manager. Adelman even traded him for Bonzi Wells at one point (yup). Jackson has always been expendable.
all i know is we need a third scorer who is gonna help yao/tracy out. and step up and be the #2 option if one of them goes out.
from the sr610 interview i wonder why they went out of the way to talk up battier? upping his trade value?
i was talking about rafer. "trading him [rafer] means giving up the one guy who runs this team the way rick likes." bjax is just trade bait and im not counting on francis becoming our savior at point when he was never really a point guard his whole career. rafer is the only dependable point guard on our team, and i was saying that we're not trading him even if we get another good point guard in return. it'd have to be an upgrade, and even then we're probably looking to add depth more than we're looking to move rafer for someone better. adelman sounds high on rafer though so he should be safe, unless we get some amazing pg in return. adelman praises rafer (says he's one of the best defenders at his position in the league) about halfway through this. http://www.sportsradio610.com/episode_download.php?contentType=36&contentId=2104926
I also remember Francis torching the Jazz for 27pts in the 1st half before getting thrown out. He also hit a game winning three pointer against the Jazz also.
Especially since they'll probably be trying their hardest to trade Jackson, and I can't imagine that Francis can't do what Jackson was doing for the team - coming off the bench to dribble around and jack up shots.
He can't say much, but its the same b.s. Francis is done, we're still looking for slashers and finishers and they hope yao and tracy stay healthy. Truthfully, after further watching the playoffs, I'm ready to go with brooks and back him up with someone like arroyo. We've seen the best of rafer, which was 17ppg on 42%, but he can't play at that level for more than 20-30games a yr. Brooks quickness and speed will offset the size problems. He just needs to get stronger. They should get Artest even if it means battier. Artest gives the rox everything they're looking for. He also still gives the rox a really good chance to win even if yao misses his standard 30 games. After that, offer 2.5m to ricky davis for the backup swingman. He shoots 40% 3pt, 77%ft, can get to the hoop,finish and create a little. Now the rox have a combo of Mcgrady,Artest, and davis that will get you 48-55ppg and always have the rox with size and creators at 2/3 spot. Offer the other 2.5 to diop or mihm. Both can play backup to yao and can start if he goes down. Just use the contracts and get it done.
Quite true... Not me. What I saw sadly reinforced my initial misgivings about Brooks. He's just too small. Speed is nice and all but it's just not going to be enough to compensate for what he gives up on defense. He's OK coming off the bench for 10-15 mins a game but unless he somehow morphs into a compact version of CP3, he's not the answer at the point. We disagree about Artest. He's a loony and would probably go off and attack Yao (or Adelman or the dancers or the timekeeper or Clutch the Bear). Seriosuly, in the short term, this is probably an OK option but over time he'll become unhappy and you don't want to see him when he's unhappy... Not sure about Ricky Davis although that is a good suggestion to look into. I've seen Diop from his time here in Dallas and I like him better than Mihm who is the very definition of stiff. He's sort of like a Scola-type player but without the offensive game. He works and plays very hard however and that's never a bad thing to have. Some good ideas you have there...
