maybe we will need to build a statues in memory of him. I would give a suggestion to the mayor of houston if I were a member of houston's congress.
I don't think it's terrible or brutal. Rockets acquire players with talent, skill, and size, which is what this team needs since we're in win now mode. Jackson has a very attractive contract for a player of his caliber and we would have him locked in for the next 4 seasons. Crawford only has 2 more years left on his deal after this season. Randolph is locked into a rookie contract, which is what you would want for a player like him. Jackson replaces T-Mac and assumes his role on the team. Crawford is a good shooter who can drop 50 on the opposing team. Randolph is the young, athletic, talented backup for Yao we've been looking for. His athleticism and size is ideal for backup C or playing alongside Yao as PF. Jackson would fit in nicely. He and Artest (I'm assuming he's going to be resigned) played well together at Indiana. I don't see Randolph not fitting either since he fills a glaring need. Crawford is the only one that really doesn't fit a team need, but if Brooks or Lowry are struggling because of their lack of size or other issues or if an injury occurs, Jamal brings size, skills, and depth at the very least. This deal would push Hayes and Barry out of the rotation, and Battier to the bench where he can be more effective as a 15-20 mpg player as he gets older, all of which I would welcome. At the end of this year, Justin Reed, Jackie Butler, and Luther Head, Deke, and White's (his contract for next season is non-guaranteed - I don't thin he'll be back) contracts all come off the books. That's a total of $7 million. The Rockets could also let Wafer walk in the off-season if he asks for too much if they do this deal. Brian Cook, Barry, Hayes, Dorsey will all be gone at the end of the following season and Scola, Lowry, and/or Brooks could be gone as well. Thus, with all these expiring contracts there is flexibility. Most importantly, with a deal like this, the Houston Rockest become taller, deeper, more talented, more athletic, more skilled, and instant contenders.
C'mon my man, do you not watch basketball? Jackson is a very good defensive player. Randolph is above average defensively and will help protect the basket on the weakside when playing with Yao and will give the team a real presence in the middle when Yao is out the game. Crawford's defense is no worse than Wafer, Brooks, and Barry, but his offensive game is head and shoulders above those players.
true, the warriors are pretty bad at defense but it doesn't mean their players are also bad defensively. It's also true the other way around... Rockets are among the top several teams in defense but we do have plenty of bad defenders like Aaron. The problem of warrior's defense is just Don Nelson isn't a coach that pays much attention to the defensive play, just like an opposite version of JVG. S-Jax's defensive skills used to be good because of his early years he spent on spurs. but he has been playing with warriors for a long time... now he is only an average defender I'm afraid.
I'm sorry if I came across as a jerk in my response but i'm surprised you can't at least see how badly these players would fit together. Sure, it's an excellent trade from a talent perspective but there's obviously a lot more to it than that. As we saw with the Artest experiment, we all knew he wasn't particularly a good fit yet we took this stubborn, rigid "He's a 20 PPG scorer. We'll make it work!" approach. As it turns out, Artest and T-Mac couldn't play together due to their similar ball-stopping nature of play. Only when T-Mac finally did us the favor of bowing out for the season did Artest finally seem to be not such a headache anymore. Captain Jacko and Crawford are the epitome of ball-stoppers. They NEED the ball in their hands and when the Warriors aren't running-and-gunning it's dribble-dribble-dribble-ISO-________. We already have Artest playing that way yet you want to reunite Artest with Captain Jacko with Crawford, to boot? Wafer plays the same way too! Would Yao even touch the ball? I don't think my health insurance covers coronary operations. This deal gets even uglier when you factor in the financial ramifications. We still have to re-up Artest/Wafer this summer, Scola/Lowry next summer. Possibly Brooks too. We won't even discuss the possibility of Yao opting out next year. The point is with all these unresolved issues I cannot, in a million years, imagine Morey agreeing to a deal like this that essentially swaps a $23M expiring contract for $50M+ in lengthy, ugly contracts for players that don't even fit in the first place.
If we don't keep Artest, then I would be completely fine with trading for Stephen Jackson. If we do keep Artest, though, there's really no reason to get SJ. That would be Tracy-Ron all over again, and we all know that didn't work.
Words of truth. But it's Kwame, so we should give him a free pass. By the way, Kwame Jackson & Artest? You crazy? They played well together in Indiana? If you mean set off an A-bomb in the locker room well, then hell yeah! That team friggin' blew its covers up!
Plus Kwame, according to your logic, then the Warriors should be a title contending team right now. Aside from "great" players in Jackson, Crawford and young athletic lengthy guys like Randolph & Wright, they have one of the league's best young big in Biedrins, and a speedy star point in Ellis. And don't forget Corey Maggette, who's DD's secret crush. Plus a HoF coach to boot. So why aren't them beating the Lakers? If talent wins, why are they dwelling in DEEP lottery zone?
here is the deal pickle: the rockets want to sign yao. and that ain't going to change. too much $$$$$$ for you knuckleheads to understand. les loves that mula. so get it through your thick heads. yao ain't goin no wheres unless he want to. les makes more money off yao than the boston celtics made off winning the championship last season. it's a business plus...if the rockets have anybody around there with 1/2 a basketball mind...yao ain't goin no where for that reason either. big men like that don't grow on trees. only come around once ina blue moon
I don't want any of these players on our team. Jackson would be okay, but Crawford and Randolph are both black holes. They are not good team players at all. If you guys don't like Artest, then how would you like to see this problem compounded with these two players? I would really like to see a player like Kevin Martin or Michael Redd. They would be another second tier player that would really help this player. I think we would just be lacking our main go to player after that.
No you didn't come off as a jerk. I think your argument is sound, but we just happen to disagree. I think both Jackson and Crawford are at points in their careers where they would sacrifice some of their ball stopping tendencies in order to win. Jackson has shown he can do that in SA, Indiana, and GState when they beat Dallas in the first round. Also, people underrate Jackson's playmaking and defensive abilities. We'd be surrounding Yao with deadly 3 point shooters that are clutch in this scenario as well. We are in win now mode and I think this deal would fit that philosophy. Although, I am open to other scenarios involving T-Mac's expiring contract. I haven't seen too many alternatives from posters here. Also, to Marsarinian, you do remember that Indiana was favored to go to the Finals by some until the brawl in the Palace broke out. They still made it to the second round and took Detroit to 6 games without Artest.
I like Kevin Martin and Michael Redd, but I think we need an elite guard to pair with yao. Unless our young pg's can get a lot better quickly we are going to need a younger, healthier version of tmac
I agree with your points about S.Jackson. Crawford hasn't shown any desire to play within a team concept which is a red flag. Randolph is young but promising.I like his energy,he could prove to be a good player in the future. Don't see Jackson and Artest fitting in well together. If Jackson fits in better with us,I would like to see if Ron can get us a PG.
Captain Jacko is not half the playmaker somebody like T-Mac is, for instance. The only reason he's averaging 6.5 APG is because the Warriors have no true PG so they're letting Jackson run the "point forward" show. He's also a turnover machine. Between him and Artest running around with his head down we would probably average double digits in TO's per game with those two alone. It's not that Jackson isn't a good player or wouldn't sacrifice for the "win now" philosophy. You simply just can't teach an old dog new tricks. Are T-Mac and Artest motion offense caliber players? Heeeeeell no, but we've made due by adjusting our line ups and coming to the realization that we simply couldn't play the two of them together. Throwing similar ball-stoppers like Crawford and Captain Jacko into the mix only further complicates things, results in a direct contrast to the style of offense Adelman is trying to run and further limits Yao's touches.
very little, today's blazers are a major contender in the west even without too much contribution from their no.1 draft, it's expectable that team will get much better in the next 2-3 seasons to come as their young players become more experienced. the only reason for a player to leave a good team for a laterally good team is just finance, but I don't think blazers' owner will let it become a problem as he is one of the richest owners among the 30 teams in NBA.
