Instead of looking at the big picture, some people like to stick to the corner of it. Those threads make me sick.
Winning does cause bandwagons to fill up pretty quickly!!! And Losing causes all types of turmoil and people get fired and traded. That is GM's, coaches, cornerstone players. So, winning better be taken serious. But one thing is believing you are the best. Because in the NBA or anywhere competition prevails, opponents will adjust. Rockets looking good!
I had my doubts. Don't know if our opinions will change when Bobby has a terrible shooting night ... but ya. as for the hotly debated battier vs gay trade ... is gay a better player than battier/will he be? yes ... he's more talented and more athletic. But at the same time, gay hasn't learned those things that shane excels at. say we had rudy gay still ... we have him in the starting five and all today. do you really think he'd be averaging 20 pts as he is in memphis? I think by him stayin w/us, we would have hindered the speed at his development greatly. I'm not even sure if we'd discover the talent the guy has after the year he woulda had sitting on the bench under jvg. w/shane we know what we're going to get. that's one thing jvg loves. As for now, I'd say ... let's see if shane can bring those intangibles and have them help us win playoff series ... rudy gay will be an all star i think (he's pretty close already), but i'm not sure he would have been in a Rockets uniform today.
Battier plus the 24th pick was certainly possible. Even Les said we should have gotten more out of the 8th pick. Battier has done a very solid job on defense,but if we hadn't gotten Scola,Landry this year,we would needed a 3rd scorer like Gay. I wouldn't have traded down to get Thabo,who is developing into a nice role player. Shane has brought more value then him.
And he's flashy, too! Don't forget that! Most importantly: All of the above could be said about a young Steve Frances -- and remember all those finals we got to with him!
Well why don't you start a topic that is up to your standards? Maybe you can enlighten the rest of us knee jerker's.
I keep saying in the Battier/Gay trade that the Rockets could have gotten another player or pick from it, whether it be a conditional 2nd round pick or lost cost bench player. But of all teams Memphis was probably the worst to trade with cuz they were absolutely NOT going to be fooled by Stromile Swift being "untapped potential" as a former high lottery pick, to raise the value of the Rockets offer. If Rockets got the Grizz's other 1st round pick which ended up being Kyle Lowry, there would be no Aaron Brooks. Which I'd be fine with cuz I like what Lowry offers... Definitely Daryl Morey has shown his impact in a short time, that he's a much different type (meaning probably better) GM than Carroll Dawson.
But that's the whole point. The 24th pick of such a weak draft, given the financial commitment of 1st round picks nowadays, is not worth much. So if one feels that Gay + getting rid of Swift's contract = Battier + 24th pick, then the 24th pick should hinder the trade. I'm not a fan of it either. But to be fair, this thread only exist because so many posters here have bashed Morey's moves before they can even analyze it.
I despise Gay I don't understand the love this board gives him. Our Rocket team is first and foremost a defensive team. And Gay cannot repeat cannot defend. He racks up fouls, he defends worse then Mcgrady does in some situations. And to top it off I don't think he has an inkling of what team defence is. To quote Charlie Rosen "Rudy Gay is putting up big numbers for a horrible team" Look at Gasol put up ridiculous numbers when he was traded. You really think he was trying out there in Memphis? I'd like to see Gay get less shots and see what he does as a third cog in a wheel. He would be a total bust here.
Battier is one of players I never want him to leave this team. His is every coach's dream role player and we are blessed to have him.
Most of the criticism of James wasn't accurate, in my opinion. If he had hit his shots, all the other claims (selfish, doesn't pass, chemistry-killer, etc.) wouldn't have been made. I think pretty much everyone -- even the people who hated him -- thought he'd shoot the ball well, but they had the other problems with him. 35% from the field and 31% from three is terrible (unless you're Rafer apparently -- how's that for your Rafer compliment?). It's unfortunate, but that's what happened. I would have liked to see him turn it around here, but I have no problems seeing him traded and expected it once he was out of the rotation.
Raefer is an amazing player. He isn't the best shooter. He isn't the best assist guy. In fact for NBA point guards, he is sub par. But he stars -- eh -- starts for the Championship contender Houston Rockets!! On paper Mike James should have done so much better that Raefer. Geesh!!! But, Mike James was just in either a season long slump or is nearing the end of his playing days - if that's the case, I'm glad the Rockets won't be ponying up the 12 million dollars remaining on his deal (It's not my money but it is part of the Rocket cap space). But Mike James didn't have the impact to the team if he didn't shoot well. If Raefer consistently made shots for a season, we'd at least be including him on All-star conversations. Of course with so many awesome point guard he wouldn't make it, but he'd be in the conversations at least.
I don't get it. What does Clutch want from Rafer? WHAT DOES HE WANT FROM RAFER?????? LEAVE RAFER ALONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I too expected James to do well here. I thought he would have a clearly define role that suited his abilities. Unfortunately that fell to pieces when he was no longer able to knock down his shots. That highlighted my problem with the pile on attitude against Rafer. I felt that too many were focusing on his obvious shortcomings while steadfastly ignoring what he does bring to the table. Though many will never admit it, Rafer is able to contribute even when he isn't shooting well. The same cannot be said of Mike James.
the main reason why i didnt like this trade was because the guy is a bit old.. hes what? 35 right? or was it 36? idk but trading off one of our better bench players was a bit much. im just glad we ended up getting Gerald Green in the Snyder trade. now we have someone with a huge upside. to everyone who keeps bringing up the gay and battier trade... WE WERE NOT GOING TO DRAFT HIM IN THE FIRST PLACE, it has been stated that we had our sights on Garbosa (who currently plays for the Raptors.. and is injured i believe.. thank goodness we didnt draft him..) ANYWAYS WOULD YA'll STOP WHINING ABOUT THAT TRADE?!? i know gay's playing well this year but just remember that under JVG he would have just been pushed behind all the vet's on the pine. if Roy was available WHO KNOWS what would have happened OMGZ! just deal with that fact that we traded our draft pick for battier. and for jackson, we'll see how that plays out but for now im still a bit skeptical..
Not bashing the OP, but starting different topics about my emotional Rockets whims would be hypocritical when my problem is about these threads popping up during the regular season. This thread probably wouldn't exist if we lost one or both of the last two games. Threads declaring the opposite would rise to the top of the forum: "Morey the terrible trader/Les the cheapest owner of the league" What's the use of declaring premature victories or conceding to them when in 2-3 weeks time the usual suspects decide to declare the opposite as a victory for the opposite side to concede? Very enlightening, but I prefer declarations or apologies to have meaning. I don't usually post in these threads. Carry on...
