Are the rockets turning into the astros?

Again....just because we are acquiring 1st round draft picks doesnt mean we will be drafting with them. These picks are valuable trade assets, just imagine the attention teams will be paying to us on draft days because of our multiple first rounders. Times like that are when their values are high and teams are willing to deal some of their prime players in return for picks due to the pressure/madness draft days bring.

 

Is it possible that a thread be exiled to Sibera?

 

Correct (see the Wizards/ Bucks/ Bulls etc as examples of trying to become a mid seed by spending up)

However I fail to see the correlation between your statement and the trade the Rockets are trying to make with the Knicks??

If anything it is completely different. Ie, Houston is saying that it does NOT look like they'll win it next season, so are NOT 'swinging for the fences' and hoping for the best. Rather they are looking to add talent (Hill and picks) without committing themselves beyond one year (2011 becomes the new year of expirings).

The Knicks trade does nothing to help us 'win now' (perhaps Jeffries can help our defensive issues at the 4 spot? Perhaps he can switch out roles with Hayes and give us more frontcourt length and help us make a push at the 8th seed?) - but it does much to help us win later - perhaps become a 4-6 seed when Ming returns AND STILL have the flexibility to change it up or add the missing piece.

And all that basically for free?
Where do I sign up?

 

Is this baseball??????????????????

 

good responses from hayesfan, juicystream, rocketmania, and others

Air Langhi, not sure what happened to make you start this.

But if you're gonna go in this direction...isn't adding an *old* (and declined) Brad Miller--who, by the way, is WELL past your supposed "big man decline age" of 30. He's nearly 34.

and adding a stopgap in Salmons and a guy who still hasn't realized his full potential in Ty Thomas..

essentially going for current mediocrity? How does that one position us for a title? You're telling me Brad Miller at the age of 35 or 36 backing up Yao for 15 minutes a game is gonna be a championship changer?

That Ty Thomas (IF he puts it all together finally), is a huge upgrade over Scola as the 1st (or 2nd) PF?

The only thing I'll give you is that John Salmons is an upgrade on the offensive end in taking minutes from Ariza and Battier (though also from Budinger)

THAT and Yao are gonna make us a contender? We're still stuck with what you said: Yao and AB as our 1 and 2 options. I don't see how it's all that different suddenly. Except we wouldn't have gotten an especially young talent (Hill) or picks for the future (or as trade assets)

 

No. This. Is. Sparta!!!!


Well maybe not, but the thread is madness.

 

Perfectly stated, the trades we are considering now is about setting up for the summer of 2011. We're stuck with Yao at least through next year. He's injured and his contract has one more year left on it. I'm tired of hearing these idiots on the redio talking about trading Yao. We're gonna ride it one more year and then rebuild, preferable not from square one.

 

Sorry for not being clear. It was more with respect to the proposed Bulls trade and people who prefer it on the logic that Salmons and Brad Miller will help the team right away.

 

Yes that is the point.

The Yao/Tmac window is officially closed, and until they get another cornerstone in place, everything else is really irrelevant.

Once the next cornerstone is in place, the team can begin reconstructing around that guy's strengths.
We spent the first 3 years after Tmac's arrival just shuffling supporting players trying to find the right mix.

But no, the Rockets are not the Astros.
They see this coming, and they have a proactive plan in place to rebuild on the fly through youth and patience.
The Astros plan has been to plug in 'names' like Tejada and Kaz as bandaids to hide the crumbling foundation that is their pathetic minor league system.
If the Rockets were the Astros, they would have resigned Artest, signed Allen Iverson and traded for Camby to try to fool the fans into thinking they were contenders.

Luckily, the Rockets front office doesn't treat its paying customers like idiots, and have been shrewdly moving forward with youth since the day Yao announced he was out for this year.

 

Very well said. There are just too many people that want to live in TODAY and not worry about the future. I'll admit, I love when trades go down with my teams because you get that "new toy" feeling you can't wait to see how theyll look. The 1st round picks are what really makes the Knicks deal exciting for me, but the people of TODAY are complaining because they can't physically contribute immediately to this team. Our roster of active players is not currently built to compete for a playoff run. People don't want to accept that because we've overachieved this season, and still feel we are one good piece away from winning. That's the attitude that will have this team traveling linearly sideways opposed to going up. Let's examine that Iggy/Dalembert trade idea and see what I'm talking about:

Say we trade for that Iggy and Dalembert package because Iggy was the best TALENT AVAILABLE at the trade deadline that would work in a McGrady deal, but along with McGrady we had to give up a young piece in Brooks or Landry. Did that trade really improve our team? This season, yes probably as it filled 2 needs in a scoring SG and size/talent at the center position. But now we've taken back roughly 23-24 million in cap space per year, which the number will go higher as AI's contract goes up per year, this takes us out of signing any substantial players this offseason. Say we resign Yao to a max this offseason, and resign Lowry and/or Scola. Because of our financials, THAT would be our team for years. Is that a team that could make a playoff run? Maybe...but what is the ceiling of that team? A championship? Definately not. AI is not an all star in my book and not someone you build around which is what you want if your going to take back an expensive contract. If that team doesn't work out then we're stuck because we've handcuffed ourselves by the contracts we took because we decided to go with the best AVAILABLE TALENT that could contribute immediately without considering the long term implications.

Now I know that deal will never happen, but the reason I bring it up is to highlight why the Knicks offer is so good because of the flexibilty it gives us. We take back part of McGrady's expiring contract with a smaller one, a young big man with very good potential, the option to move up in the 1st round in one year and an additional 1st round pick in another. The the key to this deal are those 1st rounders. Multiple first round picks open alot of doors for us because they represent NO COMMITMENT that serve as valuable commodities. If we're lucky, they'll be high picks where we can keep and draft talented players that fit our system, or deal them away for prime players. Either way the choice is ours and the ball will be in our court when it comes to those picks.

Bottom line is, this is a deal that vastly improves our future. And for those of you that want immediate contribution in return for McGrady...Hughes brings us a true shooting guard that can contribute, Jeffries in an intangibles guy that can contribute in Battier type ways, and Hill offers size, something we dont have. Pair that with our guys that are playing their tails off and have surprised everyone with the chance at the playoffs then you're already improved your production from a guy thats been banished from the team and 2 guys that barely saw the floor. Either way, this team is not going to win a championship let alone make a deep play off run in the west by bringing in ANY of the guys that have been rumored to be heading to our team. Why neglect our future to put up a smoke screen that we will be able to compete this year instead of improving our chances for next season and season after that which is what this Knicks deal will bring. A concept I've been screaming at the Astros to do for the last couple of seasons

 

the number of season tickets sold has nothing to with anything going on at the moment. season tickets are sold preseason, many of which are renewed at playoffs, so many bought tickets assuming yao would be back, artest would be back, and tracy would be healthy. once yao went down, and artest left for the lakers it was too late to refund their seats.

butler haywood brooks yao scola ariza battier lowry (not sure who we would have to give up for those two, but that team is a contending team, caron butler may not be a particularly efficient and consistent player, but he is a perennial all-star and haywood would be a solid backup center (which we have not had for a while, deke barely got pt during the year, and his body could only do so much, haywood is much younger, by at least 20 or 25 years)

being smart about the future doesnt mean you have to trash the present. which is what we are doing, we are over working our players when we a dynamic player, granted with less athleticism, but with something to prove and alot of nba years and knowledge under his belt.

for this reason, i can not fully commend the actions of morey and adelman, i understand that if he isn't healthy and he plays poorly he wont look good to buyers, so i understand not allowing him to play, but if we dont trade him, and dont play him, i will be extremely disappointed, as a BASKETBALL fan i want to see great plays, i love seeing out team work hard and make smart plays, but we don't have any kind of a special factor out on the court.

if i were morey:
i wouldnt give away ANY players other than cook, dorsey, temple, taylor, or tmac

i would first attempt to get a player that will help us at the 2 for this year and the future

if no one is available for a good price, than i would move on to the center position.

if no one is available for a good price, than i wouldn't mind acquiring some draft picks to secure us some more first round talent in the future.

if none of these pan out than i would be opposed to buying mcgrady out, why waste all of that money if we can't sign anyone to help us out. let mcgrady play if he isnt traded, you can let him walk or run after the season, but, at the end of the day, at least you are giving your team a better chance





this is just MY opinion, if you dont agree i understand. some people will never forgive tmac for electing to have surgery, i didnt like the player i saw on the court so i was not as upset when he gave up on the season, i was however disappointed that the "big three" did not work out, just like every other rockets fan, my infatuation with mcgrady's SKILL is just too great, he is my idol as a basketball player, so smooth, so dynamic, so much fun to watch. i am sad that his rockets days have come to a close, but i hope that he succeeds wherever he goes and i hope the rockets GAIN something from him leaving.

 

couldn't say it any better.

 

You praise the Rockets organization for not doing that trade ?

I'm pretty sure that the Rockets were going to do that trade but the Wizards liked the Mavs offer better.

 

WHAT?

 

or if they trade Landry away... Yea that would definitely make them the Astros...