Injuries just happen. What can you really do about it? I don't think the scouting reports of players like T-Mac or Grant Hill said they had a injury risk. Just because a player stayed injury free in college doesn't mean he will stay that way in the NBA. Yao was almost an Iron Man his first few years until he got that freak injury. Injuries will always be part of the game. It sucks but you just have to deal with it.
He was out. That's when we had our mini-run! We were averaging almost 110 points per game with AB starting! He comes back and look what happens to us. Sigh.
We've always seem to have atleast two of three players (Battier, McGrady, Artest) playing when they shouldn't be so that they can compensate for the guy who is resting. I understand we need to get wins even now, but I really hope the Rockets know what they're doing with this balancing act.
I think these injuries have to lye on Aldeman also. He knew Battier was hurt and coming off off-season surgery including McGrady but he continues to give them a lot of mins when he has a bench. Artest has an ankle sprain but he still plays him a lot. Yao Ming also. He his going to wear them out by the end of the season
The Rockets' plan as i see it is that we are going all in before 2010. Tracy Mcgrady is a very inconsistent player. The only reason Tracy Mcgrady hasn't been traded yet is because in spurts (historically, in the playoffs) he plays at a really high level, like a superstar. With a guy like Salmons or anyone else we could get for Mcgrady now you'll get a consistently good player. In the playoffs, with this team, we need a great player. So, atleast if Mcgrady gets healthy we have hope for big things, otherwise whats the point. Also, i think it's pretty obvious that Salmons is in the midst of a fluke year, miraculously putting up those numbers at 29. I wouldn't bank on getting that kind of production from him here. I think in 2010 you want as much freedom as possible to get a star and maybe even a good young player that slips through the cracks with everyone blowing their cash on the young superstars. Honestly if this doesn't work I'd rather see this team go in a completely different direction. Let Mcgrady come off the books get a nice young player AND trade Yao for some athletic complimentary players. Rebuild on the fly. Mcgrady has never taken a team to the 2nd round...but neither has Yao. I think our role players are more important at this point. The production we can get from Scola, Landry, Brooks, and Hayes is underrated. It just seems like that even if Mcgrady heals up and returns to his crappy banged up form of last season (in the playoffs) it is better than anything you can get for him in a trade and gives us the best chance at winning a championship. At this point getting marginally better (with no deep playoff hopes) is just a waste of time.
What if the Rockets wait until 2010 and come out empty-handed? There will be about 5 premiere FAs with maybe 15 teams competing for their services. What makes anybody think one of those top guns will want to play for the Rockets? I think the opportunity to play with Yao is losing its effect. Plus, who knows what a 30-year-old, 7'6, 300 lb center's body will be like in two years from now. A lot of teams will walk away disappointed after 2 or more years of planning to get their hands on LeBron or Wade or whoever. If that happens, we may wish we moved McGrady when we could have still gotten something decent for him. The bottom line is that McGrady's expiring contract does not mean we will get one of those 2010 star FAs.
broken down? did you see him v. the jazz in the playoffs last season? when he got painkilling injections, he looked phenomenal. right now, he's still feeling the soreness (and if you saw last night's game, you know he still has the athleticism--or enough of it to do what he usually can do). like the doctors have said, his knee will recover to full health, just needs strength. if i wasn't a true rocket fan, why would i post in games that tracy doesn't even play in? tracy's my favorite rocket right now, but like i have said before, if we get a good trade offer that does make us a better team, i'm all for it. but i don't see that happening with his health and contract.
Joe Johnson Ray Allen Paul Pierce Lebron James Dirk Nowitzki Josh Howard Wade Richard Jefferson Michael Redd Steve Nash Amare Ginobili Chris Bosh Even if you don't get a James/Wade/Bosh there are some other big names and i wouldn't be that upset on losing out on those big names. You can nab a few good players that will be forced to take smaller contracts because of all the stars being free agents at the same time. Also, its good to wait till next year, atleast, because there could be teams who suddenly want to change their plans. Say if the Nuggets have a poor playoff outing this season and start slow next season, they might want to get under the cap quickly. I could see them trying to move Billups and Melo for Mcgrady and Shane.
You think Artest deserves the same contract as Landry? I'm pretty sure if Artest keeps his cool this year, another team will offer far more than that.
Fair enough about the smaller contracts but I wouldn't include several of those names on your list as prize FAs in 2010-11: Allen - will be going on 36 years old and given his ankle conditions, may not even still be playing Ginobili - will be going on 34 years old, also injury-prone Nowitzki - will be 32 or 33 Pierce - 33 years old in 2010-11 Redd - will be going on 32 in 2010-11 and seems to be out of shape at some point every season Nash - 36-37 Even Joe Johnson will be approaching 30. Most of those players will be getting too old and looking for multi-year contracts. These guys won't be great forever. Top players usually have a 7-8 year window of peak performance then there is a steady decline. Many of those players on your list will be in the twilights of their careers by 2010. You don't want to get stuck with the next McGrady and watch the player underperform at the end of his contract. There will only be 3 or 4 elite players worth breaking the bank for in 2010: James, Wade, Amare and Bosh I'm not that high on Amare or Bosh but you could argue that those 4 guys will still be in their primes, or entering their primes, with their best play ahead of them and could be considered franchise players. So, back to my original point. There are only a handful of marquee players that will reinvigorate franchises while there will be 15 or more teams bidding for their services. A lot of teams will walk away with former stars and players that were 3rd or 4th on their wish lists. McGrady's expiring contract does not guarantee us anything. Most teams that will have the cap space to bid for the cream of the crop will have an 80-90% chance of walking away with none of them. If we step away from our Rockets homerism, there isn't any reason to see why they would want to come play for Houston over a lot of those other teams. Yao will be over 30 by that time and who knows if he will even be healthy enough to keep playing. A 7'6, 300+ lb center past his prime may not be the selling point some people want to believe it is by 2010. Plus, several teams have already started their youth movements/rebuilding processes and could be just hitting their strides by 2010. That will likely be attractive to the best of the best that actually care about winning a championship. The Rockets, on the other hand, are currently one of the oldest teams in the league and in a "win now" mode. By 2010, short of some trades in the near future, we could be a team in decline just entering our rebuilding phase. At this point, I'd say the Rockets have about a 2% chance at landing any of the top 2010 FAs.
It's gotten to the point where nothing surprises me anymore and I almost don't care. It's almost laughable.
Let's hope Wafer and Barry are ready to go. If so, we can get by without Battier for a week. Artest obviously needs to step up as our defensive stopper. By the same token, somebody else will need to step up offensively. We can't ask Artest to defend the other team's best player AND carry us through the deplorable offensive droughts we have become accustomed to.
