According to Chad Ford, Rockets had a deal in place with the T-Wolves and the T-Wolves actually picked Roy for Rockets...but then Patterson decided to stick it to his old team by snatching up Foye. Actually, from what I've heard, the Wolves selected Roy for the Rockets. The Rockets were going to select Foye and send him to Minnesota along with either Luther Head or a future first-round pick. But the Blazers knew what was going on, selected Foye and forced the trade of Foye for Roy.
Not surprising in the slightest ... what I expected was the case. Might want to check Jerry West's cell phone records... what do you want to bet he made plenty of calls to Patterson?
Why in the world would the Blazer's keep a secret from the T-Wolves. It was up to the T-Wolves I'm sure. Not like the dollars are that different between the two picks. I'm sure Patterson called the Blazer's and asked what the hell it would take to get Roy. Not as big a coupe as you guys think. After all the T-Wolves didn't leapfrog the Rox.
yeah we can blame the blazers for getting Roy.. but Rox mgmt is to blame for trading Gay for Battier..
no, kidding. i preferred roy, too. i'd still hang on to Gay before trading him for Battier, though. i would have drafted brewer, if gay weren't available, and i would have held on to him, too.
Again, when we're all sitting around bashing the Rockets for not disclosing information or their explicit plans before next year's draft...think back to this one. The leak to the press by Arn or *cringe* the Rockets, or both, cost us youth and excitement in Roy. The one who really screwed us was Ainge - trading the #7 for Telfair...what a joke. I think that we did better than Ainge - which IS NOT SAYING MUCH! (I don't want to give that asshat any credit).
Blazers probably did this to get back at rockets for not making the deal to take Darius Miles off their hands. And it wouldn't surprise me that the Rox made this weird deal with Memphis never thinking that Rudy Gay would actually drop that far down but when his name did, that maybe they were forced to keep their promise. Either way, it seems there definently wasn't any love being shown to CD and the Rockets by any team in the draft.
I thought the Blazers kicked major ass in this draft, and I was actually really happy for them...looks like they're finally turning things around up there, especially if they move Miles and/or Randolph. Now that I've heard this news about them sneaking in to screw Minnesota (and us), part of me wants to be upset at them, but mostly I'm just jealous because they have a front office that got big things done, and all our front office did was get things done to them. So kudos to the Blazers for maximizing their opportunities, even if it was ultimately at our expense. All is fair in love, war, and the NBA draft.
Fine, the problem I have is that we seem to panic if that is what in fact went down and instead of taking Gay and then assesing the situation we gave him and Stro away, how they included Stro instead of Juwan is completely beyond me. It does nothing to help cap wise and it further weakens our PF spot. It forces us into another year of the completely uninspiring play of Juwan Howard. And it proves that JVG is a total pig of a coach who plays favorites blindly even when they do not help the team. I mean this deal was set up perfectly to unload the previously untradeable Howard and management botched it big time, now we are stuck with Juwan for two more years until we can unload him as an expiring contract, all of this and no mention of Rudy Gay's potential; a word which I am not too big on considering some of our past experiences with it as fans, but if you keep ignoring it, it will eventually burn you big BIG BIG time. Maybe Gay wasn't the guy to keep and take a gamble on; after all, we got a sure thing in Shane but that doesn't make the trade a smart one. Shane is a great player and a beautiful fit for the team but it is ashame the Rockets had to be so totally fleeced to get him.
I don't blame them for anything. Everything that happened to the Rockets on draft night was a result of their own stupidity. I don't want to hear any whining about how we were so close to trading up to Minnesota's spot when some of you thought it was OK to beat them in a meaningless game, thus giving them that pick in the first place. The Blazers and Grizz were smart, we were not.
Man, We cant and shouldnt blame no one. If this was the case, then we shoulda said "thank you very much, we saved Head and got Gay" I think we would all agree that Head + Gay > Roy. So I say this is all our own fault.
Now I am even more depressed... I was in the middle of a nice long analysis where I guessed that this must have been the case somehow, that Portland screwed us over with a deal we had in place with Minnesota. This is why Portland made the deal for #7. No matter who we made a deal with, either Atlanta or Minnesota, Portland was going to take THEIR GUY, just to make sure they got their filthy hands on Roy. So once again, we get screwed, and that stupid win in Denver looks even more stupid with every passing day. Plus, according to what West said, there were only 5 guys in this draft that the Rockets were willing to take and keep, and Gay was not one of them. Foye WAS, and as soon as Portland took Foye, West knew he was going to get our pick. So we got screwed, jobbed, and anally probed about seven different ways here. The ONLY bright spot is that we came out of this with Battier. Frankly, the guy is a very good player. I think we paid too high a price, no question. I think that there MUST have been other teams below us who could have offered a better package to move up and get Gay. Wouldn't New Orleans have wanted Gay? But apparently the deal with Memphis was in place before the draft even started. Stupid stupid stupid. And all because JVG made it clear he no longer wanted Stro on his team, AND he was not interested in trying to bring some hotshot rookie along, and get very little actual production out of the guy in the immediate future. It was either Roy or no one else. Hell, he was so disinterested in Redick that he didn't even bother to LOOK at the guy. Poor Gay, it's actually lucky for him that we're NOT keeping him. Can you imagine a highly-touted rookie having to play for JVG? Good way to stunt or totally ruin a career there. One thing is for damn sure - JVG, whatever else he may ever end up being, sure as hell will never be a GM. We come out of this draft looking like suckers, rubes, and hicks, all rolled into one. Thanks, JVG.
