A few years ago, the San Antonio Spurs had just finished a fairly successful season with a young 19 year old starting PG. They were worried that they would not be championship contenders with Tony Parker at the helm, and there was a big free agent prize out there in Jason Kidd. The Spurs made a pitch, thought long and hard about going after Kidd, and ultimately decided to stay the course with their young team with Parker at the helm. Now, it is 3 championships later, and Parker is seen as one of the top players in the league, and the Spurs have been consistent contenders. Could the Rockets learn a bit from that approach, patience versus turnover. The Mavs have been Turnover central and arguably have blown their shot at a championship, if they kept Steve Nash (whom they let go over a measily $5 million over 5 years) they probably would already have a championship and would be much better than they are now. But, Cuban is a Horse trader, a shiny object guy, someone that chases and chases, he has no patience. The Rockets now have a similar situation as the Spurs, they have a young core group of up and coming players mixed in with some seasoned veterans. If that group of young players AB, CBud, Hill, Taylor, Kmart, Trevor continue to improve, AND we have a fully healthy Yao Ming. This team is good enough to get Homecourt, and with a little bit more improvement a championship contender. It is a fine balancing act, whether to be patient or to reach for the shiny object in the stream, just remember, that sometimes, that object in the stream may be Sauron's ring. Stay the course, let them grow, and harvest the Championship crop. GO ROCKETS !!!! DD
I wonder how many of those championships the Spurs would have won if Duncan went down with an injury midseason or during the playoffs every year.
Sure, there is a bit of luck involved, and hope. The Rockets have to hope that their big guy stays healthy. At least they will find that out this year.....and decide whether to keep him going forward. Since they have chosen that path, I think being patient at least for this season is the prudent thing to do, don't you? At least then you will know how much better the young guys can be, with another year of growth under their belts. DD
I think it is the only realistic option for this year. Hang tight and see what happens with the next batch of superstars that don't want to play in Houston
What if the celtics had won the lottery? When you have a duncan all the other pieces are easier to fit.
Good post DD. The big problem is that big left foot or whatever comes up with the injury prone Yao. The rockets need some good old fashion luck when it comes to injuries this season.
DD DID YOU SAY ARIZA IMPROVING??? Glad you see he is a great value for the near success of the team The questions still remain, how much will Scola and Lowry get paid, and by who, so that we can try to sign-and-trade them, getting of course, real value players in return, and not young studs, because we have already these players I only hope that Morey keeps active as he always will, without making careless turnovers, be patient, but go for specific, and established talent in the league, aka CP3, Granger, Melo, etc, work those phones GOD MOREY PeAcE
We did, but generally players improve the most during years 2 and 3 of their careers...just look at AB and how well he did in his 3rd year. Stay pat, and let the chips fall where they may. DD
I'm excited to see cbud, hill, taylor, ab, ariza, martin and all of our young guys develop. They are our future and im looking forward to see what they can do with a year of experience under their belt.
A+ thread, DD. I have been saying the same things here and there, but you nicely summarized what we should do. We are not too far from being a serious contender. Jefferson, Haywood could be the key pieces if Yao is healthy enough to play. I also see that you were skeptical about getting Bosh as I was, so I guess our main area of disagreement is Mr. Trevor Ariza. Dude is a keeper, DD. :grin:
Thanks HTK ! - people still give it 1 star because it is me though....lol Re: Trevor, He showed a lot of improvement once he slid back to his natural spot, if he is happy as the 4th or 5th option, he is certainly a valuable asset. I was skeptical of getting Bosh because of the cost to the team and chemistry and how onerous his contract would be going forward, I contend that you get 80% of his production out of Luis for about half the money. And Luis is undervalued, I think his grit, hustle and dogged competitiveness help drive this team...to me, he is the leader of the Rockets. DD
Wow, you did say Ariza is improving. I needed to read your post twice as I did not expect a compliment from you about him, though I expect you to say "trade Ariza and fillers for Jefferson". lol
yeah should we develop these guys for 10 years? we've been patient last season thinking that we will get a good nucleus of players but now that Bosh is gone, we say : ok we have this season to see what this brings to uss IF Yao is healthy IF is sign of failure we've been "IFing" for more than 6 years!!
DD... I think the more important thing right now is figuring out what Morey and Les plan on doing with Lowry and Scola. Although Les stated that they would match any offer, IMO we all know that was a way to keep people from bidding for them or keeping the bids low. I do believe Morey likes Scola but it seems they would like to upgrade that position. Whether plan B is Al Jefferson or some other PF out there, Houston needs more size on the front court and a back up for Yao. Also, AB is in a contract year. There's decisions that must be made by Morey and Les. As of right now, we're not a contender. IMO, you're either building for the future or you're trying to contend for a championship. I'm fine if we stand pat but develope our team. We have a young core and great scouting department. But if we stand pat, I can't see us trying to lock down Yao moving forward. His window is closing and it's closing fast. I love the big man but he's health is a big red flag. So if they plan on keeping Yao, they must acquire another star player.
just a question, if yao proves to be unreliable again this year and we dont not resign him the offseason, would we have the cap space to go after a max such as carmelo? or would it be the same situation as this year where tmac expired and we still only had minimal money to spend on free agents.
A few years ago, when all this was happening, BBS basketball geniuses like DaDakota were telling us to "stay the course" and "stand pat" because we had great young players like Reece Gaines and Tyronn Lue to man the point, or that the Rockets would be jsut fine adding nobody in the offseason because Juwan Howard was an excellent complimentary player and more than adequate to win a title as the starting Power Forward playing 33 minutes a game.
None of that (whether true or not) has any relevence to the discussion going on in this thread, please take your trolling elsewhere. Thanks ! Back on topic. The thing is the Rockets have so many young quality NBA players that are not even close to their peak, and when you add in a full training camp with Kevin Martin. This team is LOADED ! DD
Don't you think our current role players are much better than the role players from that era? I mean, how did we win 42 games in a tough western conference with a 6'6" center?
I agreed with you. I like our young players and would like to see them grow and develop to good players. But I am afraid that the front office and some fans would like to see immediate result, which will make Morey make necessary trades for proven stars to get those immediate results. And I am not sure how many years can Yao wait for these young players to bloom... but I am one fan willing to wait a year or two for the young players to surprise us.
