to address the pistons/30 yrs argument, i for one would be extremely happy if we were as competitive as the pistons were from 2003-2008. 2 finals appearances, 6 straight conference finals....pretty damn good if you ask me. just saying. for the record, i too jumped when i saw carmelo being remotely interested in the rockets, but the more i think about it, the more i just want to go to war with what we have - will make for a much more rewarding and interesting season. we should be #2 in the west as is, and maybe at the deadline we fix our holes and move on. but to give up either AB or Martin for Melo, who's not a great fit and an unknown chemistry wise, isnt as preferred any more for some reason.
To me its obvious the argument should not be if we need a trade or not, rather on who that trade involves(who we get/who we give up). Right now we have 16 players on our roster. 3 of which are immediate candidates for absolutely no PT(taylor, harris, johnson) which brings us down to 13 players. If we continue on the roster trimming the next group who should see some time but not a ton (hill, patterson, jeffries, hayes) we are down to 9 players who will be getting the bulk of our minutes.(AB, Lowry, Martin, Lee, Battier, Bud, Scola, Ming, Miller) That's an extremely solid group of 9 players. But only someone short sighted would look at this roster and think there is no room/need for improvement. Hill, Patterson and Jeffries all carry more value than their playing time will allow on this team.(If that makes sense) The fact that we have all sorts of picks and TE's should only make it easier to consolidate talent. Sure having a squad that goes 12 deep would be nice if we were playing 6 on 6 or something, but minutes are limited in this game. Having unused talent is nothing but a waste. This team NEEDS to trade (2-4) of our lesser talents for an upgrade. Yea its nice that our 10-13 guys aren't scrubs and actually have the ability to do something when we need them to, but the end of the bench guys don't win championships. I'm not gonna say I give this group as is no shot at all, but to look at this team and say we are ready, lets see what happens is just foolish. I'm not sure I am sold on Melo being our answer, but a trade has to happen or we're just wasting all the assets we have stockpiled by under utilizing them.
There is no history of this team and it's components to draw from......therefore.....it's a new day, it's a new dawn ..... DD
This I agree with, you can't play an 11 man rotation. We are two deep at every position and 3 deep at some. With NBA proven players. Usually you have 8 rotational players with a 9th as a floater.... If getting someone like Melo allows you to trim the roster a bit and strengthen the overall main players, than I could see it being worth it. There are too many quality players, and at some point you have to account for that..... DD
While I admire your optimism.....history is what tells you what this line-up may be capable of. History is what gives your optimism some relevance. History is what tells us when to trade and for who. History is what tells us Morey has been a good GM. While this team doesnt have a history in the strictest sense, its components do. How those components will perform together is the domain of psychics and fortunetellers. My contention with you here is that history is NOT irrelevant. But I would agree its not future telling either.
Speculation is speculation. No matter what it's about. To me, it doesn't matter if it's trade speculation or "How will x play with y" or "Is Yao going to be healthy" speculation. In the end, it's discussion. Stop b****ing.
I can't believe you guys argued for 7 pages on whether or not we should improve our team. PS The answer is yes.
Great thread. As one of the guys who brought the Piston and Rockets debate into the picture I wanted to clarify my thoughts on this thing. I think with top 5 in the league defense and health for the season and playoffs, this team could be a contender for the championship. But, I do want us to trade for a superstar. I think if the Rockets wanted to contend with this team and roster, the 2004 Pistons are the model they are most similar to (from the recent championship teams) and should model their game to match that team. I was making an argument for HOW this team with this roster could win it all, not that they shouldn't try to improve the team. It is true that history tells us (The history of the game is important IMO and you should not ignore it. But at the same time new history and formulas are made every year. If the Pistons followed history to the letter, they might not have won that year. I think things aren't just black and white, some things are gray and more complicated.) that in the past 30 years 95+ percent of championship teams have won with a true superstar. But this is one thing we tend to forget with all the trade talk and past injuries. A healthy Yao Ming is our true superstar. He always has been. When he has played, he is a rock solid 20 pts 10 rebounds and 2 block shots a game. He is an awesome FT shooter. He has had games where he is perfect in field goals and free throws. He changes the face of our defense when he is on the court and when he is not there. Our fate has always depended on him. If he had been healthy all these years we might have won one already. Artest I think has said he thought he could win it all with this team. With health and defense this team's ceiling is very high. But I do agree I would want a solid consistently healthy superstar to reduce our risks and help increase our odds at winning it each year. If we get CP or Anthony I would be very happy. But if we don't I would still be happy and think we could contend. Either way, I think it will be a great season to watch the Rockets this year (Barring Health asterisk :grin: )
