we should keep everyone on the team for next year just maybe upgrade the back up shooting guard and back up center position(just in case mutumbo leaves). we have the pieces for a championship team as long as everyone is healthy.
I hope we can lock Landry up for a long-term deal at a reasonable price (yes I remember matt maloney, but landry is not matt maloney). Hayes is already locked up for cheap. Scola will get a huge contract from someone as soon as his current one is up. I'd love to keep him too, but signing Landry to a long-term, reasonable deal would be insurance against Scola bolting for more money. is landry untouchable? no, but it would be smart to keep great talent, at a value.
That's what I'm saying. Why do people overvalue players on this team? I mean I like the hustle of scola and the atheleticism of landry, but I could go down a long list of guys I could upgrade one or the other with. One guy is limited by atheleticism and the other by his size, but together they play well for the rox. Would I like to upgrade? Yes, but its not my pressing need. I would take a bigger guy like Wilcox over one of them. I would take Okefor over both. I could supplement that position easily and wouldn't blink. Like I said, we have more pressing needs, but landry or scola shouldn't ever be considered untochable.
Believe it or not, that guy named Amare Stoudamire is actually only a year older than Landry. At age 25, I don't think he's old enough for us to say if he's overcome his knee injuries to have a good career. He's simply not far enough into his career for that. Guys like Penny Hardaway, Grant Hill and Steve Francis were considered superstars for longer than Amare has currently been one. In other words, a serious injury can still render his career relatively forgettable. And to those comparing Landry to Stoudamire ability wise - you might also take note of the fact Landry is only a year younger than Stoudamire. I have a very hard time believing he has the potential to reach anywhere near Stoudamire's level. With only that small difference in age, Carl Landry is light years behind Stoudamire as a player. I love Carl Landry, but I think people are getting way too optimistic about him. You guys act like he's an 19 year old stud who has the untapped potential to develop into a superstar. Simultaneously, people act like Scola is an old rookie who has already reached his ceiling. They are only three years apart in age. I know that can be a big difference, and it is possible that Landry will develop into a starting quality power forward. However, I sincerely doubt his ceiling is all that much higher than Scola's.
Unless there is a deal to significantly upgrade the team, why would the Rockets change their power forward rotation at all? Scola battles and has enough of a post game to keep teams honest off of Yao. Landry is a great energy player off the bench with upside. Hayes is one of the best post defenders and rebounders in the NBA. And they all are relative bargains salary wise. Compare our power forwards to, say, the Denver Nuggets. That's a $100 million worth of injured and underachieving turds over there.
I don't think anyone outside of Tracy and Yao are "untouchable" but I don't think the Rockets would be willing to give Carl up unless they really liked what they were getting in return, and who's to say that that would be. In the meantime, I personally wouldn't do the Brand deal because his salary would command a lot of room and it would make it almost impossible for the Rockets to really address the other concerns on this team: quality depth at point guard and a 2 or 3 off the bench who can create his own shot. Besides, I think Landry is a more consistent mid-range jump shot away from being a potential 15pts/game type player. And when you combine him with Scola, you pretty much have the equivalent of Brand, except at a cheaper price.
if you think carl landry is close to untouchable, i wonder what you think of lebron, deron williams, chris paul, dwight howard, and kobe....
landry still isn't 100% physically. he's got his quickness back but when we first started seeing him amaze he was jumping OUT OF THE BUILDING. with Nique-esque clutch pumps on his dunks in traffic and jumping out of nowhere to stuff boards back into the basket. never question his heart but that knee needs to get scoped at the least if I had to pick one which I really dont want to do I'd pick scola. scola also has incredible quickness on the court in terms of his vision and his hands. as fast or faster than landry. IMO it's only a matter of time before scola is an allstar and his upside is huge... he'll only get better every year and honestly he could have 10 good years in this league, even at his late rookie age obviously you dont want to lose either. there's huge benefit in having BOTH scola and landry as a two headed monster... the sum is greater than the parts (and the parts are great). when they were both clicking their production was literally like having a top all-star power forward on your roster with twice the fouls to give at 1/5 of the salary what makes both scola and landry special is their will to win and achieve. this team actually needs that on the court at teh 4 to complement yao... losing either would be a setback to their championship aspirations for 2009
I like him a whole lot, but I wouldn't say he's untouchable at all. Finding 6-6 PFs isn't all that hard, and Mike Harris alone isn't too big a step back from Landry. Again, I like him, but I wouldn't be close-minded if a good offer came along. It would be silly to be like that over a reserve, unless he's a 6th man of the year candidate. Evan
Scola is ok, but all this posting up and creating I don't see it. No team is running to double Scola. Scola isn't going to all of a sudden get explosioñor get longer. When he plays longer atheletes he struggle. Therefore he's limited and maxed out. Scola is what he is which is 12pts 8 rebs and 50%. That's not great, but it isn't poor either. Think kenny thomas.
Thuth is that Scola was thrown in a lot of pressure to be the only scoring big man and has responded well, both in regular season and in playoffs, he has also behind him years and years of consistency and upgrading from year to year and most of all durability, you can argue about finishing strong but that has make him last for 10 years with no significance injury playing all year and summer for the past 8 seasons between his team and the Argentina NT. I like Landry for spurts but i´m sure that if you throw in Landry for 30+ minutes teams will find a way to counter because his only reliable shot is the dunk shot. Scola as "soft" as many say he is has scored several times against one or two defenders using his post moves, Landry has yet to show us a single back to the basket move that is consistent.
Although Landry is not "Untouchable" I dont think we should be trading him unless it brings in a big 3rd star. I really wanna keep Landry and Scola.
This is what I'd define as " untouchable ". Ask yourself would you trade him for Kobe ( contract matches to be matched by other players )? No, right? So he's not untouchable.
Even Yao and McGrady aren't untouchable. I'm not saying I want them traded, but I don't think anyone on this team can feel secure about his job.
