We'll find our ways Memphis. We have time with these players and looking at our roster we don't need to fill up our team with an overly paid roster. We got time to improve and October is still a couple months away. We HAVE TIME! The Rockets are looking to do a trade instead of overpaying for a free agent in which the rockets' opinion would not be worth it. Maybe they have someone they are absolutely sure would be better than these free agents. I still think we're persuing Antonio Daniels and are going to work our ass on trying to pry him away from Seattle. It's still early.... We don't need the ostertag's and the 37 million dollar Fishers. With Yao and T-mac I'm sure we're a place that a few players would love to play and fill our holes to win a ring. We're only a few pieces away and we've got a market that players want to be in. Just give it time....
Is there any possibility that there is a trade already agreed on with another team that would involve Lue and/or Howard which can't be announced in any way until those players are allowed to be traded? (ie: MoT & Lue for McInnis & big man, since they would need a backup for Snow after trading McInnis) Maybe this is why we are contacting guys like Ward to be our backup to whoever we trade for? Just a thought.
Excellent post memphis X. Remember this is the same site who where most of the posters still havn't owned up to the fact Memphis made a great move in getting Posey for only a 4 year MLE while we blundered in signing Pike and AG to replace him. For half the money, we got 5% of the production and 0% of the long term possible benfits. A lot of posters obscur this fact by making a false claim that JJ was the "replacement" for JP. JJ was a great oppertunistic move late in the FA season (and we were fortunate Sac decided to go a different direction or we don't make the playoffs last year), but it should have been a compliment to the team after we locked away JP for 4 years. That said Yao/Tmac provide a great oppertunnity. They are great erasers for how we mis-handled KT/JP deals and some other recent signings/drafts--where JJ had been one of the few good decisions. I am hopefull we do spend because now a championship should be in their sights next year and the next 8 or so. But we will see, and there are no excuses for not spending now to put together the best team possible. BTW Memphis has done a great job considering they have never got the breaks the Rockets or Spurs have had (#1 overall pick into Hakeem, Yao, DRob, TD). Sometimes it is better to be lucky than good and Memphis is doing to darnest to field a competitive team--I give them credit.
I don't think Les is a cheap owner. I just don't see anyone out on the market that makes me think "Wow we should open the vault up for this guy." I have confidence that the Rockets will get something done. I remember one off season when Les said we were going to make a significant trade. We traded for a guy named Mario Elie. Everyone thought it was funny at the time, but we won our first championship. You don't have to make a big splash to have an impact.
Do you think that Gasol/Posey will win a championship before Yao/T-Mac combo?? Oh I'm sorry, you signed Brian Cardinal and extended Shane Battier. The Timberwolves were in the playoffs every year in the 90's, but they never could get over the hump. That's what the Grizzlies are built to do right now. Sure, they'll get in the playoffs, but that's about it. You're the next Minnesota.
Every year there are role players available. But if you make the mistake of signing one for much more than he's worth then it limits your ability to sign guys that you really want in the future.
I'm having a hard time envisioning the immeasurable gap in quality between Brian Cardinal and what's left in the bargain bin that makes our not blowing our wad on these guys so inexecusable. You can pay a premium for proven performers like Brent Barry (whcih I beleive the Rockets would've) but when we get down to the Brian Cardinals and Rafer Alstons and the Kevin Ollie, why handcuff yourself when you can wait it out and pick up a player of similiar talent at a discount. We don't have to win next year, we just need to continue moving in that direction and to continue moving in that direction, we need to spend wisely and maintain as much flexibility as possible. I beleive Les's so called frugality is a sign he agrees.
You can credit our front office with the great deal for McGrady, but outside of that our better outlook has more to do with luck than GM skill or team strategy. If Memphis had landed the #1 pick when Yao was in the draft, which I think they had better odds for at the time, I have little doubt they would be in better position than we are. For the prepodence of moves where skill (trading and drafting) and money is involved with building a team, Memphis front office/ownership has been better than ours. Yao (pure luck) and Tmac (great move) are just big erasers for our other weak/cheap moves.
How ironic that this post comes from a guy whose team was completely owned in the playoffs by a frugal, defensive minded team with a superstar.
Actually this isn't very accurate. We are over the cap and will be over the foreseeable future. We have a few months to use our TE and pretty much only yearly MLEs after that to try to add pieces as we have few draft picks as well. While we need not rush or make hasty decisions, if we find a quality starter/outstanding back-up role player we need to secure them, even if it takes the full MLE for multiple years. Each year you get another MLE, so in our cap situation you might as well use them if you have a good chance to improve your team.
As long as the luxury tax is in place, the kinds of signings we have seen this summer most likely cannot continue. If the tax is abolished, which these teams seem to think it will, then we can spend more freely. 37 million for Derek Fisher? Last summer, Steven Jackson couldn't even get more than 15, and this year he gets around 40? I'd rather at least wait for a young player coming into his prime than overspend for all the old PG's this summer.
Frugal? Not even they are just fortunate. San Antonio's days of capspace are gone for awhile. They lucked out and had TD on a rookie contract and then had Parker and Manu on rookie deals. Now they have TD, Rose, and Manu getting paid with Parker coming up next. Bowen and Barry also have nice deals going. Yeah we gotbeat in the playoffs but I don't remember seeing the Rockets in round two or did I miss something? Or are you trying to say the Rockets would have beat the Spurs?
The last time they met it was a BIG SPUR in a GRIZZLY's butt. I think the Rockets payroll is higher than or similar to that of the Spur's.
Maybe frugal is not the best word, but they signed and traded for players with short deals to maintain cap flexibility. Throwing money at your favorite role player free agents is not going to put a team over the top, at least not with this year's group of free agents. Seriously, what other teams were bidding for Brian Cardinal? Could the guy not have been had for say 5 years and $20 million (which is still laughable)?
