Judging by Van Gundy's comments last night and even Tmac's a couple of days ago, it would seem that team is about to make some serious changes. They both seem fed up with the current roster. Bringing Bogans in may be a sign of things to come. Obvisouly with Barry, DA, Wesley and even Sura it doesn't make a lot of sense. I say out with the old, in with the new. Keeping Barry and DA on the IL has to be suspicious at least. Wesley and Mooch have some value as expirings, and Mutombo may actually bring something in a trade, though I believe he is the least likely to be moved. Howard could be of use to a team like Atlanta. Sura has no value to other teams, though he may yet prove to be the X-factor for us again... I would say that outside of Yao, Tmac and Alson, everyone else is fair game and fodder for trades. Hopefully they won't be desperation moves. I hate to say it, but in the long run, perhaps it was better that we lost last night like we did and that we will eventually miss the playoffs. At least this way CD and JVG will be forced to rethink the entire road map for the team. If the team somehow puts together a miracle run and makes the playoffs, we would be stuck with the same slow, aging roster next season. It's time to develop the youngsters. Let Head, Hayes, Swift and Baxter shine, work a 2 for 1 deal, bring JLIII back and shake things up by shipping the old geezers out and bringing more young blood in. Sit Tmac the rest of the season before he injures himself for good, and pray that we get a pick good enough to draft someone that can really contribute, like Gay. Hopefully this is where we are headed, unless we somehow turned our assets into a difference maker, but I really don't see it hapenning. We lost our chance of that when Artest went to the Kings.
We're still only six games out, I highly doubt management is in "tank mode" yet. This move was obviously made to strengthen our backcourt by trading a player we didn't really need for guard capable of playing both backcourt spots.
Indeed. I agree with the second part of your post. The Baxter for Bogans trade, though good on paper, has to qualify as lateral move at best. Why do I say this? Because it does NOTHING to adress this problem: "We should've been frothing at the mouth, like pit bulls. I so much want to have a team that really, really, really wants to play every day, every night." -- Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy, suggesting his team was likely not giving max effort in an 89-78 loss to the Lakers. Mark my words. This is just the beginning. Deals will get done. For better or worse. Though the way this team currently is, they hardly can be for the worse. Van Gundy himself has said that the injuries only hid a signigicant weakness in our roster... take it for what it's worth.
i am getting excited. change is good. i am tired of seeing the same old players stink it up every night. so much young talent out there and all we have is bunch of ready to retire people who should be starting off the bench to begin with. phoenix games are so fun to watch. bottom line: you gotta have defense, but defense without offense wont get the job done.
this trade d-line does not look like a good one for making quality young pick-ups. I hope CD and co. can pull a rabbit out of their hats!!!
Man, it's not about trading players for this team to perform much better. Player trades/signing has been going on frequently since last season, but the team has not been really improved in terms of performance. We have two of the best NBA players already, but we still lost a lot. It is about changing the coach. It is so easy for us to image what trades and new players will bring to this team. But believe it or not, we will not get a title with JVG. He does not coach to explore our players' abilities, but to build a JVG system that is boring, damaging talents, taking away fun of playing basketball.
I really don't see how sitting T-Mac helps a chronic back problem. From what I've read, my understanding is you can't avoid it, playing more or less won't do a thing. You can only hope it won't happen. Whatever happens with the roster happens, I will support the ones we have now, and whoever comes in.
The more he plays, the more he aggravates it. He'll worsen his back every minute he's on the court and increase the chances of flare-ups. Bogans will help since we're shallowest at the 2. Baxter wasn't giving us anything Hayes isn't. The biggest reason why we need to deal is that we will be over the cap for the foreseeable future simply from the salaries of Juwan, McGrady, Yao, and Alston. We have only 8 guys under contract for next season (if you include Sura), and need to fill at least 5 spots. We'll have our incoming draft pick (remember this is predicted to be a crap draft) and the MLE and Vet Exemption can give us 3 minor guys or 2 borderline starters depending on how we use them. That means 2 or 3 minimum deal scrubs to fill out the roster. No way would we be able to sign and trade the guys coming off the books. There's little reason to resign any of them since they're virtually all out of gas. Trade them now and try and get at least one or two guys that can contribute in the upcoming seasons. Evan
It's hard to completely shake a back problem, you're right. But it gets worse, much worse, if you overdo it. I can say that from personal experience. I am seriously leaning towards forcing T-Mac to take a long rest.
CD already stated that this problem with his back can happen at any time. Rest will not help, because he could rest for the entire year and then be on the court his first game back and completely reinjure it again. This just like his knee is a problem that will not go away. Jonathan Bender's body gave out on him at 25 I have a feeling T-Mac is not too far from that.
That is exactly my point. Even though Howard and Wesley performed admirably while both Yao and Tmac where out, these guys are more useful to us right now if we use them as assets in a trade. Ideally, we would have them coming off the bench - like SA does with their vets - but unfortunately that plan blew up when both Swift and DA failed to live to their expectations. We should cut our losses and turn these guys along with Moochie, DA, and Barry into pick and young prospects. There players out there to be had. Isaiah seems willing to part with Nate Robinson and David Lee for instance. I'm still not sold that Swift is utterly hopeless, but in the right trade, i'd part with him too. There has to be a taker out there for a combination of Moochie, Wesley, DA, Barry, Bowen (I suppose JVG's pet isn't going anywhere) and Mutombo. Include Swift if we must. We now what are our areas of need: a tall SG and an athletic PF. We need a third option, and most of all, we need players that are not going to give up on the team. JVG's digust over last is the harbinger of a major shakedown. I can't see how he is even going to relate to some players after that. If the moves don't come, it won't be for lack of trying. That's my guess.
These quotes indicate that the team is far from done dealing: on whether the Bogans acquisition is an indication that Derek Anderson won’t be able to contribute any time soon) “Who knows? It could happen, but it’s been six weeks. We had a chance to get a young talent here and we went for it. It’s been very hard; there hasn’t been many trades this year, and we’ve been trying for quite a while. As far as Derek goes, he’s been working very hard, but he was hurt and same for Bob (Sura) and Jon (Barry), so we’ve been hurt at that position quite a bit and the load has been on David Wesley. He’s done a commendable job, but we have to get him some help.” (on any future plans) “Guys, I’ve been trying for a while. If you’ve noticed, there’s been very few trades this year. I don’t know what the deal is, but it’s been an unusual year. There’s still some talk going on and we’re still going to keep trying because this has been a disappointment with as many injuries as we’ve had. We’ve been trying to fill some holes, but it’s been real hard to do because you can’t trade injured players. That’s an impossibility, and the things that have been offered to us haven’t been in the best interest of our team. This is the first one and I hope there is more, but who knows?” http://www.nba.com/rockets/news/Carroll_Dawson_Addresses_Media-167670-822.html I guess that if it doesn't get done, it won't be for lack of trying... hopefully there's a good deal out there for us.
