I cannot disagree at all with the original post. Some really good players have slipped though the Rockets' hands and Rockets have paid average or below average players like they are superstars.
I think we came out ahead in the Collier-Pzrbellia(don't know how he spells that) trade, because we got the Bucks 1st pick the folowing year. Unfortunatly, we wasted it by trading it and 2 others away for EG. However, at the time we traded for EG, almost everybody on this board was psyched about it, so if the FO was stupid on that one, then I guess we all were. See a pattern here???
Houston is pretty good at selecting late. Sam Cassell with the 20 something overall selection, Kenny Thomas can be considered a steal as well being selected well into the 20's. Remember, most players drafted outside the top 10 or 15 never become even become starters in the NBA, let alone good players, so to have two 20 ppg scorers and 1 decent PF in 10 years isn't so bad really. I can think of very few teams who did better with late round selections in recent years. Edit: Othella Harrington was a 2d rounder to I believe, he's still in the League, which is more than can be said for most 2d rounders.
I don't know why everyone thinks that Richard Jefferson would greatly improve our team. Yes, he's a very good player, but he's a HORRIBLE three-point shooter, in his first two seasons he's shot 23.8% from downtown, and we all know that all Rudy uses his threes for is to fire from downtown.
That's a little unfair. The Barkley deal was made to get past Seattle... which occurred. Utah beat them in the end, but the trade was a good one in the sense that it enabled the team to return to the Western Conference Finals. Yes, all three pieces were moving past their primes, but that wasn't really the call at the time. They all still looked pretty good at the time (though definitely not at their peak, pretty close -- the whole quantity of talent overcoming all argument).
The Rockets make mistakes like any other franchise, even the good ones. Their biggest mistakes was the over hyping their own talent and paying big time for it. Taylor was avg during the 45 win season , but was paid right under superstar dollars,Cato had 1 pre-season game and was awarded 7mill, Moochie was playing alot of minutes because of the 3 guard lineup, but once we had something of a 3, his minutes were cut ,but he makes as much as mike redd,and Rudy drafting guys who can supposedly "space the floor" instead of installing a fluid offense. You can throughout the league and find examples of teams making poor choices, including Jerry west (drew gooden for mike miller). Normally, the teams that are the upper echelon of teams are the ones that made the best decisions in the front office. Poor teams have poor gm's,coaches and whatever and good teams have vice versa.
Hasn't it been established that Jefferson was never our pick (we drafted Jefferson FOR N.J.)???? If so, maybe we can have a moratorium on "look at the mistake we made by not drafting Jefferson".
uggghhhh, where to start. umm we're not exactly in nugs/clips/cavs territory. they have sucked, and still suck. we have two franchise pieces and have been over 500 2 of the last 4 years. and we're going back to the playoffs next year. don't worry over nugsland too much. oh and seriously, who does avery play for anymore? he bounced around forever, found a little home in SA, then went away, i thought he had retired. and man, just how could you forget rashard as others mentioned. that's the calling card of everyone who bashes our front office.
What makes you so certain that this is a playoff team next season? Sure, Utah is likely a lottery team with Stockton retiring and Malone and Sloan possibly out the door as well, but it's not like the Rockets won't have competition for a playoff spot. Phoenix will be a better team next season. As will Seattle and Golden State(unless Arenas signs with Denver). That means the Rockets will be battling it out with 3 other teams for the 7th and 8th spot. And honestly, given the track record of Steve Francis and Rudy T over the last 4 seasons(I'm assuming Mobley is out of here), I wouldn't bet on Houston to come out on top in that race.
You are right. So the Rockets management team are mediocre at best and that's why our team is mediocre as well. Put it this way, Draft 2001 -- Passed up a combination 3 of Richard Jefferson, Troy Murphy, Zach Randolph, Gerald Wallace, Jamaal Tinsley, Tony Parker, Gilbert Arenas and Mehmet Okur (for choose Eddie Griffin) 2000-- Passed up 2 of Hidayet Turkoglu, Desmond Mason, Quentin Richardson, Jamaal Magloire Morris Peterson, Morris Peterson, Eduardo Najera or Michael Redd (for Jason Collier and Dan Langhi ) 1999 -- Passed up Andrei Kirilenko, Gordan Giricek, Emmanuel Ginobili (for Kenny Thomas) 1998 -- Passed up 2 of Radoslav Nesterovic, Ricky Davis, Al Harrington and Rashard Lewis (for Michael Dickerson and Mirsad Turckan) Signing 2001 -- Signed Moochie Norris to a 6-year, $23 million contract and Mo Taylor to a 6-year, $48.8 million contract 2000 -- Signed Kelvin Cato to a 6-year, $45m contract Which front office of the current playoffs teams made more mistakes than us in the last 4-5 years? There is a reason we are not in the playoffs. We deserve this fate to replay those mistakes.
It was evident that somehow management lost focus. They signed Cato, but drafted a center 2yrs later and signed Taylor,but drafted a 4 the same yr. Not only did they draft griffin, but they didn't even work the guy out. Its like they didn't even have a sense of direction. At least denver had a plan and the plan all along was to get rid of high priced vet's from a losing team to get cap relief and add pieces to the young players. Granted, they may not get the top free agents, but they will get 1 or 2 good players to go along with the likes of Nene. The Rockets plan seem to be what?
You can do an analysis of every franchise and make a list of mistakes. I don't think the Rockets are any worse than most of the teams. IMO, the biggest mistakes were the acquisition of those over-the-hill big name players: Barkley, Pippen, and Rice. (Drexler was the exception. But he's a hometown hero.) Having those players didn't push the team to a higher level as it was hoped. It, however, devastated the development or acquisition of good role players.
NewGirl, your post is depressing. Of course hindsight is always 20/20, but you would expect things to even out over the last 4 or 5 years. However, I see some consistancy here....and that aint good.
For the sake of trying to turn this into a sane thread, can someone come up with a list of how many other teams passed up on these players, too? Thanks.
How was this so sure? We picked our 3 players, and then the trade was made. No one knew that we were going to pick Griffin until the end. They should of stuck by their guns. Check out the reaction from our own ClutchCity.net website: http://www.clutchcity.net/feature.cfm?FeatureID=114 I admit, I was thrilled we got him too. But I was expecting too much of him. He hasn't progressed properly and he is not adjusting to his role. The boy is young, but so is Amare Stoudemire. The Rockets should of never gotten rid of Kenny Thomas, but it is always shoulda, woulda, coulda, etc. with the Rockets.
This is a sane thread. All the moves that the Rockets have been making have been terrible ones. It always looks like the Rockets made the deal of a lifetime and it turns out to be a bust. When is that going to change? That's why I think there should be some changes to the front office.
Exactly what I said in the thread concerning the Rockets and how they compare to the likes of the Clippers, Wizards, Nuggets, Cavaliers, Warriors, and the rest of the teams that have missed the playoffs for years. Rudy T, Carroll Dawson, and the rest of the staff have no clue what they're doing with this team. Every offseason they seem to waste their draft pick(s) and sign a mediocre free agent to a superstar caliber contract. The only solid draft choices they've made over the last 5 years are Michael Dickerson(a good rookie who helped land them Steve Francis), Kenny Thomas(a borderline steal for a late first rounder, although they have little to show for that now), and of course Yao Ming. And regarding the last pick, I'll once again go back to the same point I've been making all season long. Rudy deserves NO CREDIT for drafting Yao Ming. Anybody other than the Fakers would've taken that guy had the 1st pick fallen into their laps like it did for Houston. All that talk from teams about Jay Williams being a better player was just a smokescreen. They wanted to scare the Rockets into trading the pick. The way I see it, Rudy got very lucky last summer after the disaster of the 2001-2002 season. And regarding Eddie Griffin, did they really not have the guy go through a workout before drafting him?! If that's true, Rudy should be fired immediately!
