[CHRON] After draft day dealings, Rockets ready to take on West

The NBA is littered with great athletes who never fulfill that potential. Heck the Rockets drafts are particularly littered with them.

Derick Cheivous, Eddie Griffin, Rhodrick Rhodes, Bostjan Nachbar, etc..etc..etc....

The draft is a crap shoot, and the rockets don't feel Gay has it, they certainly could be wrong.....I guess time will tell.

DD

 

Is the Hubie Brown praising the deal equally ridiculous? What about Draft Express giving the deal an A grade (only 1 other team - Portland - in the top 10 got an A). And why shouldn't we take T-Mac's opinion seriously? I would like to think that Rockets fans would give their best player just a bit more respect than that. He knows that if he doesn't get his championship in the next few years, he won't get one at all most likely. I don't think he would give the deal false lip service if he didn't truly believe that Battier is going to take him one step closer to that goal.

Let's also not forget that, even though this deal didn't give us any cap relief, at least the money that was going to Swift and is now going to Battier is now well-spent. If we can make an equally-wise investment in free agency, we'll be an additional step closer - maybe only 1 piece away.

 

Absolutely, but I would say Gay was more highly touted than the guys you mentioned above.

The exact same things were said when Toronto drafted Charlie V, most felt that he didn't "have it" and was a terrible pick at #7. While everything depends on the individual player, the list of UConn players that have come out is unbelievable and I think Gay will prove the best next on the list.

 

Should we try to justify this trade? No.
Is it time to forget about this trade? Yes.

It's tomorrow people.

 

How do I post a table? I've done analysis on the 31 games that Yao & T-Mac played together and I think we will be ok next season.

 

Gay will be good, but not next year. Warrick hardly got any minutes last year, so I dont see Gay getting big minutes either.

I wish we could have gotten Warrick out of the deal

 

I'm just referring to the t-mac quotes. what else is he gonna say. as far as all the grades, I will say this, if someone likes this deal, its mainly based on the fact that they think rudy gay is gonna be a bust more than anything.

but as someone else pointed out also, players opinions are about as worthless as fans, witness last year's quotes about stromile which were completely over the top. as a matter of fact, t-mac doesn't have a good track record on this subject, goint to orlando to play with grant

 

What would you expect Jonathon Feigen is a reporter who is the mouth of the rockets- The word is out- calm down our fans and get them to accept our trade! How can you rationalize the trading of our suppose to be star Power Forward and a potentially star Rookie who could have even been the #1 pick in the draft, for a small forward who is slow and on the downward slope of his career [ just ask the memphis fans ] Jerry West takes the Rockets to the cleaners and CD hasn't realized it yet!
The Rockets were going to upgrade the team with young,fast athletic players, the addition of Battier in exchange for two young and fast players makes it all a lie Battier will be a decent experienced role player but will only help us to continue the mediocre path of recent seasons. Les needs to get off his seat and tell these guys that he wants a championship team and nothing less will do. So far this offseason team CD Morey and JVG[ yes everything smells of JVG] are not getting my vote.
I draw everyone to this fact JVG and his staff seemingly made little attempt to coach Stromile Swift and certainly would have done the same with our rookie draft selection, so I ask what is the first thing that Les needs to do to improve the Rockets-- get rid of JVG and his coaching staff!!

 

Well, the Rockets basically just have to assume Tmac is healthy for the next few seasons, or else we're screwed anyway. If they go in thinking, well we better start just bringing in potential players for when Tracy goes down, then by the time those players are ready McGrady really will be finished, and we wouldn't have had the supporting cast around him during that time to have accomplished anything.

Sure, we'd have Gay and Yao to build with, but you're doing a lot of speculation if you think that's laying down the groundwork for a championship contender.

I don't have a problem with the Rockets philosophy on this at all. Just seems like they should have gotten a little more...I mean at least Memphis' 24th pick.

Roy was the type of rookie that could have helped immediately, Gay definitely was not, which is why they were never considering him in the first place.

 

LOL, damage control time.

The team as it is, isn't it pretty premature to claim "ready to take on West"? Just as in "the best team ever assambled"? At the end, it just gives us laughs and agony.

So, Tmac is asked to put in his stamp of approval - what else is he suppose to say? Also didn't he have had high praise for Swift last season? All pumped up? Did he mention his name this time?

Oh, Hubie Brown has something nice to say also. News flash, Hubie Brown always has something nice to say - I mean it's not as if Battier isn't a nice player is the core of the problem here. I've listened to Hubie on ESPN radio about Ishia Thomas's coaching Knicks, he managed to say something nice too. Hey, Plus, what does Hubie know about Battier that West and MF don't know? They can hardly conceal there grin, can they?

It's a shame Chron becomes a tool again, including the other JVG piece.

 

Did you just call Boki a great athlete? Are you also throwing him into the mix with Rudy Gay?

Wow DD, you've really gone wacko on us.

 

Look at Stromile...

 

OK, my level of pisstivity regarding this trade is greatly diminishing (woosah...woosah). I can now read about the trade and not have my heart hurt due to immense anger.

No one can make an accurate judgement on the teams status (contender or not) based on last season because the team was affected by injuries from jump. Sura didn't play at all. T-Mac was hurt after game 1, and didn't play like "T-Mac" all season. Yao missed games. EVERYONE MISSED GAMES!!!! Yet, in games that our two starts played together, our record was 21-10. That's a 68% winning clip, good for 55 games. No, that doesn't we would have won 55 if they stayed healthy all yr, but when your stars win at a 68% clip it's silly to say we for sure are not contenders with both of them healthy.

I looked at all 31 of those games. Of our 10 losses, I would only say that Yao and T-Mac both had quality games at the same time in 2 of them (11/17 against SA and 3/1 against Philly). One of them struggled in the other 8 losses.

If our two stars really play like true stars (this assumes that T-Mac is truly healthy and Yao has really turned the corner) then we will contend as long as our role players hit open shots, plays defense and doesn't make a lot of mental mistakes (or else JVG won't play you). Battier does all of those. He is a decent defender and shoots well. He IS an upgrade over the other swingmen we started for the last 2 seasons.

If we can use our TE and MLE wisely I don't think we are too far from contending next season assuming our stars play like stars. I do think we gave up too much (didn't maximize the value of the pick) and that are risking the future to win now, but isn't that what you are suppsoed to do when you have two stars in their prime?

 

DATE OPP RESULT Yao T-Mac 3rd O FG% OPP FG%
1 2-Nov Sac W 98-89 22 23 Barry (24) 43% 41%
2 12-Nov @Njn W 99-91 18 35 Wesley (15) 47% 37%
3 13-Nov @Bos L 102-82 14 14 Swift (17) 38% 46%
4 15-Nov @Min W 94-89 13 25 Alston (13) 46% 42%
5 17-Nov @Sas L 86-80 19 27 Head (11) 39% 46%
6 18-Nov Det L 78-70 20 6 Wesley (14) 39% 39%
7 29-Nov Atl W 100-85 25 25 Howard/Head (12) 45% 40%

DATE OPP RESULT Yao T-Mac 3rd O FG% OPP FG%
8 3-Dec Mem L 90-75 29 12 Head (9) 46% 46%
9 6-Dec Bos W 91-73 12 35 Swift/Head (11) 45% 34%
10 8-Dec @Sac W 106-95 21 28 DA (17) 49% 49%
11 11-Dec @Por W 100-86 9 35 Wesley/Swift (11) 46% 38%
12 14-Dec @Gsw W 111-105 30 23 Wesley (19) 49% 42%
13 15-Dec @Sea W 104-98 26 34 Howard (16) 46% 44%
14 17-Dec @Lac L 89-81 22 29 Norris (8) 39% 49%

DATE OPP RESULT Yao T-Mac 3rd O FG% OPP FG%
15 30-Jan @Mem L 86-77 15 23 Howard (18) 44% 45%

16 1-Feb Mil W 86-84 21 22 Alston (9) 42% 37%
17 3-Feb Sea W 100-77 24 36 Head (10) 44% 40%
18 5-Feb @Nyk W 93-89 15 23 Wesley (19) 42% 42%
19 6-Feb @Phi W 87-81 27 13 Alston (19) 42% 33%
20 8-Feb Lal L 89-78 14 11 Alston (16) 42% 42%
21 11-Feb Uth W 102-88 27 25 Wesley (17) 49% 47%
22 12-Feb Nyk W 90-83 24 7 Wesley (15) 41% 37%
23 14-Feb @Lac W 128-97 17 28 Bogans (18) 44% 58%
24 16-Feb @Pho L 109-75 6 10 Swift (13) 49% 35%
25 22-Feb Lac W 106-102 29 26 Wesley (21) 48% 45%
26 26-Feb @Orl W 89-84 29 19 Alston (13) 42% 42%
27 27-Feb Pho L 111-94 27 13 Howard (19) 42% 49%

DATE OPP RESULT Yao T-Mac 3rd O FG% OPP FG%
28 1-Mar Phi L 106-101 22 25 Alston (15) 43% 52%
29 3-Mar Den W 89-78 21 23 Swift (15) 42% 33%
30 5-Mar Por W 102-84 32 18 Wesley (12) 45% 42%
31 8-Mar Ind W 103-99 38 15 Howard (16) 52% 39%

 

we are at least 3 more solid players away from even being in the same breath as Dallass, Phoenix, SA, Detroit, or Miami.

so i'm not quite sure how we can say we're ready to "take on the West" at this point.

 

No, our guys cannot take on Jerry West. It was a one-punch knockout by Jerry on 6-28-2006.

 

Is it T-Mac's fault that Swift is/was a bum.

Look....a lot of people are upset, so was I draft day. I wanted to jump out my 2nd story window into some kind of soft bush.

After thinking hard about it.......It maybe the right choice. In fact, it will be a steal IF we lock up our 3rd scorer in Mike James, sign a YOUNG 2 guard with size and wit and find a decent 4 guy with the TE (that's the hard part)

Rudy Gay will be a great player in this league.....let's face it. I believe that with my soul. Will he ever be a super star like Tracy or Yao? No, but a Rip Hamilton or Jason Richardson caliber player.....yes, no doubt in my mind.
Will it matter if the Rockets win 54 games next season and get themselves a date with the Spurs in the Western Conference Championship? No, not really and I know there are a bunch of "if's" but it's OK. We'll see three years from now where the Rockets end up and how Rudy turns out because it will take that Kid (19) a few years to "get it"

Believe it or not.......The teams IQ is twice as high than it was last year with Battier.....that alone makes me smile. The only thing I hate and I'm sure most of you will NEVER let go is that we gave away the teams insurance policy (Gay) if Tracy ever goes down permanently

 

battier is a rocket. technically, gay was never one. it's time to move on.

 

OK, this post is WAY too sensible and rational for this forum (lately).

I suggest we ban sjackson0.

 

Was IQ really the problem with this team last season? Is Battier any smarter than Juwan Howard, David Wesley, or Jon Barry?

When you have a team like the Rockets used to have with Francis, Mobley, Taylor, etc. with all the talent, youth, and athleticism in the world, but no brains. I could totally see Battier being a huge addition.

When you have a team like the Rockets had the last couple of seasons. Tons of veteran leadership and a lot of smarts, but lacking greatly in talent, I don’t see how Battier gives us anything we don’t already have.