[Chron] Instead of a quick fix, Rockets might play the waiting game

This plan sounds solid to me. Add Barry, who is certainly an upgrade to every guard on the roster not named Tmac or Rafer and get Landry signed. So now we have last year's squad but with a solid, smart veteran acting as a stopgap at backup SG/PG. All of the young players have another year of NBA experience (should see a big jump in Scola's production and hopefully Landry's and Brooks as well). The core players are in their prime so we know what they will bring. Another year to learn the new offense won't hurt either.

If Barry is added (even if he is not) then you have a team that should be on pace for close to 60 games. Once the trade deadline comes around during the season I think Morey is going to make a deal *splash* and give the team 35-40 games to gel and roll into the playoffs.

Of course, it is all for nothing if the fragile duo can't stay on the floor.

 

Looking to improve via trade is smart. In fact, it's really the only way to do it unless Greene becomes a superstar in year one. There are no impact free agents that will sign with us. But it's important to stay proactive. Last year, Kupchak didn't throw everything he had at first impact impact player on the block, but he was actively trying all summer to find one. They ended up having a quiet offseason (minus Kobe's tantrums), but Kupchak was quietly working the phones. The Gasol deal took almost two months of negotiations. If we wait until right before the deadline, our targeted player might already be gone.

If Morey's working the phones right now, then great. Put our players on the table and try to find us a bargain as early as possible, because I don't want to have to rebuild two years from now.

 

To further ponder that thought, les probably wonders why the Toyota Center isn't packed all the time. The reason to me is I don't think fans think the rox are real contenders. In houston as with all the franchises in houston, we can see pretender vs contenders. The TC will continue to be 85% until the management show that they're committed to winning a ring and not just giving lip service. Anyone who studies and is realistic know this isn't a championship team. Adding Brent Barry isn't going to mae this a championship team either. I mean when the Rox made the run in 94, it was kinda in the air as to whether they were ring worthy, but at least the 93 team was a bad call away from advancing to the wc and playing a team they handled pretty good in phoenix. This team can't even get out of the 1st rd and has been out talented every time. Lack of quality players always stands out on this team. So les shouldn't get mad and wonder why the TC looks empty. Well, it is. Get serious about a ring and the community will give the team those consecutive sellouts like the 90's team had. If not, teams will continue to feel at home in the TC and people will find other avenues of entertainment.

 

I think the top 2 from both are pretty equal. Then, the drop off.

Having a sense of what is going on among the teams in the West worries me more than giving me optimism about next season. The Rockets will need to stay healthy for sure. After that, it still seems to me that we will need at least one big change to get us over the hump.

 

urinarily?

 

Spur of the moment creation of a polite word for pi$$.

 

Nice, I was pretty sure you meant to write that.

 

thats exactly right amd thats my problem with this whole "wait until febuary" thing..........

look its 2 things thats a problem here with that logic........

1) like lee said ......if u want a artest or another top tier player at the deadline.........teams are gonna be linin up for the guy and with better packages than us......so if u wait and we dont have the tradable assets to get it done.....than what???????
we wait for that and get egg on our face...........

2) mid season trades also have a tendency to throw chemistry off and may take time to get this chemistry...........
does anyone here truely believe that we can afford a 20 or so game tuneup in the middle of the season in a type western conference where a 50 game winner might not even get in next year????????????

this article was done as a blatant attempt to pacify an obvious fanbase on a witch hunt......and watchin the front offices every move........

they know we mentally cant take another year of mediocrity.....and that they are definately on the clock with us fans who fill those seats..we love our rockets but we can not sit here and let them fool us with these puff articles and not run out a real team to contend for a real title........ we are in a win now mode............yao and tmac dont have many years left guys.....thats apparent........its kinda now or never on this thing....they are just to fragile to wait a yaer or 2 down the line..........our window is closin as we speak


they know they have a delicate fanbase here........and they know we are tastin blood right know as well........

 

Please try to explain this to DaDakota. He appears to have OD'd on all of that Rockets' Red Koolaid and has completely bought into Uncle Les' act of shifting the blame for his incompetence and that of his front office onto the head coach...

 

Point well taken.

 

I don't quite under this statement. Are you talking about Battier? He seems to be the exact opposite of what you describe here. He does not look good on the stat sheets. And he is not urinarily poor on the court -- at least that's not his reputation, whether you agree or not.

I think there are still people here having the misconception that nerds like Morey operate just out of stat sheets and know nothing about real basketball.

 

He was merely an example to illustrate the point that the Blazers have an abundance of young talent which they likely would dangle in a deal, whether it be Webster, Outlaw, Sergio Rodriguez, whoever, there are no depth issues.

I don't know about that. By healthy I mean him giving you the production he was giving prior to the injury this year. Considering the names that will likely be available, I don't part with 3 years of club control of Landry at $3million at +10ppg. If he's not healthy, he's complete garbage as we saw down the stretch last year.

Right, but that works with every other rookie/young player in the NBA.

Like I said earlier, we have an idea of who will be on the block. Gasol only fell out of the sky in regards to the fact that noone thought he would go for so low and to the Lakers. But it was a known fact he was being shopped. We have an idea of who will be on the block and it's pretty slim pickings.

I'm not faulting Morey in his operations. He's taking the most rational course of action. My pessimism stems from my skepticism that a deal can be made.

 

Something else about a deadline trade. If it doesn't work, there's no time left to try to fix the mistake. For better or worse, your roster is set.

 

No to Artest he will bolt it's obvious even his agent knows this.

Mo Williams is another Mike James. As long as it dont involve Battier, Landry, Scola go for it. It's also a low risk move - high reward. If it has anything to do with Battier, Landry, Scola, Brooks, Dorsey, Greene go for it.

I think it's safe to say good bye to Chuck Wagon and Bobby J.

Milwaukee could be looking to dump salary, but its worth the risk considering what we didnt move.

We need to keep our youth, keep our core, and keep our stars intact and see how it shapes up.

 

Well said.

 

This is a very relevant question concerning what will or won't happen before the season begins. The Rox have always tried to make a "splash" in the off-season under Les' ownership and the only tangible bit of success was Scola/Hayes & Battier for Gay (ugh...).

But is the best thing to do is wait? I think so, but it's not really being discussed here because people are criticizing Morey for not getting Landry tied up and not giving him credit for signing him at all.

What do you think Les would be thinking without that "inconsequential" 22 game second-best-ever streak?

Does anyone think Les will give Morey an opportunity to sell zero additional season tickets to give him the latitude a 2nd year GM probably deserves?

I don't think so. This Campbell article merely was just a speculative average post here, but I think he presented an opinion few are willing to dispute here.

 

This strategy isn't exciting but it certainly makes sense. Add a couple pieces, see if this group is good enough then make a decision in February on what to do with B-Jax and our other trade assets.

Please just tell me we're shopping Luther Head. He has to be worth something on the trade market.

 

That's true because the fan base in Houston is weak anyway when it comes to genuine support. Some arenas will be sold out becuase fans are fans but in Houston it is not like that and that is the reflection of the people here like Mike Jones said, "back then they didn't want me, now I'm hot they all on me." Saying that to say this, Rockets won 22 straight games with injuries to key players. this team SHOULD be supported mainly on that alone going into next season. That alone shows you that they are contenders when healthy and playing hard. It also shows you that this team is still great entertainment when not healthy. People can go and say that this team isn't a real contender but hey are the Astros or the Texans? This city has 2 championships in basketball out of the big three sports so sports wise what other entertainment are you watching? You better be at a strip bar or maybe you are at the Edward's theater. Quality goes hand in hand I agree you have to have quality players, but a lot of times we bring in quality players... then so called quality fans say they are not quality players then those quality players leave to another team and then they are seen as quality players once they win elsewhere. That goes on in Houston a lot and that is very similiar to how the quality of the fan base is here when it comes to negativity. In the Toyota Center besides the Rowdies the energy and the spirit of the place in negative and gives off an energy of okay we are waiting for something negative to happen so we can have an excuse to leave early or complain about something. This was the case during the winning streak, when they lost and even when they won throughout the season. IMO I don't think you can do anything about that... a lot of people are negative because that's what moves them in life.

 

Rockets were just mentioned in the John Hollinger chat on ESPN, but it does not deserve a new thread.

LINK: http://proxy.espn.go.com/chat/chatESPN?event_id=21378

 

To be fair I don't think any team have actually paid the luxury tax to sign a player (anyone know for sure?).

I must also disagree with you that Les has been behind all the moves in the past decade. I really don't believe he had that much input in team management other then signing the checks. I believe CD and Rudy have been responsible for those bad decisions. The biggest mistake Les has been responsible for was probably going with those ugly pajama jerseys... shudders...
Since Morey has taken over fully as GM I honestly have not disagreed with any of the moves he made, although I had my doubts earlier, he has proven his decision making abilities for me to not question his decisions like when CD was at the helm.

Also people think too highly of the attractiveness of our trade assets to other teams. Yes we can offer BJ and Head (expiring contracts). But a lot of other teams also have the same expiring contracts, many a lot more attractive then ours because it offers more cap relief. People also need to be reminded that we got BJ's expiring by parting with a underachieving Bonzi and a benched Mike Jame with a 12mil contract. We really shouldn't expect a all star caliber player in return.
Outside of cap relief the players we are willing to part with also have significantly less value then what the rest of the league could offer.
I mean given how eager rocket fans are to find replacements to take Rafer and Battier's minutes, its hard to think that other teams are that excited at what they bring to the table.

I guess what I am trying to say is that even though we all want the Rockets to pull a championship level move like the celtics/lakers, we simply do not have the pieces available.
Barring any dramatic events we should only expect Morey to improve our roster through minor moves and smart draft decisions.