Chron: Rockets have tough decision to make on final roster spot

You can't help but think that Morey is burning up the phones trying to pare down our roster so that we're rid of a player or two that amount to nothing for our season.

Tell you the truth, I don't want to get rid of any of Pops, Conroy, or Garrett. I might even take them over some of our more established dudes and start building for the future as we look to add that All Star dude in a separate trade later or in the off-season (knock on wood).

Charlotte does have some Tyson Chandler and Boris Diaw. I'd take the latter over the former for his passing skills; Diaw does play center in odd matchups. And Chandler, while not worth his contract, is a true shot-blocking center. Although I don't know who we'd give up to get either, especially if it cuts into next year's Chris Bosh pipe dream.

 

And the Post-of-the-Day prize goes to....... Yetti!

I agree with you 100%. Conroy has been impressive. Neither Lowry nor Brooks have good court vision. I think Pops is a capable PF, but he doesn't have much of an outside game and he won't be taking many minutes from Hayes, Scola, or Landry. If we need to throw in a player because of fouls we always have Dorsey or Cook.

On the other side of the issue, we have two PGs in Lowry & Brooks that have skills but aren't ideal for the position because of the various deficiencies in their games (defense, playmaking, shooting, etc). Although Conroy may not be as capable offensively as Brooks, or as skilled defensively as Lowry, he is more well-rounded and is good at setting up his team which I believe will be very valuable in Adelman's system. Plus, who will fill the PG role should one of our two guys get injured? We have spare BIGS in case of injury, but not PGs.

Ideally, I'd like to keep both Pops & Conroy. Hopefully, that opportunity will be available when decisions are finally made.

 

morey has a VERY tough job overall this season. i feel for him, but he's up to it.

 

I initially favored Temple, but I suppose it would be wiser to add a 3rd PG.

You can't have only 2 players that can play a position. If Brooks or Lowry get hurt, we need a third PG to step in.

My guess is we keep Pops, we look to give away Dorsey for whatever, and then sign Conroy as well.

That would give us:

PG - Brooks, Lowry, Conroy
SG - McGrady, Ariza, Taylor
SF - Battier, Budinger
PF - Scola, Landry, Cook
C - Hayes, Andersen, Mensah-Bonsu

If the Rockets can find a taker for Cook as well, I'd like them to bring in Temple too. It would give them more of a defensive option after Battier/Ariza to put on opposing wings.

 

As a fan I agree with you 100%, but as an owner why would I pay a couple of $million extra for a 12th player on a year when we don't expect to do much. If the extra player was the difference between 9th place and 8th place, you could make the money back in playoff revenue. But if the difference is only between 10th and 9th, or even 8th and 7th, I wouldn't authorize it.

 

Keep Pops and Conroy, find a way to get rid of Dorsey or just release him.

 

Only if you want a 2nd date.

 

imo Pops plays bigger than 6'9".

 

Morey will find a way to keep Conroy and Pops. Cook or Dorsey will be traded or cut. Kinda of like a couple of years ago when Morey cut Jackie Butler and Justin Reed even though they had guaranteed contracts.

 

I too am surprised Feigen apparently doesn't think Dorsey is playing for a roster spot.

The other thing no one brought up blew my mind: Budinger may be our "emergency" pg 'til TMac comes back? This is all too weird.

 

Because that's stupid.

 

It's pretty simple how to solve this. So somebody should forward this to Morey.

Stephen Jackson for Cook, Barry's contract and Joey Dorsey. We give up nothing to get Jax, GSW get rid of Jax for expiring contracs and we now have room to sign Conroy and Pops. Problem solved. With Jax, we have the scoring to keep afloat till T-Mac comes back.

 

Interesting thought. I, too, would like to keep both Conroy and Pops. However, I think we can draw a distinction between 2007 and this year. In 2007, we were only slightly above the luxury tax threshold, so Les trusted that Morey would eventually be able to maneuver the team back under the threshold by the trade deadline (which he did by making the Bobby Jackson and Gerald Green trades). This year, the team is over the tax threshold by a few extra million. To cut Brian Cook would make it virtually impossible for the team to get back below the tax without giving away Battier for peanuts. Cutting Dorsey, however, I could possibly see. Especially if Les is resigned to paying the tax (just with the hopes of minimizing his bill).

I think the team HAS to hold onto Cook for now but will look to trade him sometime in January or February, when the "cost" to dump his salary will be at its lowest. (And, no, his $3.5M expiring contract is NOT an attractive asset to anyone unless it is ABSOLUTELY necessary to complete a huge deal . . . I mean, after ALL other options have been exhausted.)

I bet Morey is currently trying all NBA teams either under the cap or with a trade exception, seeing if they'd be interested in Joey Dorsey plus cash.

 

Lovely.

 

If we're talking about keeping rookies for their future value, it doesn't make sense to take on bad contracts at the same time. Especially to make this season slightly less wasted.

 

I don't think so much of Diaw as a bad contract. Chandler, yes.

It wouldn't hurt my feelings to trade with Golden State, GS sending Jax to Cleveland, us getting Ilgauskas (expiring contract) for the year. That way we'd go in the right direction as far as cap space.

 

Pops has earned his spot, but Conroy has really impressed me with his limited minutes. Two PG's may not be enough. If AB or Lowry got injured we'd be totally screwed.

 

This would put the rockets were they needed to be if they could have this team

PG - Brooks, Lowry, Conroy
SG - McGrady, Ariza, Taylor
SF - Battier, Budinger,Beck
PF - Scola, Landry, Mensah-Bonsu
C - Hayes, Andersen, Yao

 

Yes,DM did mention that as a possibility. That's too much to expect from him.
Dorsey seems to be satisfied that he has a guaranteed contract IMO,and is demanding minutes rather than working to get better.