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

David Anderson,
Hayes
Dorsey
Cook
Landry
Scola

and
we still need pops??

 

Out of all of them, only Landry and Dorsey really have the athleticism thats key to shotblocking and rebounding (though Scola is an exception at the latter). Plus, Dorsey doesn't even try, so scratch him out.

 

Well the simple solution is just to eat Dorsey's contract and sign both Pops and Conroy. Dorsey is guaranteed but his contract (<1 mill) is not that big a deal. If Alexander was generous enough to shell out 3 million for Taylor I don't see why Morey can't persuade/beg on his knees him to eat Dorsey's relatively small deal. IMHO both Pops and Conroy are two talents we can't afford to slip away. We'll be talking Azubuike and Keith Bogans part two here...

 

No! SJ is a pariah that will surely splinter our team chemistry and will soon be traded so that we can right the ship again, just like we did with Artest.

We've got to stop taking in troubled players, hoping we can find their good side long enough to extract some playoff miracles from them.

I see Dorsey heading in that direction and would love to see us clear him out for Conroy. We need sensible players, not drama boys.

 

Yes.

Pops is the better athlete of the bunch, plus is a better source of offense than Hayes, Dorsey and probably Cook.

 

Agree wholeheartedly. I think Adelman can make outside-shooting centers work, so I can live with Andersen and Cook on the roster. (When Yao comes back, I hope his middle name will be "Pick-n-Pop.") I'm happy with Scola and Landry at the power forward position. Chuck and Pops bring D and athleticism, respectively, to back the bigs. So that's six roster spots. Wish Joey nothing but the best...

T-Mac and Yao bring our roster total to eight, which leaves us six openings for wings and point guards. I'd take Battier, Ariza, Bud, and JT at the wings, and AB and KL at the PG position.

So I look at the above and my heart burns at not seeing Will Conroy. Morey, what do you think? Any way to peddle Cook to get Conroy on the Roster?

Just how competitive we are this year will depend, IMHO, on how well everyone plays within the team offense and defense. We'll need team rebounding, if we're really going to run. We need guys who "get it," so I suspect Joey's gone. Our competitiveness will also depend upon Les being willing to accept losing a few million dollars. Les, look at it as a one-time, restructuring write-off; it might turn into a highly profitable investment!

 

Not a fan of Cook's, but I doubt that.

Despite his athleticism, Pops is not a great finisher unless he's dunking the ball. He's shot in the low 40s on attempts near the basket last year.

 

Just counting out loud. So do point out if I made any mistakes.

PG- AB, Lowry
SG- Ariza, Tmac, Taylor
SF- Battier, CBud
PF- Scola, Landry, Cook
C- Anderson, Hayes, Yao.

Thats 13 right? So shouldn't it be 2 roster spot?

I know Barry is not there, as according to a previous report, Barry is retiring.

So a PG and another front court player, makes it 15. Will and Pops.

P.s. I really do hope somehow, McCants makes the team. Just somehow. At the very least, his a player that have already shown that he is able to score in the NBA.

 

You're missing Dorsey...

 

Given that most (Morey can't afford to say it) feel that Pops and Conroy would be an upgrade as far as "backups" on the roster, Morey should find a solution (and Les should agree) to keeping the best 2 players of the 4 mentioned fighting for 1 spot. The talk is that "we're always looking to make the team better". Unless there is something on the horizon through trades, "a bird in the hand... I say, find a way to do it.

 

I think u need to keep ur best players regardless of position. In this case, u need to find a way to keep conroy and pops. We can talk about the lack of pg depth, but lowry has been injury prone through his career and if he goes down, who backs up brooks? Not only that, if conroy continues to impress and lowry being in his last yr, you could maybe ship lowry out in a package deal to get a better player somewhere. Pops has out played dorsey and chase has out played taylor. Send dorsey and taylor to the d-league and keep pops. When u don't keep good players, then ur not giving your team the best chance to win.

 

Huh? Kyle Lowry is not injury PRONE. He had one major injury that cost him most of his rookie season. He then responded the following year by playing in EVERY FREAKING GAME. All 82. I think he pretty much put an end to that injury right there. Then, last season, he played in a total of 77 games, which would have been a higher total had he not missed a game or two because of the trade. Lowry is a warrior who is not likely to miss many games at all, barring a catastrophic injury.

Still, I agree that PG depth would be nice. If Lowry or Brooks goes down, the Rockets are thin at the position (especially with no T-Mac, Barry or Luther Head to play "emergency PG"). Hence, the desire to keep Conroy.

 

Keep Dorsey, keep Pops.

Trade Dorsey for Mills on Nov 16.

http://blog.oregonlive.com/behindblazersbeat/2009/10/trail_blazers_notes_patty_mill_1.html

 

That's right, wasn't it a hand or something? My bad, but like u said, when u only have 2 pgs, then u can't afford a guy to be gimpy. We don't know how brooks will respond with more minutes and more games.

Worzel, I've been know to bring up guys that I think could help this team, but ur love for patty mills is crazy. Now, I think he's a good player,but every post u bring up mills. He played fine against team usa, but so did shane heal and a sleath of others in a 1 game scenerio, but that doesn't mean he's the 2nd coming.

 

"Yes, absolutely yes, size matters."

- Some commercial that always comes on ESPN radio

 

[Friedman] The Bubble Boys

Good article on the 4 players on the bubble: http://www.nba.com/rockets/news/the_bubble_boys_young_rockets_2009_10_19.html

Excellent except with excellent advice from Pops:

We could still see a shake-up with Cook/Dorsey not making it, but it's unlikely since their contracts are guaranteed.

 

I really hope DM and Alexander just buy out Dorsey's contract and get it over with. Getting Conroy and Pops on a deal right now is a bargain. Getting Dorsey as a throw-in over someone else may be a mistake, but there's no reason to compound it by keeping him at the cost of Conroy/Pops

 

Exactly. Dorsey, by NBA standards, is not much of a cost, 800k. Pops/conroy have true potential and need to be locked up. I don't see Dorsey having a future in this league so far.

 

Another nice column by Jason, who's single handedly improved Rockets.com... tremendously. They should give the guy a raise.

 

Yep, I never use to visit Rockets.com before he came onboard. Loved his work from his last gig and definitely is doing great with this gig.

BTW, I think Pops will make the roster. He is even a part of the rotation tonight which means he'd be behind Luis, Carl, David, and Chuck. I wish Will could make it as well, but unfortunately we cannot get rid of our other unwanted players (Cook, Dorsey).