[Chron] Rockets must get smart about options, money

Well said, rserina

 

we are b****ing and moaning about a stupid management that states we are in a "win now" mode and they don't even try offer a "no-trade" clause (even though it really isn't one and it really isn't that expensive) or the player option. it makes ZERO sense. mike james was not that expensive. he was still driven. hell it seems like the guy believes he can bust his ass for 2 years and opt out and try to get more money. if we are in a win now mode then him leaving after 2 years wouldn't be an issue.

this management better have an excellent backup plan, because it sounds like they don't and CD knows he let the rox get burned by not offering these.

 

Let your wife explain tradeable assets to you. Alston (ability) and Howard (age and contract) have little trade value. Luther Head has marginally more (low level salary). We have no depth, and there are no FAs left who are worth their salt. We have nothing to trade, unless we mortgage our future and that is one of the great fears.

A lot of us have lived and died -- sportswise -- with Houston since the Rockets came here. I, like so many others on the board, have been Houston Rockets fans since Day 1. If we sound melodramatic, so be it. We've earned the right.

 

The Rockets have been walking a tight rope along the luxery tax for several years. How does that mean that Les is a cheap SOB? CD signed some really really bad contracts in Cato, MoT, Moochie and Bryce Drew. Les isn't going to pay millions of dollars out of HIS pocket to pay double the salary for a role player like Mike James. I don't blame him. If it was a no-brainer, I think Les would pay. But Mike, one-hit-wonder, James is far from a no-brainer at 31 years old. He could easily turn into another MoT contract when James gets fat and happy.

 

Clutch,
In the spirit of this article, what do you think about trading Alston and Howard for Francis? I think the contract length is similar (3yrs i think). What about taking on an overpaid player, and getting rid of some of our dead weight in the process?

 

How expensive was it? I haven't heard.

no-trade clauses starts a precident. It isn't about Mike James or win-now. If Les caves in to this clause, then everybody will want one. It's like negotiating with terrorists to save somebody's life (but only $$$ on the line ...not lives). More lives will be in jeapardy if you negotiate. I wouldn't be surprised is Stern himself discourages trade-kickers and had a hand in this.

 

A good player does not need a no trade clause.

If Mike James can come in and produce like he did last year for a 4 year MLE contract do you think anyone is going to trade him? HELL NO!!! So why would he need a no trade clause?

He would only need a no trade clause if it turned out that he wasn't worth what we paid him and we decided to get rid of his sorry a$$. Our history with free agents (MoT, Moochie, Cato, Swift) provides all the necessary reasons for saying NO WAY to a trade kicker. We pay and they stop playing.


Saying no to James's demand for a trade kicker is the best decision CD will make all offseason.

 

CD sucks period and its really evident looking at our roster right now (besides tmac, yao, head). In particular the Draft.

Drafts are supposed to stockpile your roster with depth and youth for the future. Where are all those draft picks besides Head? They either suck, are in europe(will never come to the states), or playing good ball somewhere else (one example RJ in NJ).

Simply put, the draft record of this current admin...sucks.

Luis Flores in 04
Badiane aka I won't sniff the NBA in 03
Nachbar with the 15th pick in 02
Tito Maddox - 2nd round 9th pick in 02
In 2001 we had that horrible 3, 1st rounders for 1 douche... trade.
Jason Collier (rip) - 15th pick in '01
1998 draft was horrible. we had 3, 1st rounders and where are they now?

I can go on and on and on, but im getting depressed.

At least we have Yao and Tmac. I guess there is something called eternal hope. I love my rocks and I'm looking and HOPING for a turnaround season, but it would be nice to have a front office with some brains and pocket books.

 

Rudy and CD made some really bad decisions in the Cato and MoT years ...and we are paying for that now because all those high $$$ guys were not decent tradable assets. Dallas always picks up players that are tradable later. I think CD had made more GOOD moves than bad recently considering what he had to work with.

I don't hold 2nd round draft picks against any GM. I'll guess that 75% of 2nd round picks don't pan out.

But the Nachbar and Eddie Griffen picks were absolute disasters. $hit happens.

 

I can live with a few bad moves if they by far outnumber the good moves, but CD needs to check his RX on his coke bottle glasses.

I mean how many John Barry's are out there now?

We need to seriously dig down and start looking at other players who fit our scheme, money wise for TE MLE, ect. This would be far easier with some tradable assets. Um wait, we don't have much because our drafts suck (and when we do, the entire rockets organization likes to behind over)

 

I believe the folks over at the longhorn web site call it sunshine pumping. its unbelievable. there are options out there, but the rockets are still in the position of having to fill key roster spots. a back up foward, a shooting guard, a back up point guard. I have never seen them in this position before.

 

I can understand the frustration in here from a fan's point of view. We see a player who can help; we want him; we want the team to fork over the credit card.

But from a team point of view, this is really not very complicated. Beyond a certain point, the price of what you're trying to buy gets too high. How many years in the mid-30s are you willing to guarantee, how many trade kickers are you willing to accept in your next round of contracts, and how far are you prepared to limit both your security and your transactional agility.

You can't just take a one-year view and say, well, who else is out there, we have to give this guy whatever he wants. Maybe if you're Jeff Van Gundy, you do. But if you're Les Alexander or Daryl Morey, sometimes you have to suck it up, put the credit card back in your wallet, and walk away.

 

so we can't wait on a draft pick, who wouldn't cost anything, supposedly because we want to win now, but now we can't get a guy who helps us win now because he wants ONE FREAKIN EXTRA YEAR.

seriously, until the rockets complete this offseason, please stop defending them.

 

the rockets took a one year view when they traded for battier. seriously, stop defending them.

 

In that year we will have a 35year old 6'2" shooting guard playing pg making roughly 10% of our alloted salary for the year. That would be bad.

 

in 4 years our team will be in a rebuilding process anyway. i can't believe you guys are hinging your argument on a player making $6Mill. stephon marbury making 20 mill at the end of his contract is scary. shaquille o'neal's numbers at the end of his contract are scary. mike james's contract, in relative terms, is nothing.

 

Nice to see that rational thinking hasn't been totally abolished on this board

 

Please, be more hysterical. It's highly persuasive.

 

I don't think it was the extra year, it was the trade kicker. Lotter picks don't get trade kickers. If we gave the trade kicker to James, then every negotiation from this point forward would want them too.

Comparing draft picks and FA's is apples/oranges.