This is why passing up four power forwards in the draft was lunacy -- and then choosing a scrub to be like Carl Landry. Even Herbert Hill instead of Newley would have been sane.
With the glut of guards that we have, we should be in decent shape to trade away some of our guards in order to bring in a PF or two (possibly in a 3-way trade). What teams are in need of guards? What teams have a logjam of reasonably-talented PF's?
Morey needs to exhibit some stones and go for Amir. Remember, the Griz let Swift walk but Dumars is trying to hold on to Amir despite being saturated in quality PFs.
They are trying to avoid going into the Lux tax area, and are being prudent in their shopping. IE shopping for bargains. While other owners are not so concerned with Lux tax if it makes their teams better. DD
It took several readings but I think I got it... The definition of "smart" is having Chuck Hayes as a starter and have him backed up by either a surprisingly higher than expected 2nd round draft pick or an undersized 3 who can play the 4 while you plan on upgrading the position with whatever you can get for expiring contracts and Luther Head... And all of this is preferable to the possible upside of an athletic Amir Johnson-type PF who may cost $2m/year more than the Joe Smith-type who is what you've set as the upper limit of FA expense. Not just smart...Brilliant....
i think landry will be decent. but i agree, herbert hill was a bad miss. Why not take the chance to increase your chances and getting another PF, rather than keeping most your hopes that landry is productive??? utah choosing herbert also doesnt sit well...they tend to have talent for getting PFs in the 2nd round
I think you made a very good read on Les's $Ball. He makes the money and we get inferior ball. A few years ago Les's fortune was estimated at 400+ MM and recently it was estimated at 1.2 BB so I guess his version of the Rockets $Ball is working for him. Something tells me that we won't see a championship this year. We can blame JVG, Morey, CD, but the real responsibility falls right at Les's feet doesn't it.
As someone who appreciates sarcasm...I'll buy you one of your own! Too bad it may have to be at a Spurs-owned Toros game. Oh well...guess we'll root for the Vipers.
Betting on the young promising guy is a big risk. We've done it before with Mo Taylor and Kelvin Cato. Look what that did to our cap flexibility. On top of that, I'm just not sold on the guy. What skills does he possess that makes you think he will be the answer? Sure he's got good height and he's an athlete, but so are countless others who never made it. As much as we need a good 4, we can't just make a good one appear. It wouldn't exactly be brilliant to sign some marginal player to the full mle just because it's a weak class and he fits a need. We already have marginal guys. There's no need to add more. The only free agent that makes even a little sense right now IS Joe Smith. Unlike Amir Johnson, you know what you're going to get with him. He's not all-world, but he's solid. He would make a nice stop gap while we try to find our 4 of the future.
It's kinda of funny how they now want us to stand and applaud the Rockets for doing what any smart organization would do in this kind of market which is to stand pat and not overpay for mediocre talent. Just goes to show how bad this organization has been over the years. Of course, that's why they now find themselves in this predicament but I digress. I have to agree with you on the draft because I can't accept their assertion that Brooks was the best player on the board at 26 and while the PF choices weren't all that stellar, they had to be better than picking another undersized PG. Oh well, this "trade" for a PF had better yield them a good player or the fanboy revolt here will be unbelievable.
Name me at least 2 PFs at pick 31 that you know for a 100% fact are better or are going to be better than Landry in the NBA? Everybody just needs to calm down and let everything pan out. Be patient. We're fans and want the team to do well but you have to have a little trust and let them put their product out on the floor. You can't intelligently tear something down before it's even been built.
First...the principle of handing a 3 year deal starting at $5m/y to an Amir Johnson-type isn't even close to Cato or Taylor. Cato was re-signed to a near max contract after one brilliant pre-season game. Taylor came to the Rockets in a test drive situation similar to Wells'. They near maxed him the following season. We are talking near max's in contract value and length...that hardly compares to the Johnson-type MLE deal. Secondly, BOTH Cato and Taylor fit the needs of what the Rockets (Rudy T) were trying to do at the time. Taylor was a semi-proven low block ISO player and Cato was expected to provide defense. Cato did that but under Van Gundy...just not to the level of his contract. Joe Smith isn't the answer. There is NO correct answer that equates to old and slow in a league emphasizing speed and athleticism with a quiick tempo coach and players as slow as Yao and Battier sharing the court. I've said it before...I'll say it again...if any 2 of 3 of Battier, Hayes and Alston are the 2007-08 starters...it's another 1st round exit. Too slow to narrow the gap to the Spurs (who are excellent in transition in spite of half court emphasis), the Mavs and Suns.
Yeah, how dare fans have a discussion about the team or organization....I mean fans should just take whatever the organization does and not discuss it, because every GM and Coach and owner is good at their job. Come on RM.....people are just discussing the Rockets and how to improve them, nothing wrong with that. I don't know if Amir is going to be better than Joe Smith, but it is fun to talk about it. DD
Be honest, you haven't seen Johnson play at all. You read a couple of scouting reports and think you've got him nailed down. You've never seen any potential for yourself, but apparently you're smarter than Morey and about 28 other GM's who haven't expressed any interest at all in signing Amir for the MLE, inlcluding the ones with weaker frontcourts than the rockets. These teams should all fire their GM's and hire you instead since you have such a fine track record. Two years ago, I had "Just say NO to Stromile Swift!" in my sig. Meanwhile, I had to read endless posts by you and others about how Stro was the perfect fit next to Yao because of athleticism and potential. Almost no one saw my point of view about how he was a weak rebounder and just played dumb. I just thought everyone was looking at his play differently than I was, but now it's obvious that you and others like you just didn't watch him play in Memphis. It's just like now, where the people who want Darko clearly haven't seen him play in Orlando, they just want him anyway. How is that even possible, to want a player so badly when you've never seen him play? It boggles my mind. GATER, you heavily endorsed Stromile Swift. What the hell do you know about building a basketball team?
I agree that Johnson was the only option in FA that makes any sense for the Rockets, but signing him to an offer sheet is an exercise in futility. The Pistons simply have too much time between now and the deadline for the luxury tax to move contracts to get back under. All it would have done was tie up the little money we do have. I realize no immediate use for that money is apparent at the moment, but you never know how things will go.
That's funny. What I saw upon reading the same article is that it is smart not to overpay on an average free agent crop when you can get a more talented four using some of your better contracts. I didn't really see anything there about keeping the current roster as is and going with Hayes at the four.
