in short, they were not convincing in their win.if you look at the box score, Tmac and Yao scored almost half of the total points.Hayes gave you rebounding but can he give the scoring that we need.That's why we need Stro to play more eventhough he make mistakes but you can see the potential.Almost everyone in this forum wants him to be traded but who do you want to be our future power forward in terms of salary and availability?you want to trade swift for a guard then we will be having a gap in our PF.Do you think trading Swift for guard would help?If it does,does it mean we are contented with Hayes,Baxter and Howard.Do you think those three can handle the upper echelon team's PF?
I think we will make a very serious run to the playoffs but in the end, we will be last year's team except worse. We need a 3rd scorer and defender. Nobody else besides the big 2 can get it done. If we make the playoffs, Yao and Tracy are going to be so beat up and run down from being overplayed that I fear we will collapse and not even go 7.
Good questions, I wish I had definitive answers. The idea of "team PF" has occurred to me, might work, may not. I agree with several of you that think we are one tall, big, quick, sharpshooting SG away from being a much better team. But I would really like a true PF as well, but that may not be possible.
I went to the game last night, so let me throw in a few observations that folks watching back home might not have noticed... You could clearly tell that Yao and McGrady had their timing completely off on the PnR that they ran so smoothely last season. A couple of times, McGrady had to pull Yao to a 1-on-1 conference at midcourt trying I guess to get on the same page, because one time Yao didn't roll at all towards the basket, and the other he sat such a bad pick that both players ended on McGrady and I think we couldn't get a shot off or something like that, after which McGrady was noticeably frustrated. On McGrady's health, he looked bad out there from a physical standpoint. He was limping and was stretching his body on the sidelines during the 2nd quarter because his back was stiffening up on him, he was holding it more than a few times throughout the game in visible discomfort and you can just tell the guy is frustrated as hell with this injury that just won't go away, it's affecting his speed and mobility and most importantly his shot. On the chemistry front, the bad news here is that this team, like it or not, needs some time together as a unit to develop that chemistry they had last season. There were many, many instances in the game that you could tell the players were confused and unaware of what should happen next. It was obvious as hell. Still, on the plus side, Yao seems to have re-discovered his comfort zone and low post moves again, he looks more aggressive and less hesitant out there, I expect nothing short of him showing even more imporovement and consistency as long as he stays healthy and playing. Chuck Hayes...what can you say about this guy? He has sticky hands and just the hard-nosed player that we have been looking for all along...if he develops a mid-range shot during the offseason, this guy is going to be the steal of this young century for the Rockets...I do see some serious potential in him, much more so than Swift because he actually has the effort and brains part down, something Slowmile doesn't. Also, I have to give kudos to Rafer, he's looking more and more like the PG we've been looking for on this team for sooo long. I like his decision-making and his poise out there, and he seems to be getting his shot back, which is a bonus at this point. Still, a good backup PG is going to be a necessity come this offseason, we just don't have a quality backup; may be we can find another Hayes at that position if we give former Bulls guard J.Williams a shot to prove himself? Seriously, who would you rather have in place of Moochie's roster spot next season: Lucas or J.Williams -- a guy who at LEAST has a potential to be a good player in this league? Also, there is no denial that the Rockets need to SOMEHOW find a legitimate starting caliber SG who's at least 6'5" or taller. Wesley would be an excellent option off the bench for 15-20 minutes a night, but he ain't no starter material at this stage of his career, we're asking way too much of that guy, but he's a soldier and he's solid and reliable as hell, so he ain't complaining. IMO, the best chance we have at landing a legitimate SG is by using Stromile Swift as a trade bait for a team that needs his size in the front court, not sure how many teams fit that profile, but believe me despite his problems he's still valuable to many teams around the league with his reasonable contract, which only lasts for another 2 seasons after this one. Trading Stro would not have been a viable option if it wasn't for the advent of Chuck Hayes and even Baxter to some degree, but now that we have some players to hold down the fort at PF, Stro is expendable for a legitimate backcourt player )may be an Antonio Daniels-type of guard or someone similar to that, or we could even package him with a few expiring contracts and land a higher-salaries SG who could help us this season and beyond).
Who is that higher salaried SG you are talking about? I can't find one that would be available. Trade him to NJ for the picks, Wright, and MJ. Then make a trade with the Wiz for Daniels with some of those picks, and an expiring. Then you've got Daniels back there and Wright being groomed at the 2 guard. Jackson expires next year, turn him into something then. We have to face facts. There is a shortage of quality, decently paid SGs in this league. They are all either superstars with a superstar price tag, or they are superstars with a decent salary that aren't going anywhere, or they are overpaid, or they are just done, or they are young players who haven't proven anything. We're looking at guys such as Mo Pete, Ruben Patterson, that come with baggage and are suspect. What we need to do if NJ is so interested in Swift is try to work a 3 way trade enticing Golden State to give us Pietrus. Send Swift to NJ, send Jackson to Golden State, along with a draft pick, send Moochie and Luther to Golden State in exchange for getting Pietrus and Foyle. Golden State gets rid of Foyle's contract, they get a good, young player in Luther who is more suited to the 6th or 7th man role, and they get a pick. NJ gets their man. We get Pietrus, and an extra pick from NJ along with a backup center for the next hundred years. It's the only way we are going to be able to upgrade the swing slot next to McGrady. This allows us to keep Wesley......he deserves to stay. It also leaves us set at every position save the PF slot, which we can then upgrade over the summer with somebody like Reggie Evans for the MLE or part of the MLE.
That's not a bad deal. Seems to work for everyone involved. But how are we getting a pick out of this deal. I thought it was going to GS, from NJ.
