If we are unable to use the new guys, wouldn't we need Cook to play? He is the only other backup big besides Andersen with Landry and Dorsey gone. I guess we can do without him for a game.
While it's nice to keep an eye on the full roster, the reality is that Adelman would only rotate his best 9 player. For our ongoing season, the guaranteed rotation spots are: AB Scola Martin (given the fact he needs time to get used to our team) Battier/Ariza Hayes Lowry then we have the next two rotation spots currently given to CBud Andersen As we may have little argument that CBud generally gives better production than Andersen does, Hill or Armstrong, if proven to be anything, would only eat up Andersen's minutes like Dorsey did. So that leaves out rotations from a healthy 4 big + 5 perimeter to a kinda risky 3 + 6. Seems like Battier will see quite some minutes as the backup 4.
People were asking about Jeffries and I read somewhere that basically summed him up as a poor man's Chuck Hayes except he is way overpaid unlike the real Chuck Hayes.
I really want to see Armstrong get some minutes over Andersen, nothing against Andersen(I think his been great), but I want to see want Armstrong has to offer, lets see if his worth keeping around for another year! --RB
I don't see Armstrong and Hill getting on the floor much this season. I think they will need a Summer and pre-season in the system to see if they can be coached up. We won't really know if they have value till next year. Hilton better bulk up though because Yao is going to be wearing his ass out in practice.
Buy out Cook and then decide who gets the last roster spot, most likely a PG...Temple or Conroy. C - Hayes, Andersen, Armstrong, Yao PF - Scola, Jeffries, Hill SF - Ariza, Battier SG - Martin, Budinger, Taylor PG - Brooks, Lowry, Temple/Conroy Interesting: Is Battier the only current Rocket over 30 years of age? That's what I call rebuilding on the fly...
Brooks/Lowry Martin/Budinger Ariza/Battier Scola/Hill or Armstrong Hayes/Anderson i think the guy who most benefits from this trade is Ariza as he'll be asked to do a lot less now.
I am VERY curious to see how they handle Battier/Ariza because initially I thought Shane to bench easily but the more I think about it the more I wonder if Adelman wont just play it by sight. Also interested to see what they do with Jeffries, OVERPAID but not garbage as a lot of people seem to think. The dude is an outstanding defender who is super versatile but the problem is that Battier/Ariza/JJ are very redundant. Armstrong is intriguing because he is a big we really could use so I wonder if they may not give him some minutes vs bigger clubs.
The Rockets are going to buy out Cook, it's just a matter of time. Jonathan Feigen of the Chron said in his story this morning..
Say it ain't soooooooo!!! OH NOOOOZ. Countdown till someone makes a joke thread about Cook being cut...5..4..3..2..
