Discussion: We are NOT rebuilding our team very well

He has as good a chance of anyone in the NBA of being that good, but if it doesn't happen, the team's future is in no way 'screwed up'. Most teams in the NBA DON'T have a Yao Ming, AND are worse at personnel decisions than the Rockets. That's MOST teams.

First off, Malik Rose makes as much as Cato and Mo. And Moochie doesn't make that much.

Second, this is all irrelevant. How much cap space did the Rockets have when they signed Shandon Anderson? Or Mo Taylor? What about when they traded for Barkley? Or Drexler? Or Elie? Or Posey? Or FRANCIS? Did it take cap space to get Robert Horry? Or Sam Cassell? Or Cuttino Mobley? Cap space is overrated. You don't need it to make trades or to draft good players. There are exceptions given to teams over the cap to sign players with. Almost all of the big-time free agents are staying with their teams now, because they get more money for doing so. The Rockets have demonstrated that they haven't needed cap space to improve their team.

 

Word.

The Rocks are set are at the 1, 2, and 5. The 4 is not set but we have a good-to-great prospect and a solid veteran (albeit one that is recovering from a serious injury). The 3 is a bit of a trouble spot, but whoever starts at the 3 will be the last option in the offense. I do not see upgrading the starting 3 as a priority.

The Rocks could upgrade their backups. Except for the 5, good backups should be able to be had with the MCE or less (i.e. minimal impact the salary cap with the bad contracts going nowhere.)

Backup 5s are overpaid. Cato appears to thrive in the backup role, so I would not mind keeping him. He also adds insurance if Yoa needs rest (a possibility given Yoa's summer work schedule). The only problem I have with Cato is that he is a different offensive 5 than Yoa. The Rocks O has to change while he is in there. In this regard, Collier may be a better, long term backup to Yoa. The Rocks obviously see this differently, since he is seing no PT whatsoever.

I just don't see where an acquisition would dramatcally help. The Rocks are a very young team that need experience more than anything else.

 

Too much to read.

How can we fix this problem?

 

Since you mis-spelled it three times, I need to poit it out to you. Our Center's last name is Yao not Yoa. The black hair, 7'5 foot Chinese dude I am talking about.

 

Technically, by adding the hyphen, you misspelled "mis-spelled"

I'm just playing with you; I misspell things all the time myself

 

I heard 50% of people who use a girl name on the net are actually male, and vice versa.


Roll your dice.

 

Seems like this NEWGIRL is a bleeding Capitalist, I mean who cares who has what money tied up when, when we actually have a team for the first time. Cato is probably the 3-4 best center in the league, PERIOD. I'm sorry that the centers suck, but the contract would definately now be given to him by almost any team in the league.

The rest is just MONEY, NOT BASKETBALL

who cares who gets paid what if WE WIN

 

stop posting...

 

I guess. Then why do players like Hedo Turkoglu, Jim Jackson, Jon Barry, Jeff McInnis, and way too many others make less than him but play better than him?

I GUESS our team is good as it is. We just need a coach to manage the team...in all areas...of basketball...and life. They need to run a more systematic offense.

 

lol. posted this too late. hopefully I'm not gonna be flamed for saying that while I'm a junior m. as well.

great thread... thanx for everyone for such detailed and insightful analysis.

--but too much to read. hehe

 

Going back to the original topic of the thread, the Rockets have regressed. They are not improving. They are going in the opposite direction.

They were 23-15 and were playing well at the beginning of the season. Now, they are a sub-500 club. Looks like they were overachieving in the first half of the season.

 

Well, since you put it that way, I guess I'm convinced.

 

If you can't trade bad contract for good ones, explain Baker for Anderson?

Bottom line-

Cato is tradeable, especially to the leastern conference where he may end up as an all-star reserve behind Wallace from the sheer lack of quality centers.

MoT can be traded based on his play over the second half of the season. He played very well scoring and rebounding.

EG and CM are very tradeable.

Rice is very tradeable due to expiring contract. He may not net a star player but you could probably extract a couple of good role players form a team with good depth that will need to lock up a couple of key players in the last year of their rookie contracts.

Have no fear, there are ways deals can be made, IF they decide to do them. Don't forget that picks can always be included to sweeten the deal if a poor contract needs to go.

 

That's partially true.

Bad contracts have a way of turning into "good" contracts given the salary inflation we see in the NBA. In other words, by locking players into what we believe to be exorbitant prices today, they actually end up looking cheap a few years down the road. Moreover, it's to our benefit that the team "locks in" players via contract so we at least get "some value" in the event that we want to gid rid of them. The only "bad contract" is an overpriced one on a player who is: 1.not performing, or 2.injured. If you care to look at a serious case of bad contracts look at: 1.portland, 2.the knicks, etc.

As for today, while we won't be moving MoT or Cato anytime soon, I do see EG and Mobley as tradable commodities. EG is the best player to shop around right now. Hopefully we can rid him from our roster and get a real power forward. But the biggest "trade" we can do is in getting some fresh coaching talent on this squad (assuming RudyT can't come back due to health reasons.)



theSAGE

 

Point on Parker. It was luck and not luck. The Spurs were so high on Parker they tried to trade up but couldn't. They were even reportedly tried to get to the 10th slot. Parker fell. Spurs got him and now a lot of GMs and coaches are kicking themselves. He's on a low rookie contract with option through the 2005 season.

 

thanx for the warning more people should be like you....

 

I agree that the Spurs and pistons pulled a coup. I remember before last season when the Dream negotiations were going on, I thought the Rockets should have given Hakeem pretty much a 2 yr 16million dollar contract, sign Marc Jackson as a 4 and let Anderson,Taylor and Norris walk. Noone would have known the fortune of getting Ming, but our cap situation would be very,very good right now. Hakeem would be coming off the books,Mobley makes 4 mill,Griff makes the same,Cato makes 6m, and our draft picks or whatever. For the most part we would have about 14mill to play with in this yrs free agent class. That being said, this team is still in good standings as far as making moves.

We have some overblown contracts, but they are not nearly as bad as they were before. A couple of things that highlight this pathetic season is this:

After coming off an injury, Taylor proves he is still a good offensive player. His 8mill per won't be nearly as hard to move as it once was.

Griffin is still a young player and still has the "p" word attached to his name. I'm one of the ones that think he'll be like Donyell Marshall, good, but never great. Still under a rookie contract.

Cuttino for all his shortcomings is a capable scorer in this league. He plays very,very hard, but not very smart at times. His low 4 mil contract is very movable but will have to be packaged with someone else.

Cato has showed he has a niche in this league. Even though he grossly overpaid, teams are still enamored with his atheleticism. decent tall players are very hard to find. Now teams know what they'll get, 6 mill doesn't look too bad now.

Rice. With his 9mill coming off after this season, it will be a little easier to move. Teams are still looking for cap flexibilty. Still having a hard time understanding Rudy's love for Rice, but now its a little easier to swallow.

As bad as it seems, the Rockets do have a couple of players that teams want. The Rockets don't have as many as people on this board think we have, but there are a few. It will take some creative thinking , but moving a guy like Taylor or Cato to the big man challenged East would be a good move. If the Celts went for a dud like Baker, a player like Taylor would be in demand also. The Rockets screwed up with some contracts, but have a chance to right themselves. It may cost 2\5 of the starting lineup, but in the long run and team wise might be best.