I am not conceding the season quite yet, but I am not over optimistic either. Wondering about next years team, what do y'all think we should do. I wonder how aggressively we will be pursuing trade options next year. I see Weatherspoon and Wesley as semi decent trade material, followed by James (doubtful) Howard (?) because of their debatedly marginal value. Barry is not a question either, seems to me he will be resigned, obviousley with the 2 untradeables, we are left with Deke ( probable resigning), (Sura, I feel will be here), and Padgett (will be here). Do we add a rookie and maybe one decent player and see what the "core" can do or do we look to add a 3rd and 4th larger type contract. I dont even know if its feasable, but Kidd may be something to look at, I wish it was a 3 year instead of a 4 but any player at any position is "worn" after playing his types minutes at 32 to 36 years of age. I just feel at least the next year or 2 that would put us in finals. I know Kidd is a pipedream, but I do wonder if the rockets believe in this core or if they will be real aggressive. I dont know about Swfit but Marshall would be great, because you can co him aat the 3 and Tmac at the 2 and have a long lineup, that still stretches the perimeter.
I see a lot of potential moves being made at the trade deadline given all the expiring contracts they'll have. Of course, the Rockets could save themselves the trouble of all that if they can just talk Stromile Swift into taking the MLE.
here is my prediction: -we draft one of the 10 PF's expected to go in the first round...i would like warrick, but lets settle for turiaf. -we will resign deke, barry, and bowen. padgett, and bakers options will keep them here as well. that leaves us with too many 4's - jho, turiaf, pad, spoon. we need to upgrade the speed and athleticism in the backcourt. seeing as how james and barry are great off the bench, that leaves wesley and sura. sura's heart is too important to us to give up. -any combo of wesley, jho, spoon, and baker can be traded for a 2. whoever is left over will be traded for a backup 3. -plan B (if we cant trade for a starting 2) sign one! then trade wesley for a backup 3.
All the Rockets really need to become legitimate contenders are a decent PF and a third scoring option. Of course the ultimate would be a rebounding PF that can score. I think SAR would be a great pickup if we can get him.
SAr is too much of a softee. He's not a tough rugged player. We need a guy who will do the dirty work. I think Chris Andersen would be a nice fit.
Yes..we are definitely going to make changes. Yao/Dikembe Howard/Padgett/ Bowen Tmac/Barry /James/Moochie Wesley and Sura..Baker and Weatherspoon (if anyone wants them)..we can trade them. I would like to keep Juwan, Padgett, Mike James, Moochie, Dikembe, and Barry. My dreams Ray Allen, Tyson Chandler, Jason Kidd Possibilities Donyell Marshall..Shareef (nah)..some lesser guys Ideal Would be to obtaini a semi star..like Joe Johnson or Eddie Jones or Latrell Sprewell.. And then power forward..draft one..or draft a guard and sign or trade for power forward..bring Badiane and Spanoulis in maybe? I just think we need the power forward that fits for our team and hopefully keep Juwan Howard. The power forward who can play defense..rebound..and some quickness/explosiveness ability to score. And same with a perimeter guy with Tmac who can help out..a guy like Igoudala would be wonderful but not possible. We need some more scoring and some athleticism/quickness/strength/rebounding. And then in future get Rashard here
keepers PG - James, Barry SG - Sura SF - McGrady, Padgett PF - Howard C - Yao, Deke No one else really deserves to be resigned. Wesley plays hard but is getting older and just isn't tall enough to play the 2. guys like stackhouse and finley just rise up over him despite him being in perfect position. we have a good team but not great. suggestion to management: DON'T KEEP TRADING 1st ROUND DRAFT PICKS!!! you always need young, athletic talent and we don't have very much right now. we traded all of it away for older guys. we didn't need to get rid of ALL of them.
i'm almost 100% sure that spree would sign here. infact i'm almost 90% sure on top of that, that JVG is thinking about him everytime stackhouse scores on wesley, or wesley can't finish at the rim on a fast break. draft a PF (warrick/turiaf), sign spree, trade wesley with either spoon or baker for a 3. IMO wesley for devan george would work for both teams. yao-deke-baker Jho-turiaf-pad-spoon tmac-geroge-bowen spree-JB-ward sura-james-mooch we would have to buy out someone's contract. but this looks like a good team.
So sad to see a thread like this when the season isn't even close to being over. Don't you know it's sacriledge? Anything doing with the offseason should kept quiet until the offseason.
My ideal off-season would go as follows: 1. We sign either Stromile Swift or Tyson Chandler to play power forward. 2. Juwan Howard returns healthy and serves as a great back up four. 3. We draft an athletic, defensive minded player that can guard anyone from the 2-4. Hakim Warrick would be great. 4. We bring back most of the free agents in rotation - especially Barry, Wesley, Deke... 5. Badiane or the Greek kid (or both) show that they deserve not only a place on the roster, but a place in the rotation. In my opinion, none of those moves are outside the realms of possibility. They're all feasible. I think if those things happen, we'll be a HELL of a team next year.
I sort of agree, but it feels good to think about how great we'll be next year. It sort of sets it up to where if the Rockets pull this series out I'm thrilled, if they don't I'm not too terribly disappointed because I'm still optimistic about next season.
'Spoon and Baker have around 10million in expiring contracts next year - if we can just draft a hustling power forward, then we should be able to trade one/ both of them for a younger "piece" We have some nice assests to trade next season --> it'll just be a matter of waiting patiently to use them!!
Yes we ride the team. When we had all our pieces, there was a period when we were playing as well as anyone. Yao is only going to get better, if incrementally, and Tmac should stay at his current level for a while. PART 1 of offseason 1a) resign Deke (early bird rights, 2 year about 8 mil) 1b) draft best non-center available, preferable a 4 but not if there is a better SF/SG/PG. 1c) Use all or most of the MLE to land the best available 4 to either start or be the primary back-up to Howard. SAR, Swift, DM, Evans, K. Brown. 1d) resign Jon Barry if he will take the vet min PART 2 2) if Jon Barry will not take the vet min you use the 1.6 exemption for him OR shop for an equivalent but younger SG/SF shooter. 3) if there is money left from the MLE or using vet min resign Bowen or someone better as an emergency bench energy guy (Andersen). That team should be one of the title favorites assuming Tmac and Yao stay relatively healthy.
Well, I would definitely take Spree over Wesley: he is a very good defender who is at least 5 inches taller; He has tons of playoff experience and previous success; he is a JVG guy, because JVG knows his game well; his speed is down a bit, but he is still healthy and is one of the best slashers/fast break players in the league a few years back; I am sure T-Wolves wouldn't mind signing Spree to $5 mill or something and then trading both players head-to-head. If there is a chance to get Spree for Wesley, it is a no-brainer. I like DW a lot, he is a team guy, but Spree is just a tough player and he can give you that edge you need on the court. Of course, that is barring another "I can't feed my kids on $14 mill a year" outburst
We have a 24th pick, do you REALLY think we can pick up anyone of worth that late in the 1st round? I know you can always luck out, but it is very, very seldom that good players fall that far. It usually happens no more than once every 2-3 drafts that a player slips through and becomes a good NBA player. Judging by how the Rockets traded three players to land Eggie, I wouldn't hold my breath for an effective draft pick. (I get depressed everytime I think about how we had R.Jefferson in our hands and we let him go for...well, nothing! )
Eddie Griffin was a player viewed so valuable we laughed off a sign and trade for Rashard Lewis. The Rockets evaluated the talent pretty well, but non-basketball factors most would argue out of their control caused the saga. I see no correlation between that and the Rockets' talent evaluation. We can play the what if game. If we have Jefferson, maybe we move in a different lotto spot and don't get Yao. Maybe RJ pushes Steve every time he gravitates to a wing on a fastbreak and Francis actually leads us to a playoff victory and we don't land TMac. I do see this is the team that cherry picked Kenny Thomas and Cuttino Mobley in recent years, and Sam Cassell before that. We have our Bostjan Nachbars, and Dan Langhi proved a bad move, but it's hardly an exercise in futility. I view "this team" as Yao and TMac. And heck yes, we will be riding them for the next 7+ years. With the new found Yao/Mac PnR, Juwan Howard's 15 ft. catch and shoot specialty could find a greater home. We have a MLE to spend and by trading Mo, we're in position to use it. A PF or Spree would be interesting to spend it on. We have over 19 mill in expiring contracts that could become very valuable. I see movement as almost assured. I expect JB and Deke to be back.
