Does Anyone Else Feel The Rockets Have Done Little To Improve?

God bless your positive soul.

 

i view it as realistic!

 

and you prolly think that picking up Iverson, Francis or Marbury would be a bad addition to the Rockets even if they took major pay cuts.

you know b/c it doesnt matter if they can score at will. and it doesnt matter if they can drop 3's. you're right.

Miami wouldve won if they had our guards in place of Payton and Williams. Also, James Posey must've been a non-factor since you didnt mention him.
and Antoine is just ---okay. right? Dam. I think Dwayne Wade did it ALL by himself.

 

Last year: Swift, Anderson, Alston. Good decisions? Traded away James. Good decision? Signed Bowen, let Padgett slip away. Good decision? Must I go on.

 

its just you

battier is a perfect fit with Yap and TMac

kirk, Battier, noval, spanakopidata are nice additions but surely the key additions for next season are a healthy Yao and Tmac.... all the rest is tinkering at the edges... sure some more helps at the 4 would be icing.... but making the playoffs and winning a series or two is based Tracey and Yao

 

You know, I can understand skepticism about how high of a ceiling we've created for ourselves because, it's true, we have not significantly upgraded our roster over the one we had at this time last year. Battier/Howard combo will be better than Howard/Swift, sure, but Snyder/Head are not better than Wesley/Anderson at this same stage last year. Snyder has never been a regular 30 mpg player and has some temperment issues, while Head is too short to be a full-time starter at the two. And the combination of James and a purportedly healthy Sura this time last year with Head playing limited minutes is probably better than an Alston/Spanoulis/Lucas/injured Sura grouping. Alston is Alston, Spanoulis and Lucas are very young and inexperienced, and Sura is a doubtful contributor from here on out. So again, I can grant that any overall talent gains are negligible at this point.

But the incessant complaining gets so old because all some can see are the downsides to the moves (which is all just an attempt to undercut the Rox coaching staff, front office, and even local reporting as the idiots they so clearly are, while the fans have to possible repercussions for their poor decisions). Sometimes I wonder what would satisfy some fans around here. Let's see Rudy Gay, Mike James with the MLE, and trading Juwon Howard and Rafer Alston for Lamar Odom. Great, that means McGrady is a full-time two, we have no true PG, and our only rotational player off the bench is Luther Head. Maybe Snyder, but I am not sure if people even like that pickup.

Well, here are a couple of other considerations:
1) What Batter brings in terms of floor spacing, defensive ability, smart ballhandling, and positive attitude far outstrips anything the Rox have put on the court in a long time at the four. Granted, he needs some help in the form of at least a bench banger if we deal Howard, or at least someone who can rotate over and play the five in smaller lineups. But the guy is highly intelligent, hard working, and experienced (what Van Gundy wants), but young enough, healthy enough, and athletic enough to contribute regularly over a long season (what most of our vets have not been).

2) We're not done yet. With the remaining MLE and the TE, we stand to add two more rotational players, or at least one rotational player and one spot player. Further, if we get those guys at the two and combo-post, then we have the flexibility of trading a Howard, Head, Snyder, Spanoulis, whoever the TE is, etc., because we have the numbers and assets to do so. Assuming we add at least one more rotational player, that leaves us with likely a 8-deep rotation of Alston, Head, Snyder, McGrady, Battier, Howard, Yao, and the new addition, with a handful solid spot players, including Hayes, Mutombo, Spanoulis, Novak, Bowen (spot player, mind you), Lucas, and whoever the remaining MLE can find.

3) With health, this team is bigger at the wings, more athletic, and younger overall, but equally as balanced, competitive, and blessed with intangibles as 2004-2005. If Yao and McGrady can stay healthy for 75+ games heading into the playoffs, we will be in very good shape. Even Sura could be a wild card here: if he gets and stays healthy enough to provide 15 min/game off the bench, we will not have to rely on Spanoulis or Lucas at all and can leave Head rotating with Snyder at the two.

I am not expecting a legitimate title run this year (we are at least a year away), but we have far more upside because of the relative youth, health, athleticism, and balance we have acquired this off-season.

 

I'm happy personally. I like the YOUTH movement. Year after year we kept bringing in OLD guys (Sura, Wesley, Ward, Mutombo, Barry, Anderson), and last year it all came crashing down when their age started showing.

Now in comes the YOUTH! VSpan, Novak, Lucas, Snyder are all younger guys with FRESH legs, energy, and fire! And I think VSpan will be closer to play than people realize. He's been playing PRO basketball in Europe the last few years, and he speaks English so it should be easier for him to learn the NBA game.

And even if it does take a year or two for these guys to develop their potential I'm fine with that too. Because that means the Rockets have a FUTURE!!! Now lets just hope these guys gel together so we can develop a team chemistry instead of overhauling our personel EVERY freaking year!

 

I think we've improved from last season. These acquistions, while not major, should help shore up our bench. I think Snyder is an upgrade from Bogans, Battier is a great addition, we lost an over-the-hill Wesley, Chuck Hayes and Luther are no longer rookies...and we have some better back ups

I think we're better. However, I still think we are a 6,7,8 seed. But I'll take that...it beats the lottery

 

I’m all for trying to find cheap young unknown talent, but it’s painfully obvious that the players we’ve added are not the players the Rockets were targeting when the offseason started. They settled for Battier because every player in their draft board was gone, they settled for Snyder because Bogans decided to sign with another team, and they settled for V-Span/Lucas because James and Banks turned them down.

Every time CD has an interview, he says “this free agent class is very weak” or “this year’s draft was very weak”. That’s not really something that’ll excite the fans and make them think that management knows what they’re doing and has significantly improved the team. It makes it seem like the team has been scraping at the bottom of the barrel and the players they’ve added are basically the best of the worst. For the fans sake, CD should at least pretend like there were a lot of free agents he liked and the players he added were the best of the bunch. If the GM is not even excited about the moves he's made, how can the fans be?

 

OK, most of your points are valid. But why does everyone keep hoping that Snyder will "pan out". He may be a little crazy, but he has proven himself to be an NBA-quality rotation player. He started in New Orleans over JR Smith, the athletic freak himself. He's produced above his pay grade so far in his career, regardless of mental stability.

 

Come on man.

1) Battier is a SOLID 40 minute per game STARTER. You get that out of the draft which is a crapshoot, you've done GREAT! And they managed to dump Stromile Swift and his ridiculous contract in the process!

1) We opted not to resign Bogans, we could have matched the offer if we wanted to. The reason? We had a deal worked out for Kirk Snyder who is a better player.

2) We didn't want to be "stuck" with Mike James for 4 years when he's already 31 after we just got burned with Sura and Charlie Ward who were guards we signed around the same age. Smart move IMO.

3) If they wanted Banks they could have had him too, but he wanted 5 years guaranteed! 5 years for a guy who has proven NOTHING. No thanks.

The bottom line is the Rox are smart by being cautious not to lock themselves up in BAD contracts AGAIN. So 2 years from now we won't be "stuck" with Mike James at 6 million and Marcus Banks at 5 million when they suck.

I like what they've done so far this offseason. Battier, Snyder, VSpan, Novak, Lucas will all be solid pieces around Tracy and Yao! We stay healthy we are DEFINITELY a playoff team once again!

 

There is definitely no SPlash, just eh...But a healthy team will go deep into the playoffs...

 

[Applause.] If this isn't the feel-good post of the offseason, I don't know what is.

Well done. I'm not sure that I agree about the vision being around before the McGrady trade, as I think the vision, by definition, is to surround the two All-Stars with a group of solid, cohesive, and cost-effective role players.

And we're doing just that. With each passing day, I'm liking this offseason more and more. With each passing day, I'm tempted to change my sig.

 

i agree, i think the gay/battier trade was more of just a surprise than anything... i sure as hell wasnt expecting it, but ive always like battier and i think he will do very well w/tmac and yao and the rockets tactic...

 

Talk about your mixed messages! When the "trade" was made on draft day, the "official" reason given was on the need to "win now" and that was why they passed on young talents like Gay, Redick, Brewer et. al. who would need to be given the time to develop. That's also why they did not try to get Memphs' 24th pick which would have yielded another young talented player that would not help them "win now".

So what have they (CD & the Rox) done since then? Signed inexpensive, raw young players who, at first look, appear to need to be given the time to develop. This is a curious strategy for team that has vowed to "win now" to undertake and it leads me to conclude that when all is said and done, this off season will end up just like all the others where CD dutifully putters about the league and finds inexpensive players to put on Rockets' uniforms. The only difference is that THIS year, he went out and found cheap YOUNGER players instead of the older "solid veteran" players he's concentrated on in years past.

And what this means for JVG who's job is clearly on the line is anyone's guess. I still hold to my prediction of 48-53 wins however, I'm taking a wait and see approach to their season. I want to see if this mix of players can manage to be competative in their conference and division.

 

Rox fans are very easy to please. That is all.

 

Per Big M:


"you want to talk about improvement? putting aside rookies and free agents, by himself yao ming has the ability to make the rockets better then any one player or even combination of players we could have possibly gotten this offseason. he is in a position where he could be AMAZING next season. yao was one of the ten best players(maybe 5) post all-star break last year, and with his work ethic and desire to be great, all the signs point to that just being the start of his road to superstardom. we are extremely lucky to have him. that's not even mentioning getting tracy mcgrady healthy. those are improvements 1 and 1A.

funny thing is that this thread or something similar would never have been made had we drafted rudy gay. but what's the difference? shane battier in fact is a better bet to make an immediate improvment on this team then rudy gay going into 06-07. i love what shane battier brings to this team and i love that chuck hayes will be getting stromile swift's minutes. that's two big improvements right there.

this team isn't sitting around on it's hands. you may or may not agree with the plan, but looking at the roster and factoring in yao's development/hopefully mcgrady's good health, and i'm still very excited."

Excellent post

I agree- Yao was a monster affter the all - star brreak and did not get enough recognition for it IMO.

Battier is a solid -consistent player who I expect will prove a strong asset with good chemistry. I wish we had two more like him.

We are weak at the 4, but can inprove or at least compete.

Our back court has improved.

 

PG - Spanoulis > Norris > Brunson > Lucas (last year)
SG - Synder > Wesley (last year) > Head > Barry (last year)
SF - Battier > Bogans
SF - Novak > Bowen
PF - Hayes > Swift

I'm speculating about Spanoulis, but it would be hard to produce less than Norris, Brunson or Lucas did for us last year. Also speculating about Novak, but I think it's safe to say Bowen shouldn't play a minute this season given our roster.

Synder being better than Wesley/Head is also debatable, but I think with his size and scoring and more playing time that will prove out.

Battier and Synder are potential starters, so we've improved our starting lineup as well as the Bench

I think it's safe to say we've improved the team with the moves, but it's all relative. How much more has NOK improved? Or any of the other teams that finished ahead of us in the West.

 

Snyder was than Anderson last year. Just because people thought Anderson was still decent last Summer doesn't mean that was true. So Snyder > Anderson.

Also, Luther is taller than Wesley who has been a full-time starter at SG for the past decade. Apart from his rookie wall period, Head also shot better than Wesley. Wesley is and was physically stronger, definitely, but Head is younger an more athletic. So I would say Head > Wesley.

Spanoulis, McGrady, and Battier can all play spot minutes at the two as well.

I don't know, I feel alright about our 2 rotation. If Snyder can play defense and continues to be efficient (even if he is not prolific) on offense then I don't mind him starting at the 2. Not every starter can be outstanding.

My biggest problem is Howard starting at the 4. I also don't like only having Mutombo to back up Yao. We need a better alternative for quicker/smaller lineups...especially since Mutombo often looked horribly old last year.

 

really.....

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