Eating Crow: Wesley Trade Best Thing That Ever Happened This Season

According to Clutch's stat page, Wesley is shooting over 40% from long range as a rocket. Barry is over 50%! Feels good to have some real shooters now, not scorers pretending to be shooters.

 

it's a good trade yes that we got wesley, however we won't know until the playoffs. that's when we can go back and see which players really paid off. it's early, be patient my rocket friends

 

I guess most of you guys liked Boki..... Not for his basketball skills tho

 

i don't know what was the deal w/ boki, sorry but he kinda sucked.. hehe

 

still think it was a nice move, wesley's hustle on D has certainly helped as has his speed, dribbling and shooting at times...

 

JJ is averaging 10.1 ppg for the 8 games he played for the Suns and is shooting 50% from down town so far for them.

 

I didn't like the move until I realized that Wesley was quicker and a better defender than JJ. He started off slow, but is finding his niche in the offense now with his 19 point performance against the Lakers, and in the defense with keeping up with AI in the blowout win against Philly. Wesley has definitely grown on me, unlike some new Rockets *cough*Rod Strickland*cough.

 

Gotta admit though - Strickland's touch pass to Yao in the lane against the Lakers was a beautiful thing.

 

tell the truth, the francis version of the Rox was so boring that I haven't been watching Wesley as a player in the league. That team was a model that would tease but NEVER deliver. He's doing the same crap in Orlando. All that early jet fuel is now wearing off. But I ABSOLUTELY couldn't wait to unload Boki...yikes,. I even hate having to write his name as it reminds me how little potential I saw out there running around. These old school throwbacks are in actuality the obvious next step in this teams evolution. You have to notice the column in the Cronic the other day, referencing the guys complaining about thier lousy defense. Man, that is so sweet ! God, this team is a jolt of bee ball fever again, it's something you want to see happen, instead hope that something happens. As to the so called "collapse" in the forth quarter, I say, hey tehy got home at 4 AM in the freakin moring, what kinda legs you 'spect they'd have being the old geezers they are ! In the playoffs they'll get the down time between rounds to get it together withoput the 4th quarter thing, and we can go nutz again as they take out Dallas in the first round. And CD is a big part of this, I believe. Tell me why he shouldn't get credit since he sure got dumped on by allot of you folks a few months ago.

 

What's more, Yao was completely ready for the pass, as if he was expecting it. I think we are brewing some serious chemistry here.

 

Dammit, where's the toothpick?? Gotta get those feathers out from between my teeth.




Keep GARM Readable!!

 

The Wesley trade was certainly a head scratcher, and to be honest, I didn't know what to make of it. I understand basketball, of course, but there is a higher level of basketball understanding that I certainly lack, which is why it is not my chosen profession. Due to this, I had to give the trade a shot. I couldn't quite put my finger on it, but JJ's game this year was really bugging me much more than it was last year, with much too much ballhogging and errant passing. I think this was disguised last year because we had two other dudes that did the exact same thing, but only more so, so when it did become apparent to me this year, I wasn't too thrilled. If there was an individual player I was angry at the most, I think it would have had to be JJ. I still had no thoughts of trading him, however, as I loved the man's play last year, so I was willing to hold out.

The trade was certainly a head scratcher, however.

I liked JJ's defense a lot, but yes, Wesley is evidently quicker, but not as strong and physical, so to me, their defenses are a toss up (correct me if you think I'm wrong). He's much, much better at catching and shooting, which is what we've been saying we needed since the beginning, and Wesley's really been coming 'round as of late in that department (Laker game + Bulls game have been such positive indicators of his pending contributions). JJ's passing was downright awful this year, so Wesley is head and shoulders above him in that department. JJ was a better scorer, but McGrady is 10 times the scorer JJ ever was, so he was stealing McGrady's opportunities, which is a good reason why I think he was shipped. We just had unnecessary overlap.

Though Barry has played much less than Wesley, I still think that was the big trade this year, which can really only be understood by us Rockets fans, I suppose. But maybe not. Real NBA fans would all want John Barry on their team, and his fiery demeanor was exactly what the Rockets were lacking. I think he also gave Sura a compadre in the White Boy Posse and has managed to further ignite the fire burning in Bobby as well. Gotta love the team!

 

Strength for a perimeter defender this year means almost nothing thanks to the new rule emphasis.

Wesley is the definition of a catch and shoot player. It's basically the only way he can score (besides the fast break, where he is infinitely better than JJ).

JJ was a disaster defensively this year, and Wesley is putting the clamps on guys like Hinrich.

The only thing that we might miss from JJ is rebounding. Sure, he got most of them off missed freethrows, but he averaged what, 6 a game last year? Sura and Tmac have helped make up the difference.

To sum it up, Wesley is awesome. JJ should do well with the no-defense playing Suns. He'll get tons of open shots.

 

I would like those hacks at the O Sentinel to munch on some crow right about now. Go Rockets!

 

I belatedly join Manny in eating crow.

This reminds me of the Thrope for Drexler trade that I also mistakenly thought was horrible for the same reasons. It seemed to weaken our rebunding.

It is strange how sometimes rebounding can improve or at least not be hurt by trading bigger for smaller.

 

I think it has more to do with not having a statue (JJ) at the three point line.

 

You should get that checked out.

Stuart

 

Pass the salt and pepper while I eat this crow....

Wesley really looked good in the Indiana Game. I am glad he is on our team.

 

My opinion of this trade was "so what". Thought it was a minor trade and thought it would hurt morale on the team because of trading a guy that put it on the line 40+ minutes a game and was the supposed team leader. I don't know if it was luck that CD put this deal together but it has been a difference maker in making this team better.

Definitely, this was a "chemistry" trade, taking a player like Wesley who is a journeyman NBA player who statistically is not better than the guy you traded him for and making the team 2 times better. Part of the chemistry was being able to move T-Mac to SF, if we couldn't move T-Mac to SF- left JJ at SF - and only added Wesley to spell T-Mac at SG this trade wouldn't have worked as well.

If it was CDs plan to move T-Mac to SF, add DW at SG and he knew it was going to cut the TOs, make the team faster, improve the D, then then the crow I'm going to eat is the "Fire CD" crow.

 

I think the Rockets along with a lot of GMs are seeing the landscape of the NBA changing a bit were a PREMIUM is being put on "speed" and not power. Since they are calling the perimeter hand checking rule that toughness out there doesnt cut it. Now players need "quickness" to defend. They have to defend with their feet and move quickly laterally. The Rockets recognized that and to me that's why they made the move to move out a slower (but tougher) player in JJ at the 3 spot, move Tmac down to the 3 where his quickness can be a plus and then brought in Wesley at the 2 where his quickness can be a plus. Our team was slow and needed to get quicker. We still need to get quicker at the PF spot but as of late Howard is playing well.