Some of it's not "how did they spot that guy". Some of it is "how did everyone else pass that guy up". Case in point: Last game: 16 points on 6(!) shots/10 rebounds.
Milwaukee has a pretty good eye for talent, and even has picked up some decent player fairly cheap. Charlie Bell Mo Williams Michael Redd Yi Jianlian T.J. Ford
You are living in an Ivory Tower if you think it's only a few vocal fans. Try a poll and get set for a real surprise.
Tell ya what. Give ya Shane for Carmelo. Not that I would keep Carmelo. I would then trade him for an actual star.
Not to mention the kid is a great lockerroom presence. While some considered him a project, there is a lot of room for improvement due to his frame. With enough hard work in the gym, the kid could be a beast.
LOL - that is what I was hoping for.....everyone has one exception that proves the rule. And there is still time for Dan the Man !! DD
No because the people that will respond are the ones who are still pissed off about it. Everyone else is avoiding those threads and that topic like the plague. So it wouldn't be a valid representation. The Battier/Gay trade has been talked to death (so much so that I can't believe I am responding to it once again but there ya go) but the point is this, what first round pick would you have chosen in his place that year? Brandon Roy was the target, when they couldn't get him, then the chose what they thought was the best trade deal. I am sure we weren't the only team looking for a way to get him, could we possibly have gotten more, maybe, but at that time there wasn't any thing else we wanted. And Gater you may want to learn how to respond without being condescending. Ivory Tower?
The problem is not the that Rockets lack an eye for talent but that we lack the discipline necessary to develop that talent. Look at the guys that have gone through this team most of them have been benched forever in favor of short term solutions. We traded Bostjan Nachbar for David Wesley - a guy who no longer plays in the league. Now Boki has turned out to be a good player and contributor on his team as their 4th best scorer behind the big 3. The same will happen if we trade Head or Snyder somewhere and then watch them excel. In the this tight salary cap era, you have to be willing to develop talent at the expense of short term setbacks. It has been 4 years since we got T-Mac and we haven't developed a single player in the process because we were too busy with the "win now" mentality. Look at the San Antonio Spurs, They sacrificed a few championship runs in order to develop in house talent like Manu and Parker instead of just going out and grabbing veterans to fill holes left by guys like Elliot, AJ and Robinson.
Remember this is after several years and being given up for free by New Orleans, too. The guy took a long time to become a mediocre player on a mediocre team. Wesley, on the other hand, jump started the 04/05 season. I loved that season. I loved Wesley, Barry, Sura having their last hurray in basketball. If we gave up a chance to wait several more years for a mediocre player for that season, so be it. As a point of comparision, Rockets also traded Ty Lue for Jon Barry, who has long since retired. Ty Lue is still playing decent amount of minutes. Do I feel bad about giving up young Ty Lue for old Jon Barry? Not in the least.
That is a hell of an assumption. Why not? It's not like we are overflowing with talent. 3/5 of our starting lineup cant even create their own shot. When defense locks up on Yao and Tmac in playoffs, Rudy is exactly the kind of player we needed to take the pressure off of them. Ahh the Utah series games where Rocket players other than Yao/Tmac couldn't even buy a basket.
When Rudy Gay, arguably the most talented player in the draft, falls into your lap at the 8th pick, you take him. This has been said before when people bring up the whole Rudy Gay wasn't even in the Rockets' draft night plans and it was either Brandon Roy, Trade, or Thabo Sefelosha. The fact that they didn't has JVG's fingerprints all over it. He was the one who would rather sign a 40 some odd year old Charles Oakley or Rod Strickland from some YMCA league as opposed to giving some youth a chance. Don't worry Hayesfan if you can't or won't admit that it was a bad move to trade Rudy Gay, you'll see him plenty of times as he becomes more and more of a star while Battier conitnues to decline. I forgot the Rockets wanted to win now last year.
When he got hit by a car in Italy and damaged its fender, I knew he was just the kind of guy I like. He was lottery talent at LSU but teams were understandably afraid to pick him after Mike Sweetney, Robert Traylor, etc.
Yeah when someone like that falls in your lap you do take him, and they did. But like I said in my last post, could you honestly see Tmac and Rudy Gay playing on the same court? So no. You take that high pick and you find someone that will help your team now, not in two years. Which they did.
Yes I can see T-Mac and Rudy Gay playing on the same court and too bad I won't be able to actually see it because of management's incompetence. How exactly did Shane Battier help the Rockets win now last year? Look at Battier's career and tell me how many good playoff games he's had. Looks like Rudy Gay would be helping the Rockets win a lot more now than Shane.
