F*** this lockout!!!!

So with that in mind I submit for your consideration my view of the Rox's current situation with a few ideas of how we move forward to relevance in an era of teams that are stacked with talent. I'll begin by giving a quick rundown of our positions and follow that up with some ideas for how we move forward with the idea that we aren't going to be allowed the natural progression of having a seriously bad season in the hopes of scooping up that elusive superstar via the draft.

1
The pg position is the one spot where I see enough quality talent to think that we can go to war with this group and be moderately successful. Between Lowry, Dragic, and Flynn we have a quality starter as well as guys who can provide a niche off the bench. I am not as sold on Lowry as some here (a statement that will probably be a pattern). I do think that Lowry can run the point on a really good team but I also see him as a prime candidate to be traded at some point due to his contract and production. If I am looking at the Rocket's roster he is one guy I am willing to give up quality for. Dragic and Flynn are looking like career backups (a role each should be solid at moving forward for the next few years).

2
Righ there with the 1 as the position of strength for this team. Martin, while not a superstar, is undoubtedly a very efficient player (and a guy Morey probably has wet dreams about...) and Lee is a young two way player that will probably have a long career in the league as either a starter or jack of all trades guy off the bench. Either of these guys could be trade targets for other teams sitting on the cusp of the playoffs.

3
The first spot where I see glaring weakness. It seems to me that Terrence Williams has the most talent of the small forwards we have yet his personality has gotten in the way of integrating him into our team last year which puts a big question mark next to his name moving forward. Bud is one dimensional and inconsistent though on a reasonable contract. Morris is another guy who I just dont see as justifying the love he gets here. Carmelo Anthony? What are some of you smoking? I dont see the athleticism for him to be effective on the perimeter or the strength or length to make much noise down low either. I understand why he was selected but there was a reason he was around at 14 in a seriously weak draft. He fits the tweener label in all the negative ways from my perspective at this time. I hope I'm wrong.

4
Obviously the most loaded spot on the team in terms of numbers, but I see a lot of redundancy at the 4. Scola is heads and shoulders above his teammates in terms of present production but at 30+ is there a good reason to keep him around just to keep us around .500 when he stands in the way of developing our other 4s (esp considering how we pick up a new slighly undersized one each year in June...Sigh.) Patterson I am intrigued by and DMo too. Those 2 guys are who I see holding down the 4 from about the deadline forward (assuming there is a season and a trade deadline).

5
Lawd, Lawd, Lawd. I dont know what is worse, having Chuck be the starter for most of the last couple of seasons or that Thabeet (or Hill) cant push the wagon to the bench despite having 5-6 inches on him. Love chuck but dont see him back unless Morey just has no other options. I dont understand how Thabeet can be as horrible as he is at his size or how Hill cannot give the effort to be effective for 20 minutes a game (I had hoped he'd turn into a Dale Davis type, what was I smokin?).


Where then do we go from here? I think the model we have to follow to rise like the phoenix from mediocrity to contender is clear. As much as NBA players love the city of Houston and this area it is clear that doesn't translate into getting their signature on a contract (or at least their commitment to signing an extension). Therefore it seems we are going to have to go the SA/OKC route. The good thing is that the upcoming 2012 draft appears to be the most loaded since '03. Since moving our assets for established players hasn't panned out, I endorse the ultimate crap shoot that could produce more talent than this team has seen in over a decade (if not ever). Load up on picks in next summer's draft.

If I am understanding the current situation, we have our pick and New York's (with the caveat each could be gone if certain unlikely events happen like the Knicks collapse or we play well above our talent level.). It goes without saying that having multiple high picks gives a team a lot of options in terms of trading up or back to mitigate the risk inherent in choosing a guy who is a year removed from dominating guys several inches and dozens of pounds lighter than them (as a former 15-5A player, I'll not even bring up race as thats a given).

As a fan, I can handle losing if there is some hope that we are building something and I appreciate watching teams grow together over a couple of seasons. With that in mind I am proposing turning our roster over by trading guys who are going to be past their primes in 3-4 seasons when our new toys are entering the beginning of their best years. Due to the uncertainty of this plan I understand why Morey and co. wouldn't do it and why it may be flamed here. End of the day, the Horns lost badly, my g/f won't call me back, and I have a lot of BS to do tomorrow at work so Im putting thoughts to paper on a lazy sunday. Here goes:


First order of business is obviously player trades as that seems to be the next way of improving the team once the lockout invariably ends. Only fair to point out that whatever the agreement looks like it is sure to be different in some respects from the last cba (which is what I used to try and confirm the possibility of my trades via realgm). I think it only prudent to at least try and make these work under the old deal as the new cba is sure to be similar.

Trade 1: Martin, Williams and Bud to Chicago for Deng, Asik , Chi& Cha 2012 #1 picks.

Chicago needs perimeter scoring to catch up with the heat and take some pressure off of Derrick Rose. Martin can play off of rose and his efficiency has already been mentioned here. Williams and Bud give Chi a spot up shooter for Rose to kick out to and a point forward type that should replace Deng's D on chicago's ultra defensive team. For us, Deng slides into the 3 and provides some defense and Asik can log some minutes as a 7 footer who isnt a stiff which we desperately need. He's not the answer, but he won't have to be if you read on.

Trade 2: Scola, Patterson and Flynn to Atl for Josh Smith and ATL #1

I dont feel as confident that such a deal is both teams best interest but I was hoping to put scola somewhere where he could actually compete on a team that is close to smelling the playoffs (which is deabteable in the ATL, I know). Atlanta gets a vet that plays within himself (and well), a young player that can bring some of the same things to the Hawks Smith does in Patterson and Flynn might allow them to let Crawford walk and not count so much on Teague.

Trade 3: Lee and Thabeet to Orl for Duhon and Orton
Orlando needs help they haven't gotten from their recent albatross acquisitions. Lee is friends with Howard so that has to help them make the argument he needs to stick around and duhon's loss is negligible, as is orton.

End of next season our roster looks like this:

Lowry/Dragic/Duhon
find a D leaguer or 2 for the second half of the season after the deadline
Deng/Morris
Smith/D Mo
Asik/Orton/Hill

Plus we have our first (6-10), NYK's first(16-18), Chi first(27-30), Cha first(7-10) and ATL's first (15-18). Going by draftexpress' rankings, those picks could net us Quincy Miller(7), Austin Rivers(10), Terrence Jones (19) Marquis Teague(18) and take a flyer on Lucas Nogueira(29) which all would be a potentially franchise changing haul. If we could pick up a FA 2 like Eric Gordon or OJ Mayo (I'd assume our cap situation would still be okay given most of these players (other than Lowry and Smith) are on rookie deals our roster would look this way going into next season(age in parentheses)
1-Kyle Lowry(26)/Marquis Teague(21)/Dragic(26) /Duhon(30)
2-Eric Gordon(24)/Austin Rivers(20)
3-Miller(19)/ Morris(23)/Jones(20)
4-Smith(26)/D Mo(22)
5-Orton(22)/Asik(26)/Hill(25)/Nogueira(20)