[FANIQ] Worst 10 Draft Day Trades - 2 Rockets Mentioned

yup I never like the trade of battier for Rudy, but still I don't think it should been considered one of top 10 of worst draft trades.

 

Well, that was a Morey trade. Shane had great intangibles and great statistical numbers. We also got rid of Stromile who was going to be in his 2nd season after his 1st season bust with us. We wanted Roy and Portland punked us, but picking up Battier and trading Rudy is by no means one of the worst draft day trades.

 

Battier > Gay all day, every day!

 

Yeah, finally someone pointed this out, we did not trade Rudy Gay with Shane straight up, we also dumped Swift's contract worth 30M for 5 more years.

for some of you who doesn't understand the price you have to pay to unload a bad contract, look at philly now, they are desperate to unload Brand's 50M, 3 year contract, the price tag? #2 pick and I see most people here still won't bite it.

 

But the question is whether the Rockets could have gotten more for the pick.

 

swift's contract was a 4 year 22 million dollar deal. he had 3 years left on that terrible deal when we traded him. i'm not gonna compare the rudy/shane part, but this was a significant part of the deal that everyone just magically seems to forget about.

 

Those two bad draft night trades were mostly Carroll Dawson. Sure Morey had a small part of the Battier trade, he wasn't the main guy to make the decision. Plus Houston wanted to get rid of their mistake in signing Stromile Swift. And during that time, the Rockets had JVG, who favored more defense.

Plus, that was the time when Tmac and Yao's window of opportunity was closing, they wanted a defensive specialist vet in Batter more than an high potential prospect who has yet to prove himself. At the time, the Rockets were in a win now situation and that's the only way to get rid of Stromile's contract. But their number one plan was to draft Brandon Roy. If they would have drafted Roy, the Rockets team today would be much different.

But hopefully Morey wouldn't make the same mistake Houston made over the years. I always thought giving up Rudy Gay for Battier wasn't as bad as it seem. Sure Gay is a good player but he isn't franchise player material. But the trade of Richard Jefferson for Eddie Griffin was a big disaster. But Morey is indeed a great GM, so I think he has a high chance of making a good move on draft night that will change the landscape of Houston for years to come.

What I really wish is Morey is able to find a gem in the draft and that gem will be the new franchise player for this team. The Rockets is lacking a franchise player that will hopefully put this team over the top. I know some people on Clutchfans would say we don't need a franchise player because we have Yao but to be honest, Yao is a great player when healthy but he is more suited to be the 2nd man, not the main player. So this draft is probably the only chance Morey can find us a franchise player because trading for one is almost impossible unless something big happens.

That's why I am willing to take on Brand's contract just for the Rockets to have a shot at drafting a franchise player. His contract do suck but it is worth it when you have a superstar later down the road. I know drafting a big man is ideal but I really think Evan Turner can be that guy for Houston. Because if you have the 2nd pick, it shouldn't be used on a player to fill a position, but rather used on the Best player available. And I think other than Wall, Turner is the best player available. Cousin can be a good player but the risk of him being a bust is pretty big. Favor is the same way. Turner can be our Roy that we missed out on a few years back.

So hopefully Morey can make the right decision on draft night and finally get us a player that will eventually be our new franchise player. Yao Ming was our franchise player then and it never really worked out so its time for a change.

 

If we would have drafted Rudy Gay, we'd be in the same position the Grizzlies are in now.

Would Gay have taken us further in the playoffs if we had him instead of Battier? The answer is no.

Now, the Grizzlies are stuck with a player that will demand 12-14 million, when he's worth around 9 million. You either pay him the money a team like New York will, or he walks, and all the Grizzlies got in return was a major headache.

 

f gay. he's not that good. people need to pay attention to both sides of the court.

 

I'm getting sick of people undervaluing Battier. We're a gritty team with heart in large part because of him and his leadership.

We would be a far worse, less cohesive, and more losing team without him.

 

i`m so tired of the battier gay trade. gay really hasn`t done anything since he`s been in the league. granted he is athletic, he hasn`t been the best player on the worst team in the league. that tells me something. at least when battier was there, they were competing.

had we kept gay, he would have been a decent player IMO, but with him being a FA now, he is due for a pay day. and he`s not worth whatever he`s going to get this summer.

as far as Griffin, at the time, it was a good trade. he had top 5 pick potential. he was just messed up psychologically and didn`t live up to his physical potential. how often do PF`s with his size, athletism, youth, and skills linger at the 8th spot? not often, and i think CD rolled the dice on that one. RIP.

 

Yeah, he really overvalued Rudy Gay.

He was pretty dead on about Roy and Foye though.

 

People have a sad way of warping reality to suit their biases, especially fans. Battier was brought on to be a championship role player. If the Rockets had the prophetic hindsight of knowing the missteps and injuries that would be coming, they obviously would of kept Gay, who's 23 and averaging 20/5, over Battier, who will be entering his twilight years as the elite defender and glue guy. Perhaps the Rockets can pull it together the next two years for a championship and make use of him, otherwise it was a gamble that didn't pay off.

 

Talk about bias in your post. I guess you forgot that that 20/5 player is set to make major money he didn't deserve and was one of the worst defenders in the league. Would Gay have been a better player had he played on our team? Maybe...then again you can't teach heart, and Gay doesn't have it. Its not just the D that was god awful, he doesn't like contact and would rather baby shots than go hard to the rack. Another jump shooting slacker to pair with Mac? No thanks

 

What is it exactly that you disagree with in his post?

 

I thought the story was that we made that Gay pick for Memphis. We didn't pick Gay and then decide to trade him. He was gone to Memphis before the pick was made. Which brings me to another question...

Why does the NBA draft not work like the NFL draft? In the NFL draft, when a trade is made it is announced ahead of the pick but not so with the NBA draft. What is the reason for that? We only learn about trades after the pick has been made. Very clumsy.

 

I don't think the critique on the Eddie Griffin trade is fair. At the time, he was considered probably the top talent in that draft but dropped because of possible character issues. Should the Rockets have taken a chance on that? Maybe not, but I'm willing to bet every other team in our position would have pulled the trigger on that opportunity. We were all going bananas over the trade, and all analysis gave us the edge on that trade. No one was scratching their head on the trade.

As it turned out, he didn't have character issues in the Rasheed Wallace-type sense, but deep emotional troubles that were a bit of a mystery at the time. Even now, it's sort of a mystery -- it seemed to be related to his brother's passing, and he never really got over it. Anyway, I digress. Point is, it's sort of a 'incomplete' on that trade - we'll never know how Eddie would've turned out if he found a way to overcome his demons. My guess is, pretty damn good.

The knock on the Gay-Battier trade, on the other hand, might be fair. At the time, we were scratching our heads, and even now we sort of are. To those saying Gay hasn't done anything - dude is a ~20/~6 guy already. I'm willing to bet you guys are saying that because Memphis hasn't made the playoffs -- he's on a terrible team with terrible management! Individually, he's showed all-star stuff. Behind Aldridge and Roy, he's the best pick from his draft.

 

we didn't trade GAY for battier. we traded our #13 or whatever pick for battier. the memphis grizzles decided to draft gay with the pick. the rockets would have drafted tabelosha sefolosha (pretty sure i just spelled his name wrong)

 

Looking back, the EG trade wasn't that bad. A high potential big in exchange for R. Jefferson, who hasn't accomplished much in his career. I'd say Posey had a better career than Jefferson and we were in need of a PF at the time.