i bet it's more like a mutual respect b/w the peers, instead of a close friends type of relationship. and this way may be actually better for the team.
Ideal scenario is if we could get a top flight point guard because that's our biggest need.I say this because the Rockets current lineup is a good enough one to get out of the first round, but doesn't have enough star talent to win a championship. Getting a Baron Davis in his prime would be perfect. I really like the Battier-Artest tandem in the starting lineup. Defensively, we have the two best perimeter defenders in the game and watching them switch off of screens is a thing of a beauty. It's like do you wanna die by lethal injection or firing squad? The job they did against Lebron is the perfect example why I would prefer Shane and Ron to be in the starting lineup. But, problem is there aren't too many good point guards out there. Therefore, settling for a shooting guard is definitely the next on my priority list. Getting DWade would be a dream come true. He's better than Tmac plus you know he'll never let you down. Thing is, Battier would have to come off the bench. Battier would have no problem with it, but the team defense may suffer a little. Though, Wade is no slouch of a defender. If this were the situation, I want the end of game situations to be Wade at PG because he can play the point and Ron and Shane as the other wingmen.
I don't think that is a good way to do things. It should not be all or nothing b/c the Rockets could end up with a bad matchup in the first round. I think the Rockets need to continue to build around Yao and Artest instead of swapping one player for another. That's is why they brought in Artest, to add to Tmac and Yao b/c those two could not get it done by themselves. A really good team has multiple weapons. Swapping one player for another is not going to get you a championship.
If Lebron and Wade leave there teams they will both be in NY together. Kobe has even come out and said that Lebron and Wade talked about it while playing over the summer. NY will have enough room to sign the both of them. they will only have around 16 million on there books then and by no means was that an accident. also look for them to move Curry by then also some how which would only leave them 5 million on there books the year of 2010. NY will get the 2 free agents that year so that leave's 2, I am ok with the PF's we have so I don't want Bosh nor Amare. Like i keep saying trade Tracy's contract this summer to Golden State and get 2 of the 4 contracts that they are trying to move. Add those 2 to Yao and Artest and we will be championship contenders
McGrady's 23M comes off our books in 2010. Just enjoy watching the Rox games and leave the math to Daryl Morey the numbers dude.
You know Stephen A Smith and Jalen Rose are pretty much guaranteeing that Lebron is bringing Chris Bosh to NYC. Sure playing with Lebron looks fine...lets compare their possible team to ours... Lebron Nate Wilson Chandler David Lee or Brooks/Lowry (whoever is starting) Artest Scola Yao The Knicks will have no good depth players because you have to have a good team to even start building on your bench. If Wade were smart and wanted to win he'd come here and let LeBron have his little fun in NYC while he's winning rings with Yao and Artest. Our lineup in 2010 will most likely be the best team able to offer a max deal. Any one that wants to win and get paid will be stupid to pass up on this deal. Especially Wade because he'd fit PERFECTLY with the team. Also you're not factoring in that Lebron could very much stay in Cleveland which means Lebron+Wade to NYC would be dead. Lebron has good reason to stay in Cleveland also seeing as that is pretty much his home team and that they are a elite team.
Plus ask Yao to take Ron for a China tour in the off-season and sign a big shoe contract as part of Ron's deal with Rox. That can save some cap room for 2010.
Man, I cannot wait till 2010. The young guys will have enough experience (Brooks, Landry, Lowry, Wafer) and we can hopefully add at least a 2nd tier star like Joe Johnson (hopeful on Wade) and this team will be RIGHT there. Hopefully, and I pray that Yao stays healthy.
Concerning building for the future.... As much as I love the combos of AB0/Lowry at PG and Scolandry at PF, I personally believe these are really the only two areas we can improve via adding another star. I have given this alot of thought and I believe it will be difficult to upgrade what is already a fantastic roster. The hangup most people have is being star struck. We fans hear a big name and instantly we think it will make us better. But as we all saw from Tmac and Artest, sometimes it just doesn't work. When we add to the roster we need to add players who can play defense as well as offense. I have some ideas... At PG, AB0 and Brooks are shaky at times, but electric at others. I think we have to make due with them. Unless we can get a miracle and land a CP3 or D.Williams, I just can't see any PGs out there that make us better. Nash/Billups/Bibby/Miller are just too old. Come 2010, when we have cap room, they will be even older. The combo of Artest and Shane is amazing in the starting lineup. Our perimeter defense is a dream come true. Too bad we aren't in the east, because we are alot stronger against dominant 2/3s and the west doesnt have many. The west really only has Carmello and Kobe and thats about it. Meanwhile the East has Lewis, Lebron, Pierce, Wade, Redd, Granger, etc. But anyway, Im digressing, the wing positions here are solid in my opinion. Yao is awesome and the foundation of our team, so he is solid center. He probably has 4 or so effective years left in him, so milk it! We do need a backup center desperately though, Deke is done. More on this later. At PF, I love Luis and Landry, but I think we can improve here on the defensive end. The ideal situation would be Chris Bosh. In a perfect world, you could throw the money we have coming off the books in 2010 and seriously upgrade the position. If Landry continues to develop his outside shot, we could rest Yao earlier and run Landry, Scola, Bosh as our 3/4/5. Probably won't happen, but it is still a possibility. Another option at PF would be Dirk or Sheed. They are on the wrong side of 30 and might not resign with thier teams. We have never had a big man with thier type of shooting so they would probably fit nicely here. Dirk is a shooter and not much of an athlete, so its feasable he won't diminish as much as others as he gets older. Dirk however is notorously soft/choker and is bad on D, so he is a last case scenario in my opionion. Sheed might be a little too old for us and settles for threes two much. By the time he gets here, he probably wouldnt even be an upgrade to Luis. So these are all big name guys and we all know Les likes star power, but how about a compromise. How about 2 solid players like say a Ben Gordon + Troy Murphy. Both are high percentage shooters and address a couple depth issues.Gordon would be a huge upgrade to Wafer and provide a huge spark off the bench. My only hangup on him is his defense, but it can't be any worse than Wafer right? I like Murphy, kinda like a Dirk lite. Legitimate seven footer, gives us much needed size in the front court and adds a big man who can shoot the three at the backup C, which is something we haven't had. Anyway, this is how I can envision our team getting better, let me know what you think.
I thought about Sheed, he would make our interior defense impossible to pass...then you have Shane and Artest on the perimeter and Yao and Sheed in the post...I mean that's scary. But Sheed and Artest on the same team is a very scary thought. I think we need a go to guy on the perimeter like Wade or Joe Johnson, hell maybe even a Iverson if he was willing to play team ball. We've seen too many times on offense where this team gets stagnant because of... A.) Can't get the ball to Yao B.) Yao can't make a shot at times or the refs are letting guys wrestle him C.) The refs have taken Yao out of the game We need a threat to score from the perimeter...just period. Artest is nice and he is a score to threat from the perimeter...but that is some nights. We need a guy who basically can replace what Tmac did for this team. I don't think we need that to win a chip in the future, but it would make winning a chip so much easier if we had a solid 2 guard who could average 17 or more ppg.
Its going to be either Artest or Mcgrady. Not both because they don't work well together IMO. As for Lebron, he will stay in Cleveland and build a dynasty.
If they resign Artest, I hope the Rockets DON'T sign another superstar unless it's a superstar PG that doesn't need to score (ala Steve Nash or Jason Kidd but younger but who is that?). Chris Bosh is overkill. He'd obviously be the starter but I LIKE Scola starting. He adds toughness and grit next to Yao. I think he's a perfect complimentary player for this team. A guy like Samuel Dalembert. He can play backup-C or PF. Can block shots and rebound. If Dalembert could hit 15 footers, he'd be perfect. The perfect guy would Landry + 4 inches.
