thats bull. morey seems to be building a foundation. have the spurs been winning rings by doing what? building a good foundation from the ground up. they have drafted well and made good money deals with contracts. paying 20 million to shaq is not how you do that.
If "commitment" means going over the luxury tax, several teams have been committed but fell short of winning it all. This move does hurt us a bit, but we were supposedly deep from 1-16 at training camp. Now known pieces can step up with increased playing time, if not, we have cap flexibility for next year. The biggest issue I have with losing bonzi is that we gave him to a Western rival.
I'm starting to see why the trade was made for Jackson. Rockets need an experienced PG, thus Jackson. It the cost was Bonzi so be it, James is just a throw in, kinda like the 2nd round pick. This time next year, the rockets will have several attractive contract to really be a player in the trade market. Lakers got gasol for crap ( i meant kwame), following the same theory, who knows what we can steal using Jackson + draft picks. As good as bonzi is some of the time, he's liability on D, he doesn't close out, or really move much on D.
The spurs aren't a good example. They won 60 games, had some injuries and drafted the best pivot since shaq in duncan. The rox got a then 25 yrs old mcgrady with high miles and another big guy with high miles. The rox have drafted poorly and hasn't surrounded these two with playoff caliber talent. The spurs got lucky by getting parker in the late 1st manu in the 2nd. Not to mention during their run they have picked up finley and brett barry. The have championship experience since duncans 2nd yr in the league. This stand pat mentality and wait till next yr is bs. I will say if ur going to set ur self up, set ur self up for lebron. Looking at the moves by cleveland, the might have enough to win it all. If they can do that, scratch lebron off that list.
See what I don't get is that half the people on this board think these are smart moves that will payoff in the future.. Well my question is how much of the future you wanting to wait for? Yao and T-mac are not getting younger and they will be 30 soon. Your suggestion seems like were rebuilding which is fine but we have two very important pieces that are injury prone. Again every year that passes by we are hurting our chances at the title. Also while we wait these so called young guys will have alot of experience under their belts and they are going to be more athletic us.
You're right. Those trades for Charles Barkley, Scottie (before he became Quitten or Gimpen), Steve Francis, and Tracy McGrady were obviously just ploys to distract the fans. It's obvious the Rockets should just throw money at every FA possible and make a fantasy league team. It's worked for the Knicks after all. All of you Chicken Littles who seem to think that trading a nightly DNP and a guy who has some talent but is also known for pouting when his time gets cut (which may be happening if the younger guys continue to develop) for a scrub and a guy who offers some depth at an iffy position and a shorter contract need to get a grip. I'm pretty sure Les and Morey aren't sitting in their offices asking each other, "How can we screw over our fans and alienate our fan base?" and cackling in glee while they jump into piles of money a la Scrooge McDuck. The organization isn't "slapping you in the face". They're trying to create a winner for today without hamstringing their ability to make further moves in the future to keep winning. Will today's moves work out? I don't know, I hope so. Do I think these trades doom the franchise for this year and years to come? No way.
We had a chance to go deep in the playoffs. However, the mgt have made a stupid trade and we will be 1st round exit again. Even worse, from now on, no free agent is willing to come to Rockets at a lower salary.
Obviously, It Isn't Time so let's just start auctioning off our best players in exchange for young players and draft picks. That way we can have our foundation 5 years from now and stop wasting the careers of our vets who thought they were playing for an owner who wanted to win.
LOL you know what you forgot to mention we traded for Clyde Drexler and look what that got us... Wait!! thats right our 1st championship and helped alot on our 2nd.
Some Info http://alcor.concordia.ca/~stali/TRIBUTE.HTM "n 1995 a blockbuster mid-season trade sent Clyde to Houston, reuniting the fearsome two once again. Together they led the Houston Rockets on the most memorable run in playoff history. After finishing sixth in the conference, the Rockets mounted a series of spectacular comebacks and come from behind victories to advance to the NBA Finals. They won the title in a four game sweep. During their champioship run, the Rockets never had the home court advantage in any series." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clyde_Drexler On February 14, 1995, with the Blazers out of serious contention for a championship, Portland honored Drexler's request to be traded to a contender and sent the Blazer great to the Houston Rockets mid-season, right before the trade deadline. Despite finishing the regular season with a record of 47-35, which placed the Rockets 6th out of 8 playoff teams in the Western Conference, Drexler and long-time friend Hakeem Olajuwon helped propel them to an improbable second consecutive championship in 1995. Hmmm 6th Seed out of 8 playoff teams.. Sounds like an achievable spot for us in the playoffs. But that is where it ends because this team as it stands cannot make it to the WCF let alone the finals
You people are way too pessimistic. The West is wide open. Who is invincible? It is deep, but it is being compared to a college tournament (see article on Yahoo! Sports). I am not saying the Rockets will be favored, but why send up the white flag? Last I checked the Rockets had two superstars as good as anyone's stars and an emerging supporting core. Oh, and there's that ten game win streak thing. I will talk about the summer, after we've been bounced from the playoffs. Until then...man up!
