CD is awesome compared to some of the GM out there but even besides just CD I think our entire Rockets Management is great, usually management falls apart if something goes completely wrong in a season like Rockets 05-06 season. Remeber what happened to Twolves couple of years ago, we're lucky that eveyone in Rox organization connects so well. Remeber its the Management and fans who create the environment for the players
I don't. I look at the big picture and context. We ALL knew we weren't gonna be contenders the moment we signed TMac because the team was gutted to get him. We lost 3 starters. We were rebuilding. So I give credit to CD for getting TMac and I also give credit to CD for moving in the right direction since them. Life isn't black and white. We essentially were rebuilding and nobody expects a rebuilding team to bounce back in one year. It takes time. Given that, CD has done a good job progressing each year. Now if THIS season we don't make the playoffs, heads will roll. CD has done a good job acquiring players the past four years. That's my point. You call it what you want. Wins and losses doesn't take "rebuilding" into account. You have to look at progress. We were a 50 win team two seasons ago. Last season was an aberation (hopefully). The proof is there for 05-06 season. Yes. We'll see if your proof remains there in 06-07.
how is having a bonafied superstar (mcgrady) and an emerging star in his third and fourth year rebuilding? Mcgrady due to injuries and mileage is on the downside of his career, another issue the rockets were behind the curve on in planning this team.
What's with this "CD is only lucky" argument? CD no more lucked into Bonzi than McHale lucked into Mike James or Bulls lucked into Sefolosha or West lucked into Kobe and Shaq. Since GMs can't actually control what players decide and what other teams do, there is always an element of luck in everything. It's a matter of creating opportunities so you can actually take advantage of situations where luck favors you. CD should be commended for doing his part to make use of the good luck.
All you guys who keep saying CD does not get any credit for getting Yao, which is by logic the most important thing he did, is absolutely blind. It was not easy to get Yao. 20/20 Hingsight makes it a no brainer now. Sure, who wouldn't want to draft the "best center in the NBA" 4 time all-star? But let's not forget that when the Rockets picked Yao, he was not the popular choice amount idiots, I mean "experts". Wasn't Williams the "sure thing" and that Francis/Williams was going to be awesome. Now Rockets got Yao and really the rest was history. Can anyone remember why TMAC wanted to be trade to the Rockets? That's right, Yao. And now who really talked Wells into playing here for peanuts? TMAC. You see where I am getting at. CD did not luck into Yao, it was not a sure thing then, (It was in my mind but I always knew he was going to be something special). As for the Mike James fiasco, was it a mistake to trade him? He said publicly he was going for the money next year so the Rockets figured to trade him before they lost him for nothing. And I actually like Aston, too bad he didn't have any targets last year since everyone got hurt. Anyone want to bet that he is going to have a much better season now that he has 4 good targets to pass to? And I don't count Swift as a mistake at all. He was pick up for the MLE, he didn't work out/play to potential. They didn't give him the bank so he is easily traded away. Good job getting ride of non-compatible player. I personally like getting Battier. He may be a role player but championship teams need great role players. Last time I checked, the Heat didn't have 5 superstars did they? And no, I think the price was right, Swift had negative value for the team so it was good that Memphis too him off our hands. They didn't want him last year and after last year's "awesome" performance for the Rockets, what makes you think Memphis really wanted him back? They wanted Gay and they got him.
Noone is saying McHale is a genius. West traded one of the best centers in the NBA in Divac for an unproven HS kid at #13. The HS is a future hall of famer. That's good GMing. Sure, but that doesn't mean I'm going to stroke someone off for that.
Actually, among the true experts, meaning anyone involved in scouting or actually involved in NBA front offices, Yao was the no-brainer at #1. Director of scouting Marty Blake was raving about Yao. It was only assclown analysts who had never seen him play like Dick Vitale or Bill Simmons who said he sucked. Yao fell into their lap. T-Mac fell into their lap by hand picking the Rockets and its not even like they stole him from Orlando - they had to give up 3 starters.
Well, congratulations to Carroll "everything fell in his lap" Dawson. If that is indeed the case, then I am thankful that his lap was able to hold everything that fell in it. He must have a big lap. All you CD haters need to go away. CD knows what he is doing. He's got plans and he's got backup plans. He's always planning. Stuff falls in CD's lap because CD knows where to put his lap. Don't you get it yet? CD knows the game. He knows the salary cap. He knows who is out there. He knows how much money other teams got. He knows what they are trying to do. CD is the dude that spins the plates. And CD understands that the worst place to be in this league is mediocrity. You are better off being very bad or very good. Mediocrity is the huge ditch in the middle from which teams can fall into it for decades on end and swing from one end of the ditch to the other, winning 44 games one year, and 36 the next, then 42 the next, and never getting good draft picks, never having a top notch player or two, just a bunch of mediocrity. CD knows how to manage the cap and he knows talent. He knows that it takes a superstar talent to win in this league and he puts the team in a position to nail down superstars. And then he puts the pieces around the superstars. Just like the Hakeem days. He kept getting the pieces to fit around Hakeem. Two championships. That is more championships than almost every GM in the league has won save about 3 of them. Here's the deal. This year is on Jeff. CD has given Jeff all the talent that he needs to compete big time. Jeff has all his big, fast, strong perimeter defenders. Jeff has his floor spread shooters. Jeff has his passing point guard with the high assist/turnover ratio. Jeff has depth. Jeff has 3 go to offensive options surrounded by great shooters. Jeff has veteran players that have plenty of experience but are still young enough to get down and dirty the way he wants them to. Jeff has it all. It's up to Jeff now. Once again, CD did his job.
Life is a box of chocolates. I personally prefer to be lucky than good. And if good things fall in my lap the way it's going for CD. I sure like to be in his position. As for being good or not, only championships can tell. Isn't that the ulimate test? And that means 29 GMs in the league were "weak" including the genius for Mavs, Suns and Spurs since only the GM for the Heat got the prize. So looking at it that way, CD is at the mercy of JVC because if he can use the pieces the Rockets have to turn it into a championship, then CD is King. I am sure hoping CD is going out in style!!! P.S. I believe Yao and TMac has something to do with getting the championship too.
Iirc, kobe flat out refused to play in CHA and NJ. Without that bit of luck, kobe may not have been a laker.
jayson or jason or whatever williams was never an option. 10 years of mediocre to bad teams, there is no defending rockets' management right now.
did I miss the three championships because other than that I don't see the laker comparison. as a matter of fact you are making the point, yes shaq and kobe fell into their laps, but they put the right pieces around them, that's where a gm makes his mark in this league. superstars are superstars, we know what they are gonna do, its the other players you have to do the scouting on. do the value analysis on. that's the "blocking and tackling" so to speak part of the job that this organization has failed at.
Haha, every good GM is lucky and every bad GM is unlucky. (Except maybe Isiah. He's really bad.) If result is the only judge, CD was lucky when he had all those players falling into his lap. He was unlucky when all those players were injured or didn't work out or both. This is my cynical take. There are those who think CD made bad moves most of the time and got lucky when he made good deals. And there are those who think CD is a genius. To me, he is clearly somewhere in between. At the end, the result of winning or not is not just on CD. A lot of people are to be blamed or credited. A lot of the player decisions were coaching decisions, not GM decisions. And talent evaluation is a team work, not just the GM's job. I've always felt that the GM's job is kind of like the President's job. They get far too much credit or blame for the results.
