Good grief, I'm freaking excited about this squad!

Neither do I. After all, how many likewise meaningless moves have we been witness over the past 15 years? When I read about this trade my first impression was that the Rockets got a guy with a bad attitude who was sent down to the D-League because he is a head case while the Lakers got Joe Smith. But of course the fact that he now is wearing a Rockets' jersey means that he'll magically morph into a player who will reverse the fortunes of this team. If you are looking for a reason why the Lakers are the contenders while the Rockets are where they are, look no further.

 

Yeah, they got lucky to trade for a 19 year old Kobe Bryant....Morey is trying to find another guy like that, someone early in his career that can turn into a Superstar....because unfortunately teams just aren't giving them away.

DD

 

Dat Dude has an eerily similar posting style as another member here. I propose we call him DaDu for short.

 

williams dunking ability in college looks like clyde drexler's dunks in his prime.

 

Funny how that works, isn't it. The Lakers got "lucky" and traded for Lew Alcindor from the Bucks. They got "lucky" and signed Shaquille O'Neal as a free agent. Then they got "lucky" in trading for Kobe. And let's not forget how they got "lucky" again when they traded for (some would say raped) Pau Gascol from the Grizz. I'm still waiting for Morey to be this kind of "lucky". Well I certainly wish him all the luck in the world although I would suggest that he turn his attention elsewhere besides the D-League if he's looking for the next Kobe.

 

Same could be said for the Rox when they got John Lucas, or Ralph Sampson, or Hakeem, or Yao....

Sometimes those guys don't pan out as much....

If you are so enamored with the Lakers go watch them....oh wait, you hate Ron Artest so you can't.....gotcha !



DD

PS. Players want to play in LA, they don't WANT to play in Houston.....

 

Wait a minute: you consider them (Rockets) getting John Lucas a stroke of good fortune? Jesus! The guy single-handedly nearly destroyed this franchise. Out of the four players you cited only Hakeem can be considered as someone they were "lucky" to get.

As usual you missed my point which is thus: Good, no make that GREAT organizations go out and get the types of players who not only make a difference but can lead said organization to a title. The Rockets were just such an organization FIFTEEN YEARS ago (that's BL as in Before Les). But now? Please! You have guys here celebrating the arrival of (yet) another draft bust - this time from the D-league no less.

The LA quip is nonsense - after all guys want to play in San Antonio no less. Besides: everyone CAN'T play in LA but they will play where they feel they have the best chance of getting that ring. Given this trade and all of the other trades that have gone down or are about to go down I ask you: does that sound like Houston?

 

IMO, labeling him as a D-league player is not accurate b/c it carries the negative connotation that he doesn't have the talent to make it in the NBA. He is in the D-league as a disciplinary action from Avery not b/c he's a d-league caliber player. Also I think it would be a little early to consider him a draft bust with just one and 1/4 of a season under his belt.

 

But they really did get lucky with Kobe. He was a snot nosed kid that didn't want to play in charlotte at that point...thats all.

Shaq and Lew were MVP candidates when the Lakers got those players. Kobe was just a young prospect.

 

Exactly. You make your own luck. Have to have big moves to get luck. Notice example where Lakers gamble by losing out on alot of years of basketball playoffs to get these guys. They dont care how the trade guts them at first. Their objective is to obtain these players first. Then build around them. If you have to gut half your dang raoster to get a Shaq? Keep Kobe? Then you just do. Then surround them later. Kobe flounders for years without playoffs. Then they get lucky and trade happens. They get Shaq and do anything then get lucky and draft Kobe over moves they make boldy even though they already have Shaq. This is exactly the type of stuff I am talking about.

 

As for this move? It is aggressive though. I like it. Aggressive but risky and not sure it pans out. What it does do though? Is give us flexibility. All the roster flexibility in the world to actually do one of these huge roster moves where we do trade a sixeable amount of our players for one great player or a upgrade in position strength among the starters. Another almost star or star in the starting rotation. We have the depth to take a massive hit of our good players being trading. Of course Morey seems to be in overkill mode on this front already. Not sure his intention to keep stockpiling or eventually move on a better player or two for alot of our younger guys or starters we are about to cash in on. That part I dont know about Morey. Hope he is ready to cash some chips in either this year or during draft night.

 

Yeah, Lucas was the number 1 draft pick and a great PG coming into the league, we lost him in the Rick Barry signing, the point about single handidly destroying the franchise was in his 2nd go round, we lost in the Eastern conference playoffs on a bogus charge call against Lucas....otherwise we might have had a championship in Houston PRE-Hakeem.

And yes, I consider the rest as players like you cited, guys that can be GREAT and lead a team....they just did not pan out.

I don't miss your point, you have NO point, the Lakers could not have KNOWN that Kobe was going to be this good at 19, they got lucky, and they got Gasol too when they got their old boy West to work some magic and get him for peanuts.

Nonsense huh? I wonder why Shaq took less money to play in LA, must be that nonesense stuff you are talking about.

I am not saying this trade nets the team a superstar player, but instead of whining about it, why not enjoy them getting incrementally better until one shakes loose or we acquire one.

Because NEWSFLASH...they don't fall from trees, there are only like 5 or 6 in the NBA at one given time....

DD

 

This is not NBA2k where you can just offer up as many players as you can until the other team just says 'Okay, here is Lebron!'

These guys are untouchables. Rockets wanted Bosh, did not want to come here. Interested in Melo...wants to go to New York. Superstar players are not easy to get, you can't just get them because you want them. It's like everyone would be a millionaire if they could.

Morey is acquiring a superstar player the best way you can. Buy getting young prospects. Maybe one of them breaks out? Maybe a guy like Dwight or Dwill gets frustrated with their team and whatdya know, the Rockets are sitting there with a ton of young players. But these guys HAVE to want to come and play for the Rockets as well.

Until I start to hear that these guys want to play here then our best bet is to do what Morey is doing right now. Build through the draft.

 

I know what it takes and who wont trade for waht reasons. Say teams on the outskirts losing and they want to dump a Danny Granger to get younger though? Dont patronize me because i want bigger moves. You can get a Andre Igoudala, Chris Paul, Danny Granger, Amare Stoudemire for the right prices when they become available. Quit frankly if some of you wouldnt be such worry warts abiout the moves we would already have Amare and the Knicks wouldnt be in the playoff hunt right now and we would.

 

didn't some say chase was star material in the future last year too?

y'all have to relax. take a chill pill and stop the homerism

 

Who here wanted Amare and who here argued against it? Raise your hands... Then ask yourself had we gotten Amare more likely Carmello wants to come her to jion his friend also?

 

Our chemistry is improving and maybe starting to hit its stride. When we are over .500 I will start getting excited. If we get 50+ wins with Yao and Brooks back (with health and strong defense) I will be very excited. Until then, I can say I'm happy we're upgrading and making progress as a team.

 

I actually wanted the Rockets to trade for Amare. BUT Iggy and Granger are not on the same level as Amare and Paul. Amare and CP3 are all-star locks every year and Iggy and Granger are not. I hope they are not the 'big move' the Rockets are planning to make. Even then Philly and Indy seem reluctant to get rid of their guys and those two are not superstars.

I want bigger moves too but until we start hearing rumors that Chris Paul wants to play for the Rockets there is not much we can do besides stockpile talent and try to make the team better via small moves.

 

Granger is a allstar in the years past lately. Certainly better than Kevin Martin and not a liability as bad on defense. Granger would be a huge upgrade to this team. Igoudala would upgrade this team if we get rid of players who dont even see playing time as well as starters for him through our stockpiling methods. IE Battier and Brooks. One who hasnt played all year in Brooks and Battier the starter at his spot he would start at here. Throw in Patterson to get the deal done if needed because he isnt playing either in the near future. Problem solved you just upgraded to Lowry, Martin, Igoudala, Scola, Yao. Alot of ways to do these moves. Whether they want to come here or not. Its just a good move for some teams to make as well as us by now. These are no longer long shot moves with no people to fill in behind the guys we lose anymore. This is perfectly good moves now. What do you have if you gain a Granger or igoudala at least? More big peices to move even if they dont work out. More years for Morey to stockpile while these guys win pretty big with what we already have.