I now also think that Rice can only become a great influence on the 2 young SF's behind him(Langhi and Morris)... They can learn how to play behind an all-star player... and honestly in 3 season Langhi or Morris will be starting at the 3... IMO... This gives the young guys time to develop like Morris and Griffin... I still think we need a big defensive guard and some type of durable center... Cato and Collier aren't durable players...both have had injury problems....
I have been very apprehensive about this trade. Glen Rice has been very unhappy wherever he goes. My bigger problem with this trade is that it eats up the remaining cap room we had. Now is Moochie out of reach? If we can't resign mooch then we lost 2 Dan Fegan Clients with very little in return. New York has limitless money from Cablevision-they have 2 slashers now in Anderson and Howard Eisley. I will miss Shandon's aggressive moves to the basket-I admit his offensive game was absent most of the time, but we have all seen him slash to the basket. I wish we still had a player like that. In the two previous deals -48 mil for Mo Taylor, and now 20mil+ for Glen Rice-how does this sit with Mobley?? I feel better about the Rice trade after reading the posts-it seems like many of you are comfortable with Rice-I hope this works out and we can resign Moochie.
I remember last year Rice saying somethign that if he had to chose a system to play in, it would be one like the Rockets or the Bucks due to the high number of great open looks. And Rudy has always loved this guy. Rudy had a poor man (Rice) in Bullard, but now he has the real thing. For me at first, this trade seemed very bad, but as I have thought about it we got rid of Shandon (overvalued) in good terms, while also getting rid of Bullard (happy with mo- more money!!) while upgrading shooting percentage. I am now just hoping for one more trade for a big man and Walts departure hopefully to the Wizards for White.
Wow. I appreciate all the positive replies. Rocket!!! Not really a crack in the armour. I would still support Hakeem any time, and I still think the Rockets are mostly to blame for his leaving. However, with this move, the Rockets have proven to me that they actually care about winning NOW, not just for the future. That win-now attitude has allowed me to move on. I'll miss Hakeem, but dammit, I can't help but still support the guys in the ugly pinstripes. I've wanten Glen on the Rockets ever since he destroyed them as a Laker. Trust me, he is more than Walt Williams. This guy is a legit scorer, and will provide the Rockets with a fantastic big-3 attack. And if Mo actually improves like he has promised, perhaps that will become a big 4. In the regular season, high scoring can lead to heaps of wins. See the Mavs. In the playoffs, winning takes defense. They have an entire season to work on team defense for the playoffs. Meanwhile, they will pile up the wins by outshooting every other team. As their defense improves, the entire team will improve. By the playoffs, this team will be among the elite.
