CD pulled off a blockbuster trade w/ the Magic even though their GM has been an ass most of the time. He kept his cool and waited it out and thus has landed 1 of the top 5 players in the NBA! That being said i would like to be the frist one to appoligies for slaming him all last year... Hat's off to u CD, you did a GREAT job, & i hope theres more to come! Feel Free To Add On...
CD i think is still one of the best GMs in the league despite what ppl here may say he has taken big chances on trades and drafting, not all payoff of course but thats always true when risking trades. At least he risks them for the possible hopes of a ring. CD Trades: Drexler-seriously he broke up a championship team midseason and it paid off huge Barkley trade: yeah chuckster didnt pay off with a ring in the end, but at times even though we were one of the oldest teams in the league, charles always was very efficient in his play, could put up 20/10 on any given night. Pippin Trade: ok lets not talk about this one Francis Trade: made the rebuilding process after the loss of drexler and pippin and the twilight of both dream and chucks' career a lot quicker by getting a new young franchise player pretty quickly Griffin Trade: another loss (unless EG signs back with the rock for cheap and plays well) but no one knew that griffins off the court problems would be so rough. remember a lot of people had Griffin going #1 that year. I still think the jury is still out on EG Drafting Yao: yeah its easy to say now that it was a no brainer but at the time it was still difficult with all the questions really surrounding yao and CD still took the chance. Hiring JVG: despite Rudy T health problems letting him go and hiring a new coach was not an easy task to considering the houston icon Rudy T is. a lot of people have expressed their digust in letting Rudy T go. to me personally Rudy T will always be the Coach of the rockets. But JVG was exactly what the team needed, a harda$$ of a coach that will do what it takes to win, a intense coach who preaches defense and will force feed the inside out game T-mac trade: sure we lost the heart and soul of the team in francis an mobley but what we gain here is the potential to possibly be ranked in the aura of the 90s bulls, the 80s celtics and lakers and the 2000 lakers in terms of winning. to think that a combo of Yao and T-mac with the right role players can win 3 or more rings is not far fetched at all. whenver a possibility of that happens you have to do that trade and CD did CD you are the king of the SPLASH
Hilarious. When things go right, it's because of CD. When we sign Moochie to a 6 year $20 million contract, he's not responsible. The teflon GM. Doesn't matter. Whoever was responsible, GOOD JOB
I was about to say that. I know CD had some say in working the deals and everything buti also believe T-Mac helped and so did a lot of other factors. I can't give him all the credit for working the deal. I mean this is the same guy we bash all the time for his bad picks and moves etc, but now we praise him for this. It really is funny to see the swinging of the boards members or just those members that are boderline and jump from one side of the pasture to the other depending on how the wind blows.
Yeah I didnt focus on the contract signings of course, but at least with the trades he has taken a risk on things yeah moochie and moT were horrendous decisions, but overall i think CD has more good than bad to the franchise
CD generally makes good trades and horrendous FA signings (the worst, IMO, was signing Maloney to a 5 year deal and then cutting him within a year)... He reminds me of Sixers GM Billy King in that respect. Tip your hat to him. He did a nice job pulling this off.
Les was probably the primary person driving the deal. He made his money bond trading. He's used to high risk/high reward. For awhile, I thought Les was the best owner a sportsfan could ask for because he didn't mind taking chances to try to hit a home run. I was somewhat disillusioned after the Glen Rice to Utah deal because it appeared to be primarilly financially motivated to avoid the luxury tax. It may sound like hyperbole, but this deal is probably one of, if not the best, trades the Rockets have ever made - I say this having been a fan for 28 years. You just don't get HOF talent before his prime without mortgaging your future. No Yao, No 500 future 1st round choices, and it works under the unbelievably complex salary cap constraints. We trade a marginal max borderline allstar for a Top 5 player in the game. Unbelievable. Les and/or CD or whoever........... Great job.
I have to agree with you on this one. I mean Les has really shown that when superstars are available he does a lot to bring them here. He did it with Clyde, Pippen, Barkley, Francis, and now T-Mac. He is the one that does spear head the efforts to bring a big name to houston and really go after the championship. You have to really like that enjoy having an owner that will do that.
Congrats to the Rockets organization for pulling this one off. Do they ever cease to amaze you? When was the last time one of the best players in the league was in the mrket and the Rockets didn't get in on it? Francis Barkley Clyde Webber Pippen McDyess T-Mac Has anyone gathered such an impressive list of people that were in line to join their team? Aside from the Lakers ofcourse.
CD's pulled the trade off, yes with a little help from T-Mac but theres more to come & it dosnt look like CD will be sitting on this hands this off season!
I know we blame the Rockets management (CD/Les/JVG (Rudy)) quite a bit for some bad FA signings and drafts. And rightfully so with some of the personnel moves that have been made. But you have to hand it to them for going out there and being aggressive to get McGrady. Of course it didnt hurt that McGrady wanted us too. But you have to love the fact that the Rockets owner, while not the biggest of spenders like Cuban etc, is an owner NOT AFRAID to make the BIG move. I mean bringing in Clyde, Pippen, Barkley, McGrady? Those are BIG trades and those are trades where there was some risk in giving away players. I would rather take the risk for a huge reward like this.
For what? For answering the phone when Orlando called because T-Mac forced this trade? If he was REALLY on the ball, he would have asked for Jameer Nelson. Instead he picks up a bust in the making in Reece Gaines. And don't forget that we're now stuck with Juwann Howard's big contract to go with Mo Taylor's big contract and we still need a PF. Let's wait and see what players CD puts around Yao and T-Mac before we start believing.
Whatever. I think if you polled this board the majority of people would have thought that if we traded Francis we wouldn't have even gotten comparable talent in return but just a couple of good solid players / role players (i.e. Rose, Marshall and a pick). Instead we get a Top 5 superstar. I dont deny that McGrady only wanting to go to Houston was a HUGE help in this process. But the Rockets delt with Orlando's BS management and didnt mess it up. They could have gotten frustrated and dropped the deal and moved on. There was no way we were going to get Nelson in the deal nor not take on Howard's salary. I mean if you asked most experts we are already raping the Magic as it is. I mean taking Nelson from them would be like us not giving them the courtesy of a reach around!
We all have to thank Steve for landing that #1 pick which became Yao Ming. T-Mac wouldn't want to join Rockets without Yao on the team. How ironic it also sort of started the end of Steve's Rocket's career!
I am not that impressed. He made some good moves, and some bone-head ones. He would of DESTROYED the Rockets if this trade did not go through. He should of handled the media like Mark Cuban with Dirk. Stating that he would have to seriously look at acquiring ?, but Franics is as close as it comes to untouchable on his team. At least that would of set better with Francis then finding out through the media (Such as Hakeem did that one year). CD's problem is that he had no backup plan. Does not matter if Mark Cuban trades Dirk or not. He has portrayed Dirk in the right manner, and Dirk would not have any ill feeling. I guarantee you that Francis hates JVG, CD & Les and would never want to deal with them again.
I think they hase been are so nice to players that some players stealed big bucks from Rockets. without any contribution. maloney, Moochie, Anderson......,Finally they declined posey big contract, which may be a mistake. Anyway, I think they are big basketball fans too, they like to win, they do not fear to take risk to win. great job,keep going!
Thanks CD, and Thanks, Les ... You handled yourself with class while Wiesbrod demonstrated a lack of it. Thanks for your patience, aggressiveness, standing firm on the deal, all your other little maneuvers, (like talking to CHI about Mobely and the #3/#7, or with PHO on their #7) to be sure ORL knew we had options and other teams didn't shrew the deal, thanks for working through the situation with Francis when it became a public PR nightmare, for working with McGrady and his agent to give us leverage, and for just flat doing what it took to make this happen. I'm sure none of us will ever know all the craziness that went into pulling off this deal. KUDOS! Now you're on a roll. We all await with eagerness to see how you fill the additional spots at PG, backup center, and PF. Of course, we'd love it if you read the BBS to get some good ideas, (along with the not good) even though you know more than we do. Think outside the box ... Good luck!
My hat stays on until he adds the rest of the pieces. And please no scrubs like he did with the Barkley trade.
Not true! They could have asked for Nelson from the start. In fact, when Orlando started their "we're going to look at other offers" BS, the Rockets had an opportunity to change the deal and sub Nelson for Gaines but of course they didn't. Getting McGrady was a huge plus. Allowing Orlando to dump the bad contract (Howard) and clear their bench for the rebuilding process was a minus. They needed a PG and not another project to join Badiane on the Rockets fantasy basketball team.
