[Hou Chron] Rockets, Morey forced to hurry up and wait

I couldn't have imagined this was the team going into Training Camp..A move is coming and it wouldn't suprise me if Battier was the main player from our end.

 

I'd rather be patient knowing we can't contend then messing things up just to MAYBE get to the second round next season. The long term is more important.

 

Well said my man. I'm not one for tanking, you should always go out, every night, with the mindset to win.

However, I'm alright with looking at the 2009-2010 season as tryouts for the 10/11 Rockets.

Patience is a virtue....or something like that....

In Morey we trust.

 

Morey is diplomatic, but relatively "straight up" at the same time. Not easy to do. He admits that the team as currently configured likely won't make the playoffs. At the same time he suggests he is hopeful of an upgrade, but isn't certain one will occur. Morey is slick. I do disagree with the idea that Yao is coming back next year and the team can be built around him. I think that is a long shot and a very risky strategy.

 

Morey has spoken like this before. I remember an interview from 610 or one of the other local sports radio stations. Basically, I think he's saying, "I want to trade for an All-Star. If I can't trade for an All-Star, I'm not making any trade of consequence."

Which makes me think Amare Stoudemire or (less likely now) Chris Bosh.

Still makes me think he has to wait until September to trade Landry, who can kibosh any trade before then if he's not partial to it.

Or that he wants to wait and see how Stoudemire's surgery will turn out before commiting to a trade and long-term $$$.

 

Contrary to the sentiment in this thread, from my perspective, the comments in that article seemed to indicate that the likes of Shane/Scola aren't going anywhere and they hope to tread water until Yao returns.

If that article can be taken at face value, they'll trade McGrady and continue on their charted course, but they aren't blowing it up.

And that would be a huge mistake in my opinion.

 

He's probably hoping that the Heat crash and burn and Wade asks to be traded or he's walking.

 

Only time will tell.

 

If Morey doesn't think he can clear the space to lure a franchise player next Summer, and if he was no intention (thank God) of slapping a one year band aid on the roster, then there's only one other option available that will make this team a contender in 2011 and that is landing a high lottery pick and hoping we strike gold.

 

There were 3 possible courses of action which Morey could take.

1. The Band-Aid route: This would entail re-signing Ron and chasing the likes of Antonio McDyess for a run at the 8th seed.

2. Complete Rebuild: trading off Shane and Scola for young players and completely reshaping the roster with the assumption that Yao would never return.

3. Treading water: Holding onto vets that fit their original plan (Shane and Scola) while making deals that would improve the team, but not necessarily for the long term (ie: trading McGrady to improve the team.)

#1 was seemingly the most popular course of action on this board and undoubtedly the most foolish. Thankfully, this will not occur. My guess was that they would be taking route #2, but this article points towards route #3. For what reason is there "dramatic increase in optimism regarding Yao?" (as the article stated.) Is there something I didn't hear about? Is he suddenly no longer 7'5 and 300 pounds?

 

Again, this is a perfect chance for McGrady to come in, and give us a GOOD season.

If he is healthy and he feels no pain in the knee, he can SURELY do that. Even though he's not having Yao Ming, he can still make us forget about last season and give us a ride to the playoffs.

Battier for a star would also be good. (Maybe M. Redd?)

 

I don't know, Solid. My gut feeling is that the surgery will work and Yao will be able to continue playing. But you are right: I would not build a team around him - I'd welcome having him but I would no longer consider him to be the foundation of my team as he is now. It's just too risky to depend on Yao and from what we've seen this year, the NBA looks to be moving away from big slow players at center.

 

Morey needs to make him mind now.

It is time for rebuilding. no other route.

 

I agree with you except the part with Shane. I think right now he's our only good bait for other teams. It will be a real pity to trade him, though.

 

I think Morey is on the lookout for any possible long-term improvements to be made, but he is resolute in his refusal to make a bad, costly deal and steadfast in waiting to see if Yao Ming returns before making plans to blow the team up.

Basically, he's being patient.

 

It's hard to "continue on their charted course" after trading McGrady. Simply as a matter of McGrady's $23 million contract, whoever comes back will likely change the course of the franchose quite a bit-- even if they do hold on to Scola and Battier.

Another way to see it is to "continue on the charted course" until a good trade presents itself for McGrady [Or someone else... but McGrady's got that big contract]. They can begin to move the roster around once they know who they have in place of McGrady's salary slot.

 

I don't think it's a matter of having "dramatic increase in optimism towards Yao." The fact is, Yao will be under contract until 2011. If we continue to improve by trading tmac, increase experience for our young players, and get good draft picks this upcoming season; we can contend again with a healthy Yao. Resigning Yao or not is not even a topic at this point because he still has 2 years left with the Rockets.

Morey is a GM for a business organization. The team needs to be in contention as much as possible to maximize profits. He's not going to put a "band-aid" on this team; more like a big surgery while keeping the head intact.

 

By "continue on their charted course", I mean to continue following the blueprint that they seemed to be following before Yao went down: to keep the nucleus in tact but trade McGrady to make improvements.