I have a couple of questions, since (sniff) my post about Rockets' management was mostly ignored.... Which do you think is greater, the positive impact getting Hakeem will have on the Raptors, or the negative result of losing him for the Rockets? Second question: How good do you think getting Hakeem makes the Raptors? Are they serious contenders? Eastern favorites? Do they, as some contend, now have the best makeup to upset the Lakers, as Hakeem generally plays Shaq pretty well, VC to offset Kobe, etc...NOT to suggest that they are a better team than such Western contenders as the Kings, etc, but might they have the best match-up vs. the Lakers for a 7 game series? P.S.....Ahem...if anyone would like to sift back and review my Rockets Management post ( I'll even accept pity as a motivating factor), I's still appreciate any insights... ------------------ We're all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars... O. Wilde
I think it helps toronto as much as it hurts us. The raptors are serious contenders in the east and if they do make it to the finals they more of a chance than some believe if they play with heart and step up to the occasion. The lakers aren't invincible like some believe. Good luck to Dream. ------------------ I have seen much of the rest of the web. It is brutal and cruel and dark. CC.net is the light.
The Raptors were one game from making it to the finals last year. Hakeem is worth a game. Once there he's an experienced vet, who might be able to help that team. We're hurt bad, because our biggest weakness was interior defense. Now we've nothing
/begin rant Man this is pissin me off!! For the last 15 minutes or so I have been catchin up on today's posts and I have seen numerous people b****in and whinin about "Oh no! we aint got no interior defense now that Dream's gone" ...I say "Chill the f*ck out!, we still have three months till the beginning of the season" Neither you or I know what the Rox are gonna do by then.. so just be patient all you Chicken Littles(you know who you are) and allow our team's coachs and management to do the job we have always entrusted them to do..prepare our team for the run to the playoffs. If you can't do that, go follow a team that you know will make it to the conference finals and leave us diehards to our faith in RT and CD to put a competitive team on the court. /end rant
I can't speak for the other people that talk about interior defense so I will only speak for myself. RT and CD prepared the team last year, and our biggest weakness then was interior defense. I believe that both CD and Rudy are great, so I'm not trying to knock them. They may surprise me, and find some way to improve our interior D. I do know that there aren't any free agents out there that would have improved over Hakeem's defense, and from the rumors going around there aren't any players available for trade that would improve over that either. So anyone that mentions that the Rockets have a problem with interior D. aren't coming out of left field with that observation. Even if your opinion is different I don't think there's any reason to be upset with people who comment on a teams potential weakness. I believe for the most part we all want the Rockets to do well, just that some have different ideas about how to get the job done.
I think the perfect thing to happen for us at center is to trade Cato away (obviously) for picks or what not, then sign Marc Jackson and pick up either Jelani McCoy or get Olden Polynice. I know a lot of you may think that Olden really sucks, but he has a lot of energy and enthusiasm that he could bring. He may also serve as a good source of humor, anybody hear his latest incident? He was golfing and somebody hit him in the head with a golf ball and then Olden spit on the guy. May not sound very nice, but hillarious none the less. Hes even gotten in trouble for impersonating a police officer.
Hakeem definately makes Toronto better and may propel them into the Finals, but there is no way Hakeem is the key to the Raptors beating the Lakers. Hakeem, a great player in his earlier days, is not half the presence in the middle that Shaq is. Damn I never thought I would say that. But really, Dream can't defend Shaq worth squat last year, or for the past three to four years for that matter. Kelvin Cato defended well against Shaq, not Hakeem. He's old, he's slow and he's injured more than half the time. And he's feet just aren't nimble enough to pull a Dream Shake, I mean really, When was the last time anyone saw him pull a Dream Shake consistenly? Back to the D, Shaq has free reign under the basket with Dream on him. Dream ain't quick enough to swat the ball away like he used to, he can't out-footwork Shaq anymore and he certainly doesn't hold his ground when he's pushed by Shaq. I think one of the most declining aspects of Hakeem's game has been his Defense. Obviously we are, as of now, a much worse team without Hakeem. However if we can sign Marc Jackson, a big enough body to make some noise in the paint, and rotate him with Kelvin Cato, and maybe even Jason Collier, plus give Eddie Griffin some "Steve Francis" type playing time in his rookie year then we'll have a preety good interior defense. Griffin is a solid shot blocker, as is Kelvin Cato. Now is the time for Rudy to play Cato alot.
I remember Dream and Collier defending Shaq pretty well last year while Cato defended his salary on the bench.
Hakeem definitely makes the Raptors better. If he remains healthy and can remain so in the playoffs, they can win the East. I personally think the Magic have the best shot, if Hill returns to old form. However, 1-2 years down the road (or even this year) they will wonder who is taking up $5-6 million worth of cap space...kinda like Cato but Hakeem's injuries will be real. Rockets get more picks. No help immediately so its impossible to judge at this point.
I don't feel like the Rockets have been hurt at all, in fact I think it is what the team has thought would happen and have plans to deal with it. They have to keep up the PR for the public as to how they hate to see Hakeem gone. I think they wanted him to retire a Rocket, after last season, but was not welling to put the rebuilding on hold to hold him a spot on the ir. We should see what happens in the next few weeks and what we go into the season with before passing judgement on the trade. As for helping Toronto, I guess that depends on what they are expecting from Hakeem. When he shows up to play himself into shape, doesn't get what he thinks is enough touches in the early going and goes to the media. What will that do to the team chemistry? Then the regular trip on the IR, is there a back up plan or center? Then when he comes back from IR to play himself into shape again. These are little things that worked well in Houston as we knew that is the way he did things and they were overlooked by the fans, team and media. Will they be overlooked in Toronto? Or will this be the season that Hakeem plays 50-70 games and excepts a role as rebounder and defense without complaining. Time will tell if it was a good deal for the Rapators or not.
