I'd be willing to try anything, throw in Mo for free too. He's overpaid. This last offseason was a disaster. We now know the Rox wont have any cap room any time soon with this bunch of overpaid crap The Grizz own our pick too. What a disaster. We will suck and suck hard, and the reward for all the sucking go to another team. I'm depressed
Hard to argue with you here. Right now they are the three definite duds of the starting lineup. But I wouldn't give up on Moochie just yet. He can be a good capable backup, remember thats what we signed him for. A limited Moochie isn't so bad, but the key word here is limited. Now about Cato and Rice i agree. I mean get their asses way down there on the end of the bench or something, right. Hopefully, with a lottery pick and Willis and Williams expiring contracts we can somehow fill their void. If Cato and Rice are not the 11th and 12th men off the bench next year that means that the Rockets had an uninspiring offseason all over again.
Let's see... Rice 8 million Cato 6 million Moochie 3.5 million A grand total of 17.5 Million. For this, we'll need a decent C, and a SF. Where will you find that? Also, Cato and Moochie's contracts are VERY long. Individual trades, there may be some. Rice, I don't think is going anywhere unless he SERIOUSLY starts flaming. Even then, we'll keep him. But Cato to the Knicks might work. Their cap situation can't be any worse. Cato for Travis Knight and Ward/Eisley/Jackson. We can then trade Moochie for whatever. We can trade Mooch and Walt for a SF? Rodney Rogers and baggage?
I don't see any team would just take Rice & Cato's contracts. We have to throw in Mobley as trade bait. J. Rose is unhappy in Indy and I think he'd be a perfect fit in this team to team-up w/ Steve and Torres. I suggest we send Mobley, Rice, and Cato to Indy for Rose, Best, and Croshere. Croshere has a huge contract similar to Cato's but Best's contract will be expired at the end of the season. Willis, Griffin, Collier Thomas, Croshere, Morris Rose, Williams, Langhi Torres, Best Francis, Norris, Brown I think Rudy will pursue LaFrentz when he become a FA this coming summer. maybe we can trade Taylor for LaFrentz(S&T) and assuming we re-sign Willis, Williams, Torres, and received two 1st rounders from Toronto. LaFrentz, Willis, Collier Griffin, Thomas, Croshere Rose, Williams, Morris Torres, draft picks from Toronto Francis, Norris, Brown compare this team to the Kings (w/ or w/o CWebb) and I think we could be a serious containder!
How fickle can everyone be? Just because two key guys are out we'd consider trading parts of the team? Key word here is "team." If the Lakers had O'neal and Rick Fox out, and Kobe was playing with a nagging injury, should they consider trading Derek Fisher, Lindsey Hunter, and Samaki Walker? Under those circumstances, yes, even the mighty Lakers may have lost to the lowly Bulls. But wait, some Lakers fans may then be willing to fire Phil Jackson... Please people, wait and see what a HEALTHY Rockets team can do. If they still do not live up to their expectations (making the playoffs and contending), then, and only then, can we start talking about trading.
If the Lakers lost to the Grizz, and Bulls by 20 then you might have to. Please don't use the Lakers as a benchmark for this team. WE ARE THE LEAST TALENTED TEAM IN THE WEST NOW.
Remember way back when the Rockets won their second title, during that season, right before the all-star break they lost by a good margin to the Clippers of all teams? Yes, even a championship team can have breakdowns that don't necessarily need to be fixed via trade. Granted they ended up trading OT for Clyde Drexler, so if we can get a similar deal, say, Cato for David Robinson, then I'll agree with a trade. But not the core of the team. I guess back then you would've been pro-trading Sam Cassell and Robert Horry. (Yes, I know it ended up happening later, but that was after the title, so that invalidates any argument dealing with that)
