I have this feeling that RudyT is going to make a move to bring in a new PF

My take from this article is that Rudy is talking about having a hard time figuring our a solid rotation and finding playing time for the 4s and that the last thing he wants to do is bring in another PF.

How does this give you the feeling that hes gonna make a trade for another PF??

 

This is a perfect example of Rudy really not having a clue about how to manage this team.

 

If he brought in another PF, it would really confuse the situation.

 

Classic Rudy. Everything positive.

Translation cheat sheet:

RUDY:
"Player B is playing really well."
ENGLISH:
"Player A is making me wonder whether I was sober when I drafted him."

RUDY:
"One game to the next, a guy plays well, so it knocks somebody else's minutes down."
ENGLISH:
"One game to the next, a guy sucks so bad, I have to put the guy I benched last game back on the court."

RUDY:
"It's a real luxury. We've got three guys who can play that position, each with his own strengths."
ENGLISH:
"It's unbelievable. We've got three guys at that position, and not one of them can hold down the job."

 

Let me tell you what's going on.

Rudy is trying to see if he can trade MoT and KT, both, for another veteran PF. If not, then he will trade KT.

Here's a good deal:

MoT and Moochie Norris

for

Tyrone Hill and Bimbo Coles

 

Where did these quotes come from?

Boy it sure sounds like all is not happy in Rocketland, but shouldn't that be obvious. You've got 6 or 7 guys on a team, who all need their touches in order to produce, and there isn't enough time or shots to go around. That's why the Rockets are going to dump a forward, and it wouldn't surprise me if they try to move Taylor, as he seems to be the most tradable.

Rice - contract too large to trade

Cato - contract too large to trade

EG - low value, plus he has a rookie contract, so he's a cheap body

Nachbar - low value, plus he has a rookie contract, so he's a cheap body

KT - last year of contract, makes him too risky for a team to trade for

That leaves M Taylor, as the only decent forward with a medium sized contract, so I'm betting he's the one that gets traded.

Raven

 

Bingo. That's exactly it.

 

Raven, are you being sarcastic?

There's no way anyone in the league takes Mo Taylor. Medium sized? It's something like 34M over 5 more years isn't it?

Rice is easier to trade, because he's on a nice streak and has a 2 years contract.

Cato is easiest to trade because big men with his production and his contract are rare to find. He makes 1.5M less than the average C and is playing better than 80% of the C's in the league. How do you figure he has a big contract?

EG and Nachbar aren't going anywhere, because they're the future, and still haven't proven themselves.


KT is obviously the one who'll go. He frees up minutes at two spots, and his contract is one year @ 1M I think. So, low-risk for whoever gets him. Plus, he's the one most likely to whine if he doesn't get minutes, and he's the one who's playing bad because he's worried about his contract. PLUS, he's the one who has NO place on this team after this year.

 

I hope Taylor doesnt go. He seems to work well with Yao when they are on the court together. Taylor seems to understand what a true big man can do for you down low.

 

Well, my hope is that Mo Taylor starts playing good enough to earn the minutes as the starting power forward. If he can bring his play up to the level he displayed during his first season with the Rockets, I think the starting position belongs to him. The only way for him to get back up to that level is more playing time! I think Rudy should continue playing him through his struggles. That's the only way he'll be able to work the kinks out. After all, we made a pretty big investment in him and he is untradeable at this point. We need to make sure we get as much out of it as we can, and 17 minutes per game just doesn't seem to be enough.

As for Eddie, I simply do no think he is a starter right now, but I've dropped any notion of trying to trade him. Despite his struggling, I still think he's going to be an extremely solid player in one or two more seasons. I would have him come off the bench until he's ready to be "the man."

As for Kenny, what to do with him all depends on what happens with Eddie and Maurice. As of now, Kenny is more productive than either of those players. They cannot let him go until those guys prove they can produce. Right now, while Kenny doesn't look great, Eddie and Maurice have looked absolutely terrible!

I hope those two guys can bring up their play, because I do not see Kenny as being a part of the Rockets' future. You have to assume the Rockets are thinking about Eddie in the long term, so do you really think they could afford to have 3 long-term contracts at the Power Forward position? There was a reason they didn't attempt to extend his contract, and so far the "small forward experiment" hasn't gone too well.

Anyways, I think the Rockets offseason focus should be on acquiring players who can shoot the ball, rather than resigning Kenny Thomas. Which is a pefect segue way for me to slip into my season-long journey to make the Rockets realize they should be focuing all their attention this offseason on one Jonathan Barry!

 

That "feeling" is gas. Try some Pepto or Tums and it'll clear it up.

 

I think internal improvement is the best thing. Get Eddie and Ming more ready (physically) for the season, and have Boki, Griffin, Cato, and T-Mo all work on their jumpshots.

KT has to go. Trading him will improve Eddie and MoT's production.

 

Trading for a new PF sounds reasonable. Remember: Rudy had these same feelings when he made that big trade for Clyde Drexler. No one, including the players, felt right about that trade until after it worked out okay. But this is the same situation as that one was...our team is spinning its wheels...and going nowhere fast. Something has to be done.

I say we don't need a new player. We need a new <b>coach</b>.

 

We need to drop KT, and sign a Popeye Jones kind of player.

In terms of draft picks. Straight up, how much do you value KT in a trade?


I value him at something like 20th pick in next year's draft. That's what I'd want in a trade.

Would LA be willing to do a KT and Rice for Devean George deal?

 

Maybe, but I don't think the Collective Bargaining Agreement would be as agreeable.

 

I'm up for trading kt. I think mo tay really plays well and gels well with griffin and yao. those three on the court together and a rotation of those three really work. the three of them seem to be in sync with francis as well. so if there is a powerforward i'm up for trading i would say trade kt. i like the fella but if we don't have time or space for him then gotta let him go.

 

A better trade would be KennyT, MoT and Moochie plus a 2nd round draft choice for Rasheed Wallace and Antonio Daniels.

If your going to give up on our 4's then we need to replace them with someone who could play and might be available because of all the stuff going on in Portland. This would also give Eddie some playing time but allow him to develop at a much slower pace than what is expected of him now. Kenny I believe is a cancer ready to grow because of his contract year and do we really want to give him the big contract he seems to believe he deserves. MoT would make the money work and Antonio would serve as a replacement for Moochie.

With Portland off to a slow start and the winds of change near this just might be doable. Also I believe it would be a huge mistake to get rid of Rice right now because he is our best spot up shooter and with his experience playing with other centers he's a perfect mix for Yao's passing ability.

 

Right on, I see this in the games too. I think they are on the same team in practice so they seem to work well together.