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

this actually makes a hell of a lot of sense for both teams. Given the clippers history of not paying what talent is worth, each of the three rocket players are worth more than they are paid. Griff has great potential, Cat is top second tier performer and Kenny Thomas is a fabulous role player(or will be when he realizes that is what he is)

I do not think the Rox will make any moves, but I would take this and I have a crazy feeling that the Clippers would do it to.

 

I totally agree, Kt is the piece of the puzzle that just doesn't fit. It's not that isn't a decent player with decent skills, he just doesn't fit in with this team anymore. He isn't in sync with what we want to do and he's shown that on the court. NO MORE ISO, everytime he gets the ball, he wants to iso himself no matter if he triple teamed if or not, no passing, no cutting to the basket, and its obvious he resents Yao Ming. He won't even pass him the ball out on the court. I've watched every game this season, Kenny is playing for his paycheck and his stats, not to win. I used to like and respect his work ethic, but now, he's a paycheck player out for himself and it shows. Trade him, get rid of him, dont sign him, he turns the ball over all the time, just as much as he puts it in the basket. MoT and Eddie will get out of their shooting woes with more consistent playing time and rotation, start Mo and bring in Eddie or depending on who we play reverse it. They're both pressing right now because they know every shot they miss they will just get yanked off the court. They aren't playing badly really, they're just not shooting well, but who else is shooting well other than Rice and Yao? Steve's been OKAY, shooting, but let's face it, our team's shooting has been very very suspect and inconsistent to be kind. I think they should all go out for a spirited game of horse at the westside tennis club.

 

Cat, KT and Eddie for Brand and Piat#&#*#&*( ?

I'd do in a heartbeat.

But let's face it. IF the Clippers really aren't going to pay Brand, they are letting him go for free (yesiree bob, it happened in the past) or they are getting way better offers than ours.

Do you guys realise that right now most GM's would take Brand over ANY PF out there not named Duncan or Garnett?

Now THAT'S dreamcasting.

Mo, Cato and baggage for Grant or other offer for Kurt Thomas sound a lot more possible.

 

I think everyone is jumping the gun on this one. MoT has been out for a year so he's still in the process of getting it back together. I think once he gets a few starts under his belt we will notice a huge difference. I do agree that KT has to go though....he seems to be taking shots out of the flow of the offense. I do like KT's hustle and heart but he should be relegated to a role player off the bench. I think the next 10-15 games will give us a good feel of where we are with the PF position.

How about Terrance Morris....looks like he will be a contributor this year once he starts to get more minutes.

 

My 1st post...go easy ---

3 PF are obviously too many, but if you trade KT you need a 3 in return. Rice cannot be counted on to remain healthy and Natibar is too green...Morris then would have to be the potential starter (I like the size he brings to the 3 spot but he can't shoot). I feel Eddie can start because his defence is good and he can help open up the inside for Yao when his shot is going.

If the Rocks could trade either KT or Mo for a 3 who could play defence AND shoot...pull the trigger on that trade and live with Eddie and (KT or Mo) at the 4.

peace

 

You obviously know nothing about basketball. Dont come in here suggesting things like this...........

HAHA ..just kidding!!!!!

Good 1st post and very well put.

The only problem I see with trading any of our 4s is this:

Griffin: Even though hes not progressed as much as some might have hopes, hes only 20 years old and I feel he deserves at least the rest of this season and part of next season until we think about trading him. IMO, the only way Rudy trades him, is if we get an established, young 4 in return.

Taylor: With his contract, coming off a major injury and the sub-par numbers hes put up so far this season, hes almost untradeable and is probably considered baggage so to speak. That being said, the most we could get in return is some other team's baggage and that the last thing the Rockets are probably looking for.

KT: If what I said about our other 2 4s holds water, then its best we hold onto him for the time being because while hes not a great offensive player, unlike the other 2, hes solid on defense and is our best all-around player at the position.

If Griffin or Taylor step up their games as this season progresses, im sure the Rockets would then consider parting with KT or even Mo (again, if he gets back to his form of 2 seasons ago). So for the time being, Id be suprised to see any of our 4s get traded to anyone any time soon.

 

Okay - so I'm a long time reader of these message boards (from before they made you register to even read them and way before the Yao hoopla), but first time poster....so here it goes:

I see a lot of ppl proposing trades that involve getting rid of Eddie Griffin. Aside from a trade that would get us Brand (which I don't see us realistically pulling off), I'm way NOT in favor of shipping off Griffin. Especially not for someone like B. Grant.

First off, I think EG has crazy potential. Yes, he's been erratic and has yet to have his breakthrough -but he's only 20? and as soon as he get his confidence up and bulks up, he's the future PF of this team.

The other thing is --and this may sound crazy -- I don't want this team to get too good too fast....I'm not expecting a trade this year that will propel us to the Finals. I wouldn't want that.

I think we need to find a group that will be reach its peak in a few years...not now. We need a team that will peak around the time when that big monster in LA starts to slow down (or decides to retire) and when Yao starts to hit his prime.

 

Its a luxury and a albatross at the same time about the pf situation. Last night when Duncan was dropping fouls on our pf's, we basically kept a fresh body on him.Mo Taylor was the least effective on both ends of the court vs Duncan, Thomas was ok, but was still outmatched, and Griffin actually played him the best defensively. Even in the short time, Griffin played the best defensively and since Ming was scoring, anything out of him was a bonus. If a move is made, I hope its to get Brand . He's like all our 4's combined in 1. I just have the feeling that mgmt will at least let these guys all play together for at least this yr.

 

Possum I don't want to trade Griffin at all.I was only mentioning that because there was a feeling that RT might be looking for a new PF in this thread.We need Griffin and Cato too.Brian Grant is a physical player but has had injuries and even if he didn't I would pass up the chance of having him and keep Griffin who could be the potential future PF that we have always wanted.

 

As I said before, I'm a big fan of Cat, KT and Eddie. Getting Brand is the one trade I can think of that would cause me to part with those three. Piatkowski was the Clipper who would fit the Rocks (and the proposed trade) the best, imo. We might have to throw in some picks (Sterling loves picks... got to reload ), but the return for the Rockets would be tremendous.

I'm not one of those people who dislike and want to show the door to ANY of the three. But I would for Brand. I think Sterling might bite, with enough sweetening. I'm not a capologist, so the financial end of it is for others to comment on.

If Sterling is interested, and we pulled the trigger, imagine the impact it would have on THIS season.

 

Nova... why wouldn't the Knicks give up Kurt Thomas?

The truth is that Layden was shopping KThomas after the domestic violence incident earlier this year. KThomas doesn't need shots. He a workhorse who plays in the paint.

We don't need to trade EG... that point is agreed upon. He is our future.

I'm willing to bet that the Knicks would love Cato and a draft pick for KThomas. Especially the fact that they need a tough 7 footer, who Cato is. Although Cato lacks many offensive attributes, he is coveted as a solid defender, rebounder, and blocks a lot of shots.

I wouldn't want to give up Cato at this point in the season, just for the fact that its early and Yao is still learning and adjusting to the NBA.

KThomas would be an ideal power forward for us. He's younger than Brian Grant, plays hard.

Elton Brand would probably take us to the top 3 spots in the Western Con.

 

Sorry I guess I read your post wrong.

 

I respectfully disagree with the posts about trading several player for Brand. At this point the Rocks need players who are effective without the ball...guys who can play defence and hit the open shot. With Steve, Cat and Yoa (plus Mo and Moochie) the Rocks have guys who can create and score...now they need complementary players.

Remember Elie, Horry, OT? They made it hard to score and made you pay if you left them open but they COMPLEMENTED the offensive talent on the team....still only one ball per game.

I think Eddie (while still lacking maturity) is that kind of player. Terrence Morris and Hawkins could be those players IF thay could learn to hit the open shot....and I not hopeful they will for the record.

 

If we were to somehow get Elton Brand on the roster would that mean that "Gettinbranded" would get his posting privileges back??

 

E. Griffin is going to be a good player once he develops, but in the long run, it is better for the Rockets to have a physical power forward to protect Ming and a decent backup PG to protect Steve.
Ming and Steve are the two untradable assets for Houston. You do not want to have Ming or Steve get injuried from overwork. Steve got injuried last year. One of the reasons is that he played too many minutes and he had to play all-out to get a win.

Given the fact that 7' players tend to get injuried as they get older, it makes more sense to protect them as earlier as possible!!!

If Houston wants a dynasty that will bring at least 3 championships, it better starts to protect its assets. Once Houston gets into a playoff, it is difficult not to play Ming and Steve for 40+ minutes a game , just like the baseball teams to play a pitcher on consecutive three-day rest that destroyed their arms during playoffs. It happened to Orel Hershleizer. The guy brought one championship to the Dogers but his arm was destroyed!

The trade that brought Drexler brought a championship for Houston, but in the long run, I think, it made the injury to Dream happen sooner because Dream lacks the protection of a strong power forward, and thus has to do it all under the basket.

In a way, I like Phil Jackson's philosophy: you do not make your players tired during the regular season, you try to protect them for the playoff. If you check the major players on the Chicago champship team, none of them has major injury problems.

 

The Cavs are not going to trade Ty Hill for Mo Taylor. The Cavs have been working hard to have more capspace, taking Taylor makes ZERO sense.
Brian Grant has not played well when he is next to a really good center. Anyone who would trade for Grant is crazy unless Mo Taylor goes to Miami and no good players leave the Rockets. Riley won't do that, Taylor is not as good as Grant.
Marcus Fizer? He is Kenny Thomas part two. He is nothing special, under-sized and overvalued by Krause.
Elton Brand would be very good obviously, but it is not likely. Any deal for Brand would guarantee involve Griffin, and even then I doubt the Clippers do it.
So who does that leave? No one really, it is hard to get a player the Rockets want. I think Odom would be interesting if he could be had for the right price, but someone will give up quality for Odom in a trade. Also, Odom is a huge risk.

 

T. Hill- on decline

B. Grant- see above

D. Fortson- rebounding ONLY thing done well

M. Fizer- KT's better

E. Brand- pipe dream

K(urt). Thomas- pretty good player but char. concerns-best availabilty/fit of people discussed

R. Wallace- now HIS personality would fit just great with Yao Plus, hide the towels(Sabonis)



One player I think has all the attributes that would fit in great with Yao(tough d, enforcer, good rebounder, good open mid-range j, doesn't need ball to be effective) is P.J. Brown. I've always thought he was an underrated player and consider him a better version of B. Grant. Of course, we'd probably have to part with EG to get him and with the hornets doing so well they might not want to break up their team chemistry anyway.



On our pf's, I look at it this way, all of them have deficiencies.



Mo T- charmane soft on d, reb. very poor.

EG- can't dribble, isn't aggressive, poor passer, o consists entirely of 3pt'ers.

KT- black hole on o, needs to pass more and shoot less.



Ask yourself 1 question...."Which set of deficiencies would be the easiest to correct?"

Quick hint.....He plays with about 3 times the fire/intensity/heart of the other 2.




And please, no more adding Cato in on the trades. Do we really want to see Jason Collier patrolling the middle of our d when Yao is on the bench with fatigue/foul problems? It will happen.

 

from the posts in this thread i get the feeling (and no it's NOT GAS) that we're pretty comfortable with Hawkins at the backup SG position...

With 15 solid players and not enough injuries, there are bound to be 3rd teamers, and so this situation is inevitable. No amount of trading is going to help, unless it is one of those 3-for-1 deals.
We're going to have to exchange 3 2nd-teamers for a starter.

But looking at our starting 5:

C-Yao
PF-EG
SF-Rice
SG-Mobley
PG-Franchise

Yao, Mobley, EG and Franchise are not replaceable.

So we're looking at starting replacements for Rice.

Which good SFs are available?

 

KT is a solid bench PF with no trade value

MoT is a solid starting PF with trade value

Eddie is a young PF with potential and high trade value

So why does everyone think that KT is the problem. Keep KT, Keep Mo, and trade Eddie for a solid SF.

Lets say Eddie blossoms into this great PF (which will not happen) and he is on the Rockets. Thats great.
Lets say Eddie never fully blossoms and remains a Robert Horry clone as he is today. That sucks. (Horry is the man though)
So the rockets can either keep a proven vet in Mo or have a potentially very solid player in Eddie. I would take Mo because he has shown that he can step up on nights they need him (45 win season) and thats all the Rockets need, not some superstar. **** we have Yao and Steve, we need role players.

Last word on KT: He is very replaceable.
Last word on Ed: He is the second coming of Robert Horry
Last word on Mo: The guy can ball with anyone in the L.

 

so you're saying that if he becomes the second coming of Bob Horry it would suck and yet "horry is the man"?

So the rockets can either keep a proven vet in Mo or have a potentially very solid player in Eddie.

since when has Mo been a proven vet? the only proven thing is that he makes a lot of money for lil production. honestly if the rockets didn't sign him to that big contract he would be as expendable as Kenny Thomas is.

I would take Mo because he has shown that he can step up on nights they need him (45 win season) and thats all the Rockets need, not some superstar.

we don't need Mo to score a lot. what we need is a guy that bangs down low, gets rebounds, and defends well.

Last word on KT: He is very replaceable.
Last word on Ed: He is the second coming of Robert Horry
Last word on Mo: The guy can ball with anyone in the L.

Of course KT is expendable--that's why he didn't get a contract extension. If Griffin becomes another Bob Horry, fine--that's better than what he's doing now. and Mo keep up w/ anyone? apparently he balled enough people to get that place on the bench.