Yeah because refusing to play for one team is the same as refusing to play for 5. There are plenty of players that have said I won't play for so and so team if they draft. That is completely different than saying I will only play for the Lakers. You think Kobe would've refused to play for his hometown Sixers if they had taken him number 1 that year?
Obviously you're 100% certain that we won't add a 'star' OR that the addition of a 'star' does zero for this team in terms of making it a contender? I'd disagree with you there. I'd also disagree on your assesment of how to develop a player - I take it (from your post) that you think playing time is the only way a player can develop? While that is ultimately true, it is not neccessarily so in the short term. A lot can be learned in scrimmage and D-League and limited minutes about how to play basketball at the NBA level. I'm all for a player sitting and learning in practice and then finally showing enough to get some PT - and then demonstrating in that PT that they've learned something and thus demanding more PT (etc etc). The 'Clippers theory' is where you throw the talent in the deep end and see if it swims. Too often players don't learn, or they do learn bad habits (particularly defensively and passing-wise).
This team has mediocre written all over it. At this point, we need guys who will TAKE IT to the competition. Not guys who get shy and start choking when the going gets tough. Lowry is the only real dog who never gets punk'd. I'm ok with anyone else getting traded at this point to upgrade.
What indicates the likelihood of long-term mediocrity is not just the Rockets' ~500 record and hence their inability to go deep in the playoffs or to get a top pick in the draft, but also the fact that they are stuck with multiple long-term large contracts to players who are good but not great (Martin, Scola, Lowry etc .). This team's situation resembles the Pistons of the years after their window closed. They were competitive for a while but never again a championship contender and eventually bagan to suck bad. Rebuilding is a painful process and does require luck. You have to get lucky to land a star player. However, in order to do that, you first have to put yourself in the position -- i.e. you need high draft picks and/or cap room. You will never get lucky if you are content with medicority. Morey has repeated that the goal is to win a championship. It's not happening with this squad anytime soon. I hope that he realizes that this franchise is in danger of slipping into long-term mediocrity and takes the necessary bold actions to change course.
Martin, Scola and Lowry are all making salaries that are fairly in line with their production. Martin only has two years after this one. Same with Lowry (the fourth season is only $1M guaranteed). And Scola's contract is only for three years after this one, with the fifth year being almost fully NON-guaranteed. The Rockets also have many players on rookie scale contracts. And as far as cap room goes, we all saw how well that worked out for almost every team except Miami. Having tradable assets (plus sizable trade exceptions) for sign-and-trade deals is just as good--if not better--than cap room, since you still at least those assets if you can't trade them. On the other hand, you're stuck with cap room that you can't use to attract a star; and since the NBA has a minimum salary cap figure, you may be forced to spend that cap room on players unworthy of the money. Just watch what happens to Sacramento next summer. Just watch.
I don't know if we're mediocre, but to answer your question: Mediocrity is a terrible position to be in for a team in the NBA. Nothing rewards the mediocre, especially not the draft.
Exactly... we shouldn't have given anyone over the mid-level until we had a legit franchise player or two first, it hurts us now in free agency when chris paul and howard become available because were over the cap with scola miller, lowry and martins contract. Having to sign and trade hurts your depth because you have to give up assets instead of just signing the player outright.
We are rebuilding. We have so many young players with upside right now. We're rebuilding without having to be unwatchable garbage to do it. That's Morey's genius.
Sonny Vaccaro already Kobe on his radar at that point. Sonnny was already trying to star him to the Lakers. Nike would have given him a much larger contract for LA than Philly. He may have been born in Philadelphia. He was raised in Italy by Joe "Jelly Bean" Bryant, who made a new career playing for Italian teams after the NBA.
I agree.....but we still need that special talent to make it work, we have a bunch of good players, the only one that could be GREAT it seems is TWill.....the others are going to be very good...but not quite great....IMO. DD
LOL, good ol DaDakota, a few short months ago, the future franchise Alpha Dogs were Aaron Brooks and Chase Budinger. Now it's Terrence Williams, based on his impressive body of work. I am still genuinely amused at this, after all these years.
IN DD's defense, Terrence Williams in terms of potential COULD be great(Perennial All-Star level), if you bothered to look at his game the only real weakness he has is shooting. But through proper development he could become a better shooter and turn into a "do it all" type of player at the wing position that the rockets haven't had since McGrady's earlier years with the team.. I don't think his a built your team around him type of player, but I do think he has All-Star/ All-NBA potential..
LOL - I see my number one fan is still around...woot ! The point that gets lost is I said AB was the ALPHA dog on this team, or was LAST year. Not sure who is this year, it was AB, but that seems tenous now since the injury....probably will be again around February as he gets healthy. I never said he was a SUPERSTAR, just that he was this team's best and most important player, still is when healthy... We need him to start attacking the basket and stopping and popping, but he can't right now due to his ankle....and honestly, Kyle has been playing great.....his shooting overall has been mediocre, but his 3pt shooting has been amazing......and as I said all year, that was why AB was the starter, we need that 3 ball..... If Kyle is making his, that muddies the waters quite a bit......on whom should start..... BTW - AB's percentages are now below CBuds for the year.....CBud is over 40% FG and 30% 3pt now.... Glad they let him work it out, he needs to show something either to play, or to up his trade value. DD
Over the last 12 games Bud has been shooting at 50% overall fg% and 45% behind the arc. I think it is safe to say Bud is out of his funk. ANd in the process he is an all around better basketball player. Still bad defensively and doesn't attack the basket but he has improved in those areas.
Thoughts on the following gamble: Trade Brooks, Ming, Jeffries, throw in a pick to cancel out the curse of Jeffries Receive Steve Nash Steve Nash has at least 3 years left in the tank, have him groom Lowry on shooting. Lowry has already been improving on his 3s - having Steve Nash teach him a few more things wouldn't hurt. If Yao wants to sign and return with the Rockets next season, great for merchandise sales, and if he is healthy even better for the team. Target C prospects in draft and hopefully management picks wisely - which I'm sure he will. In the upcoming years (hopefully sooner rather than later) target Ricky Rubio. Which the Rockets have before. Maybe give up the rights to Sergio Lull and/or send over a well put-together package of the Rockets assets at the time. The more and more I see how Morey is building this team, the more it seems he really is pushing the idea of an 11-12 man rotation like in the Euro leagues.
Rebuilding is definitely better than being Mediocre for 20 years. The thing is we tried it with YAO And TMAC and it didnt work out because of injuries. That saga lasted for about 7 years. So Im not really blaming anyone for that one, But now we are definitely at a corassroad. We cant win now and we cant tank either. So where does that leave us?
