Is Van Dumby the reason we can't get any good players? --- Horry thinks so

aelliot, interesting list of FA signings.

What stood out to me was that when you comitt big money to star players and are over the cap as the result, you don't really have a chance to get big time free agents since all you got is the MLE, and most of the time the most desirable free agents either get signed back by their own team, signed and traded, or go to teams with sufficient cap space. I remember a couple of guys they talked with aside from Stro were Bobby Simmons and Antoine Walker both signed for amounts significantly more than the MLE. Rarely will players go against their economic self interest unless the money difference isn't that big or they are old guys chasing rings. (Stro, to his credit, apparently signed with HOU for less money than he was offered elsewhere... I hope him the best in Memphis or whereever he ends up). You can be as attractive a team as there is, but you still gotta show the player the money.

 

Chucky Brown is just one example. He didn't do much with Emmanuel Davis though did he? Look I am not trying to knock Rudy, but he isn't some kind of miracle worker that makes every player play over their heads.

 

Rocket River,

Without question, you have the oddest posting style. Over the years, I find it more and more irritating. I don't mean to sound like an ass; I just couldn't figure out a way to say it, be honest, but still sound nice or polite. I really don't mean it to sound as bad as it reads.

Aelliot. Juaquin Hawkins. Man, I loved that guy. Thanks for dumping that list of FA's on us.

 

Ok, is that a bad thing? There's nobody on that list that got more than the MLE. There's one guy (Swift) that got the full MLE. The next highest salaries were 2 or 3 million. The majority of those guys were playing for the minimum. I'd be more worried if half of our roster was made up of low priced guys from the free agent bargain bin.

It's also not fair to say that we have nothing from his choices. Several of those guys were traded for other assets. Hey, without Swift, we wouldn't have Battier (sorrry, I couldn't resist). We turned JJ into Wesley, Swift into Battier, Baxter into Bogans and we got decent use out of those guys, but they're not long term solutions and I doubt that they were ever intended to be.

Take a look at the role players on the Bulls first three-peat team vs the ones on their second. You sign those guys to fill some holes and then you replace them in a couple of years. John Paxon turned into Steve Kerr. Bill Cartwright gave way to Luc Longley, B.J Armstrong to Ron Harper, Horace Grant to Dennis Rodman, etc..

Think about our moves vs Miami. Over the same period of time, Miami signed 20 more free agents than Houston and they have only three of those guys on the roster. Twenty more FA signing and they have exactly one more player to show for it? Sorry, if I'm not alarmed, but I'm just not seeing it as too big of a problem because Eric Piakowski or Andre Barrett aren't on our roster any more.

 

You should get drunk, tank down your entire neighborhood after firehosing you (ex) best friend, and then pass out on your driveway.

 

no worries
you are not saying anything
I have not heard a million times before


Actually
I can beleive Horry saying this
while people b*tch about Eddie Griffin
His career . . .or lack there of . .
is
IMO EXACTLY what Bob Horry's career would have been like
if he had JVGas a head coach early in his career.
JVG would have put him in th dog house and just ruined him
instead
he had Rudy . . who nutured him into the Clutch b*st*rd he is today

Rocket River

 

Yeah, this post is brittle. You couldn't find better examples than Barry and Anderson !?

 

I respect you as a poster and I get what your saying Aelliot but come on 36 free agents and Ryan Bowen... I like flyin' Ryan but he shouldn't be in the league and he wouldn't be if Van Gundy didn't push for him. Oh and for the record I don't give him credit for Chucky. He didn't want Chucky Hayes in the first place and Moneyball has since taking over that choice, (Oh and I got your joke about Swift got us Battier).

I think we just see things differently. You look at the glass and see it half full and I look at it and see it as f#@king empty with just some leftover crusty residue on the edges. But who am I to say who is right or wrong. Just another Rocket fan hoping against hope for the best. So in the end I will just agree to disagree with you.

Ryan Bowen come'on... we're talking Ryan Bowen here. Peace out Bro...

 

So they say publicly

 

we have no money to sign people plain and simple. The free agents this summer signed for more than mle.

 

Yao isn't committed to Van Gundy. he's committed to the Rockets. and T-Mac didnt come here to play for Van Gundy. He came here to play with Yao.

stop making Van Gundy out to be more than he actually is.

 

I couldn't agree more, I'm thinking that VanGundy would have traded Yao's rights, and Francis for 'established veterans' like Kurt Thomas and Alan Houston. I don't like how he's infused old players with more old players, and not put any youth on our roster. I'm not going to say that he didn't get rid of some bad contracts. You can argue that, and that's a good point, but what have we gained in return? We still don't have any cap flexibility, and don't have any quality players either. It's a thing of beauty when he has exactly the team that he wants, which is where we were at a year ago, but that's so hard to achieve that it's not going to happen again for another good while. Atleast I don't think so, and we definitely don't appear to be there now. Plus, with the fact that he always seems to go for older players, injury problems become inherent. As a result, it seems unlikely that a VanGundy team will be able to achieve consistency, my two cents anyway.

 

yeah baby, u got it all right!!

 

hell yeah!!!

i'd make kenny smith our GM.

and bring calvin back to the booth.

 

Van Gundy is not the problem. We were crippled with injuries last year. we need healthy All stars and more gritty performances like Sura gave us. Remember things turned around when Sura brought his winning , hustling attitude to the team.

 

Disagree. After supporting JVG for too many years now, a good many board members, including me, are now very sure JVG is indeed the problem.

 

What do we do when Gundy trades battier to the Knicks for someone 3 years older and 5 inches shorter?

 

I had already mentioned this in another thread.

Players are very wary about coming to the Rockets now and play for JVG.

Most of the NBA hates his dreadful offense. Can you blame them? I am sure you all would love to work a boring job when you could work elsewhere for similar money. Duh!

The best way for Rockets to lure big names is thru trades. Unfortunately whatever limited assets they have,they seem to be giving it away.

 

There is no question Le$ and Mr. Van Gundy are not best buddies, and that words have been exchanged. That is public information. He will have to perform to stick around. THAT is the explanation of Rudy Gay for Shane Battier.

My guess (and this is purely a guess) is:

99% chance he gets an extension if the Rockets make the Finals

75% chance he gets an extension if the Rockets go deep in the WCF.

60% chance he gets an extension if the Rockets reach the WCF, but are out in 4-5 games.

50% chance he gets an extension if the Rockets go deep in the second round.

35% chance he gets an extension if the Rockets make the second round, but are out in 4-5 games.

20% chance he gets an extension if the Rockets fail to get out of the first round.

5% chance he gets an extension if the Rockets fail to make the playoffs.

==

I would also guess:

50% chance he is fired immediately should the Rockets have a significant (15+ games) streak of sub-0.400 basketball.

50% chance he is fired if the Rockets are +/- 2 games of .500 at the break.