the questions about Jim Jacksons attitude stem from several things if I recall correctly. 1. when he was drafted by the Mavericks, he wasn't very excited. He didn't want to play there and he thought he was worth more than they were offering. (back when people like Larry Johnson were getting drafted then signed for 12 year 84 million dollar deals right off the bat). He held out for a year before he signed if I recall correctly. I was a young kid at the time but I remember this distinctly because his first game for the Mavericks after he signed was against the Rockets. I was there. 2. He and Jason Kidd could not get along. There have been rumors that a young Jim Jackson didn't see much wrong in stealing other players girlfriends or dating their exes. All of that is the past though. There haven't been any real complaints about him in maybe five years. (well at least not that were made public). I think his reputation hurt him long after he grew up and beyond the tag he had earned for himself but I also think his movement the last few years has had alot to do with circumstance. If you look at the teams he's played for, most of them have been solid ballclubs that were so deep he was actually expendable. And when you just signed him for 1 year because you were weary of him and then he thinks he earned a right to play for bigger money on the team, it's probably easy to let him go elsewhere. Portland and Sacramento are great examples of this. I'm excited about having him on our team, but I feel like even if he hasn't truly grown past all of those issues, Van Gundy can handle him. two words assure me of that: Latrell Sprewell. Van Gundy did a great job working with that maniac.
Possibly, but I think that if things don't improve substantially on the court both Mobley & Griffin will be moved by the February trade deadline.
This was NOT a BASKETBALL move per se. This was a FINANCIAL move to get them under the salary cap and possibly give them a little trade flexibility next summer. This does nothing to address the physical inadequacy they have at the 3 spot vis-s-vis their competition in the West but then, given their current contract situation, there's only so much you can do until some of the bad contracts come off the books.
AMEN! We have a team of professionals, no longer will we have a team of young selfish players. I think JVG has put in place real basketball players that bring their work boots every night and will be held accountable for their actions. With A. Griffin & J. Jackson, we have a couple of physical guys that can add some real STRENGTH to our lineup, as opposed to last year when just about every player we had was finesse.(IMO) I am excited, and with a leftover 6.5 Mill we can make a mid season aquisition that can make this team takeoff!
I think it's funny all these people are b****ing about Rice's contract ending after this year. I agree that money is important. However, it'd be funny to hear everyone b**** how we didn't do anything to improve the team and how they have to wait one more entire year to get improvement. Well, we just got improved and didn't have to wait until we got money from Rice's contract.
So we have a solid SF now in Jim Jackson.. good news.. We also have a center in John Ameiche to just GET BY.. im not going to lie.. he isnt all that great, but he is athletic and a big body.. he will be able to hold down the fort for the 10-15 minutes Yao will be sittting out.. MY PREDICTION: I think we will trade Cato now that we have another Center.. there is no point in having 3 centers.. especially when 2 are well above average.. Cato can really do some damage in the Eastern Conference.. Lets ship either EG and MT along with Cato and Mike Wilks for J. O'neil.. man i would LOVE to see that happen!!! But i really think we will be trading Cato sooon.....
i like it. with the deal, we have a more versitile player in jackson compared to rice who also costs a hell of a lot less. we are also able to pick up another quality big man in case we have injury probs or if cato, mo-t, and eddie get too damn high to play. OR.................................WE CAN FINALLY TRADE CATO AND HIS BIGASS CONTRACT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i really think that is what is going to happen soon. i predict we trade him for a young backup pg to take mooch's place, and after that,.................WE HAVE A CHAMPIONSHIP CALIBER TEAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HOUSTON ROCKETS, 2003-04 NBA CHAMPIONS. on sale soon, TRIPLE CLUTCH!!!!
So the lineup will be Yao Ming , Kelvin Cato , John Amaechi Maurice Taylor , Eddie Griffin Jim Jackson , Adrian Griffin , Bostjan Nachbar Cuttino Mobley , Eric Piatkowski Steve Francis , Moochie Norris I think that lineup is better than the suns' . They just traded bo outlaw and Jake Tskalidas for another guard and nproven center. Rockets have leaped ahead of the Suns in one day. Good news. I think one more trade will happen though.
Look for Cat to play better this year on both sides of the ball. The threat of JJ taking his spot would certainly lite a fire under his azz to get after it. Big ups to the Rockets! Still don't like giving up a 1st rd draft pick for that scrub from Utah.
I agree that the odds are higher that we use the exception next summer, especially if there is no luxury tax next year. However, this exception would make it a lot easily to pick up, or move, base year compensation players. For example, we could trade Francis (a base year player) for a player making $12 or $13 million.
I got a solution. Why dont we trade Eddie griffin instead of Mobley . EG has like 6 yrs to mature into his prime. Mobley is just about ripening. We can trade someone else other then mobley. He is a great asset to our team. If we do trade mobley, who would we get and how would he benefit our team MORE then mobley did??
More than likely the trade was meant to cut costs AND give us room to maneuver for another player. I would imagine the thinking is that, If our payroll has to be such-and-such, let's pay players that will be of value. Hence, I would anticipate more of a Let's-go-after-Artest type of trade, with Mobley as the bait. I would prefer Jax/Griff/Pike at the 2 and backup 3 with an Artest as our main 3. Part of the reason I believe this was more than just cost-cutting is that ESPN reports we also sent some cash along with the deal. So without another trade, we didn't really accomplish much in saving money. Next year's draft picks could easily have been sent for future considerations to whatever teams (preferably in the Leastern Conference). So we shall see.
I'm note ready to move Cat yet. His departure would really hurt the moral of the team, especially Steve and Mooch. I don't think the Rockets can take too many games where Steve isn't his happy self. Besides, Mobley can do anything that Artest can. He showed us at the end of last year he could be a defensive stopper. I think if Van Gundy asks Cat to play like Artest; we will see him play like Artest. He's changed his position/role for the team almost every single year since he joined the Rockets; it wouldn't be too hard to imagine him doing it again.
could only read a page or 2 of this but I will be very ****ed if the rockets traded mobley, he is not only my favirote rocket but he is alot better then any other guard on this team besides Francis
