One word describes this move: VETERAN I apologize if someone has stated this already, but all of the Rockets' critics said that we lack a veteran presence on the floor. Glen Rice, while a vet, has rarely been getting minutes. Jim Jackson is a guy that brings veteran leadership to the FLOOR. When sh*t gets out of hand with the iso's and the dribbling out the clock... Jackson regulates, gets it into Yao and waits for the kick out. I LOVE IT... it's different and we NEEDED a change!
Jackson has nothing to do with this trade. Period. The Rockets paid for him with the remainder of their 4.5 million dollar exception. Amaechi is not as good as Yao Ming or Kelvin Cato. Not even close. I would have rather waited until much closer to the trade deadline so we could better address our needs and try to trade Rice and his contract to a team that wanted to unload so good talent for some cap releif. You never know, maybe Atl would have traded SAR by the trade deadline. Maybe Portland would have decided to part ways with Rasheed by then. We will never know. And before you say it is all pipe dream you need to understand that I live in Dallas and I see Mark Cuban unload a bunch of crap every year for quality players with big contracts just because that team is trying to trim its salery.
I too love the pickup of JJ. But why did we wait so long? While we were sitting on our thumbs this whole offseason, any other team could have signed him (i believe Minn. almost had him wrapped up at one point). Did we really have to wait to trade away Rice first? was 1.25 mill really gonna put us over the threshold? i doubt it. I'm happy about the signing, just wondering why it didnt happen sooner.
im confused, we have 6.5 mil that we can use anytime from this season to next season which we can use to sign or trade anyone, and people would rather have not done the trade and have much less next summer? obviously, the ramifications of the rice trade have not fully played out as houston would be stupid not to use the extra money to get that other necessary peice this year. I see this as a move that we are using to compete, screw the draft picks we have enough potential young players as it is. besides, the drafts are getting worse these days when it comes to impact players, if the rox want to compete in the coming years, we dont need that. this trade officially puts us in phase two from rebuilding to perfecting the team we have. i think next thing we need to do is find out what free agents are available next year, and who can we trade (cato and mobely come to mind) to get back some much stronger impact players. this completely changes or bartering dynamic and gives us more flexibility to make a move this year. im hoping that there is some sort of plan to use this money, if we dont it would be the biggest waste ever.
When I spoke of "maybe Indiana will keep their promise to O'Neal," I wasn't thinking of O'Neal. While I would love him...it's a pipe dream. Rather, I was talking about an espn article that spoke about the promise Indiana execs made prior to his resigning. If I recall, besides the broken promise of Zeke as coach, O'Neal supposedly wanted Artest gone...and I think Tinsley. Maybe someone here will recall. It just seems to me that this trade and pick-up of Jackson could make Cato and Mobley expendable. There was talk of JVG wanting to use Francis off the ball some...but where will the minutes come from? Didn't Indiana just sign Anderson? In the East a decent center would go a long way... would a combo of Cato/Pollard be better than Pollard/Foster? Do the Rockets really want to pay that much for our back-up center? Would Mobley help fill the shoes of an older R. Miller? Has Indian given up on Harington's potential as much as Houstonian's have on EG. Would JVG love to have a player with a little fire and heart in Artest? {toned down a bit) 1 Tinsley. Francis, Mooch 2 Francis, Pike, Jackson 3 Artest, Jackson, AG 4 MoTay, EG, AG (or Harrington instead of EG) 5 Ming, Foster, Amechi
All I can say is that I really hope you are right. Gater and NIKEstrad have really warmed me up to the idea of having a 6.5 million dollar trade exception but I just can't help but wonder if we could have gotten a better deal. In the end it does not matter how we aquire the talent as long as we get enough to meet our goal...another championship.
Yes, but I think we'd all just as soon Les use what's permitted for him to use rather than just fill with minimum players. You're defending your point by making a comparison that includes Les not paying as much as he could for needed bench players, which goes against your point methinks. Yeah, the Rox can now use 6.5mil, but their recent track record when they have money to spend leaves alot to be desired, often compounding problems (though it will be in trade this time, good judgment is still critical). JJ is surprisingly good now, but if he was truly valuable, why would teams pass on him, plus you are not building any long-term chemistry by renting him for a year. I readily concede this year we may have a bit better talent on the bench, but getting a couple more wins next year means little to me if it does not advance us to championship caliber later. Anyhow, I voted "Not Sure" on Clutch's poll because we have to wait to find out. It's reassuring to see our experts in favor of this trade though. When I learned we threw in the Drew obligation and were only getting a garbage 2nd instead of the Jazz's, I probably should have chilled before posting.
First I hear people complain that the Rox didn't do anything this offseason, and now when they do I hear all these complaints on what they did.....I understand the value of glenn's expiring contract and all, but the way I see is that we got a better veteran (I always prayed glenn wouldn't turn the ball over when he dribbled) a little more spendable money and most important: WE DIDNT TRADE ANY OF OUR CORE GUYS THAT CAN BE BETTER SOMEWHERE ELSE! So Im content so far..
You might be my favorite poster on this BBS. In my opinion....we have improved our team. I never thought that I would disagree with you. I honestly don't think that we would have done any more with the Rice expiring contract that we couldn't do with the trade exeption. The Rockets are not a cheap organization. They have always done everything(excluding the possible upcoming tax....only 2-3 teams are willing to face that) money wise to make us a good team. We could probably do more if some people on this BBS that complain about dollars would actually go to games and support their team. I just moved to Austin. I still plan to attend at least 6 games this year. I'm not rich...but do my part. Even without another move(I can only hope) I believe we signed a legit player. Don't we get Utah's # 2....almost as good as our future # 1 will be? Just my opinion.......
crash- I think Utah is the only team left with serious caproom, so they were the only team that we could use to turn Rice into a giant trade exception...truly a unique situation. After hearing Amaechi on the phone interview with Berman, I get a greater sense that we asked for him to be included. It may just be JVG enthusiasm, but if we turn Cato into a starting caliber SF (starts with Art ends with est ), this trade looks golden in my book. One other big thing is timing...making this trade at the beginning of the summer would have been pretty worthless, as the exception would expire early in next offseason. This way, we'll have all of next year's free agent period to use this as chip for a sign and trade (if we don't use it before then). This year, a trade exception was able to land an already stocked team an all-star center (Brad Miller).
Most likely the 2nd from Utah will be one they got from Sacramento.. it does not have to be strictly Utah's.. and since they have stockpiled picks just like they got from us, they will probably send us the least valuable one they can..
Hah! that is very intriguing....turning Cato into the backswinging doorman francis can throw alley oops to....and then can play some good D and if he gets taken, Yao can block the hell out of em...just a thought
My bad, then. I missed that article, first I've heard of that rumor. Tinsley? That doesn't make the trade worthwhile imo. Artest? I posted a year ago that I wanted to trade for him, now I'm not so sure. Sure, he's great on the court (if you can keep him on there) but once you cross over to the dark side, pretty soon we'll be like the 90's Knicks, Raiders, and all of the teams that win, but in a way that doesn't exactly engender civic pride. Do I want JVG to do whatever it takes to win, even if it goes against the classy image we created in our championship years? Tough call.
First off, you would have to go thru the list of teams that need a swingman of JJ's abilities and had the ability to swing a trade. and secondly, Berman reported that his contract was for three years. Ihavent seen anyone else mention it in this thread, so there you are.
Not in Houston, so thanks for passing it along, Rockets2K. So what does that make the total contract - just over four million? That IS a good deal. Almost too good. I still would have thought others with some exemption money would have bit at that price. Are there some off-floor issues at work here?
everybody has a right to say if they like or dislike the trade. but, i like it. even if I didnt like it, I dont own the rockets, I didnt invest a fortune in an NBA franchise, and whoever did knows SOMETHING about business..either that,or they just got lucky in life. We really can't tell this man how to run his business, no matter how passionite we are about the team. If you dont like it, tough t*tties. That's life. Anyways, the point is. It really doesnt matter to me who is on, or off the team, when the season comes around. The Rockets, like any other franchise in this city, represent tradition, and above all, Houston. Honestly, If we traded Yao for Granville Waters right now, I would be upset, but the Rockets would still be my favorite team in the league, simply because this is our city's team. For those of you who don't agree with the trade, BE EASY. Everything is going to work out fine...be happy you live in a city with a frachise. It aint a perect francise, but that's what makes it fun...... but, uh, yeah, I'm a Jim Jackson fan. hah!
