Puedlfor, I agree with you with the point that there is no need to be desperate to remove Francis. However, I think trade him or not, we desperately need a better PG (not necessarily a better player than SF) to run our offense. Francis is not the answer for the PG position. Next year's western conference could be stronger, if you don't improve this offseason, today's PHX could be a good example.
Back to the Vince Carter front, he does fit very well with Yao, giving a wing attack from a deferential, smart player that can pass. He also is very popular around the world. I could see that deal from a business standpoint, and a basketball one. VC - plays 2 positions. SF3 - plays 1. VC - is olympian. SF3 - gets technicals. VC - is deferential, smart NC player. SF3 has trouble unless iso. the negatives : VC is injury prone. SF3 is durable. Both play poor defense. VC has suffered media/ref backlash. SF3 still mostly media friendly/gets to line in spite of whining. It's be a gamble, but it could pay big if you win.
I disagree, I think in our future offense a point guard is extraneous. Consider, what do we want a point guard to do - make smart decisions, run an occasional fast break, get his teammates involved, and be a good passer. Except for the fast break, we have a player like that - he's 7'6" and plays center. It is my contention that we don't need a traditional point guard, all we need is someone to bring the ball up the court, and dump it in to Yao. In an offense that features the center, the point guard is really not that needed. After all, Derek Fisher has more rings than Jason Kidd, John Stockton and Gary Payton. . . combined - and he's a bad point guard.
It’s funny that you bring up the Lakers. At one point the Lakers had to decide whether to keep or trade Nick Van Exel. Nick Van Exel was a good athlete that was at one time the leader of the team. When Shaq arrived it was noticeable that the ball had to go through the big guy. The decision to trade Van Exel was one that that allowed Derek Fisher, who was not as good, but was a solid role player with a low turnover ratio. I doubt very much that the Lakers would have won a single championship with Van Exel at the point. The Rockets are in the same boat. They will have to make decisions this summer if they want to go on to the next level.
Okay but let me get this last one out while I still can. There once was a giraffe and a monkey that found themselves in a predicament. Both the giraffe and the monkey wanted to eat the nice green leaves at the top of a tall tree. The problem for the giraffe was that he could only reach up the the first branch of the tree, and he had already eaten all the leaves on the first branch. The giraffe could not reach any higher to get to the leaves on the top. The problem for the monkey was the fact that the bottom of the tree trunk was covered with moss so that it was too slipperly to climb up. Both the monkey and the giraffe puzzled over this problem long and hard. The monkey even sought some outside help from the acme company. Unfortunately the plan with the acme company sort of blew up in his face. After some more deliberation the monkey came up with the idea that the giraffe could carry the monkey up to the first branch, and then the monkey could climb the rest of the way up to get the leaves at the top of the tree. The giraffe found this to be a grand idea, and he promptly deposited the monkey on the first branch. A short while later, the monkey was back down with a fist full of leaves which he happily shared with the giraffe. They were able to get what they wanted by working together. So the monkey turned to the giraffe and said, "We make a pretty good team. Let's stick together and we can tackle any problem that we face, together." The giraffe replied, "That sounds like a great idea. Neither one of us were able to do it on our own. Let's pool are resources and work together." "Together forever." the monkey said, while sticking out his hand. The giraffe lifted his front hind leg and gave a tap to the monkey's hand, and said "Agreed! Let's be together forever...Unless of course I can trade you in for a monkey with a better Assist to Turnover Ratio." Okay, now we can stop with the fables.
I realize that for many folks here, simply making the playoffs is good enough. As of this morning the Rockets appear to be playing Sacramento in the first round. Their season record vs. the Kings is 0-4. Furthermore, Sacramento will have the home court advantage here and the Rockets were absolutely dreadful playing on the road (actually they were LESS than dreadful). If you look with an objective eye at HOW this team plays with SF & Mobley et al., you have to be troubled by their chances in the playoffs. Simply put, they stand an excellent chance of being swept 4-0 by the Kings even though the Kings themselves have been on a bit of a slide for the last 2 weeks. Expect the Rox to do damage alright - to themselves. Their TOs, stupid play and whining to the officials will all conspire to make this a very short trip.
There is one thing you left out of the story. The part about how the monkey kept dropping the bananas. Every time the monkey dropped a banana their archrival the hyena would get a nice snack. Soon the monkey and the giraffe would have to part ways or die of starvation.
Well i forgot that monkey would probably prefer bananas over leaves. So we are all allowed our little discrepencies in the name of poetic liscenscing.
