The offseason threads are, as usual, hyperbolic and really just unneccesary. They range from Francis for T-Mac to blowing up the team and filling the roster with ex-Knicks. Most of you forget we were one of the best defensive teams in the league last year and you see how that is woking out for Detroit. We have a star in Yao and if I remeber the playoffs correctly our best player was some guy named Steve. We have great wing defenders in JJ and the Cat(who is consistently underrated on this board). Our team is a work in progress but unlike Phoenix this past season we have more staples of sucess to be even better next year and the year after and so on. We have a proven coach, a top 5 center, and an upper-tier backcourt tandem in Mobley and Francis. We need spark plugs and an oilchange and you guys are here trying to reinvent the wheel. How about bringing in a local product like a Damon Jones to back up Steve; does that excite you? Probably not. However, it is an upgrade and more along the lines of how we need to think. K-Mart would be nice; Kobe would be nice(although he would have to be disinfected before donning a Rox uniform, he is a Laker after all) Maybe if we loose one of our overpaid bigs in the expansion draft we could after a Stromile Swift but realistically smaller smarter moves is all we really need. After all we all know the main weaknesses are better IQ(passing , cutting, moving without the ball, and knowing when to foul) and defending the more agile 3's and 4's. Bringing in one or both of the Barry's would make the team instantly smarter. if we traded undeveloped projects with Sac (Boki for Gerald Wallace) we would improve our athleticism @ one of the forward spots. We have to know what we are and improve that not get major cosmetic surgery.
I'm pretty sure John Barry wants to stay with the Nuggets. And I don't see how Brent Barry made the Sonics so much smarter. Though Brent Barry makes some smart, veteran plays, he's a mediocre passer at the point guard position (though he's a great passer at the 2). I don't see how trading Boki for Gerald Wallace makes us any better, either. Sure, GW gives us more atheticism and some rebounding, but his polish and approach need a lot of work. Bottom line, we aren't going to contend for a championship with this roster plus a few "little moves". Are you happy being the new Minnesota of the NBA? I'm not.
I guess you consider getting K-Mart and Kobe smaller, smarter moves? I see your points, but I think everyone wants big moves because we are moving too slow. 4 years of no playoffs + 1 year of a 7th seed, 1st round exit (while only winning 2 more games)- isn't exactly what I've been dreaming of. We have good pieces, but they aren't the right fit. I want to be contenders now, its not going to happen overnight, but moves have to be made. If it turns out to be a big one, then hopefully it will be the right one, but little moves won't improve us as much as we want.
Steve Francis is being ruined by JVG on a Yao center oriented team. He should be freed to play Francis type basketball on another team.
If you go back to the prediction thread, long before the rockets played a single game, most people expected them to finish anywhere from 6th to 8th with 47 to 50 wins. With a few minor tweaks in the roster, like upgrading the power forward position, moving Cato back to the backup center role and adding another shooter the rockets will elevate.
I believe I said would be nice but I don't see those as realistic. Smaller, smarter moves would be the alternative too that flawed thinking.
Maybe to 48-52 wins yes. We would have been at that point if we hadn't slumped late in the season following the loss against Phoenix. But would you really argue that if we had won some of the games late in the season we'd have been any better off in the playoffs? We should be building for a run at the title, not a run at the second round of the playoffs.
John Barry hardly played for the Nuggets; he was thier Piatkowski. I agree Brent Barry is an excellent passer at the 2 we already have a point. The fact that he is a better player makes us better, my logic is a little screwy though. I would love to make it to the WESTERN CONFERNCE FINALS.
we need a quick, shot blocking, and jump shooting PF. if we get a perfect fit there we become a 50 win team. after that we need a back-up PG with a high ast/to ratio. if he was a good 3pt shooter it would be a bonus. those are the only moves we really need to make to become 50+. antonio daniels or damon jones would be excelent. a healthy mcdyess or camby would be perfect too. realistically we could solve our problems through FA's. split the MLE between jones and McD. of course we only get mcdyess if he is healthy! the next problem we have is big 3's scoring on us. look to the pacers... cat, mo, TE for al, cro, pollard. with one trade and to FA signings we took care of our 3 biggest problems. new roster: yao-cato-pollard McD-cro-spoon al-boki-ag jj-pike steve-damon
He's a better player, but barely, and he's still not an impact player. It would be making a trade just for the sake of making a trade. The Wolves didn't make it to the WESTERN CONFERNCE (CONFERENCE, actually) FINALS until they completely overhauled their roster. 4 of the 5 starters on that team where acquired in the offseason. The T-Wolves didn't get to where they are now making little moves.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but the T'Wolves didn't "blow up" their roster either... They did acquire new starters - and it's probably fair to say that there were 3 main acquisitions; Cassell, Spreewell and Olowokandi - but they didn't really throw anything away to get these players! For Cassell, they sent Peeler and Smith away - 2 players who had started, but were nothing more than role players on the team. For Spreewell, they sent Terell Brandon and Marc Jackson - a bench player and a contract... For Olowokandi they simply signed him! The other significant gain for them was Trenton Hassell - who also just signed on. Those were the 4 main changes - and none of them involved a major change in the roster - oh sure, they are major personnel upgrades, but all that was needed was 'little moves' to upgrade those positions. Of course, the reason they were able to make those moves was because they had proven, over a few years, that they were a successful playoff contender. That draws the big name players. Looking at the Rockets, it's probably safe to assume that a 'major move' would involve Francis or Ming - to a lesser extent, Mobley. Other moves a more minor - and aiming to upgrade at the forward spots doesn't require us to throw one of those pieces away. We should be an attractive destination to a lot of forwards - not every team has a center, let alone a potentially dominant one!
Honestly, I think we can move up to 4th seed if we acquire, for example, Stromile Swift and Damon Jones without losing Yao, JJ, Mobley, and Francis. Damon Jones we can sign outright, he loves Houston it's his home. Stromile Swift is difficult to acquire, but he loves Houston too, the Rockets are actually his favorite team. We'd probably have to work something out with the expansion team to get him. Rasheed Wallace would be a very nice alternative, I'd prefer Swift though because of his age. Seriously though, I think MoT would look very nice on the Pistons, and if Rasheed decides to leave, maybe we can send Mo back home to Detroit and send them the TE, and inexchange they send us Rasheed and a bad contract of their choice (although I don't think they have any).
FLAGRANTI Are you not forgetting what is wrong with the Rockets and what needs to be fixed, for example:- Starting Playmaker Point Guard-required.Francis is not this player Starting tall athletic Small Forward that can play on both ends-required. JJ is not this player Athletic, robust & powerful Power Forward that can play on both ends of the court-required. Mo T and Cato are not this player A great three point shooter required. Cat and Pike are not this player. Realising what you need to fix is the first step and then you find the best fitting players that will compliment the style of the team and its coach
Given the drafting/free agent history of this team, exactly WHO do you expect to make all of those "smaller, smarter" moves?
Who were the main contributors on the team that went 51-31 in 02-03? KG - Still there. Wally World - Missed most of the season due to injury. Rasho - Jumped ship to play with Duncan. Hudson - Missed most of the season due to injury. Joe Smith - Traded to Milwaukee. I consider signing or trading for four new starters to be major moves. I thought dumping salary to acquire Sam was a big move. And regardless, the point is that major personnel changes are needed to become a contender, unless you already have the two best players at their respective positions, which we don't. Should we pull the trigger on a major trade that would bring us the league's best player at the 3, and considering we already have the second best center, I feel that it would be the quickest move to make the Houston Rockets contenders in the Western Conference. You're more likely to get big results from big moves. Obviously, it might be a big disaster. But there may also be a big payoff, and I hope the Rockets management are willing to take that gamble.
I think JVG wants to find a way to keep the turnovers down. If we had cut our TOs in half, we could have upset the lakers, or at least made it a series. We had 46 Turnovers off ballhandling against the lakers, and the lakers had 16. 33 bad passes vs 24 by the lakers. the lakers weren't even up to their current speed. So we need to become a better ballhandling team. That starts with point guard. We know they are listening to offers for steve. All i gotta say is, at least mooch wasn't there!
