morey on the cutting edge

I think it was the Sacramento Bee that reported that Brooks was a dealbreaker for Artest. The phrasing made it seem like the meat of the trade lay elsewhere. Battier or Scola? It could have all be speculation on the author's part.

 

so the team that is supposedly determined to win NOW (battier for gay).. suddenly turns down a proven all-around offensive/defensive stud, for an undersized rookie guard?? not to mention that ron being familiar with adelman may have helped as far as re-signing the following yr...

the whole rumor may have all been speculation, but still, if theres anything to it, then shame on morey

 

Brooks for Artest doesn't work straight up. No one knows who Sacramento wanted us to throw in to match salary. Brooks was the supposed dealbreaker, not the main target.

Adelman being a factor in being able to re-sign Artest is big assumption. Baron Davis was supposed to be a big factor in re-signing Elton Brand, but the clippers lost him anyway. A surprising number of teams had cap space to use this year. Would you really want to get in a bidding war over Artest with them, ala the clippers?

 

There's no comparison between Brooks+whoever else for Artest and Gay for Battier. Battier is reliable and would be under contract for years to come. Battier wasn't purely a win now move. The Rockets felt he'd give the team more over 2-3 years than they'd get from Gay.

 

If that were the case, Morey's error and lack of judgment are compounded into infinity.

 

you presume it was an error in the first place. a shaky presumption to be treating as fact.

 

Battier was a win now mode player. That was the entire premise of the reason to pass up on Gay. CD said that himself. You can look up his quotes on the Rockets website. I'm not doubting that they felt he could give more over 2-3 years than Gay.The Rockets felt that they could get very close to a Championship after acquiring him.

 

You're right but the opposite hasn't been proven as a fact either.Battier has helped but if it wasn't for our rookies we would have in the same position as we were with a 4-3 loss in the 1st round of the playoffs with a healthy Yao Ming IMO.

 

i dont know that you can put that on battier.

if you added battier to the 04-05 team, i think that team is much more successful.

keep in mind that we lost a lot of perspective about the team because of the disaster that was 05-06.

thinnk about all the production that was lost from the 04-05 team to the 06-07 team. john barry, mike james, bobby sura, etc. is it fair to expect battier to make up for all that?

 

Come on, now. Shane was an ELITE defender last season. The only reason his impact has not been felt as greatly in the playoffs the last two years is because of a crappy matchup against the Jazz. Utah is the only contender without a dominant wing player for Battier to neutralize. Because Battier's skills are "wasted" on Kirilenko (while T-Mac gets guarded on the other end by Andrei instead of a good offensive player who Tracy can get into foul trouble), his impact is understated.

Plus, if the Rockets did not acquire Scola last summer, they very well could have used the MLE on a free agent PF who could have helped the team in the playoffs (perhaps instead of both Scola and Landry). Just because a guy who was on the team the year before is not "the straw that broke the camel's back" (as far as getting the Rockets over the hump in the playoffs) does not mean that he isn't a major positive factor nonetheless.

 

I agree completely. I'm a huge fan of CD, but his view of the GM's job was very different than the reason Morey was hired. CD may or may not have influenced Morey, JVG being our head coach was likely a huge factor and the trade happened.

The Rockets have been in "win now" mode since Les owned the team. The EG fiasco set us back horribly, but Les has proven to be short-sighted since Yao was drafted.

I think Morey have "bitten into the apple" on the Gay/Battier deal, but damn on a JVG coached team it makes complete sense. And Morey wasn't the GM then.

I, for one, prefer Greene's potential compared to Gay's results at this stage.

Somehow I think JVG would agree given that we have Battier.

 

Sorry. "may have".

 

bingo.

this is why i was campaigning for "any team except utah" in the playoffs.

 

Actually, I think the Eddie Griffin deal was the rare example of the Rudy T/Carroll Dawson Rockets making a move for the FUTURE. Griffin was widely regarded as the most talented player in the 2001 NBA Draft (along with Kwame Brown) and was projected as late as the week of the draft as the projected #1 overall pick. However, since Griffin was coming out after only his freshman year, teams knew that Eddie would take a couple of years to fully develop.

In fact, if the Rockets were truly intent on making ALL moves to contend that year, they would have stuck with their own picks. Richard Jefferson was the "Brandon Rush" of the 2001 draft, an NBA-ready wing player with sufficient college experience at a top level, who the Rockets took at #13 (although Troy Murphy was another possibility the Rockets had talked about prior to making the Griffin deal). The same could be said about Jason Collins at #18, who was an NBA-ready backup C. My guess is that Brandon Armstrong at #23 was purely a Nets pick about whom the Rockets never had any interest.

My point being, Eddie Griffin was (at the time) a shining example of the Rockets BREAKING from the trend of only making moves for the here and now. This was a move for the future. Unfortunately, Eddie was a very disturbed individual who led a tragic life and had an even more tragic death. No one saw that coming.

Hindsight is 20/20, but the Rockets should not be criticized for never making any moves for the future, at least not with respect to the Griffin trade.

 

CD - blind as a bat and horrible drafting still has two more championship than Morey. Wake me up win we win a title with his stat stuff. All we have are a bunch of soft players who hustle. This will not win an NBA title.

The Spurs have a combination of soft and tough players.

 

I'm not saying that he isn't a elite defender and can't be a major factor but he is a guy who primarily is a one sided player. CD said he felt Battier's addition would bring us close to a Championship when Juwan was on the team as our PF.Scola and Landry have made a big impact on the team and this also is a big factor in our improvement.

 

Battier's is a good offensive fit playing with T-Mac and Yao. He can roam the perimeter and clear out space for Yao and Tracy to work. Plus, he is a high % 3-point shooter. He has also shown more of a knack for making back-door cuts in the Adelman system, as he was starting to do much better at the start of the winning streak before Yao went down.

Battier's addition DID bring the Rockets closer to a championship. Unfortunately, the combination (in BOTH years with Battier) of major injuries to the team's top players and a bad first round playoff series matchup have minimized the impact that Battier could otherwise have had (a) with a healthy Rockets team and (b) against a team like the Lakers or the Spurs.

 

There is an alternative point of view which I support. Battier is NOT a good match for Yao and McGrady precisely for the reason you pointed out. ALL he does in transition in run to the short corner. That is the ONLY place he can shot 3's at a decent %age.

Battier gives you absolutely zip other than that. He's terrible in transition, he can't postup and him putting the ball on the floor is a disaster waiting to happen. And frankly, he's at best an adequate passer.

Back door cuts? From Battier? You can't be serious. As slow as Peja Stojakovic is/was, he played Adelman's offense much better than Battier because he knows how to get open without standing totally still in the short corner. If you think Battier is making back door cuts, you are obviously confusing that with a missed defensive assignment where someone leaves Battier to double when they weren't supposed to double.

As far as Battier moving the Rockets closer to the WC elites? Based upon what? Your ASSUMPTION and only that assumption that the Rockets can compete with Lakers and Spurs when they can't even get past the Jazz.

There is a valid point of view that 3 scorers are needed to compete in the WC. The Rockets blew their chance on that one and the results of "Win Now" with Battier are part of the Jazz's recent history.