I think we should just have a "b****" thread sticky when everyone can go and get their rants out of their systems. This is getting repetitive. I feel like I'm in a Clutchfans version of "Groundhog Day".
Did y'all ever stop to think the reason why the FO leaked it was because if they didn't, they knew some their idiot fans wouldn't understand why they're about to do a fire sell??? Also what damage did the "leaking of Yao's injury do"? It's not like Houston could've traded him without leaking the news.... Do y'all honestly think a routine run of the mill physical wouldn't have turned up that worsening hairline fracture?
Too many cogs in the machine. News always gets out and when management gets confronted by reporters about it, they're not going to lie. This last thing when Clanton confirmed Yao's injury could be season (or even career) ending really pissed off Morey and Les because they didn't want that getting out. But there are too many people "in the know" and somebody almost always lets something slip.
Yeah I am starting to get annoyed by how ignorant some posters are here. Not talking about you Carr bombed. I mean no disrespect but is it really that hard to see we are rebuilding? We will probably keep Scola bc he will be a young 30, his game is not based on being athletic. Ariza will peak on our team while Artest will decline as we sign another superstar. Artest is already declining as a defender, probably bc of his ankle. His lateral movement is not what is use to be. Also I don't understand why people are expecting us to get a superstar immediately. We already have two and they are injured, they make it sound so easy. Everyone is being impatient about trading Tmac which makes no sense. Morey will only trade Tmac if he thinks we are getting an allstar otherwise we can let his contract expire which is more valuable for us now. Before Yao got injured we were more eager to find value for him but not anymore. No reason to force a trade when you have a good free agency coming up next year.
First of all dude if you would have given 5 years / $33.5 mil to Artest, considering his age, you're a freakin idiot! Ariza is only 24, and his game continues to grow every year. Second, do you REALLY think that Morey is going to go into a season with this roster??? How about you give him a chance, because it's only day 2 in the FA period. And sometimes you have to look at the BIG picture....we got younger by agreeing with Ariza (who is not nearly as bad as you make him out to be), and we're setting ourselves up to be MAJOR players in next year's FA period!
Ok, let's run through this: If we wanted to trade Yao, they'd do a physical check up on him anyways. That's a moot point. And did the Rockets "leak" the news that Yao's fractured foot had not healed? The media presumably knew that they were scheduled to check up on it. They would have been asked about it -- you think the Rockets should have just said lied? Morey personally visits him as soon as free agency starts and makes his pitch, and you think Gortat felt disrespected? I would guess that wasn't the case. The Rockets weren't willing to give him full MLE, the maximum they were allowed to offer him. Not sure how much less they offered, but I don't think its a sign of disrespect to not offer a backup C the full MLE. We don't "desperately" need anything next season. The Rockets aren't winning anything next year, and their primary target looks to be Chris Bosh. Battier may be on the way out, McGrady is just about gone, and Artest wasn't settling for MLE-type money from the Rockets. So acquiring a wing was also a priority.
ariza's game isn't going to make an impact on this team, this guy was a nobody in ny earlier, nobody in orlando, on an elite team his skills can come into play, but on this team it wont matter since it doesnt have enough talent..........you just threw 33 mill at a guy who averaged what? 8 pts 4-5 boards?? all those 3's he's hit were wide open spot ups thanks to KObe and Gasol, that's not happening in houston. the other half of his pts were in transition, the rockets arent going on any fast breaks this year.
There's a decent chance Rockets enter the Playoffs next year with a healthy Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming getting significant minutes.
Really, do you really think Lebron/Wade or even Bosh would sign with us even after we tank for a season? They would: 1. Resign first if not 2. Going to the Knicks if not 3. Going to a Contender if not 4. Us This whole sign top FAs in 2010 is like a proganda.
I hope Ariza isn't the second coming of Shandon Anderson...a defensive wing that could supposedly shoot. We bought high and sold low on him too - bringing him here after seeing him in the playoffs as a successful 3rd/4th option on offense (after Malone, Stockton, Hornacek). Like Ariza, Anderson was a good finisher, but not known for creating his own offense. Like Ariza, Anderson was not a main cog on offense, but got wide open looks from his star teammates. Anderson was 25, and averaged 8.5PPG and 3 RPG, and hit .341 of 3 pointers in 21 MPG for the Jazz before we gave him 6 years and $41MM. Ariza is 24, and averaged 8.9PPG and 4 RPG, and hit .319 of 3 pointers in 24MPG for the Lakers before we game him 5 years and $33MM. Ariza is a .299 career 3 point shooter in the regular season...in spite of his hot streak in the playoffs. Maybe Ariza will continue to get better, and continue to be clutch...or he could turn into Shandon Anderson #2. After one decent season with Rockets, Anderson returned to his previous form of shooting under 30% from 3 point land for the balance of his career.
Um... ...you all DO see Daryl Morey's plan in all this, don't you? It's actually a lot like Rick Adelman's plan, I'd guess. That's to get as versatile a team around Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady as possible... ...and to acquire enough viable pieces to reconstruct the roster relatively quickly in the event that either one of, or neither Yao or McGrady, are going to be around much longer. I don't think Yao's injury or McGrady's injury changed that thinking. Those injuries just got the clock sped up a bit. I believe that Morey feels, for the short term, the best thing for the Rockets to do is to get a more balanced, athletic and younger roster. It may be extremely foolish to think that either Yao or McGrady are anything more than frequent residents on the injured list at this point in their careers... ...but with those guys being ALL-NBA performers for the past few seasons, it's very hard to give up on them, no matter how remote the possibility of recovery is for both of them. Players who are one of the 15 best in the league year in and year out are not easy to come by, and shouldn't be moved (especially because of injury) unless you get something comparable back. Doing a two-for-one or three team swap for marginal players just keeps you hanging on longer to a worst case scenario of having to eventually rebuild. At least with some decent players in place, that transition may be a little less messy if Yao's done or if McGrady's done. This season is starting to have the look of the 05-06 season that was lost to injuries to Yao and McGrady. The Rockets got the 8th pick in that draft (and we all know how that turned out), but much the same thing seems to be lined up to happen this time around, if the Rockets don't have any success. The big thing now as opposed to then, is that Morey and Adelman will give young players a chance to show what they can do, and either groom them to play alongside either Yao or McGrady, or become very good players in their own right. All those draft picks Morey bought on draft night tells me that the Rockets intend to home-grow as many of their players as they can. The ones that are good will stay, and the others' won't. That's not to say that guys like Jermaine Taylor or Trevor Ariza are going to be all-stars. Or that Carl Landry or Aaron Brooks will become all-NBA players. Sooner or later, you're going to need the type of player that can change a game all by himself. Those guys don't grow on trees or fall into your lap in desperate or lopsided trades very often. But when the opportunity is there, you have to be ready for it. When you look to get a player or two to get you over the hump, the rest of the squad better be solid. That's why I felt that the Rockets were heading in the right direction for the first time in five years. Finally, there were some other guys who could make plays. Finally, there were young guys who didn't need a lot of experience to get on the floor and contribute. Finally, there were fewer and fewer one-trick ponies on the court that teams could take advantage of and not get beaten by that thinking. Morey's plan is working fine, I think. He's not done dealing, either. But he is in a wait-and-see mode with both Yao and McGrady. And since he's willing to wait and see with them, a lottery pick is the same as a trade right now... ...too soon in the off-season to be thinking about....
Bad comparison, because we rarely saw Anderson play lock down D in Utah. The best way to describe him was "one of the Jazz's best defenders". The best way to describe Ariza is "one of the league's best defenders at his position". I'm not saying he is top 5 or anything....but we all know he can defend and he just showed it this postseason. A good defensive minded SF will cost you some money. Bowen gets like $4M a yr and was older when he signed that deal. Posey and Battier are both older and make more than Ariza just signed for. So even if he just remains a tough defensive SF, then he will be worth his contract.
I hope we can compare Ariza to Bowen (Bruce, not Ryan) someday: Bruce made 1st or 2nd team all Defensive team for 8 straight seasons from 2001 thru 2008. Ariza maybe someday. Bruce is a career 41% career 3 point shooter. Ariza under 30% so far. Bowen's salary only recently hit $4M / year after 7 years of huge production. He has been a bargain for his production. 2001-2: $750K /year 2002-4: 3.9M/year 2004-8: $3.6M /year 2008-10: $4.0M/year To be fair, Ariza has great talent. He is a better finisher than Bowen has ever been. He is lmore athletic than Bowen has ever been. Bowen's lone offensive skill is knocking down the 3-ball. Let's hope what we saw in the playoffs, along with continued improvement, is what we get with Ariza. I do like your comparison of Ariza with James Posey. He's not a star, but can be a very big part of a very good team. Posey was a HORRIBLE 3 point shooter early in his career, but worked to improve that skill, and did so successfully.
Good points, PolarBear. Ariza will be solid if he can bring his 3P% to the high 30s, low 40s. Hopefully his 3pt shooting in the playoffs was not an aberration, but the beginning of a long term trend.
