Trade SF for a young stud PF, and use the exception on a young PG, then ride out MT, KC, and CW's bad contracts, being very careful over the next three years not to add any more bad contracts. Then by 2007, the Rockets have YM entering his prime, and cap space to give him a solid supporting cast. In a nutshell: 1. trade SF for a young star power forward 2. use the exception on a young solid point guard 3. don't add any more bad contracts 4. endure the next three years until you clear cap space 5. then sign role players who have reasonable contracts Look at the number of times I used the word contract. That's the magic word. The Rockets must start spending their money smarter. Raven
Seeing as the Rockets' payroll was #18 out of 29 and they were still in the playoffs, I'd say that means their spending is reasonably under control. Only 5 teams have a smaller payroll and are in the playoffs, and of those, the Spurs and Nuggets are the only teams in the West. I'm also just going to lay it out that saying "young star power forward" and "young solid point guard" isn't too helpful. Every team in the league covets youth. Teams will cling on to younger players with potential until there's no question they won't pan out (see: Brown, Kwame). We wouldn't give up EG for the world. Name reasonable targets! Ely or Wilcox on the Clippers? AL Harrington on the Pacers? Who? Same for PG. Are you talking about Charlie Ward (not young, but solid), Keyon Dooling, or a unicorn? I don't see the Bulls handing over Heinrich, or Utah trying to get rid of Lopez. Evan
Trade our best player for a young PF and use our TE for a young PG? That would be the worst thing for developing YM. Riding out bad contracts? Why? There are definitely some teams out there that could use Catos services, even MoTs. Good thing you're not a GM or have anything to do with the NBA.
1. Possible. 2. How many solid young point guards can be had for the exception? 3. Agree. Previous polciy of only taking bad contracts was unwise. Hopefully we will realize while the rest of the league is still trying to get bad contracts. 4. Define 'endure'. 5. In 4 years we add role players? That's the plan? Forgive my being snide ( just came from D&D)...I just think that a lot of your plan is based on what teams would all be willing to do, just aren't able to accomplish as easily as you suggest.
Actually, Taylor, Cato, and Weatherspoon's contracts all come off in two years. That's the bulk of our bad contracts. So assuming we don't take on any big contracts from now til then, there will be some cap space to play two years from now.
When I said "my blueprint", I simply meant that as "my opinion". so buzz off And gucci888, I said young "star" power forward, and when I say young, I mean someone in their mid 20s. A player that be paired with YM over the next decade. And anyone who thinks the Rockets can trade away KC or MT for anything other than bad contracts in return (see mooch for spoon) is kidding themselves. So yeah, the Rockets are going to have to make out the best they can, until two or three bad contrtacts come off the books. Until then, trade SF for a young star (or almost star) power forward, and use the exception for a solid point guard (preferably under 30), and you have the foundation for a championship team, for years to come. Raven
The Fact that other western conference teams could make significant improvements (Denvor, Memphis Portland, Utah and Phenix) this summer means the playoff is not automatic next season. CD has lots of work to do this summer.
Your "blueprint" was based on Yao Ming be MVP caliber player in his prime, which is not guranteed either, if he will not become the player we all think he is going to be at the time, the whole 2004-2007 is wasted.
I don't want to trade Steve but if we do, there is a FA in Milwaukee that played very well this season. Guess where he is from? Also, we can get a former slam dunk champion for the exception. I guess we need to define what "young" is?
I'm not saying that Les Alexander or the fans should completely give up on the Rockets for the next 2 or 3 years, but there should definitely be a long term goal that has two points crossing each other. One, YM entering his prime (age 27-32), and two, the Rockets clearing cap space after Spoon, Cato, and Taylor come off the books. If the Rockets trade SF for Brand or SAR, that allows Cato to come off the bench, which I believe is a better role for him Then use the exception for a PG (many like B. Barry, but I think he's too old for a 4 year deal), and all of a sudden you have a much better balanced team. Let's go with the BB suggestion (not my fav, but whatever) YM EB or SAR JJ BB CM Then off the bench MT for scoring Cato for YM's backup Boki for hustle Not a bad 8 man rotation, and when Cato and MT come off the books, in use the cap room to find a replacement for a aging Brent Barry. Raven
Do you have a championship plan that doesn't involve Yao becoming a dominant force? If Yao stagnates the way Francis has done, this team is screwed no matter what. We can get Kobe and it STILL might not be a championship team. And we'll never suck enough to warrant top 3 picks in the lottery. So if Yao doesn't really improve, this team is going to exit the 1st round for the next 10 years.
There will be a bunch of teams looking for Cato's services this summer, even with his contract. JVG made Cato's stock rise considerably this season. Teams don't know about his laziness like we do, they see the big rebounder, big defense, 7-footer. MoT will be a harder sell than Cato, no doubt. The only reason we look at MoT's and Cato's contracts as bad, because we personally don't think they are worth that much. There are actually a lot of big guys with big contracts that aren't as good as MoT/Cato. If we can get back players that will contribute more, I don't mind getting bad contracts for bad contracts. Riding big contracts would help us out in 3 years, but we need help now.
I completely agree on Damon Jones, but I don't know if he'll come back to Houston after we dumped him for Moochie a couple of years ago. But I don't want to trade Stevie, let Jones be the back up point, and trade Mobley, allowing Steve to play more at the 2.
Steve, Cat and Cato to Philly. Iverson, Kenny Thomas to Clips. Brand, Maggette, Eric Snow to Rockets. 2004-05 Rockets Eric Snow/Damon Jones Jimmy Jackson/Piatkowski Corey Maggette/Bostjan Nachbar Elton Brand/Maurice Taylor/Weatherspoon Yao Ming/EB/MT/CW Make it so.
God no. You want to get rid of Mobley for Maggette? If you think Cat and Stevie are ballhogs, wait until you get Maggette on this team. He's a volume shooter, and doesn't have a good outside touch. I don't wany any part of Eric Snow unless we keep Francis, the only reason he'd be good is to let Steve shift to the two. He's got a crippling contract and he's a terrible shooter. Brand on the other hand, I'll take.
