CD and Rudy T. lose Olajuwon. Then they ignore Chris Webber. Then they sign Taylor. Then they trade for Rice. Then lose out on a chance for Marc Jackson, second rate, of course, compared to Chris Webber. Eddie Griffin is a big IF. You wonder if Zach Randolph might have been a better choice. I still rate the Rockets' off-season a failure - F. The biggest for me, was not pursuing Webber.
From what I remember, Chris Webber came out and said that Houston was not on his wish list. Why would the Rockets want to make a big deal about a player that had no intentions of want to play here? I'm sure they made some attempt to find out if he really wanted to be here, but in the end, the best place for Webber (personally and monetarily) was Sacramento. I wish we could have gotten him...I love any player that knocks John Stockton on his a$$!!!
Manny, Nice job...good thread...don't let the troll have the satisfaction. Although I'm not much into grading, I think overall we did well by making these moves. 1. EGriff - Three average #1s for a stud, possibly the best guy in this draft class. EG will grow into our starting 4, possibly a 4-5 kinda guy. He has the natural defensive abilities that remind me some of a young Bill Russell. His offensive game is very polished and smooth for a 19-year-old and will expand as he matures and gains confidence. I hate to get too excited about this kid, but in the little I've seen him play and from what I've read, he could be too our 4 what Stevie is to the 1--A SUPER STUD. CD gets a A+ 2. Rice - Top 3 pure shooters in NBA; great all-around scorer with post-up skills; veteran with championship experience; and the best part...he only cost us Shandon Anderson. CD gets an A 3. Oscar - Great frame, excellent defense and solid shooter...not to mention he appears to have decent awareness despite language barrier. He fills a need as our back-up 2 and hopefully a bench spark. He costs us nothing so...CD gets an A - 4. Mooch - Love his game and how he plays his role on this team. So he made a little more than some thought he was worth...we'll be thankful he's with us. CD gets an A - 5. TMo - Appears to have shaken off initial jitters in summer league and is getting some confidence. Great all-around game and is in a great situation to learn behind Rice and Wiz. I was worried initially we may have overpaid, but he's starting to look like he'll be a bargain. CD gets a B for now, maybe a A in 2 yrs. 6. MoT - Never have been a big fan of his until I saw him go off for 26 last year against WASH (I believe). Great wide body and diverse offensive skills, but...REBs and Defense are below avg. His attitude made the difference and I think this injury will make or break his career...he may finally realize the gifts he has and the potential that he could fulfill. Give CD a B for signing him. 7. DJ - Should be our 5th G. Great energy off the bench and enough of a tweener to play either 1 or 2. Once again, he comes cheap and CD gets a B- 8. Hakeem - We had really no choice. Made the best of the situation and really he was suppose to retire any way. Team gets a B- for handling it and still picking up something in return. 9. Bull - Nice guy, good 3pt shooter, time for him to go. Sorry, Bull fans but we have enough folks with multiple skills that should be able to p/u his role on court...in locker room could be different story. CD gets a B- for classy move of finding Bull new team. 10. CWeb - He could have made a huge difference over the next 4-5 years or he could've been a drag on our teams maturation and growth. I still remember the bad CWeb, but I really think he could've been the 4-5 power play this team needs now to be competitive. I think we should've courted him hard...maybe thats why I'm a fan and not a GM, but CD gets a D for not trying harder. I included SA in the Rice grade...I'm glad he's gone. Wish we could have gotten MJ, but hey GS decided damn his feelings this is business. Overall, believe despite all of the turmoil the Rocks did an exceptional job of taking what could have been one of the worse ever off-seasons and turning it into one of the best. Overall grade: A -/B + range
I can't say this was a good off season, because we needed a center and got a beat up Glen Rice instead, Taylor and Norris were signed to contracts that are way too long and Taylor gets hurt! We had a good draft and thats about the end of it in my opinion. I would have rather gave Marc Jackson Rice's mony for three years to begin with if he wanted to come here so bad it probably would have been easy to get him and for that price G.S. could have never matched. Then we get a center that could get alot better instead of yet another 3 man that happens to be on his way down. I don't care if Rudy is high on him or not, he is not the player he used to be and probably never will be again. I hpoe I'm wrong!
The Wolves were better than the Rockets last season. Plus they have upgraded their team by adding Joe Smith and Gary Trent, how they can allow Garnett to play his natural position in SF and have Wally at SG replacing Anthony Peeler who just isn't starter quality. Olajuwon missed a lot of games but he was a large reason why the Rockets won 45 games. I remember in March or was it February the Rockets were the hottest team in the league and that's when Hakeem was playing his best. Now you're going into an NBA season with Cato and Collier? Is that a joke? Boston is twice as good as the Rockets at center, and that says something.Taylor wasn't great and he's overpaid but in what I saw he has a pretty versatile offensive game and he can definately hit the jumper. Kenny Thomas is backup quality, you're tossing him in to start and without even a good center to protect him, Cato and Kenny Thomas? That is the sorriest starting frontcourt in the history of the NBA. Rice is a redundant piece, you'd find Walt Williams took more threes than Rice last season and also made a higher percentage, actually he has shot better than Rice for the last three seasons. Both are horrific defenders, Walt can actually dribble a little without bouncing it off his foot and doesn't have a b****ing wife like Rice. Sorry but Rice is a mere shadow of the player he was in Charlotte. There's no way around that, you just have to accept it. The elbow surgery has ruined his jumper, he hasn't shot 40% on 3pointers since that surgery. With the Lakers he shot 36% on 3s. That just isn't good enough a percentage for a "shooter", especially since you have to put up with his dreadful passing, ballhandling, and defense. His once potent post up game is gone as well. He's basically now just a spot up shooter who can't really shoot. With Shaq and kobe getting so many open looks for him, he should have sank more than 36%, sorry but Rick Fox attempted the same amount of threes as Rice did as a Laker and Fox made 40%, Rice has lost it, face it, his stroke is gone
The team would be well advised to go out and get someone before midnight monday. I cannot argue with you Shaqkobe, especially after last night and the performance of Collier. Some are even suggesting using Thomas at the 5. Stupidity at best.
Griffin- A+ Rice-B Taylor-B (not their fault he was hurt) Torres-C What has he done in the regular season? Losing Hakeem- F Signing Moochie to ridiculously large contract- D- Overall grade- D+ However, I still feel that the improvement of Francis and Mobley, plus the surprisingly good season that Griffin will have, will lead the Rockets to the playoffs, possibly the sixth seed. I like the addition of Rice, and I think that Cato will do well. The Wolves, Jazz and Suns will all falter, while the Nuggets will be terrible for the first half. The Sonics and Clippers will be part of the five-teams-for-two-spots race. The Rockets will have to pound on the weaker teams this year. If they play the entire season with their best effort, they will make the postseason. This team has not given its best effort since 1997. Rudy better do his job very well. Go Defense!
Not even a mention of T Mo ZRB? Come on now he's got to be a help to be and at least a mention for the rockets offseason moves.
I am puzzled. Griffin has done nothing in the regular season, yet he gets an A+, while Oscar Torres gets a C? Hell if you want to be consistent, we haven't seen Griffin outside of the RMR yet, however we have seen El OT play some excellent ball in the preseason, and his acquisistion costs us nothing, no draft picks, virtually no cap hit, anything he gives us is straight bonus. I think discovery of El OT merits a much higher grade than C, but if you want to wait to grade until the regular season - then both the acquisitions of Torres and Griffin deserve great big INC's.
Griffin was projected as a number one pick by most teams. Getting a player with that kind of potential and losing nothing in the process warrants an A+. Maybe a C+ is a little harsh for Torres, but until I see what he does in the regular season, I won't be able to judge his aquisition. Maybe I will change my grade to an "incomplete". As for Morris, I keep forgetting about him. I don't know what it is about him, I just never seem to remember that he is a Rocket. I will have to withhold judgement on that move as well.
The Rockets has the best 15 players in basketball. The team is stronger and deeper than when last season ended. MY OVERALL GRADE FOR CD & CO. is A-
After the trade for Kevin Willis, I think the off-season grade for the Rockets is better than an F. Yeah, Willis was part of that geriatric line-up of Barkley, Drexler, and Olajuwon. And he may not rebound as much as he did when he was practically an All-star for the Atlanta Hawks. But I think it the mental toughness or belief that he can control the boards. The pre-season game of Denver against Dallas may not have counted, but if he even comes close to that 16 pt, 18 rebound performance in any regular season game, it sure means there's still some gas left in Willis' tank. Off-season grade for the Rockets' moves : C
Offseason Grade: A There is no way to know who will be available at the tail end of a trading season. The first to go are the most coveted (CWebb). Who knows who's going to be a part of that first trade? Numerical predictions never hold. You can therefore only trade on your strengths. Even then we see outrageous trades. I think this offseason we saw an outrageous escalation of the 5 pricetag, which I think helped to move Hakeem. I suspect he already wanted to move, but... We traded size for speed this summer. We've been scramblimg to get some size back the past week. Kevin Willis and Kelvin Cato will not be a premier duo, but they will demand attention and respect. Our speed is still there. We are going to kill anyone who can't keep up with us. That is our true strength. Rudy will use, use, and use it.
