How about we do whatever is necessary to sign/trade forMarc Gasol and then draft Terrence Jones...with that, we are set at C and SF. Lineup C- M. Gasol/ C. Hayes/ B. Miller(hopefully not) PF- L. Scola/P. Patterson/J. Hill SF- T. Jones/ C. Budinger/ T. Williams SG- K. Martin/ C. Lee PG- K. Lowry/ G. Dragic That's a pretty decent team if you ask me. Top 4 team in the West for sure!
That would be awesome ... unfortunately i think there is no way we end up getting Marc Gasol. Plus what happens if Jones doesnt fall to us ?
I prefer not to think about that if we do get jones, IF we do, I say we should trade bud and draft picks and a filler perhaps for Marc gasol. They could use a SF and I think it is better than to lose him and get nothing in return. Just a thought, I might be completely off
Good remark. Rockets could convince the Grizzlies to a S&T, if they see the Grizz with the intention to match any offer.
PG: Lowry (keep) Dragic (keep) SG: Martin (trade bait for upgrade) Lee (keep; versatile defender for 1s and 2s; decent offense) We need a gamechanger in this position. I don't think Martin is tough enough for the big games. How many times has he let us down? SF: Budinger (trade bait) TWill (who? seriously we need to see if he can play team ball, could be a point-forward) Needs an upgrade at SF PF: Scola (keep; good mentor, good attitude, only knock is defense); Patterson (keep, and give increasing PT); Hayes (keep; can defend 4s and most 5s; developed his offense this year, who would have thought?)
ooops, not finished yet PF: Hill (trade) C: ????? (DM, seriously, go get us a defensive-minded center) Yao Ming (sign for minimum if cleared to play; we can use him in the endgame only) Marcus Cousin (may work out if given a chance) Hasheem Thabeet (for his potential) COACH: Someone not named Rick Adelman Someone who can coach both vets and youngsters and who is good at defense-offense
Recent History of Tank Jobs: 2011: none; Clev, Minny, Sac, Tor just that horrible 2010: New Jersey? Fairly intentional empty roster - 12 wins, #3 pick, Favors 2009: NY? Was? NY got the 8th pick (Hill), Was' pick belonged to Minny (Rubio) 2008: Miami shamelessly tanks to 15 wins, ends up with #2 pick (Beasely). #winning 2007: Boston? 2nd to last finish netted #5 pick (Jeff Green), but traded for Ray Allen I'll just skip down to the Original LeBron Sweepstakes: 2003: Clev vs Den, both tanking down to 17 wins. Worked out like crazy for both of them, especially since Detroit (holding Memphis' pick) hurdled from #6 to #2 in the lottery and still managed to blow it with the Darko pick (Kaman went #6 and would have still been better for them). Lost in all of this are the teams that just sat at the bottom of nearly every draft (Clippers, Griz, Toronto, Wiz, Char, NYK, etc) and went nowhere. I'll say again, you'll know when there's a draft worth tanking for....by the widespread tanking. It's backwards logic to dump your good players just to get the #5 pick in a random year and draft a guy you hope will develop into being a single good player. Even when there's a LeBron to be had, history shows that it's a very risky move to liquidize your roster to chase him. Worked out for Cleveland, but Boston failed at it twice (Duncan, Oden/Durant), and so did others (Miami). Getting the worst record in the league means odds are still 75% that you do NOT get the top pick. Only happened twice this past decade. And on a totally different angle, look at the best players on our roster! Martin - Landry/skeleton of McGrady Scola - highway robbery Lowry - Rafer Hayes - 2nd rd Patterson - #14 pick Lee - Ariza Seems like awfully efficient roster building to me. Meanwhile, we've had the following top 5 underwhelmers: Thabeet Oden Conley Bargnani Morrison (Wesley Johnson? It's early) Ty Thomas Harden Favors Beasley Mayo Jeff Green
Miami absolutely, 100% tanked for the Rose/Beasley draft. Shut down Wade, Marion, and Haslem with sham injuries in the spring. It was distasteful.
A little shift.... Apart from a defensive C, a real superstar is needed..... How about Deron Williams? Sure he's pissed off of losing so many games....as any superstar would. And Rockets has more assets to offer to Nets, unless other team offer another superstar (unlikely, superstar don't like to go to losing teams). Lowry, Ppat, Miller (salary filler), could do the trick...2 young players for a rebuilding team, one to replace Deron, a young defensive PF that would compliment well with Brook Lopez (offense oriented)... If negotiation is difficult, a draft pick could be added to sweet the deal. Once you have a suyperstar aboard, things are easier, specially for a team like the rockets, who don't need major rebuild, just specific upgrades. They also have the team chemistry built (another thing that takes time). What's your opinion of this strategy?
The same old excuses trotted out every year. Don't you guys ever get tired of hallucinating new theories for why "this year will be different with Yao"? Last time, instead of the usual fairies who sprayed injury dust on his feet, it was leprechauns! I mean, come on, how often are leprechauns gonna strike twice in one man's career? Chances are, Yao's learned how to avoid leprechauns and fairies and this time around nothing (except maybe a UNICORN - and how often do you see those, for Christ) will stop him. More brownies, please.
I don't want to get into specific trade ideas, or really for that matter who I want most aggressively pursued in FA, just because all of the Rockets' offseason manuevers hinge upon one another. Once one domino falls the rest can begin to come into place, but without knowing what direction we are headed, none of us know where to start. That said, here's my take on what I believe to be the Rockets' best course of action moving forward: Morey is in a very tough position heading into an offseason of labor negotiations. There could potentially be no season at all next year, and with that in mind how do you go about choosing a direction in which to take the team? Making matters worse, we are stuck in the proverbial NBA purgatory, just good enough to be a perennial fringe playoff / lotto team, and never a legitimate contender. We struggled early on because we had too much talent - elite talent, no, but talent nonetheless - and when we made our move at the deadline and the rotation shrunk, all of sudden we had an identity. We've made strides, but we can't stop building now, and priority #1 should be preserving that identity while addressing our weaknesses. Perhaps building isn't even appropriate - we need to tweak - and mainly in the front court. Most glaringly needed is a post presence at both ends of the court. This doesn't have to be only 1 player, but what I want is a concerted effort to crash the boards relentlessly, and someone patrolling the paint who you know is always in the back of the other teams' mind should they venture inside. If you are banking on Yao...I don't even wanna discuss basketball with you. Now don't get me wrong cause I want him back, but I think AT BEST we can only hope for 24 mins a night for the rest of his career, and for my money those are some pretty long odds. IF he can play, great, and when Yao is in we can run the offense through him. Not many teams have a post player off the bench that deserves the defense's attention like Yao would, especially since he would likely dominate the ball most of the time he was on the court. I don't even think its necessary to debate his potentially starting- haven't we been through this enough already? Then again I feel like bench superstar Yao is exactly what I was hoping for going into THIS season so who knows. Could be deja vu all over again... there are just too many ifs with Yao. So lets find a center that can start learning from him. *I have little if any faith in Thabeet, so those who think the kid can develop into a starting caliber player will disagree with me here, but after watching more than a couple of his games at UConn and his less than impressive resume so far, including multiple trips down to the D league, I can't help but think he's a sunk cost even this early into his career. To me, if you are that size and your greatest strength is weak/help side shot blocking, you stand to make an impact from the get go. Some kind of impact. Any kind of impact. At least be a relevant presence on the court. He showed little to no offensive skill while in school not related to his size, and it appears more and more that his "ability" to block shots was more a function of size than instincts, which is never a good sign when predicting the translation of success from college to the pros. At best, he is an investment a la Johan Petro, Robert Swift, etc that our current makeup cannot wait on to improve. Some project bigs eventually turn the corner, but if we can upgrade, why wait? Rant over. Chuckwagon is great as energy off the bench and a spot starter, but you have to have size in the paint. Period. Especially in the playoffs. And his intangibles are not worth mortgaging the future if we have to pay over market value (surely not). Hopefully we re-sign him at a fair number to all parties involved. (Which is certainly ambiguous if we are looking at a future of non-guaranteed contracts and tweaks to contract structures, length, etc) I really don't think Morey is gonna jump to overpay anyone this offseason, but that said, I think we have to make a run at the following: 1. Deandre Jordan 2. Tyson Chandler 3. Nene 4. Marc Gasol 5. Joel Pryzbilla 5a. Tiago Splitter Pryzbilla would not necessarily become our starter, and at that point it would have to be a C by committee sort of thing, but I can't see a scenario in which his post D and rebounding at 7'1" or so wouldn't be a welcome addition to the squad. He is essentially what Gortat would have been to the squad, sans the offensive savvy but with a little more length and defensive ability. Gotta be considered, especially when we may be able to get him for pennies on the dollar. Next to be considered is Scola's future with the Rockets. I really thought that he would be gone to OKC by the deadline, but when they acquired Perk that pretty much squashed any chance of that happening. So who would be his other suitors? Should we even trade him? He'll be 35 years young at the end of his contract - still playing at a high level? With his assortment of up fakes and scoop shots and general craftiness around the hoop, and his money elbow and short corner jumpers, he certainly will be useful enough. Either we trade him now, or let it ride til he retires. But I think the smart play is to cut bait while his value is still relatively high...if we can get close to his worth in return. Just looking at teams who could use a back to the bucket scorer now, I'd say potential trade partners include: Atlanta, Denver, Golden State, Indiana, LAC, Orlando, Philly. I omitted teams that seemingly have nothing to offer in return or teams that would have no interest in an aging PF. What, if any, deals could be worked out I haven't a clue, and if you want me to fire up the trade machine and start throwing around hypotheticals we can have fun with that all afternoon. Bottom line, here is the talent I think we could potentially acquire, given each teams current situation vs needs, in some manner of a trade revolving around Scola and said player: ATL: Josh Smith (could be available if they decide to cut salary) DEN: Nene, Danilo, W Chandler, Afflalo, Mozgov GS: Udoh Indy: P George, Hansborough LAC: Kaman (if Deandre is re-signed) Orlando: Bass, Earl Clark, Ryan Anderson Philly: Iguodala, Thad Young The problem you quickly run into is trying to net equal value in return for Scola's skill set, which is near impossible. Point is, if we are trading him we are gambling on an unproven guy in all likelihood. Maybe that's why we stood pat with him this year around the deadline. I suppose what we do with Scola is directly related to Yao's recovery+finding a big in FA. Kevin Martin should not be traded under any circumstances. Efficient perimeter scorers do not come around that often, and what makes Martin great as a scorer is the manner in which he gets his points- a good shooter (albeit streaky at times), gets to the line at a high rate, can create his own shot off the dribble or create contact with his sneaky good pump fake, and he's great at running off screens and moving without the ball within the offense. He takes an ill-advised shot here and there, but what leading scorer doesn't? And he seems more than willing to make the extra pass if needed. Maybe we don't have a player widely recognized as a clutch scorer, and maybe Martin isn't as prolific as other closers around the L, but with his scoring repertoire, why wouldn't we want the ball in his hands at the end of the game? He hasn't had the opportunity on a big stage that matters, so how can we already deem him unfit for duty, so to speak? Additionally, one of the great things about Poppovich at the end of games is his uncanny ability to draw up a play with multiple options relative to how the defense reacts. Don't you want a player that can be the centerpiece of a similar scheme (think Manu) on your squad in crunch time? The one concern I have is questioning how much of his effectiveness should be attributed to Adelman- and if we lose coach how will that change (if at all) his production. As for the rest of the roster... Kyle Lowry- Please don't pull a Travis Outlaw and dramatically drop in 3P% next season. If his jumper is there, he's solid. Maybe even a top 10 PG by the end of next season. Dragic- has shown flashes with both the Rox and PHX. Backup ball handler, offense off bench is the perfect role for him at this point. Lee-should be our primary 6th man...love his energy and athleticism,good enough defensively to start as a rookie on Orlando, if he ever can put it all together we have a legit player on our hands. No need to replace, trade only if packaged with Scola for an upgrade IMO. Bud- I like what he brings off the bench... Yes I know he starts. Good IQ for most part. Would be a more significant piece if he brought consistent energy not conditioned upon his offensive success. Skill set easily replaced (could get exact same and maybe more from current FA Ime Udoka) TWill- Where to begin...hopefully the organization knows better than we about this kid. I thought he would be in the mold of a rudy gay coming out of louisville, hopefully we don't give up on him too early. He has to get a shot at some point. If not, move him on saddled with either Thabeet or Miller's contract. Hill- jury is definitely still out. Unless we get an offer from a team and Hill is the deal breaker, I think we let him and Patterson have the summer to improve then battle for the starting 4 job in training camp. Remember he's only been playing the sport for some 6-7 years. Of course he has bad footwork and looks lost playing at the highest level... Patterson- patient waiting on his chance then seized it and never looked back. Good rookie campaign, probably should see at least 18-28 mins a game next season if he isn't already starting. Desire to rebound and play D is huge for us- he's our best shot blocker as the roster stands right now. Thabeet- see above Yao- super 6th man Miller- good tough vet, nothing more. Serviceable in certain spots. Cousin- don't get overly psyched about a kid from the D, but he's long and has a decent face up j. Intriguing skill set and you know he's gonna be hungry given any chance to play. As for the draft, assuming we are locked into picking at 14 and 23, I want the following players considered, not necessarily in this order: Kawhi Leonard Terrence Jones Marcus Morris Chris Singleton Kenneth Faried Trey Thompkins JaJuan Johnson Justin Harper Tyler Honeycutt There are of course others I would include on this list, and I left out those who have stated they are coming back to school. In review, quite a read. My apologies, just got going and didn't stop.
Really nice post.. I can tell you put a lot of hought into it. You and i just do see eye to eye when it comes to trading Martin. I think that if there is an ok deal for him then you take it. I guess I'm just much more pessimistic by natue but i dont think that our current team ( even if they play as well as they did to close the season) plus an average center = contender material. Because i just dont see us getting any of the good FA centers. And it is likely the players we get from the draft wont really be able to contribute. That leaves improvement by current players as the only real area left for improvement. Sure they all have the capacity to grow.. but i dont think they will get playing time under Adelman ( Twill, Thabeet , and Hill wont and those are the players that could improve the most)..... and if the goal is to make the playoffs then Adelman is the best coach you are gonna be able to get. The direction we go in is really gonna be decided whether or not the FO thinks that we can really contend this year. I being pessimistic and concluding that we dont have a really good shot at it next year would be in favor of moving Martin and Scola for future consideration ( nice suggestion w/paul george )... both to open up playing time to players already on the roster and for whoever we get for them. Also i feel that if we barely make the playoffs or barely miss out we are really shooting ourselves in the foot. The draft in 2012 is gona be really really strong. But really nice post... and if we get lucky annd land a Marc Gasol then that makes up for a lot. Still have to adress that starting SF position though. I just think we have too many holes. Both you and i know that all of this manuvering depends completely on which direction the FO decides to take.. the one thing we cant do is be half ass about it.
