I am pleased with the progress that the Rockets have made over the past season. I am not a big fan of overhauling your roster every offseason. Unless you have a SHAQ and KOBE on the squad, continuity is a key component to success in the NBA. I currently like the starting five for the Rockets: Francis, Mobley, J. Jackson, Cato and Ming. I am also satisfied with my sixth man Mo Taylor and my future SF BOKI Nachbar. Scott Paggett is a serviceable veteran and that is about it as far as I am concerned. The rest of those scrubs can be tossed to the scrap heap!!! ( Weatherspoon, Piakowski, Mark Jackson, Adrian Griffin, and the little no-named point guard who looks like he was a girl in another life! The two players I would attempt to add to next years roster is Antonio McDyess at the PF position and Derrick Fisher as the back up PG. We should offer McDyess the $5.1 million exception and Fisher the ($2.1 million) mid-level exception. I would bring McDyess of the bench for 15-20 minutes a game until he rounds into shape behind Cato and Mo Taylor. And Fisher would backup Francis and allow him to play some SG. I would also add Malik Badiene to the roster to round it out. I believe with this squad the Rockets can improve on what they did last season. After the breakup of the LA Lakers this offseason, anything is possible next year!!!!!!!!!!!! Francis PG-Fisher-backup Mobley SG-Piakowski-backup(guarated contract may force issue) J.Jackson SF-BOKI-backup Taylor PF-McDyess-Badiene Yao-CATO-backup-Padgett I think this is the best possible offseason for the Rockets under the current circumstances.(Agree or Disagree??????????????)
I like your overall approach, but... Why does Fisher leave LA, certainly GP is not forcing him out. McDyess is broken down in my opinion. If he plays 40 games, I'll be shocked. You'll never hear of Badiene, except on this board. But seriously, I ma in favor of modest changes. We do have holes to fill, but we have good players and we seldomly loose because of a talent gap. I think JVG is a good teacher and will make progress. But realistically, it will be slow.
Fisher is not a free agent. Laker won't give him up unless they have an upgrade. Gary Payton is not the answer for the Laker Franchise as judged from the play off performance.
If the Rockets continue to build the team arround Yao then a good starting point guard is needed. Francis is not a good point guard and is being ruined by having to play under JVG.
I disagree with you yet again Ying Yang. Last year was a transition year. Nobody expected us to win, and we didn't. Steve Francis needed last year as an adjusting time to JVG. It would SHOCK me to see Steve not put up 17, 5 and 7 next year with only 2 turnovers a game. HOWEVER, if the only way to get Tmac is to give up Francis, then go do it. Tmac is a superstar and him and Yao with Cuttino and a good power forward would be unbeatable ala kobe and shaq.
