Needed: Three Additions that Would Make Us Contenders

The PF that you described is right now unavailable, unless somehow we could get Dale Davis (expiring contract), or PJ Brown, or get Philly to unload Dalembart with KT in exchange for Deke, Boki, Spoon, and whatever else to make the salary work. Looking around the league, I think you are describing Chris Wilcox, Stromile Swift, Dalembart, maybe Chandler, PJ Brown, and Fortson to name a few. I don't know how many of those guys are available in college though.

Our lights out shooter has been sitting on the IL for the past 5 games and got 3 minutes of PT last night. Boki compares very favorably to Kapono. He will turn into Peja lite for somebody next year, probably Phoenix.

The Artests and Bowens of the world, shut down defenders who can shoot the 3 ball and do things offensively, are difficult to come by. Every one of those players that you listed have siginificant offensive skills. Julius Hodge from NC State may be a good example of someone that could be that kind of player. I just don't think you find these guys very easily. A one dimensional perimeter defender is easier to find. We traded ours to Chicago for Deke. And the one we have now is Bowen.

If we are gonna suffer through this season and then use our assets to trade and sign players, I think we can pick up a good PF with the MLE or a combination S&T for our TE and a player. Ideally, we should use our TE and Spoon to upgrade the 4 spot significantly with a Stromile Swift type player. We then sign a player like Daniels to play the 1 with the MLE. Daniels is your defensive presence that can actually shoot the 3 ball. And we draft a perimeter player like Julius Hodge, someone that can defend and slash/shoot and develop him. That's a big word, develop. I don't think Van Gundy knows how to spell it.

 

I would be pleased if the Rockets could try and fulfill one of those 3 needs by the end of the season via trade.

Hopefully with our good draft pick (probably used for the athletic 4) and our MLE we can fill the other 2 needs in the off-season.

 

Well, clearly the Dreamcast Example and All-Time Rockets Example are stretches. Any team in the league at any time in history would love to have either of those bunches as 3 of their starting 4.

For the low-rent example, clearly all three of those players would help.

At the end of the day, ANY player, doing ANYTHING productive, at ANY position other than starting SG and starting C would be helpful.

 

I completely agree about the PF. Fortson would be a great addition but I doubt he will opt out next summer. He has 2 years left with $13.3M. Another good option is his side kick who he shares minutes with Reggie Evans who will be a free agent next year. Evans averages 17.2 boards per 48 minutes - 2th in NBA right now. Fortson is 3rd at 17.0. Mutombo is our highest player at 14.5 (15th) and Yao is at 13.4 (26th).

 

How can a point guard be left off that list?



Emeka Okafor would be a dream come true -- hometown product, intelligent, hard working power forward.

 

Jeff, I would like to say, the instant demand would be a power forward and a shooter, and let the 3rd to be considered later.
I've never thought of the current situation in this team when we missed so many open shoots. JJ is no longer the man he once was. He is a bit old and out of condition. At least we should have someone to back him up.

 

JVG is relying too much on JJ this season. JJ is just tired. If the Rox can get a starting PF with 3pt range. JJ will be getting the easy ride he got last season. No D and O at the PF position is making the Rox go DOh!

 

I have to agree with D-Snake here. Those of you who think the players are professionals and need to motivate themselves should go back in time to this summer, just before the MLB All-Star break. With Jimy Williams as manager, a supposed championship contender was playing lackluster ball. It's not that they weren't trying hard enough, it's more that they just had nobody to properly point them all in the same direction. Along comes Scrap Iron and the rest is history. Okay, adding a key piece of the puzzle in Beltran helped a bit, too. But that type of turnaround isn't out of the question for a team that has T-Mac and Yao, assuming they're properly motivated and working in a system that plays to their strengths.

To put it another way: Almost every single player on this Rockets squad has had better years. Howard and MoT are the biggest examples, but T-Mac and Yao fit the bill, too. (Sure, Yao's stats are up slightly, but does anyone here actually believe he's having the kind of year he's capable of?) Others having off years: Jackson, Padgett, Ward, Sura, etc. In fact, you could argue that the only players who have played the best ball of their careers would probably be Boki and AB, both of whom get sent to the IL as their reward. GREAT motivation, Van Dumby.

Out of Jeff's 3 items and the one added by D-Snake, I'd have to say that #4 seems to be the only one that could quickly right the ship. Numbers 1-3 might help temporarily, but only until the Anti-Motivator works his magic and brings things back down again.

JVG, GTFO!

 

Good analysis, Jeff.

There is a decent perimeter defender and scorer available next summer that I noticed 2 seasons ago when MJ took him under his wing on the Wizards. Bobby Simmons is unrestricted next summer and I'm hoping his stock doesn't rise to the point where our MLE can't get him.

I think Jeff didn't list it for a reason. Can we please leave VG out of this? If there's one thing CC doesn't need it's another JVG thread.

 

I agree.
Kapono is a true shooter. Nice shot. Quick release catching and shooting. Very nice. Anyone like that we can draft? The guy also has to do some other stuff like be athletic lpay some decent defense..not like Pike one dimensional you know. But good luck to pike whereever you are..
PF yes we need that desperately. juwan howard and mo aren't good enough. we need athleticism..defense..shotblocking..rebounding.

i agree jim jackson is getting old. i'd like to keep him as a mentor/backup. padgett backup. nachbar is gone.

jon barry is not gonna help that much imo. he will be good cuz at least he can shoot..actually his brother brent is a better shooter.

yao and tmac are our main guys. we should develop some solid backups like the spurs do..young guys who have tons of potential..like eddie lol.

I hope they can obtain these 3 things eventually. A tenacious defender but not one sided like ryan bowen...an athletic defensive minded 4..and a lights out shooter. people like joe johnson and casey jacobsen..or improve the people already on our team...hmm don't know

 

When did Danny Fortson become a good defender? Did I miss something?

 

I like Simmons too. But I have an idea that he will raise his stock enough to where it will be around FULL MLE money to obtain his services, something similar to what James Posey got.

 

I'm a huge fan of Bobby Simmons. I'm in LA and seen some Clipper games, and this guy can ball. He's first and foremost a defense and energy guy, but this year his offense has improved drastically. I don't expect him to stay at, .532 fg% and .500 3pt% but even if those percentages drop .100 pts he would be well worth a nice contract with what he brings to the defense. He reminds me a lot of Posey (who I wasn't wild about losing in the first place) except with a stronger perimeter game.

Like Gater said, the biggest problem might be that Simmons' continued improved play might price him out of our territory. But from what I've heard, there are less teams with cap room next year, than they had this past year. And we'll see if there is any truth to the theory of Yao and T-Mac being able to attract free agents.

For a PF, at the rate we're going, we might be able to get in position to draft somebody decent. Al Jefferson was taken at 15, and unless this team goes absolutely bonkers, that might be as good of a drafting position as we could get by just sneaking into the playoffs. AJ is showing all the signs of a big league game, and if we could grab one of those athletic freaks that fall because they aren't polished enough, it might just be what the doctor ordered to put beside our big two.

If we play our cards right, we could fulfill our needs despite the fact that we have so few tradable assets. And if we could trade some of our PFs for somebody useful, then that would be a bonus.

 

good post. i hope we can find someone through the draft.. that would be nice to develop a player and improve someone.

When Simmons played the Rockets..he missed a lot of shots..but I think he'd be good with Tmac and Sura. Posey and Simmons would be ideal..

But yes I hope we can find someone through the draft..a power forward.

 

I would give him the Full MLE. Unless we can land a legit PF with the MLE (very unlikely), or a guy like Bobby Jackson at PG (which is more of an "over-the-top" type move because he's getting up in years), then shoring up our SF for the future might be just as good.

 

Did you know that two years from now, Posey will have a player option to be a FA. So if we don't have the SF position figured out by then, we might be able to bring him back. And even if we did and we signed a guy like Simmons, I would love to bring Posey back anyway and get a swingman rotation of T-Mac, Simmons, and Posey going. That would be a great infusion of athleticsm, which something that we're surely lacking right now.

 

I agree with m_cable.Getting Simmons with the MLE might be possible . A PG or PF would be more difficult.

 

Do we have the MLE? DIdn't we use like half of it on Sura and half on Ward? I'm not sure..

And I would love to have Posey back. Wouldn't he be quite old too? Yeah Tmac, Simmons, and Posey would be great. I really doubt Mobleyc oming back but yeah I'd sign him if he didn't ask for too much..actually I'd rather try to get Simmons..then Posey..then Mobley..I wish I knew insiders lol.

And Bobby Jackson is a good player and is a good energy guy but I think he's getting old..like JJ. We already have a lot of old guys lol. I'd still love to have him right now though

I still think we should try to draft someone to develop..and try to move some of our crappy contracts like Mo and Spoon..

Boki..just say bye to him he was okay on offense but his defense wasn't that great.

 

I think the ideal PF for the team is Ben Wallace instead of Okafor. Okafor will be great though.

 

I would rather have Okafor cuz he's younger and taller? Ben is good too. I wish we could get one of them but that's not possible. Ben is main piece of Pistons and OKafor is the frachise player of the Bobcats. I wish.