New Pops to the Rox rumor (UPDATE: Confirmed Rockets reach verbal agreement)

[rquoter]
Hi Jonathan:
Can you tell me who the hell is pops? Do you think he will provide a little surprise (like Von of last season)to the Rockets? Thank you

(He is a high-energy player and a good athlete. He does not have a lot of offensive skills. He rebounds at a good rate and can finish if he plays with someone that can set him up at the rim. In a lot of ways, he is similar to what they hope(d) for Dorsey. -- Jonathan)
[/rquoter]

Never watched Pops play, but in 283 minutes last season he had a 23.5 rebound rate (higher than anyone else that played more than 200 minutes):

Code:

[B]Rk    Player               Age   Tm     G    MP       TRB%[/B]
1     Pops Mensah-Bonsu    25    TOT    22   283      23.5
2     Joel Przybilla       29    POR    82   1952     22.8
3     Dwight Howard        23    ORL    79   2821     21.8
4     Kevin Love           20    MIN    81   2048     21.0
5     Marcus Camby         34    LAC    62   1925     20.7
6     Samuel Dalembert     27    PHI    82   2036     20.6
7     Marcin Gortat        24    ORL    63   794      20.3
8     Andris Biedrins      22    GSW    62   1863     20.2
9     Greg Oden            21    POR    61   1314     20.0
10    Andrew Bogut         24    MIL    36   1124     19.4

 

Saw that one too...

I really like how Pops play and IMO he is a good combo for Landry backing up Andersen and Scola off the bench. My guess there will be another Morey magic in the works but it will not include T-Mac. Morey may be looking for an athletic SF that can finish fastbreaks or a reserve PG or a starting PG. And here are the reasons why:

athletic SF: I don't see Chase nor Taylor coming off the bench for Ariza and Battier early in their career, They will need a SF guy who can run. If they do not make a move for a wing player, that's an idication that T-Mac will be playing before 2010.

reserve PG: Sessions maybe? I don't think so...if it is him though I'm guessing that Lowry will not get extended or may be included in a trade for Sessions. But if it's not Sessions then they might be looking at a reserve PG for injury back-up.

Starting PG: Morey said they are looking for more of an uptempo 2nd line-up, with Pops and Landy plus Brooks going full speed off the bench that will be a very fast line-up. So, if they can get a passing PG who can start (Sessions?) then the team is set to make some noice.

Why I am saying that there will be another Morey magic? here are the reasons why:

1. Expiring contract of Cook and Barry
2. A waivable James White contract
3. Steve Francis trade exemption about to expire
4. Joey Dorsey's market value may have increased from the summerleague.

Either any of these assets will be utilized for another SF or PG as the best case scenario, OR, worst-case will be for roster space and future draft picks.

 

V.3, so your going to tell me a computer is rigged to put the lakers at home a lot early?Do you know how scheds are generated? Here is how it works. Teams submit open dates for their stadiums or venues a faceless computer generates the schedule. Once again, the league is not pro La. People like to play for La because the strive for the ring every year and have the best management in hoops withouta doubt. No one told Charlotte to trade Kobe to the lakers.No one in the league offices told them to do it either. What was kobe going to do? He couldn't go to college because he was already in the draft. Its not models or sunshine that attract players to La, its the idea of every year is our year. If the league wanted them to win it every year, why did detroit and boston beat them recently? Why didn't they win the lotto the year the drafted Bynum whom they didn't trade for kidd or some other declining role player like some other team did ?

I like Pops. DD and I were asking for him to be added a couple of yrs back, go check posts, but he's another 6'8-6'9 guy. I brought up Amir who fell out of favor in detroit because he's young, a shot blocker, and he 6'11. I don't know where you got 6'9 from, but its cool. I'm just saying if we didn't have landry,dorsey,scola,and hayes, pops would be cool. If we had yao and deke, he probably would be cool, but we don't. Like I said , maybe there is a bigger plan for a players or group of players. I guess we will see.

 

My guess is that they are still rather iffy about Dorsey (you can only tell so much from summer league) and got a similar player (who is also still untested) for cheap to see if either one of them is worth keeping. Who knows, maybe the competition will light a fire under one or both of their asses.

 

They are kinda clone except dorsey is stronger and probably will be a better shot blocker and defender. Both will have to be finishers at the basket and on the break. We might actually see some passes over the top or the infamous alley oops this year. Its just all the guys play the same spots.

 

I think it is Significant other.

DD

 

Its time to bring back the alley oops,the high flying dunks and the swaggar.

 

Yeah, I think computers can be rigged. You're either too naive or too stubborn to let that enter into the equation. I'm leaning towards stubborn because no mater how wrong you are you think otherwise and use other outside excuses to give merit to your opinions. You said you don't trust Wiki, well let's just say you have alot in common with Wiki on your bball takes.

Uh yeah the league would prefer big market teams with big market stars to win. Forgot about TV ratings? Merchandising? You really think Stern wants the Kings and the Bucks in the NBA Finals? And how do you know for sure no one told Charlotte to deal Kobe to the Lakers? That's just your gut feeling, doesn't mean much. If you think Shaq signing with the Lakers had nothing to do with the location and the aura of being in Lakerland, then you're in denial. Can't help you if you ignore the obvious things. And as far as Detroit and Boston, the Lakers did make to the finals, right? I didn't say the NBA outright fixed games for the Lakers to win, which has *never* happened before...

To recap, using the Lakers to habitually point out the Rockets shortcomings is kinda ridiculous. They have arguably the best player and stole Gasol for trash. Please let me know where we can get the best player in the NBA and get a topflight frontcourt player for a song, unless you think Ricky Davis and DeAndre Jordan fits that bill... The Lakers have always been in title contention because they had the luxury of having best players in the history of basketball. Let Daryl know where we can pick up a Magic, Worthy, Kareem, Kobe, and Shaq. He'll be all ears for you.

nba.com and *gasp* wiki has Amir listed as 6'9. I didn't put a tape measure to the guy personally.

 

DD, you and I was talking about pops last yr, what do you make of this signing?

 

I have wanted him for a while....I think he can force Landry and others to work harder, and makes them somewhat expendable.

DD

 

The league rigging computers right? Why weren't they rigging thee when vlade and campbell was on the front line? Shaq left because he didn't feel they Orlando was committed to winning a ring either through the coach or just management. If what you say were true, why haven't the clippers, knicks, or bulls gotten the same hookup. C'mon, put your bias aside and use some logic.

Karl Malone took 2m from 18m for what? Just like Barkely signed for the minimum so the team can sign Pippen. Why did Barkley do such a thing. Players want to be champions and gravitate to those cities that are close to doing that no matter what city it is. The lakers have been the most consistent in promising that because their management isn't worried about Lux tax or keeping guys because they're good lockerrom guys. Its all about the rings.

In all your speculation, why do lakers always seem to get lucky? Maybe some teams manage their own luck and others cry about not being so. The spurs have 4 titles and have turned over their roster since their 1st ring. They stole jefferson to right? Cleveland stole Shaq, right? Orlando stole Carter right? Teams are stealing all star caliber talent for one reason. The celts got Rasheed to sign for mle money when he said he will retire if he didn't get 8m per. Why do you think he changed his mind? Its the ring. Gasol was stolen from Memphis, do you think the rockets couldve put a package together to get Gasol or do you think stern got on the phone and told the grizz to trade him to La?

I mean, the whole La conspiracy stuff is crazy to me. I've seen them struggle from 92-95 because the guys they thought were going to make strides like divac,campbell, and jones didn't take off. I remember west talking about by yr 4 you can tell if a player is going to elevate or flatline. Once the guy flatline and he's suppose to elevate, its time to get rid of that guy. Go look at the timeline in which he got rid of Vlade,campbell,jones, and even Battier. The gifted know when to get rid of players before they're stuck in mediocrity. The lakers in that span upset the sonics who were a 3 seed, but they still had the gumption to say we need more and this group isn't giving it to us. That's why we see them not being down long despite only being in the lotto 1 time in their existence.

I'm a rockets fan thru and thru, but I also watch the league. I make it a point to watch 20 games of just about every team in the league yearly. Trends and players tell you a lot about what is really going on. Even when the rockets are rolling and one of these good players are bought out and availible to sign, why no one signs with the rockets? When was the last time we got a really good player way below market price? That tells you what players think about the rockets title chances.

 

So you think this is a move that will lead to another move?

 

I think all the moves this year have been that way.

DD

 

Most times without relating to my source, I can put things together, but I just can't follow it right now. I do know tracy,ariza,and brooks will be on this team till the end of the year,but after that, I don't know.

 

I think Tracy is gone....by the trading deadline.....

DD

 

A lot of people on this board is going to be pissed and I'm not a betting man, but tracy will be here this season and probably 4 more.

 

We may have to bet on that.....



DD

 

4 more years of tracy on sports sunday??

this is almost as bad as finding out about W's second 4yr term

 

You can add Yao to that list also. Les's chinese business interests overrule any personnell decisions to get rid of injury prone players.

 

I agree. Someone needs to ask morey if the artest trade last year was a medium sized move. In my eyes ron is a nice 3rd or 4th best guy on the team so I am curious if morey is loading up for another potential 4th best player on a championship team type player...if that makes sense. Basically, I am saying I can see morey haracterizing the artest trade as a medium acquisition. I am very curious how this will all work out and if the pieces of the puzzle will fall in place for another building block on this team. Even if the trade or whatever doesn't materialize we are still setup with some nice young players.

The nice thing about morey is he just continues to acquire assets and I don't think he will be afraid to pull the trigger if a major deal is out there. Finally, I also love how no one really knows what is going on in the rockets front office or behind the scenes. Who knows what will happen....