The Rockets can contend for the championship this year if they can trade their chips for a major upgrade to one position. My vote is for SF. But, any position except Center can take a big improvement; Scola -> Bosh or Amare, for instance. It will take several trades to turn our chips into that player. We're not going to get, say, a Chris Paul by giving them 3 first-round picks plus Bud plus Hill... they'd want one of our top players, such as Martin, plus stuff. Then, we'd want to upgrade SG again. Anyhow, in order to have all those trades done by the deadline, we need to do what we can NOW, if possible. The right trades are not just laying around, waiting for us to pick them up whenever we please.
they are always trying to upgrade and the goal is to get the superstar talent. While they can go into next season status quo, it won't be because Morey didn't try to get a top 10 talent.
I dont think there will be a big trade and heres why bosh-wants to play with wade amare-hates houston boozer-we already have scola bynum-always injured jefferson-doesnt draw fouls,morey doesnt want rubio-kahn wont trade him granger-indiana doesnt like brooks,doesnt need martin chris paul-seems to want ny/nets/big market joe johnson-chicago has a deal in place already,probably doesnt want to come here dirk-resigning with mavs nash-loves suns,isnt leaving,old,rather have brooks durant-pipe dream carmelo-pipe dream david lee-we have scola and yao wade-isnt leaving miami lebron-LOL marc gasol-we have yao thabeet-sucks,rather have hill tony parker-old and overrated,spurs wont deal with us josh smith-to expensive troy murphy-that isnt significant,id rather have hill/patterson anthony randolph-by all accounts gsw wont trade him beidrins-sucks balls,overrated and overpaid garnett-finished,needs to retire asap,rather have scola ray allen-lol,id rather have martin ive just about covered the entire league. we arent getting anybody.
I totally agree, but getting that top 10 talent is the hardest thing he will have done. And, I believe he is playing from a weakened position with Yao coming off of injury. All the top 10 talent available are wary of coming to play in Houston, not a single one of them wants to come here....so to me, Morey won't be able to get it done, even though he has done a brilliant job setting us up for it. The only hope is that some of the collusion falls apart and guys start thinking only about the $$$$$.....and then broaden their views on where they would like to play. DD
IMO Hill is the better PF than Patterson, now and in coming years. Moving Hill into the center position because he is not a munchkin PF will render him less effective, and fans will proclaim Patterson the better player. If we choose to shed a PF, that player should be Chuck Hayes. However, considering the Rockets' love of short but strong PFs, Jason Maxiell from Detroit should be a Rocket soon. We could play a PF at every position with more as subs.
Until something happens and is approved by the league, it's all conjecture. If someone came out and spilled that a deal was in place for the #2 pick before the draft and then it fell apart, what's the significance of telling everyone? Half the board would scream calling the poster a liar. There is always talk that could be shared... Just not the best thing to do.
Interesting you say that because that's exactly what I think is going to happen and I don't believe the horse manure that the media is only too happy to spew. No-one in their prime has ever let 10-30 million dollars go so they can play with someone else. There is no way their agents are going to allow it. No way. Bosh is the only guy with a team that says they'll work with him on a sign and trade..... Miami- no one to offer back.... New York..... no one to offer back.... New Jersey.... no one to offer back. Chicago??? they all can't sign there. Do you think their agents are going to let them roll the dice on a 3 year contract and risk 2nd fiddle designation or worse yet an injury and leave that kind of money on the table??? Let's see how player collusion holds up when 20-30 million dollars more gets laid on the table. Pro Sports is #1 a business, SHOW ME THE MONEY. Championships aren't in the same sentence until they realize their career is almost over. The owners aren't any different which is why losing Yao won't happen here in Houston as long as he's such a draw in the Asian community. The sign and trade teams with assets to offer are still in my estimation STILL in the running for most of these guys if they really do leave their teams.
All of those teams that are under the cap can do S&T for a player where a huge ass Trade Exception goes back to the other team. There is value in that, but not as good as a young prospect+ 1st round picks that the Rockets have to offer. That said, I agree that I am not so sure all of these FAs will band together and choose teams. I think once July 1st rolls around, it's every man for themselves as certain players don't want to not have a seat when the music stops. How fast will players scramble once LeBron picks his team? And if LeBron takes a long time (2 weeks) will people just "wait around with an offer on the table" just to see what LeBron does, to see if HE picks them to come with him? I don't see it.
BTW - I do think that these players are different and that there will be some collusion. I just think that at some point, one or two of them will break off and go for the $$$$.... My guess is this is what happpens: Lebron and Bosh to Chicago Amare and Wade to Miami Johnson and Boozer to NY Dirk signs with Dallas What I hope is that we do not overpay for a 2nd tier star player like Joe Johnson or Carlos Boozer. And honestly, you could make a case that there are only 3 lead dogs in this free agent class. 1. Lebron 2. Wade 3. Amare All of the others are complimentary players, IMO. DD
Well said, DD. I certainly hope that Morey is able to accomplish something big (even if he has to pay $1.10 on the dollar) to obtain a top-tier player. Given the Rockets' abundance of attractive assets, they can afford to pay a small premium. But if that cannot be done (teams aren't exactly falling over themselves to trade away their franchise players, and the free agents have this thing called "free will" to sign wherever they please), I will think no less of Morey as a GM, and I will be happy to go to camp with this roster (maybe with a minor tweak) and the potentially great future picks. This current roster can be highly competitive next season (second round of the playoffs) AND can still be re-built in 2011 if Yao is washed up. But I'm still holding out hope for a major move this summer.
I don't think Morey is going to make a move just to make a move. If we can't land Bosh, I am not so sure we just turn to Amare/Boozer. That said, when we lost out on Gortat last summer, I don't think any of us had an idea that Morey would turn to Ariza so quickly. That came out of nowhere. Morey wants to maximize value, but he also wants to collect "elite" level talent to help the team or parlay into assets for another move. Morey isn't playing "checkers", he is playing "chess". It's not all linear.
I don't disagree it may fall out just as you say but I don't think a majority of these guys are going to take a smaller piece of the pie to go play with someone else. Bosh is the only guy with a sign and trade agreement so Chicago it may be, Lakers 2nd, Rockets 3rd. Toronto still holds some cards in this game because everyone is going to offer him similar money. Same holds true for most of the others, it then comes down to yearly pay raise percentages and NY, NJ and Miami are going to have to overpay big time for any of these guys because they have ZERO assets to offer up in a trade, especially NY. In this economy that trade exception won't mean a thing as any asset besides a smaller payroll. Who is Atlanta going to get to replace Johnson, who can possibly replace James in Cleveland, Boozer is only going to get paid is someone is desperate enough to way overpay because of his past history of following the money. Amare is the only guy I see that doesn't follow the money because he appears to have had it with Phoenix. That annual pay raise percentage is a bigger player in this than most people are giving it credit for.
Too old? Barely 28 is too old? Too expensive, I could understand. Hurt much of last year I could understand. But, too old?
the problem with this team is that it has remained too silent and patient over the last couple of years. Rather than making bold moves they have relied on the health of Yao Ming and tracy mcgrady. If they want to win now, they better prove it to the fans because I am not getting season tix this year unless otherwise.
And how would the Rockets prove their interest in winning? Making "bold" moves for the sake of making a move?
