Before people on this BBS start jumping out of windows because the Rockets aren't offering the full MLE to guys like Corey Maggette or trading for Ron Artest, we should all take a step back, take a deep breath, and realize the following: 1) The Rockets are 12-0 with Yao Ming and Luis Scola together in the starting lineup. How quickly people forget that the Rockets' season took a serious swing to the upside after Scola was (finally) inserted into the starting lineup. After a close loss to the Jazz in Scola's first start of the season (at C, in place of an injured Yao), the Rockets took off with both Yao and Scola playing together in the first unit. Scola's skills mesh perfectly with Yao's. Playing with Yao for a full season, I expect Scola to put up fairly decent numbers (likely around 13-14 ppg, 6-7 rpg) in regular starter's minutes. When Yao went down, Scola (along with T-Mac and Rafer) picked up a HUGE amount of the slack in his absence. With Yao back in the lineup come October, the Rockets will have a very solid starting unit, capable of finishing with a top 5 record in the league in 2008-09. 2) The Rockets don't NEED Corey Maggette. While a bona fide third scoring option would be nice, the lack of such a scorer is not what is keeping the Rockets from achieving playoff success. It has been the lack of effective ballhandlers and playmakers outside of Tracy McGrady and Rafer Alston. There is a reason why those two (along with Battier) end up playing way too many minutes during the season. When both are out of the game, the offense comes to a standstill. Luther Head is an atrocious ballhandler. Bobby Jackson is better feeding off of another playmaker. Aaron Brooks was not ready this past season (and may not be ready for another year or so). That is why, despite his advanced age, Brent Barry is the perfect free agent for the Rockets to pursue, especially given the team's salary cap constraints. Barry is a two-guard with legit size (6-7) who can knock down three-pointers at a high clip (43% this past season, 40.7% for his career). Just as important, Brent is capable of handling the ball and, occasionally, making a play or two with it. Remember, much of Barry's time in Seattle was spent as the team's starting PG opposite Ray Allen. Brent Barry would give the Rockets significant flexibility in its rotations. He can come in and play SG minutes behind T-Mac. He can play in the backcourt with Bobby Jackson, Aaron Brooks or Luther Head and take on more of the ballhandling responsibilities, enabling the other guard to focus more on scoring. He can play the swing spots with either T-Mac or Battier. He can even play some SF in a small lineup. Yes, he's 36-years-old; but he's still able to play at a high level. And, as Jonathan Feigen rightly points out, he bridges the gap for the Rockets at the backup SG/SF spot for the next couple of seasons until Donte Greene is ready to become a major contributor and (hopefully) that third scorer. 3) The Bobby Jackson acquisition should pay dividends come February 2009. Daryl Morey knows what he's doing. The reason for the Bonzi Wells-Bobby Jackson trade (and, to a lesser extent, to Kirk Snyder-Gerald Green trade) was to give the Rockets assets they could use at the trade deadline this upcoming season. While it is possible that a great trade could present itself at some point this summer, chances are that the better deals will come in February, as teams decide to blow up their rosters and clear caproom for the summer of 2009. When that time comes, the Rockets will have the following assets to trade: --The expiring contract of Bobby Jackson (~$6.1M) --The expiring contract of Steve Francis (~$2.6M) --The expiring contract of Luther Head (~$1.9M) --An approximately $2.3M trade exception (from the Bobby Jackson deal) --An approximately $917k trade exception (from the Gerald Green deal) Of course, this list doesn't even count any of the young players drafted by Morey or any draft picks. Give Morey some time. He should be able to at least add a quality rotation player with those assets. Maybe not this summer, but with enough time to integrate any new players before the playoffs. All in all, the Rockets are a very good team. Right now. This is a team that won 55 games, many without arguably its best player. Let this combination of veterans and young players continue to mesh, with a few tweaks here and there, and I think that Houston will have a team that can make some serious noise. Even in the playoffs.
agree agree agree this is why we sign Barry and resign Landry and build off the fact this is year #2 with this staff and year #2 with the same rotation plus Barry minus Head
Bogus, we are soft team without a consistent 3rd scorer. Scola, Landry, Chuck, and Dorsey are undersized PF's that will not get us past the Boozer of the world. Also, we're relying on Yao and Tmac not to get injured. We're also relying on Rafer at the point. That's absurd at best. As I've said before, please do not roll out the same team as last year and expect a different result.
I agree and it seems people tend to forget that we played the Jazz pretty competitively without our top player. As others have said health is all we need this offseason.
This team is still a competent backup PG (or starter and let Rafer backup) and a scoring swingman away from contending. Having Yao and Tmac healthy is the most important thing but even with both guys in the lineup I don't think this current team gets out of the West. New Orleans will be better, SA will be better, Dallas will probably rebound and be better, the Lakers will be unreal and Portland has no limit to how good they can be. The Rockets need an infusion of youth, scoring and talent and they need it now to be contenders.
our pf situation used to be a position of great weakness now if you talk about the 4-5 position we are in great shape Yao/Deke/Dorsey Scola/Landry/Hayes/Harris(maybe) and btw Hayes played as good as anyone has played against Boozer
Good point. But Scola also wants to ask this question: How many games will he have the luxury to play together with Yao in the front court next season? I say 20 in the regular season and 0 in the playoff.
if we do decide to sign brent barry, we're gonna also need to sign another guard to our roster in case tmac does get injured b/c barry being 35 years old means he is no longer prepared to receive constant starter minutes. i suggest the rockets show major interest toward roger mason jr. b/c of the fact that play both PG and SG, our production at PG wont decrease when we trade Bjax and this gives us a reliable SG which would allow us to trade luther head
I pretty much agree, it would be nice to add 3rd scoring option to this team, but on the other hand I wouldn'y move Battier. When he is healthly is is able to knock down 3s consistantly, and what is the most important thing is his defense. It is nice to have guy like him. I belive it would be good too to add some scoring ability to the bench, I mean a player who can create shots for himself and can get to the ft line. The only thing I would really change is pg. Maybe Rafer's not that bad, but we need a point guard who can become a real playmaker and can play well consistently in the season and in the playoffs and of course can make the opponents' pg play some defense. But what this teams needs is health, health and health again. Even without any changes when healthly we can still be contenders and I strongly belive we can win it all. But forst of all we gotta have healthly Yao and McGrady playing 82 games in the regular season + playoffs.
GREAT POST except for one minor problem. We do need a major change.....MEDICAL STAFF... Idk what it is but our guys seem to always get hurt for some reason... as for #3. IF and thats a BIG IF....Steve Francis shows that he is injury free i don't see us trading him..Aldeman thought he would have been his starting pg when we first signed him..this training camp he will have alot to prove and just might push rafer for his starting spot. Maybe not right away but im sure as the season goes on we may see some changes just as we saw with Scola and Hayes
I agree, this rockets team was pretty good last season. If we stay healthy and get some role players to contribute consistently, that might be enough to push us over the edge or out of the first round. Brent Barry could be that consistent role player.
Mostly a very good OP. I totally disagree with point #2 though. This team needs another scorer in the worst of ways.
nicely put! I for one have not forgotten how good we were last season. People forget that it took three months for the team to gel. The rest you have mentioned in nice detail in your post.
Really like those first round exits, aye? Without more size, shooting, and durability the Rockets will never beat the Jazz in a seven game series with or without Yao. To make matters worse, probabilities suggest that either Yao, TMac, or both will not be there. I think Morey is aware of these facts and is working to address them. The stand pat position is thoroughly unappealing to me.
I mostly agree with this post. Except i do think a 3rd scorer would help. I believe the only reason we had a 22 game streak was because rafer acted like a 3rd scorer, landry too on some occasions. However, if we do pick up a third, we need to make sure not to ruin the chemistry, which is one of the things we have going for us here. One of the major things.
agree with most things you've said: however...a PG upgrade is needed! whatever u argue, we need a better starting PG. and we better get one this offseason so the team can gel because the ones that come in feb will be totally lost on the court in adelmans system
The OP didn't say we couldn't use a 3rd scorer, he just undervalued the importance of getting one, IMO. Other than that, you make very good points. Several players stepped up offensively during the streak, including Rafer who was playing much more consistently. It just goes to show you how different this team would be with a PG that had some real consistency on the offensive end. We don't want to undermine this team's chemistry.
Well Said!!! I totally agree. However, I would prefer another athletic type of wingman but Barry would be a definite upgrade over Luther. And if Dorsey gives us anything this year, that would be gravy.
