In my continued evaluation of the rox team, and with yao coming back next year, the team isn't that far from being a true contender. I'm going to say this window wiill be open for 2 yrs after this season. After that, decisions will be made on Mcgrady and we don't know how that plays out. While doing this, I'm going to assume yao and tracy will play in 70 games a yr. I'll start there. Tracy and Yao. This was billed as Shaq/Kobe 2. They have been good, but not at the level of those 2. Injuries haven't helped, but its time to see them for what they are. Yao and Tracy are 2 good players that can play great for about 40 games. I've had this argument with the yao contingent many times. I accept him for what he is and that's good. I don't think neither will get any better, but if tracy can continue to avg 21,5.5,5.5 and yao gets 20,10,2 that's cool. The key is getting their minutes down to 32 a night. I'll get to that solutution later. The role players- This position has been upgraded,but need to be further upgraded. Being honest, they rox don't have enough basketball players. When I say that, I mean they have to many specialist. They don't have enouh guys that have multiple tools. Hayes and Deke are defenders/rebounder. Head and Novak are spot up 3pt shooters. Battier is a great defender/3pt shooter and Rafer is the ball handler/ 3pt shooter. I really like the scola/landry combo at the 4 and I'm assuming jacksons contract will be moved. Lets get right to it. Head,Francis,Hayes, and Jackson gotta go. Maybe gotta is a strong word but they need to be traded in the off season. Head is a undersized 2 that can't handle the ball or get his own shot. If ur going to be like that, u need to be like ellis or gordon. Hayes is a try hard effort guy, but scola is better and is like that. I never thought once Francis lost his explosion he would be any good. People hanging on to 2k4 francis, let it go. Jackson is the only tradeable contract the rox. Upgrades- I may be in the minority, but either the starting pg or sf needs upgrading. Before anyone starts getting the underwear in a bind, let me explain. Both positions can be upgraded either by starters or bench players. I'm not going to get extreme with upgrading shane's spot, but if the rox can get a young swingman like Childress that has been comfortable coming off the bench in atl, the sf has been upgraded. I say childress because he's long at 6'8, atheletic, can handle and finish. He could get 18mins from shane and 16 from tracy. He's young and will cost u bj contract. now that's one of the strongest 2/3 combos in the league. As far as rafers up grade, I'm going to assume Brooks will be ready to get 20 mins next yr. Get yao a backup. I've already got tracy his backup, now lets get yao his backup. I'd be lying if I told you I trust yao to play 70 games, but for this thread sake, I will. I want to take yaos minutes down to 32 per night. I think in those 32 he'll have more energy and take a lot of wear off the tires. Deke has done a great job, but its time to move on. I have 2 names, elson and alexander. Elson is a mobil 7 ft er that actuall has a spot up 12 ft er and chris alexander is the d-leaguer to develop that is there as the 3rd center. I would have him to learn the rox offensive and defensive schemes in case yao misses 30 games and elson has to start. Now, I have 1 spot left on the active list which goes to the 1 st rd draft pick and 3 on the inactive list. Now the rox are bigger, quicker and more atheletic. The team also has better depth. I also would kick the tires on livingston to check his health status. He young,long,oft injured, supremely talented pg. He's ufa also. rafer/brooks tracy/childress shane/childress scola/landry/elson/novak yao/elson/alexander Any thoughts?
Two year window on this team, then renounce the Bird rights to McGrady in the summer of 2010 and sign unrestricted free agent LeBron James to pair with Yao, Scola, Landry, Battier and Brooks.
we are going to BEAST next year. we will probably be able to add another good player. we will have a year of adelman offense under our belt. we will STILL be a top defensive team. a year of experience for Scola/Landry. we are going to kick some ass next year for sure, provided we can stay relatively healthy.
I agree with most of what you said except Hayes. Hayes is a keeper. Too much production and value for the dollars we are paying him. I would expect the offseason to go this way: We offer BJax, Luther, our first rounder and include some combination of Novak and Francis to Memphis for Mike Miller and possibly Lowry. I expect BJax, Luther, Novak, and a first rounder or two for Miller with the addition of Francis to the deal and possible subtraction of Novak to possibly get Lowry. If we pull this trade, then we've solved both our 3rd scorer/3rd swingman problem and hopefully addressed the PG upgrade as well. A lot of what happens this offseason is going to depend on how Brooks develops and what is available on draft night. If we are sitting there and somebody like Chris Douglas-Roberts is on the board when we are picking, then we may just draft somebody like that. Or it might even make it easier to get Miller from Memphis for just expirings and our pick if they can get a young player like Douglas-Roberts to replace him with. We may even be able to pull a high second rounder ala this past offseason by moving down a little. Less salary, more flexibility and a possible diamond in the rough or some college senior who is a contributor slips into the second round because of "no upside", that is already a good player. If..........................Loren Woods works out.....................and that's a big IF..............then we could possibly delay upgrading the backup center spot until the trading deadline when someone like Lafrentz becomes available after being bought out. But, in general, I agree with you. We have to get another swingman that can score the basketball aplenty. And we gotta make sure our PG position is upgraded, either by Brooks' improvement or through trade to bring in somebody that can shoot/slash/score efficiently. However, I would not count Francis out as being that guy. If we include him in a trade, it will simply be for salary matching purposes and he should be available to re-sign for minimum. A healthy Francis, although not what he used to be, would still be a force to be dealt with playing off 111. Look how many wide open looks Rafer gets or how many times Rafer receives the ball with one defender scrambling to cover him. A healthy Francis takes those opps to the rim and flushes them or gets the layin and the foul. I still think Francis has something to give, don't think his career is finished by any means. In fact, I think Francis will still be playing at least 4 years from now, not necessarily at an All-Star level, but he will be knocking around some playoff team, coming off the bench and being a difference maker because of his experience and skillset. In my opinion, point guard is the crucial position on this team. We've got to have firepower there, especially if we move BJax in a trade. Rafer has to be able to continue to improve his offensive efficiency, or Brooks has to step up, or we gotta find another option. We've got to have a guy at the point that can create and score efficiently off all the doubles that 111 sees, especially since teams like to fade off Rafer with their small and come blindside on Yao for the swipe since Yao is so slow. I'm rooting for Brooks. I really think he is probably the answer as long as he is a worker and dedicated to improving his game. He's got the skillset and ability. It's a matter of if he applies himself. This offseason will tell me a lot about his work ethic and whether he is going to make it big time in Houston. Will he take off and vacation for a couple months then come back to some rec league and knock around for a few weeks before training camp or is he gonna get on a program and work it all summer long and really learn how to play the point in Adelman's system in order to make the jump to rotation status next year? We saw glimpses this year. I really feel with a full year and a good offseason under his belt, Brooks is going to come back much more confident in what he is to do and when he starts playing without having to think all the time, look out. He's just as unstoppable as Monta Ellis. One thing is for sure. We don't need another 6'7" to 6'9" big man.
your wrong. the team is fine now, bobby jackson is playing great as a reserved vet coming off the bench, the only thing i think we need is a beter backup center, and your elson is a bad idea, not athletic enough, we need more of a samuel dalmbert type player to back up yao, he will also fit into the offense alot easier. Everything else is great, I really think with a healthy team, we can get to the finals within the next 3 years. Mcgrady and Yao are really unstoppable when there healthy, then add 2 dominant PF, Rafer and bobby jackson are great spot up shooters, and battier is a lock down defender, keep novak and hayes..francis...i dont think we will need him bc we got 2 great pgs and also AB...deke...is getting to old Rockets have a very very high chance of making it to the finals, just compare us to all the western teams....only SA or PHO or LAL really have a chance keeping up with us.!
U need to go rehabing or something, that's so stupid... Plus Rockets will keep Francis, who is just injured badly, he can make a good comeback, nevertheless Houston will be Gasol-ed in this upcoming offseason...
Ya, you are completely wrong. Now we are like the Spurs and we don't need to make any changes. Go away.
I also like the idea of trading Head and like Novak for Mike Miller backsups... AB bjax mike miller landry/scola samuel dalembert type player.....i feel like im missing something....
I just wanna finish off this year with this team.........Its a cinderella story really.......next year it will be a "New sherrif in town for texas" we will be beastly baby
Next season the beast will get its head back and possibly a new tail from the draft or from the free agent list. This beast will be be ready to the beast of all beasts and ready to put KG back in his cage where he belongs. LEEBIGEZ Yao will get much better if we have a Playmaking Point Guard.
Some of u need to come out of fandom. Yao nor tracy plays great long enough to be considered great. Either they get hurt or just sustain a dominate level of play. I here the poster talk about a playmaker at pg, but yao isn't a roll and finish type of guy, but mcgrady does spoon feed yao about 3 times a game. The only thing that holds yao back is yao. I don't think he go into every game with the mentality of dominating the opponet. The same mental handcuffs tracy has yao has them too. I knew any offseason thoughts would conjure up mike miller. I like miller and he's a really good shooter, but at one point do we get guys that can slash and draw fouls? I look at players that can attck the basket and finish. I'm not asking people to agree about childress, but watch him play and picture him in those creases. Not to mention he's like 24 and won't cost u 8mil.
We would have been a title contender THIS YEAR if Yao was healthy. So we are fine if we don't change a bit next year, IF Yao is healthy in the playoffs. I am hoping Harris will become the needed depth behind Battier. Brooks is still an unknown to me. He hasn't done enough for me to say that he is our future PG. And Jackson is probably not going to stick. So is Francis. So PG upgrade is the most urgent. Why are we saying this every offseason? Even after Rafer has played out of his mind for a couple of months straight?
If you don't think we need an upgrade at PG, think about this. During the streak (about 1 1/2 months), Rafer avg'd about 17 ppg 7 ass 2 to a game shooting 43% overall and 39% from 3. When Rafer had these numbers, the Rockets were close to unbeatable. The problem is that Rafer will NEVER avg these numbers in a season. That is by far the best he has ever played in his career. We need to bring in a guy at PG that can CONSISTENTLY shoot those percentages (which if he is an avg shooter, shouldn't be that hard considering the double teams Yao and TMac command so often).
we have two injury prone superstars. the real question isn't as general as whether the Tracy/Yao experiment can work (bless Magic Johnson, but he's got popcorn on the floors to consider). more pointedly, its whether they can arrive in the playoffs healthy with a seeding that'll smooth the championship along. luv both players but if you're considering breaking them up, why only consider trading Tracy? haven't tabulated the missed games but bigger athletes have issues too. nothing would please me more than getting to the promised land with our current cast. talent isn't our greatest obstacle ...
I agree with most of what you say. I like the idea of having a forward who can attack and finish,Childress can also shoot. Brooks is a backup PG/SG but won't be enough even with Rafer around. We need a PG with some size who can play in the half court, run the fast break and shoot/defend.This is the biggest problem that we have in my opinion. I entirely agree with you about Yao and Tracy,they are no Shaq/Kobe and frankly I never thought they were ever going to be able to replicate them. Both of them are injury prone and Yao needs a good backup with height who is faster/laterally quick,tough and can defend/rebound as well as put up a few points.His current injury is of enormous concern to the team.
Can we save the retooling in the off season threads for the off season? I'm enjoying what we're doing now.
