Now that Rudy is out, does Doc Rocket's riddle hold true? Will we still go after a point guard from the East and a power foward from the West? Sorry if this has already been posted.
Won't the new coach has a lot of say on new player acquisitions? Maybe the riddle is rendered useless now?
the only changes i would expect this offseason are: 1) signing larry brown 2) resigning james posey 3) maybe a journeyman banger pf that's about it. there's no way i can see a new coach coming in and immediately trading players he hasn't even coached. especially if it's larry brown. he's seen some of the best that cuttino mobley has to offer, so he won't be immediately trading him. griffin is too young to trade without first trying to get him to buy into the "brown" system. other than that, what do we have to trade? larry's going to want to coach these guys before he decides they can't work in his system. and that makes sense.
I have to think that the Rockets will at least add one more guard to this team in the off season. Moochie has been a HUGE disappointment and this team needs a backup PG in the worst way to give Francis some rest time. Posey was never really used at backup SG so that position is left open as far as I am concerned. I think we need to look there as well. We need at least one backup guard to be in our main Rockets "rotation".
With brown we will likely get a utility guard to back up both the 1-2 and probably a banger for the 4 spot. Only roster moves I see coming..
With the Bulls possibly offering Posey MLE..and the fact that LB passed on him in favor of KT..If Brown comes..Posey goes...
My guess is that Mobley stays, and Griffin and Rice's expiring contract are the trade bait. We need a additional point guard that can see rotation minutes, and a PF that can play good defense.
I think so..The pf no problem..The pg.. big problem! Most of the guys available arent much better than Moochie.
JBC, what makes you think that larry brown (assuming he gets the job) doesn't believe eddie griffin can be that good defensive power forward? zzhiggins, the rockets can, and probably would, match the MLE offer of the bulls. we have posey's bird rights. that's not saying that we'll offer him the max or anything close to it. all we have to do is match the MLE offer or go a shade over it. bruce bowen signed a 3 year, 11.22 million dollar deal with the spurs. posey, imo, is every bit the player bowen is, plus some. offering him about 4.5 mill (about the MLE) over 3 years is definitely reasonable.
oh, and we can draft a combo guard/point guard. in fact, i'd predict that posey is a) resigned b) slated to start at small forward; and c) will backup the 2 guard cat could conceivably play 10-15 minutes per game at the point guard spot. the minute breakdown could very easily look like this francis: 38 mpg - at the point cat: 38 mpg - about 10 at the point, and 28 at the 2 guard posey: 38-40 mpg - 20 minutes at the 2 guard, and 20 minutes at the 3 that leaves about 28 minutes available at the small forward spot. boki, tmo, and rice can easily split those minutes...depending on who is here (rice) and who is playing well. you may even see griffin at the 3 spot. the assumption people keep making is that j-po cannot play the 2 guard. i think that's false. he handles the ball well enough to do it, and if he shoots like he did the last 2 months of the season, is good enough to do it, as well...especially if we have a 3 that can knock down shots (rice/boki/tmo/griff). brown will roll with what got us this far, then tweak as needed throughout the season.
Not really...someone please explain to him. I want to know something new! Where in the world is Doc Rocket?!?
Logical reasoning... Last season, Cat blatantly refused to pass the ball in to Yao. If our point guard doesn't want to pass to our best player, dont you think that it will cause problems?
1st Yao was far from our best player. He potentially is....but as his touches increased , his effectiveness decreased. Cat was not the problem..
fatman510, zzhiggins makes a great point. i'll add to it: cat has proven to be our most malleable player. any role he's been asked to do, he has done it. i won't recap the different roles he's accepted since being drafted by the rockets, as i assume you already know them. but i would not bet against cat being able to perform as a point guard for 10 minutes per game, especially when he used to do it for 30+ minutes per game. do you remember what the #1 criticism of mobley was his rookie year? that he did not shoot enough as a point guard.... define a role and the cat becomes a chameleon.
what doc said in conjunction with feigens report on payton...i wonder if payton may have been the east pg...if rudy stayed..he fits the veteran criteria too... that would have made one fine 3 guard rotation with payton...the distributor/defender francis needs...and payton is good enough to force cat to the bench where he belongs as 6th man.. but looks like hes probably headed to LA now... http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/sports/feigen/1924094 as a side note..i see jon barry maybe available... http://www.detnews.com/2003/pistons/0305/26/b03-174360.htm
