[OFFICIAL] Rockets get Kevin Martin\Hill\Jeffries\Armstrong + 2 NY picks

Is there a video of the press conference with the introduction of the new players??

 

Wow, ur late! Its on the Rockets.com front page.

 

Work -- Work -- Work -- Then ... Catch Up with the Rockets and was looking for a short cut :grin:

 

Take good care of Carl and his teeth!

 

Morey was like a kid playing NBA Live at this trade deadline. The guy is an absolute genius. I had started to doubt him when the trade was first coming to fruition, but I will do my best to never doubt the guy again.

So, we essentially traded Larry Hughes, Joey Dorsey, and Carl Landry for Hilton Armstrong and Kevin Martin. This, I am extremely happy with, in the sense that I think Larry Hughes would have come in here and disrupted team chemistry. Not saying that Hughes is a cancer, but I just don't see him fitting with the other guys on this team. Not only that, but we didn't take on Hughes outrageous contract, and instead, got an expiring and the scorer we need at the 2 guard.

It sucks that we had to give up Landry, as the guy was my favorite Rocket, and I will miss him deeply, but reality has to set in at some point. Either Landry or Scola was going to go this off-season, I think. In trading Landry, we got value instead of letting him walk, and that value is exactly the player Morey was looking for. Hard to argue with that.

If you were to tell me that for TMac, we could get a young guy that has a ton of potential, an extra first round pick, and the option to switch picks, at the beginning of the year, I would have been kind of ho-hum on that. But the more I think about it, the more I like it. Classic Morey. We take on a bad contract, trade away a player that wasn't even playing for us, and we get a low-risk/potential high-reward guy, who people say could be a Chris Bosh-type player. We get the picks that both could potentially be in the top 10 (let's face it, I seriously doubt Lebron will be going to New York...maybe Wade, but not Lebron), and we don't get rid of our picks (technically...), meaning that not only has Morey put us in a position to make the playoffs, but he's stocked some picks for rebuilding just in case Yao can't come back. Brilliant.

Something I really like about the deal, is that it gives us size. That is something we were sorely lacking. We got a tall-ish guard, and we got two near-seven foot forwards. This team needed size desperately.

As for the Amare trade, this is where I reiterate the beginning of my post that Morey was like a kid playing a video game. He almost flipped about 2/3 of the core of his team. In doing that, he would potentially (with a re-signing of Amare) have had a contender for the next few years. He would have taken a bubble playoff team and built a budding contender, in the period of a day. Most teams that are perennial budding playoff teams, have to tear down and rebuild eventually, and it takes about 3 years. Morey almost did it in a day. I liked the deal, but I agree that the picks were the deal breaker, and I'm glad Morey didn't pull the deal. Could you imagine if he had made the trade, but kept our first rounder from this year, and with it, we drafted Cole Aldrich...

Yao/Aldrich/Armstrong
Amare/Hill/Hayes/Andersen
Ariza/Buddinger/Jeffries
Martin/Ariza/Taylor
Brooks/Lowry/Llul

That's a contender, but like I said, I'm glad Morey kept the picks just in case we need to spend them for Yao insurance...


The worst part about the deal is that I think Buddinger is going to lose a few minutes. That's my only complaint.


Morey is a genius.

 

Morey is a true numbers guy. He mitigates his risk.

We didn't trade Tmac for a guy that has a ton of potential at the 4 position, we traded him for basically 3 gambles to draft/trade or develop an all-star at the 4 position over the next 3 years.

Morey can use those picks as leverage for trades/cash as well as executing them in the draft.

That's why Morey wont do something like the Amare trade. As huge as the upside is (Amare in a Rockets uniform for years with us in the Finals). It's a SINGLE risk and a huge one. What if Amare bolts after this year? You gutted the team. Or he gets hurt. Or he simply doesn't fit in etc etc.

Morey is using risk in a progressive way like the hedge funds do. They're making billions and bankrupting America by making tens of thousands of small, smart, calculated risks. Morey is doing the same thing. Stockpiling options and possibilities for the team.