BrooksBall, thanks for the insight, the move makes perfect sense now. As a new GM for a Rocket team still devastated over the first-round debacles the past few years in the playoffs, what move would I make to win the hearts of Rocket fans? Bring back Francis! I hope Francis can pan out seeing it shouldn't be about money anymore since Portland's paid him 30 Million to leave. The past GM did the team no justice over the last few years. So this move should win him some approval ratings. I didn't even come here to talk Pistons, but someone mentioned our deteriorating roster. We won when our window was there. All you could ask from them was another championship which they failed to do, but how many teams can take advantage of that window and manage to get 1 ship when they have it? I never liked getting Webber and getting mortaging our Youth (ie: Okur, and Milicic) for Vets like McDyess, Webber, and Wallace, but our GM did what he had to do to win now and not end up like the Rockets former GM whoever he was.... We'll still be competative, but at least we won when it was our time.
We won twice when it was our time too. The move wasn't made to "win the hearts of rockets fans" you imbecile. The move was made in light of assembling the best team available with the available pieces (in this case FA pool). Rockets family no doubt wants to progress out of the first round. GM Daryl Morey and front office felt that with SF on board, they would have a higher chance to progress deeper in the playoffs. So you see, this move was made to enhance the roster rather than solely appease the fans.
My original point was that several teams use perimeter PF's. Aside from DAL/PHO, CHI, SAS, GSW, UTA also use small line-ups for stretches and rather than forcing Hayes/other PFs to defend against these perimeter PFs, the new roster could allow us to use Battier in these situations. To clarify, I agree that Battier should not be day to day PF but used only for matching small line-ups...
You are correct -- we'll see. Obviously the fans excitement here is irritating to you. Why not wait until the experiment fails before needling? ...maybe the thought that it might just pan out is also troubling to you... but as you say... "we'll see", eh?
it seems like our window is larger than yours. you already closed your window apparently. ours is still open
Too many ifs, huh? You mean like "IF I was the Pistons GM, I would have made that low cost/high risk move it was available to me"?
2008 vs. 2004 Yao '07 >> Yao '04 Francis '07 <= Francis '04 McGrady >> Mobley Battier >> J Jackson Hayes >> Mo Taylor Deke >> Cato Scola >= Weatherspoon Head >> Piatokowski Tsakalidis >> Padgett Wells >> Braggs Novak >= Nachbar M. James >> M. Norris Lucas 3rd >= M Wilks A. Brooks >> M. Jackson Now THAT'S what I call franchise-building!
cool comparison. when you look at the team this way...you see quite a bit of improvement in 3 years. funny how only two people are consistent
Did you see Nachbar play last season? He was a significant contributor to the Nets. Some people were even throwing his name around for 6th man of the year even though that was stretching it. Plus, Nachbar has quicker feet and a better handle on the ball allowing him to drive to the basket and finish. If you haven't seen them yet, check out some of the dunks Nachbar layed down last season. He was on SportsCenter on more than one occasion for those strong finishes. He is also a much better defender than Novak due to his quicker feet and greater experience. So... Nachbar >>>>> Novak You were way off on that comparison. Also, if Scola is not better than the version of Weatherspoon we had in Houston, you might as well keep him in Spain or Argentina. Scola should be much better than Weatherspoon was in houston. So I will go out on a pretty strong limb and say... Scola >>> Weatherspoon I would also say that Head >= Piatkowski. Neither of them can do much else other than shoot 3s and they were both defensive liabilities. I will give Head the slight edge due to his youth and quickness. Please don't jump on this point if you are a Head lover because, in the end, we all love head... hahaha...
I forgot to mention, Nachbar is also a very good 3pt shooter. That may be the only category where Novak may one day prove to be better at than Bostjan.
boki has had more time to mature and work on his game... give steve time, his pure shooting talent will eventually get him on the floor.
I am giving Novak time. That wasn't the point. I was responding to the claim somebody made that Novak is better than Nachbar. As of now, it is not even close. Nachbar was a 6th man of the year candidate in some eyes. For all the reasons I mentioned before, Nachbar is by far the better of the two. I believe that will also be the case when their two respective careers are over. Please think about the point I was making before you respond next time. We were talking about now not the future and I was responding to a totally different point in a totally different discussion. Take a breath, use your brain cells and try to comprehend the entire discussion before you waste your time with an aimless comment.
I'm assuming he is comparing the 2004 Boki, who did nothing for the team when given a chance. Boki no doubt has contributed more since going to the Nets and is a decent talent, though I don't consider him being more than an average NBA player with an above average 3pt %, considering he is playing in the extremely weak east. That being said Novak hasn't even earned average NBA player status yet I agree that Scola should be >>> than Weatherspoon based on what we know to this point, and I consider the Scola signing significantly more important than the Francis signing at this point.
Good point. I overlooked that I should have been comparing the 2004 Nachbar to the current Novak. However, even under that comparison, Nachbar quickly became known for his hustle play back then, in addition to his ability to shoot, which is why he was able to get more minutes than Novak did last season on a roster that was much weaker in the frontcourt. Nachbar is also quick for his size unlike Novak. I like Novak's shooting ability but he has a lot further to go to develop enough secondary skills to earn playing time than Nachbar did at the same point in his career. Novak is intelligent and has a good attitude but I don't see him ever having a role similar to that of Nachbar's current role in the NBA because of his lack of speed and poor footwork. In my opinion, Novak is a classic case of a great college player that simply does not have the natural physical attributes to transition to the NBA game. I see Novak as another Piatkowski, at best. Does anybody in here truly believe that Novak will ever be even an average defender? Seriously, get past your infatuation with his shooting skills and ask yourself that question. If so, please help me see how this is possible.
hey, had a quick question. can someone explain to me why the blazers bought out francis contract? why didnt they just trade him for someone else? or release him? might sound like a dumb question but im not really sure
the only teams that would take him would probably only give bad contracts in return. and they cant keep him because they want to develop there younger talent. there are a few other reasons but those are the main two probably.
The reason the Blazers accepted Francis in that trade was because it allowed them to dump the much bigger contract of Zach Randolph, who was the plague to them. Randolph's contract was much too big to buy out and made the $30MM paid to Francis seem like chump change. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, Coach Zeke has learned nothing. He still accepts longer term, more onerous contracts in exchange for shorter terms contracts. The New York Knicks remain the NBA's official dumpster for bad contracts.
