Keeping both Alston & Battier is standing pat and I don't want to see that for next season. I'm beginning to warm to the idea of trading for Calderon. Both Calderon and Ford are now demanding to be starters through the media Alston, Brooks, Head, and/or Hayes is the Rockets best package. Except with Alston, Sam Mitchell becomes a trade-blocker. That's the major workaround. Jackson would be unwanted in a S&T. http://www.thestar.com/article/423237 Coleangelo would like to trade Ford yet Ford has had frightening and recurring back injuries. The next one could bring the worst kind of bad publicity and possibly a lawsuit if he's hobbled or worse for life. With those concerns and taking his contract into consideration is Ford even tradeable? The Heat are reportedly interested in Calderon and could trump the Rockets with better offers.
LOL I just posted about this on the last page. The Heat aren't really in the position to say we will "definitely" make the play offs. The Rockets are in a better position to do that. Calderon is a restricted free agent this year? correct? In which case whatever he is offered in FA can be matched by the Raptors? right? I need to go back to Blath's list of all the FA's in the state of the Rockets thread.
Calderon can say whatever he wants, but Toronto can still match any offer. If he leaves it won't be via free agency.
I think the Rockets might have to give up Battier to get Calderon in a sign and trade. Replace Alston's name with Battier in your trade package and sign Maggette, JR Smith, Artest, or Piertrus to replace him. That's a tough decision, unless Artest becomes a Rocket. Then it's a no brainer
This is interesting. I really like some of your ideas and think a few of them are definitely worth pursuing. That said, I think that if the Rockets made all of these moves they would completely fall apart. Adding Artest, Tim Thomas or Ricky Davis could work. Adding all three would spell disaster. Especially when giving up great locker room/hard working players like Battier, Alston, and Landry to get them. This move would completely destroy the current philosophy/culture/chemistry (whichever term you prefer) of the Rockets. I agree it needs to be tweaked because it wasn't enough. Especially considering the health issues of Yao and McGrady, but adding the volatile Artest, the lazy Thomas and the selfish Ricky Davis... It just isn't worth the gamble. Not to mention, we saw very clearly this year that this team just doesn't go without Alston so I'd be incredibly reluctant to part with him unless we have a clear upgrade in line. Even then, I'd try to keep Alston around as a backup, because we thought we had acquired two clear upgrades over Alston this season and look how that worked out. That said, I'd still support the deal for Artest - though I doubt they'd accept it. I expect they'll still want Brooks. If not, they'll want Landry. I'd also be fine with the Jackson for Dooling move, though I hope they can use Jackson's expiring contract to better effect. I would only be interested in Ricky Davis for the MLE (and even then for only 2-3 years) if the move for Artest doesn't happen. I think one talented headcase is more than enough. Instead, I'd look at guys like Josh Childress, Kelenna Azbuike, Matt Barnes, Mickael Pietrus or even Boki Nachbar (Yao and DaDakota would be thrilled!). At least one of those guys should be attainable because with Childress, the Hawks need to resign Josh Smith and all three of the rest of the guys are on the Warriors. After the Warriors extend Monta Ellis, I'd have to guess at least two out of three of those guys are going to get to walk. Boki is an unrestricted free agent. The moves for Mihm and Mbegna sound good, but I'm not sure the Lakers would just give us a serviceable backup for a TE. Mbenga for the LLE could also be a good move. I thought he played his role well in Dallas. Now for your finale. I know you stated everybody would hate that trade, and I'm glad you at least realize that, but do I ever hate this trade. You obviously have a much higher opinion of Tim Thomas than I do. You call him a proven playoff performer, but unless my memory fails me, he performed in a contract year, signed his big deal and then hasn't showed up since. He's one of the biggest under-achievers in the league. He came into the league with All-Star talent, but he's always been satisfied to collect his checks and then do the absolute minimum to keep the checks coming. I would hesitate to add him to our roster for a few expiring contracts, much less trade away our starting point guard and most promising young player for him. Not to mention, getting rid of Alston without bringing in a playmaker of equal or greater value will nullify any progress we make with a back up shooting guard in terms of reducing the load for McGrady. Without Alston, McGrady has to become our primary ball handler too and we have all seen how that wears him down. It is one of the biggest reasons he had no legs late in the first two games of the playoffs but was much stronger in the 4th quarter after Alston returned. And of course our whole offense just moved much more smoothly with Rafer playing. My proposed solution? Keep Alston and Landry instead. I think we're fine at power forward once Yao gets back to give them space to work again.
What we need to do is get T-Mac to look at some Kobe game film. While watching Kobe the other night I noticed that when Kobe gets double teamed, he relishes it. He seems to welcome the double team and either try to create a shot for himself by going to the hole and when/if that doesn't work he finds the open man by either dishing it off or kicking it out. That doesn't give the defense enough time to fully adjust because the paint is crowded with offensive threats. T-Mac on the other hand allows the double team to move him east to west and backwards. He then gits rid of the ball after being pushed beyond the 3 point line. In turn it allows one defender to stay back and keep guarding him and the rest of the defense to shift around. If he could take that double team and go towards the goal, the defense woudn't have enought time to shift. The last couple of years I have been noticing this. For a while I thought T-Mac may not be able to dribble that good to his left, but I realize that is not the case. I am concerned that he may have lost a step due to injury because in years past McGrady would definitely attack more when double teamed. With the lack of scorers on the team, he cannot back down to double teams. He must trust his teammates and keep trying to make things happen. Or it will be 1 vs. 5 like LBJ is playing now against the Celts.
You are right, I am disappointed, but not just in this year's playoffs. I am disappointed in the last thirteen years. How has eight teams and and actually more in the West been able to assemble such talented teams from top to bottom and the Rockets are still fielding Yao and TMac (when they are healthy, which is rare) and a boatload of developmental players. A few are a cut above, but the starting lineup this last fall was ridiculous: Alston (can't shoot, a bench player on any other team in the West, Hayes (cant shoot and doesn't start for any team in the NBA), and Battier (hardly an offensive force and doesn't start for most teams in the West). Compare this group to any other starting lineup in the West or East for that matter. Morey is mainly here to keep this formula going, except to not pay the goofy, bloated contracts that CD did for undersized, unathletic, low-end talent. The Rockets will never be a true contender until they can match the talent that is on the real contenders in the West. I don't think Les is willing to do that.
You are falling victim to the hype machine. That starting lineup last fall may have looked bad to us, but they were the most efficient in the league. Also, ask a fan of the Nuggets or Hornets if they think their team is stacked from top to bottom. Heck the Hornets for a great deal of their season had Ryan Bowen coming off the bench for a lot of minutes (remember that guy everyone called a scrub here). It's all about perspective. I can understand frustration, losing in the first round isn't what anyone wants, but don't believe the media hype machine either. Just because they aren't big names doesn't mean they can't be an effective part of a good team. All those Lakers guys that Kobe is raving about now.. he was complaining about last summer. It's all about perspective.
I understand the "whole is greater than the sum of the parts" theory, which is illustrated by this year's Rockets and Nuggets. Position for position the Nuggets were far superior talent wise to the Rockets, but, together, they weren't that good. The less talented Rockets were clearly better. But not better than the Jazz, Suns, Lakers, Spurs, or Hornets. Look at it this way, would you rather have a group of lesser talented players playing over their heads, or a group of more talented players playing over their heads? In the final analysis, talent wins out. I believe that Les is a basketball dummy: he overestimates talent, he overestimates Yao and TMac, he overestimates the supporting cast. Since the big win streak he is probably even more delusional. The late season trade with N.O. was clearly a business move, not a commitment to the playoffs. What this team needs more than anything else is more talent and a new owner.
That is entirely possible, but he's not the only one who is making the decisions. I am guessing that they were shopping around for someone who knew Adelman's system and could back up Rafer. Bobby Jax fit that mold perfectly. The fact that we got rid of the albatross of Mike James contract was a bonus. Bonzi was inconsistent and it was hard to find playing time for him when everyone was healthy (or I should say it was hard to give him consistent minutes when everyone was healthy). So trading him, and his expiring contract was in our best interests. Maybe it is about finding that fine line between a business and entertainment, but I think they are doing a pretty good job of keeping the standards high within the limitations of the CBA, even if it hasn't worked out to playoff success.
Go for Calderon! This is what Calderon said recently in his blog. http://josemanuelcalderon.com/indexEN.html "As of today, the Raptors would like me to continue, however until the 1st of July we will not know anything about the possible renewal or other offers from teams interested in me for next season. What is clear is the fact that if I have to choose between a sports offer versus an economic offer, I will opt for the first. I want to be a starter and to be in a team that aspires for everything. Of course I will not be on a team in which I cannot be an important contributor nor if there is not a solid structure or if there are not options to be in the “Playoffs”.
I totally agree with what you are saying.There is nothing that can be done about the salary cap problems but he is not the type of owner who has ever gone for a 3rd star player and even if he could he probably would have settled for more role players. This isn't 1994/95. Dream was an incredible player,he could do more than Yao/Tracy put together. The old formula isn't working. We need scorers and shooters who can defend.
Hayesfan, I enjoyed debating with you: reasonable, civil, and reflective is always good. And Saleem, thanks for the support. Truely, the business/entertainment balance is an issue, but the best owners are huge fans who like us, want it all.
Here is why I say he's a proven playoff performer: Playoff Stats Click on column header to sort Year Team Lg G Min Pts PPG FGM FGA FGP FTM FTA FTP 3PM 3PA 3PP ORB DRB TRB RPG AST APG STL BLK TO 1998-99 MIL NBA 3 60 23 7.7 8 18 .444 7 12 .583 0 2 .000 4 8 12 4.0 1 0.3 1 1 5 1999-00 MIL NBA 5 142 77 15.4 29 59 .492 14 17 .824 5 15 .333 6 18 24 4.8 10 2.0 1 4 1 2000-01 MIL NBA 18 479 203 11.3 64 143 .448 53 65 .815 22 51 .431 22 59 81 4.5 29 1.6 9 10 21 2002-03 MIL NBA 6 191 107 17.8 36 78 .462 23 32 .719 12 21 .571 8 21 29 4.8 8 1.3 3 6 8 2003-04 NYK NBA 1 22 12 12.0 4 10 .400 4 5 .800 0 1 .000 1 4 5 5.0 3 3.0 0 0 2 2005-06 PHO NBA 20 636 302 15.1 108 220 .491 38 49 .776 48 108 .444 16 110 126 6.3 25 1.3 18 8 22 Totals * 33 894 422 12.8 141 308 .458 101 131 .771 39 90 .433 41 110 151 4.6 51 1.5 14 21 37 The number don't lie even when he wasn't in a contract yr. Its not like I'm expecting tim thomas to be the all star, but I'd rather look at his skill set, production and benefit to the team. Adding a guy of his size, atheletic ability, shooting and ballhandling creates great scoring and flexibility to the rox attack. Walk with me on this one. Say the Rox play the Jazz. On the court we have Dooling, Tracy,Artest,Thomas and Yao. The Jazz have their starting 5. By design, Okur matches up with Yao and Boozer on Thomas on defense. When dump it to Yao, everyone has to stay home because of the personell on the court. Even if they don't and a pnr happens between the wing and thomas, now boozer is matched against a guy that ca put the ball on the floor, shot the 3 or pull up from midrange. Even simple plays like the ` cuts the rox run off the pf at the elbow extended is defended differently because thomas is like a sf in a pf body. So when they throw him the ball at 16 ft and boozer is on him, he can turn and face up and triple threat boozer. If Boozer flattens out to help in the post, well he just left a 40% 3pt shooter. He gives the rox flexibility like Horry and rasheed do with their respective teams. This matchup for 20mins a night is a huge matchup problem for teams in the playoffs. If Mcgrady needed to go out and Davis wasn't playing up to par, u can play him at the 3 along with artest, yao, scola, and say brooks or dooling. Its all about matchups. He didn't set th league on fire like his skillset suggest, but he's a very talented and skillful player. His contract isn't bad and he can definiely help the rox.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/...YSA050908.07D.BKNspurs.notebook.e144b536.html If the above happens. Maybe the Rockets have a chance at Childress after all? IIRC Hayes was Lindsey's pick and because of his rebounding was calling him a future All Star.
Okay. I like your case. Still, I can't see offering more than expiring contracts and a second rounder or something. If he can be had for that, you've convinced me he's worth the risk. Hell, maybe the rest of our hard-working guys would rub off on him instead of the other way around. Even conceding that, I can't seem to shake the feeling that'd it would be Bonzi all over again.
Not to belatedly butt in to you and solid's conversation, but I want to point out that it also took the addition of two starting-calibre players - Fisher and Gasol - before Kobe began raving about the rest of the roster. Hustle, effort and chemistry can't be underestimated, but neither can talent and size. In some ways, I think the Rockets are in a similar position as last year's Lakers. We definitely have more overall talent but not by that much. It's not like I'm expecting a Gasol-type trade but still, we need to get someone this summer who can make a serious contribution, IMo.
I agree that those additions made the difference, but let's be honest they didn't have to give up anything to get those two guys. We thought we were getting what we needed with Stevie, Mike James and Bonzi... but it didn't work out that way. That doesn't mean that the organization isn't trying to win a chip, it just means that Fisher and Gasol worked out better than what the Rockets tried to do. I don't disagree that there is still changes to be made, I just disagree that they aren't trying.
Point guard situation is looking good for the Rockets early in their offseason Baron Davis' agent didn't make any progress with an extension with the warriors and may opt out. Plus, I think the rift between he and Nelson is bigger than they make it seem. Jose Calderon may be the one shipped out afterall. He has a lot more value than TJ Ford. Bosh needs another scorer to help him on the perimeter instead of a jumpshooter. Ford is more of a scorer than Calderon as Calderon is more of a jumpshooter. Would you sign Baron Davis and trade for Artest? or Would you trade for Calderon and sign a Maggette/Pietrus type wing scorer off the bench? (Battier would be the main piece in the Calderon trade)
