I love Battier's defense, but I'd rather slide McGrady to the SF spot and find a new shooting guard that is decent at defending but is not just a spot up shooter and bring Battier off the bench for sg/sf/pf minutes. That is this team's problem. If we had another option on the wing then Alston would be relegated to running the team. It is when he is the third option that the Rockets are so inconsistant. We are going to have to give up somebody decent to get somebody decent. Yao, Tmac and Scola will be the only untradeable people this summer. Anyone else is bait. This team needs an overhaul but we'll fall well short i'm sure.
He is not going to suddenly decline and become garbage in one offseason. The decline has been gradual. It's not like he is Allan Houston or Chris Webber. And he only has 2yrs left on his contract. At the end, you have a 20 million dollar + expiring.
Clutch, complaining that T-Mac took the offense from Rafer fails to mention that Rafer was hurt over that 17 game period. That was out of necessity. Let's say we trade McGrady- what could we get? Aging, injury prone players with a large contract. You want Baron Davis? That may be a possibility.
With his contract, and health situation Tracy is virtually untradeable unless Morey makes a Gasol-type deal. So the only thing we can do is just upgrade however we can: 1. Convince Landry to take the lower level exception (LLE), which will be worth $2 million. He's probably looking for a split of the MLE in the $3+ mill range, but I think 2 mill. is fair considering his play as of late. 2. Draft either a backup C or a scoring guard. Hibbert, Thabeet, Douglas-Roberts, and Rush are possibilities. 3. If Maggette opts out, then offer him a full-MLE. Pietrus would probably be my second choice for MLE money. Matt Barnes, and Diop are also possibilities. 4. Mo Williams might be on the outs in Milwaukee. Fans and media have talked about his scoring mentality, and Ramon Sessions impressive string of double-digit assist games the Bucks might just want to dump Mo's 8 million a year salary. I'd consider Novak + Bobby Jackon + maybe a draft pick for Williams. At worst Mo can be a scorer off the bench. Or maybe he can outplay Rafer and be our upgrade at point. The perfect offseason for me, considering our assets, would give us a roster of: Rafer / Mo Williams / Brooks Tracy / Pietrus / Luther Shane / Harris Scola / Landry / Hayes Yao / Deke / Hibbert or Thabeet
To be fair they were in it for most of the year in a super tough race this year, and Nelson benched him an entire half even when they were struggling so it's not like he had a chance to help the Warriors beat the Suns. On the other hand his shooting % overall in his career is almost as bad as Alston's. PASS.
You people are underestimating the ability to trade for TMAC. Teams were offering a lot more for Gasol than what the lakers stole him for. That was a money saving trade for Memphis TMAC has only 2 yrs left. This from a player who put of 23 9 13 with a injury laden team. There would be a lot teams interested. Be careful what you wish for.
You're right, but that would be the ceiling for what McGrady would fetch considering his health and contract.
THere are positives:- No longer can we kid ourselves about our team and how great they are! Morey can't get away with anything till he puts things right. Coach A can't get away with such poor coaching and player rotation We might even learn that the game of Basketball is not for midgets. We might even learn that today's game is faster stronger and bigger and is played with agression and skill. We might learn that Jump Shooting must not dominate a teams effort in any game. We might even learn that Tracy McGrady doesn't have great stamina and isnt the same anymore since his back injury. Les will be held accountable till we have a great agressive team on the court. Fans will learn to deal with reality and not to be duped by the Media. The Team might learn that while we play the bigman's game we need a playmaker. Everyone from Les down can once again be business like and no player is untouchable if it is to benifit the team. The Team might learn that the quick fix patch up player selection will not work, just like the 'Win Now Scenario' - doomed to failure. It takes two or three seasons to put a good competitive team together. Hurry back Rafer we need you on the court! Of course if you don't come back then we have our excuses already etched in stone.
Considering his knee issue and play of late. I'd consider an offer worth more than Aaron Brook's as over-paying. My free agency wish list would be 1. Josh Childress, then for under $3M, 2. Walter Herrmann 3. Mickael Gelabale I'd hope for Hinrich. Mo Williams is half of the reason why the Bucks are what they are. Redd being the other half. Zaza Pachulia is another player going through a bad year/out of favor. Especially with the Hawks having lottery picks that are performing now. Maybe Hayes+Novak+Woods for Zaza? Hinrich / Brooks / Francis Tracy / Childress / Newley Shane / (Childress) / (Harris) / (Newley) Scola / Landry / Harris / (Zaza) Yao / Zaza / (Scola) / (Landry) *3 open roster spots.
Oh, I forgot about Childress. He's a guy I'd definitely consider for the full MLE. He's restricted, but with the Hawk's ownership situation still in limbo, and the fact that Josh Smith is also a free agent, they might just let Childress walk.
The elite PGs that other western conference teams have will be locked up by their teams forever, we'll never have a chance at getting the likes of CP3, DWill, or Tony Parker... And outside of the elite western conference PGs its actually really hard to find a decent PG in this league. Developing Brooks and harnessing his speed into a lethal weapon is probably our best shot at improving our PG position... We just need a guy who can feed Yao /Scola/Landry easy buckets in the paint. For whatever reason, T-mac and Rafer have not done that well consistently. They did that during some parts of our 22 win streak, but recently they've reverted back to jump shooting most of the time.
Trade T-mac & Rafer for Okafor, Felton and JRich! Why Bobcats will do it? Because they are not going anyway with the existing groups even in the Eastern Conference. With T-mac, they get a superstar to pair with Gerald Wallace and Sean May coming back from injuries next season, they have a shot at the playoff berth. Why Rockets will do it? If the rockets were to blow up the core, T-mac will be the one to get traded and actually get some values back. No chance Les will trade his money cow, Yao Ming. Okafor will be the backup C/PF and served as an insurance when Yao goes down again(which will be highly likely) next season. Felton will replace Rafer though not as good 3ptrs as Rafer but he is a solid true PG. JRich basically replaced T-mac as the scorer and go to guy for the team though not as good as T-mac! Thoughts?
Hire a Shooting coach for god's sake........ from Steve Franchise era to now..... the Rox team just can't shoot to save their lives...... except Yao and Novak. It's time to let Head rolls out of Houston. I am tired of his TOs and indecisiveness on the court. If Rafer can't keep his shooting at the late regular season level, trade him too. Same for Hayes, he got heart and gave us everything everynight, but now we have Landry and Mike Harris. Time to let him go. Beat Scola up until he stops shying away from contacts..... he missed so many layups because he always trying to avoid contacts on his way up. He ain't Ginobili who can snake his way to the basket, so he better earn it, either making the shot or get to the free throw line (and not missing FT too). Force Yao to watch the Dream's tape over and over again. Yao is settling for fade away more than I liked and actually used much less the post moves that he showed us during his rookie year. He has to find a balance between using his post moves and fade away, or even just shoot over defenders like Duncan, I don't see him shooting jump shot much this year, it's like everytime it has to be post up and then fade away. Yao must had been focusing on his muscle too much to the point I feel his shooting accuracy and range has decreased a lot. What a waste of talents.... Try to get some taller players that actually can produce consistently..... we are too small when Yao is out to the point that we are getting owned by the Jazz so bad in these 2 games. It's so hard to watch.
Trade the loser. We cant win with 2 superstars who round robin on injuries and 1 of them is a chronic loser. Trade them both tbh.
I think the next season and the season beyond will shape if we are a championship team in the future. Personally I am yet to see a consistent Rockets team with T-mac in it other then the 04-05 Rockets that took Dallas to the brink. I mean outside of T-mac and Yao which one of our scrubs have ever come up big in a Manu Ginobilli style. Our role players have just been rotated consistently and with bad contracts too might I add. Its only in the last two years we've put ourselves in a position to move and offer decent money to free agents. 04-05 Rockets PG - Mike James/Bob Sura PF - JHO 05-06 Rockets PG - Rafer Alston PF - Stromile Swift/JHo 06-07 Rockets PG - Rafer Alston PF - J HO 07-08 Rockets PG - Rafer Alston PF PF - Scola/ Landry Please tell me what was consistent throughout these line ups other then Tracy Mcgrady and Yao Ming. The only real constant I see in there is well, Rafter Alston. Who's problems are well documented. We have NEVER had a good PF other then this year and the two we have now are rookies too. Say what you like about Scola but he is a rookie, his a rookie to a 7 game playoff series in the NBA. By the end of T-macs contract I expect us to solidify the PF position and upgrade the PG position. If we can't get close to a championship then then throw in the towel
The way i see it nothing is impossible. Pat Riley has already stated he does not know if he is going to return to coach the Miami Heat next season. You get this idea he is giving the job to long time diciple and assistant head coach Jeff Van Gundy. It seems this way to me atleast and realistically there is only 1 guy in this league that makes sence to trade for. Before the tradedeadline Jason Williams was indeed going to be shiped to Houston but this tells me Morey is in contact with Miami quite frequently. Morey so far has indicated 2 things. 1) made the right moves for the next trade 2) point guard upgrade Last season he was indeed in contact with Miami trying to trade Alston and Head for Haslem. Miami had no freaking idea that they would only be winning 15 games this season. Its has also been known that during the 22 game win streak Pat Riley has been taking notice in how we play and has indicated that the Rockets have a lot of "perfect fit pieces" comparing his championship squad up to this Rockets team when asked the question. So this tells me that Morey has something already in the works before the season even ended. Its also been known and proven that Jeff Van Gundy is in love with former players he used to coach and Alston/Battier/Head who could indeed be shiped out to Miami for Dwayne Wade because at this point he isnt going to win no ring when a team is in "rebuild mode" his best chance is to get out now before its to late and to a team that will inhance his career. If anything does happen big this offseson i do expect to see Dwayne Wade wearing Rockets red next season. When the season ends and expiring contracts are off the books this creates the room under the cap to make this trade work. Its also been noted that Shawn Marion is going to opt out and test the Market. Miami is going to draft Beasley and just start over which to me is in their best interest. So here is the ties as to why Dwayne Wade would be our new starting point guard all though he is a 2 guard can still play the point and score. He matches up to the Baron's, Kidd's, William's size point guards around the league. Miami had plans once they found out they had no shot in making the playoffs it was time to pull the plug on Wade who is set to play with team USA and rest him up i believe for the country's sake and for the Rockets sake. If it hits the media it will hit the media this offseason. Dwayne Wade when looking around the league would still be better than adding Calderon imo. He has been a forgotten man around the league. It makes sence because when talking about core players Yao/t-Mac/Battier/Scola it will appear that Wade is a upgrade over Battier in the core.
