I think ideally this team needs more length and athleticism around the perimeter akin to say a Ron Harper, Tayshaun Prince, or even a poor man's Pippen to cover up the lack of quickness of Yao so he can just camp around the paint and clog it. The nice thing about the above 3 players mentioned is their length, basketball smarts, and ability to hit the open jumper. Two of them are retired, with one of them being a 50 greatest players of all time, and the only active player mentioned above is locked up securely with the Pistons. So as I said, it's not an easy thing to find players that fit that mold to really help make the Rockets weaknesses become their strengths next season.
We just need some talent, man. It doesn' even matter where it is, we just need some freaking talent. Over the course of a season, with a healthy McGrady/Yao, that duo is enough to win you 50 games, but we would get obliterated by the elite because we don't have any other talent. The elite teams like Dallas have a grocery list of quality contributors with Dirk, Terry, Daniels, Howard, Diop, Van Horn, Stackhouse, Devin Harris and then we're out there running David Wesley and Juwon Howard 30 minutes a night, even giving Ryan Bowen minutes. I can't even begin the debate on what we need most because we are in dire need of too many peices. A halfway decent power forward. Anyone who can shoot the damn ball. Someone other than McGrady and taller than Alston who can do anything. Just add players. Get the best talent you can or we're not going anywhere.
then we should look to bring in someone with Don Nelson's eye for talent. I dont know how they found long, quick players in that mold that can play SF or SG. Josh Howard Marquis Daniels Tayshaun Prince Trevor Ariza Tim Thomas Darius Miles Caron Butler Devean George Jarvis Hayes James Jones players in the TMac body type.. Long enough to play SF but quick enough to guard the SG's of the league. Atlanta has too many SF's maybe we can trade with them for a few. I know the Lakers are also overloaded with SF's so they may be willing to unload a few. J
THANK YOU! It's so freaking annoying when people say oh howard would have made the diff..what diff!?!?! after vho's injury, avery went small.. and that destroyed us. end of story.
add depth, shooting, quickness and athleticism. I'd get more specific, but the Rockets problems are entirely too general to get anymore specific than that.
Yeah, that's why the Rockets ended the season with 7 straight wins (with Howard on the injured list) and then won an additional 2 more in a row in the first two games in the playoffs. The Rockets went 12-5 after Juwan's last game. Over 82 games, that translates to a 57-25 record which means Juwan's importance is O-V-E-R-R-A-T-E-D and also means the Rockets are a better team WITHOUT him.
Getting a quality SG should be the biggest priority. What we need exactly is rare: a young, athletic GF with size that can hit the three and play top-notch defense. Sure, Kobe Bryant is taken, but there are other alternatives. Josh Childress Caron Butler Luol Deng Bobby Simmons JR Smith Hedo Turkoglu Mickael Pietrus Morris Peterson Mike Miller In my judgement, those are all players that fit that bill of being along the lines of what we need playing next to T-Mac on the perimeter and that probably are attainable. My personal choice would be JR Smith. Not because I think he's better than the rest of those guys (well, yet) but because unlike the majority of the others, I believe we could potentially acquire him without having to part with our first-round draft pick. Everybody heard about how he was almost dealt to the Spurs for useless Brent Barry. I am sure we could put together a better package than what the Spurs offered. The problem is: so could the other 28 teams in the league so there would be stiff competition but I really think its fair to assume its possible to acquire him without having to give up our pick. Now, if trading our pick to acquire a swingman was the goal, my choice would have to be Josh Childress. 22-years-old, 6'8" with long arms and capable of playing both SG/SF effectively. RIDICULOUS shooting percentages: 56% from the field (2nd in the league) and shoots close to 54% from the three! On top of that, he doesn't get injured and has a great attitude. Our other offseason priority should be to try to move Howard. I know I hate on Howard a lot and he is a good presence to have the in the locker room, but if the opportunity to move him comes along in any way, shape or form we should pull the trigger. He's regressing and makes too much money over too many years to hang on to. He's one of those hit or miss kind of players. Sometimes he's going to help you out there and sometimes he's just going to be flat-out-awful. Not what we need at PF when already have a much younger and more dynamic player in Swift already on the roster who needs to play more and have a more important role on the team as it is.
Terkoglu is an overrated shooter and a terrible clutch performer. I like the rest of the names on that list.
Re-sign: Bogans, Hayes, Wesley. Sign: Spanoulis & Eddie House Trade: Head + Hayes + Wesley + No.1 for Mikael Pietrus Draft: 1st)Splitter/Carney/Gay Skip, Sura, V-Span T-Mac, House, (2nd pick) Pietrus, Bogans, Rybo JHo, Splitter, Lampe Yao, Swift, Deke
I would like to see the following returnees on the Rockets Team:- McGrady,Yao Ming, Bogans,Alston (back up),Head (back up), Hayes (back up),Lampe (back up), Swift (back up), Mutombo (back up). Three new players needed in starting positions:- a Point Guard with defence and playmaking ability b Tall Shooting Guard that can shoot and defend. c Power Forward V.Tall and strong a taller version of Ben Wallace with a mentality crossed between Denis Rodman and Ron Artest. In addition we need to get another Center to be in training as Yao Mings back up as Mutombo will retire at the end of the upcoming season. A three point specialist would come in handy, as would a defensive stopper. Also a fresh head coach that understands the value of the bigmans game coupled with the inside outside game and serious defence.
Even if Les is willing to give out the 3rd max contract, I think we still need some luck to find someone like that available to take it.
Caron Butler did sign an extension with the Wizards- did he not? Bobby Simmons does not have size From an affordability perspective the following guys should fit well Jumain Jones Rasual Butler Linton Johnson Kareem Rush ( purely for shooting) I expect the guys we sign will not make too many waves. Frankly if Stro wakes up- all we need is to shore up is the shooting skill sets with people who can get some energy. Not really sure of Brunson- but Speedy Claxton would be nice to have ( despite his size) So for PF spot it may well be that we maintain Status quo. I really hope we sign Chuck Hayes and Keith Bogans for 3 years with Team option for the last year. Hopefully Stro will come around and play starter minutes. The last part of my wish is to find a role of Maciej Lampe- I really want to see if this guy has the long range shooting ability. Nice to have a 7 foot 3 point threat!
Tiago Splitter covers the first part. If he's anything like the typical Brazilian sportsmen in international sports he's going to be built tough and play tough.
Raja Bell. Eddie House. James Jones. Raja Bell is the best choice because he plays agressive, effective defense which is not only limited to the perimiter. He can D up anywhere, he's very agressive, hustle player, dive-on-the-floor tye guy. Van Gundy would have an orgasm over his play. Oh yeah and I forgot to mention he can spot up and shoot from anywhere, including behind the arc. Only problem is he can't really create his own shot, but that's OK because all we need him for is to catch and shoot. A Bell/Bogans SG duo would be nice on defense.
Butler did sign an extension but the team is mediocre and he was linked to some trade talk before the deadline passed. Simmons is 6'6" 228 lbs. I'm not really sure how that would equate to him not having adequete size to play the two-guard especially considering our current starter is 6'0". The players you listed would be decent bench players but not starters..... Jumaine Jones - Decent all-around player but is more of a forward. He's not quick enough to guard SG's. T-Mac isn't moving back to SG. Rasual Butler - Long, mildly athletic, good shooter. The problem is he's not very strong and I think he's peaked. In which case, I don't like him as a starter and like Jones, can't guard SG's either. Kareem Rush - Good shooter but that's really the only thing he's any good at and even at that, he's never shot 40% from 3. Terrible handle, not a good passer, lazy defender. Linton Johnson - Unproven/untested. Looks like a decent rebounder from the limited time he has gotten but is this really the kind of player you want to make your top priority this offseason?? I like your thinking here but none of these guys are impact players. None of these players will solve our ever-persisting need of a consistent 3rd scorer. We could certainly use them off of the bench, but I don't consider any of them starter material.
