I'll give the offseason a C-....really want to give it a D+ but the homer in me wont let me. Yea, Houston has gotten much younger BUT im not sure how much the "talent" has actually improved. Compared to last seasons squad I can see why the homers are so excited. Although, people also seemed to beleive that last years squad was more talentd than the '05 team. I felt this team needed to add an impact player which would've been Mike James but they failed to do so....now, their making smaller deals to fill out the roster. I still hate the trade and I dont believe in Battier as much as everyone else. That trade probably created more holes than it filled. The Synder deal was cool.....young, athletic guard with some potential is always welcomed. I dont know anything about V-Span (dont really care to know either; i'll just wait til the season starts) and I dont think much of anything about John Lucas III. I'll just have to wait and see I guess. I do hope this isn't "it"....cause im not very confident in the team Houston has as of today. This team NEEDS a PF in the worst way.
Gay isnt even a power forward. Maybe we can trade for Keven Garnett and he can solve our shooting guard problems.
We now have battier 6'8, tmac 6'8, synder 6'6 and v-span 6'4 who can all play and guard the 2 spot. I think that is plenty of size and defense (V-span still unknown on D). As for the 4, we still have a TE and part of the MLE to find someone to help with that. I wouldnt say we are just treading water. Forget about Gay and just compare who we had last year to who we have this year and I think it is significantly improved.
An A offseason would have been: Draft and keep rudy gay Sign mike james Trade for Kirk Snyder Sign JLIII It hurts me to think of the possibilities with the following core roster: James/Alston/JLIII Snyder/Head Tmac/Gay/Novak Hayes/Swift/Howard Yao/Mutumbo This makes my pee pee hurt.
Ouch. Right in the nuts. Even if we keep the Battier deal and added James and Snyder that would be a more solid team that what we got right now. Oh well. In a year or two, Yao's just going to say "F*** It" and carry the whole damn team right into title town. At least that's what I keep telling myself.
I don't expect him to be a defensive force. I'm just hoping he can rise to the defensive abilities of Bullard and Padgett at the 4 spot for now. Right now, I think his lack of bulk will give the opposing 4 the mismatch.
I could really care less because if you knew what you were doing it wouldnt take coming around you would already know that this offseason has been great. Who cares if you are "coming around".
I believe JLIII and Novak will be signed by the rockets, so the roster looks like this at the moment:- PG - Alston, VSpan, JLIII, Sura SG - Synder, Head SF - T-Mac, Novak, RyBo PF - Battier, Howard, Hayes C - Yao, Mutombo That basically leave one more spot on the roster. So far the rockets basically replaced the following:- Swift with Battier, Wesley with Synder, Frahm with Novak, Brunson with VSpan... I will say is just a slight upgrade so far this off season... Looking at this, the rockets are still questionable at PG, both VSpan and JLIII are rookies and Sura most likely is done, and PF, whether Battier can held his ground against Duncan, KG, Dirk, Amare etc and Juwan being Juwan! Definitely the management will do more to improve this existing roster!
Bowen has not officially exercised his player option yet right? If so disregard the following... Does anyone think there is any way that we can convince Bowen not to pick up this option? Maybe he can get his agent to talk to other teams about picking him up as a 15th man for the minimum. I'm pretty sure he is making more than the minimum so we could find a team that has a TE to take him on for the minimum and we can send "cash considerations" to make up the difference. We really need that roster spot because I feel we need both a PF/C and a SG/SF and only have one roster spot left assuming JL3 signs, Sura does not retire, and we do not make a trade in which we lose more players than we get. I am fairly sure our PF/C will be coming via trade considering the talent available and our MLE is only going to be around $2.5M after signing JL3 to a 3 year deal that requires using part of the MLE. Maybe these rumors about the Lakers have some substance and we can do something like Howard and Head for Kwame Brown. The salaries would match at least. This would free up a roster spot. Then we would have room to get a SG/SF and another PF/C without waiving Bowen. Then we could keep Bowen for the heck of it and if we need a real player near the trade deadline, we can waive him and use whatever is left of our TE to grab whatever as a boost for the playoffs. Alston/Kill Bill/JL3 TMac/Snyder/Sura Battier/Novak/[SG/SF]/Bowen Kwame Brown/Hayes/[PF/C] Yao/Deke
They're trying to accomodate Jeff by adding tassels and a basket onto a sports bike while trading away unneccessary gears and whatnot. I admit that their pieces fit pretty well a couple years ago, but it was only contingent on every player being on the court. Why can't JVG foster all around growth (like with a potential laden Gay) instead of being forced to promote growth when the bench is thin from injuries?
This isn't as bad as it could have been. We could've brought back David Wesley, Rick Brunson, and told Patrick Ewing and Charlie Ward to come off the bench and give it one last shot(imagine Ewing and Mutombo on the court at the same time). Truthfully if we could make a run for Jared Jeffries, it'll be a complete success. He could guard all those "mismatch" perimeter forwards like Dirk, Odom, R. Lewis, Tim Thomas and Boris Diaw.
Yeah it's gettin' better. My nerdy Rocket fantasy mind is kicking in again. We got the best player from Asia. We got the best player from Greece. Now all we need is Tracy Mcgrady to reclaim his title as the best player in America. If that happens the rest of the league is in trouble. You get the best player from Asia, you get the best player from Greece, you have the best player America, you better damn well be doing something pretty special next season. And I think they will, I think they will.
What about a 2? We're far from set as far as guards go. Unless V-Span turns into Ginobli (a small one) we still need a starting 2. I think Battier starts at the 4 which leaves Tmac at 3, so who's our 2? Snyder? Completely unproven. V-Span? Who knows what he brings. That leaves us crossing our fingers that Sura miraculously comes back healthy. I think a 2 is much more pressing than a backup 4/5. We've got Hayes and Mutumbo, who despite his age can give some good minutes. Ideally, the Rox sign both a 4/5 and a reliable 2, but priority=SG iMO.
Snyder has started plenty of NBA games. Head isn't the end of the world at the SG. Kill Bill probably is at least a year away as he transitions to the NBA, but I'm glad he's here this year so he should be able to contribute next year. Worse comes to worse, TMac slides to the 2 with Battier at the 3. Due to the flexibility the Rockets have at the 2, I expect Snyder will be fighting Hayes and the other 4's for minutes. The Rockets do need an emergency center or a 4/5 backup.
Good points. I'm just not a huge fan of Luther. Aside from becoming a smarter player, I think he's probably hit his roof. Sad to say about a second year player, but I don't see any potential in this guy. He's no good as a combo guard because his ball-handling skills are weak, and too small for what the Rockets want in a shooting guard. I think the Rockets are probably trying to move him anyway. The guard rotation is way too inexperienced and too inconsistent(thats a prediction). If Tmac goes down again...well, I don't even want to think about that possibility.
TMac and Battier will play a lot. If Snyder plays well, they play the 3 and the 4. If Snyder doesn't play well, TMac and Battier play the 2 and 3 while someone like Hayes plays the 4.
Danbury, It wouldn't surprise me if Head was moved, but every team will shy away from a short SG. My concern is that the Rockets only have Deke and Yao at the 5. Unless the Rockets go Phoenix, it will be very hard to win games when one of these guys is out with the current group of 4's.
