4 legit title contenders: (no spurs version) Lakers = got kobe in a trade for a big back in 96, low 1st rd draft pick with Fisher in 96, trade with MIA (Shaq) to get LO, trade with MEM (K.Brown, M. Gasol) to get Gasol...rest of major talent/role players FAs. Heat = Wade(drafted after a terrible season #5 btw in 2003) knew a guy that knew a guy...got him LBJ and Bosh. Chalmers 2nd rounder. Celtics = Traded #5 and two role players off the bench to get Allen, traded #15 (not lottery, btw ), couple bench guys, albeit young to get KG Magic = awful 2003-04 season...got D. Howard. Nelson = late 1st after deal with DEN...rest of important role players acquired via trade. Bonus: Bulls = 2nd largest lottery upset in NBA Draft Lottery history, got D. Rose. Made trade with NYK to swap picks and got Noah..rest of talent via FAs for the most part. From what I can tell, these 5 teams made some trades with assets to get better, or got huge FAs. This **** is so flimsy folks...
Also...I think this roster was made for our stars. (T-Mac, Yao..) Sure, they had injury problems, but you can't predict that ****. They both had their issues, but you'd be silly to give up on those type of guys. The key for this squad will no doubt be how they react going forward without the services of the Yao they thought they'd get. (i.e. the 2009 season when Yao missed 5 games). Some of these guys on this team could be gone, as they might not fit what we may do in a year or so.
Tanking is blasphemy imo...its like flopping...I hate it! u r not a true fan to me. We r not that far away from a winning team. 1 or 2 pieces and we r there. Go away. I don't even like trades. I want my current team to win every year. I support who we have even if they suck. I loved the franchise years even when we were not good.I just wanted THEM to win. I am very loyal to our team the other players are our enemy untill they are on my team. But that is just me I'm sure.
The clippers are that way because they have literally the worst luck of any major sports franchise. I mean the Lions and Browns are bad because of bad decisions, drafting WRs every year or changing coaches every 2 years. The Clippers are just plain unlucky, that's why people really felt for Blake being drafted there because they figured he'd either bust...or he'd suffer too many injuries to make a large impact. As far as the OPs thread, it's true. People that want to be stuck with mediocrity annoy me. These "Can't trade Scola!" people like Scola is leading this team to where it needs to be. The best option for this team is to disguise tank, get rid of it's large contracts trade away veteran players that are keeping this team good enough not to be horrible and draft a superstar. Rockets need to realize you can't rebuild and want to win at the same time. Yes there are rare cases of teams like the Celtics and Heat...but realize those teams already HAD a star in place to get two more. We have 0 stars. So it's going to be hard to get one...The truth is we waited too long to trade Tmac and Yao and now we have to pay for it.
Sad thing about this team is we aren't trying to tank but we are losing just the same. I think we are in for some pretty rough years ahead.
I've finished reading this thread, and I feel refreshed, armed with gallons of new knowledge and insight.
I agree, Morey won't tank but this current team won't win either. Time to start over with new blood and fresh faces. Drafting all your stars maybe unrealistic but drafting one and then adding another through FAgency seems to be the way to go. Rebuilding while reloading is REALLY hard to do and hardly works without a true superstar already in place. It's time to reboot and take your lumps while you acquire young talent with high upside while playing the young talent you already have. Playing Scola, Shane and Chuck heavy minutes over Hill, PPat, Lee and Budinger is a no-no and good god please activate T-Will and Ish.
I said that trading is a way too, not just drafting. Oh and you really claim Bosh and Lebron as "trades?" give me a break. Free Agents. We can't get free agents like that.
the #5 picks, #1 picks are the results of tanking or sucking or being LA someone can give them #1 pick , #2 picks. If you dont have top 5 pick, you can not draft stars or trade for stars. If you dont lose, you dont have top 5 pick. The value of a top 5 pick is as good as a star player. Rockets will not be able to traded for a star player or a top 5 pick.
"no superstars" in this upcoming draft. perhaps this will make it easier for the rockets to trade up for the player they want?
Celtics already had Pierce, Garnett was acquired with players they had drafted and used the 5th pick to acquire Allen so the draft was a MAJOR factor there. Miami was a VERY rare situation and they already had a top five player in Wade...that they drafted. Lakers traded for Kobe on DRAFT day and used FAgency/Trades wisely/luckily. Dallas made an all-time great DRAFT day trade for Dirk while making good deals for Kidd, Butler and so on. Orlando drafted Howard, Chicago drafted Rose/Noah and Utah/Denver/OKC/Portland all drafted their star(s). Point being, yes, Fagency is important but a combination of drafting well and trading is key to success. Rarely does just drafting or just trading for stars work, almost never with the exception of SA and OKC.
The Rockets did not tank, they were just a bad team. During the late seventies and early eighties the Rockets had the best player in the league in Moses Malone, but they weren't a great team. The most wins we ever had during that time was 49 wins in '76-'77, and that was when we had all of our best players playing together. I'm talking about Rudy, Calvin, Newlin, Lucas, and Malone. The Rockets did make the Finals in '80-'81 season, but they had a regular season record of 40-42, so many view that playoff run as somewhat lucky. After the '81-'82 season, Malone became a free agent and Philadelphia offered him a huge sum of money to play for them. The Rockets then had the opportunity to match the Philadelphia offer or let him walk away for nothing. At this point all the Rockets best players from the 70's were either gone or were now bench players, so even if the Rockets had kept Malone they weren't a very good team. So the rockets decided to sign and then trade Malone to begin the rebuilding process, I guess this is what you consider "tanking", but I do not. The next year the Rockets only won 14 games, but they weren't trying to lose games. The players played hard, the coaches played the best players they had available, and effort was made to win games. The Next year the Rockets had Ralph and their win total more than doubled to 29, so I don't know how you can say they "tanked" that year. There is a difference between tanking and rebuilding. The Rockets had one of the best players in NBA history in Moses Malone for six years and won zero championships. They decided they couldn't win a championship with Malone so they decided to trade one asset for other assets, there is nothing wrong with that, and it is not "tanking".
The Wizards are the perfect example. The Wizards were just like the Rockets. They had superstars too, they constantly finished 4th-5th in the East and were...knocked out by a rival team consistently(Cavs...Jazz) and eventually the Arenas thing happened. Then injuries. The Wizards could have tried to roll out the same 3 guys next season, but what they did instead was blow up the entire thing and in a year they at least have a solid core to build around in Wall, Young, and McGee. They are in a much better position to be a contending team in the next 5 years than the Rockets and I'm sure a big FA like....Dwight Howard would go there over Houston...and the The Wizards could at least give the Magic good prospects back like McGee and Young...
damnit, i bet morey didn't even realize this. okay so lets just go trade for Carmelo Anthony and draft a future superstar. There we go.
When you suck as bad as the Kings, you didn't need to tank. If it weren't for the lottery, they wouldn't have the trade assets to do those trades for vets. Chris Weber-Mitch Richmond trade only works, because the Kings traded the #3 pick for Richmond. Jason Williams was selected with the 7th pick. Weber, Williams and Peja really turned that team around. If the Rockets could get 2 lottery picks in the top half of the draft, maybe they can do some magic like the Celtics and Kings and trade a pick for an established player.
It makes you sick that we want to make the playoffs? Really? Well I'm sorry, but I'd much rather try to compete with what we have and hopefully make an upgrade via trade if it becomes available than lose on purpose and inevitably end up with the #7 pick and draft an average player that adds basically nothing to our team. There are some BAD teams in the NBA, so it's highly unlikely that we would get a top 5 pick, and even if we did, the odds that we get a superstar or game-changer are very slim. A Kevin Durant or LeBron James only come around ever so often, and looking at college basketball this year, there isn't anyone even close to that level.
What about with a moneyball GM who has a cool picture that everybody posts, who constantly goes after undervalued one-dimensional players? Won't that win championships?
So you'd rather get swept by the Spurs vs possibly getting the next great player? Yes there is a chance you get a average player, but there is also a chance you get a all-time great player. Also you are not factoring in that you may get a average player but you can trade him for an all-star all because he has 'Potential' Something The Rockets don't have a lot of. Our best players are 30 year olds, What you see with Martin and Scola is what you get. They are what they are and they aren't going to just get better all of a sudden. The rest of our players just don't have much potential. The one that does have the most never plays so meh.
