You contradict yourself throughout your post... You speak of balance and chemistry(aka final pieces for an already well constructed team on the brink of contention), then go on about overpaying costing us in the long run..? What in the world?? It's simple really... Balance and chemistry= win now Long run= talent and potential (upside) Do you see how your argument doesn't make sense, nor anyone else's that follows this flawed logic?
Management justified the Rudy Gay deal by stating very clearly, beyond a shadow of a doubt, "we're in win now mode"... It follows that up by letting Mike James (a proven "win now" player) slip through their fingers because of an extra year and a little extra incentive? To a guy they undervalued twice and traded at the start of training camp? Because..... they don't want to gamble on the franchise's future plans?? And, for the people that keep bringing up those horrid comparisons of Mo Taylor and Kelvin Cato.... and those few that go as far, or as low as should say to mention Swift Mike James= motivated Mike James= always in shape Mike James= utmost bang for the bucks he's been paid throughout his career. Mike James= capable defender and scorer Mike James is not comparible to Cato, Taylor or Swift!! And most of all.... Mike James is exactly the player you go after and GET and don't let him get away in your "win now mode", the very reason we gave up Rudy Gay and swift for ONE "solid chemistry/balance/ glue guy" over a concern about the freaking future!
7 lottery tickets... you REALLY believe Gay is a bust? most people think he will be a really good starter at worst. more like: 1. 1,500,000 lottery tickets 2. $200.00 lump sum
But isn't that the reason you are supposed to have competent people who can evaluate talent? How is it that in 2002, Joe Dumars could see that Prince was a player at 22 and CD/Rudy T had no clue? How is it that Donnie Nelson can find a Josh Howard at 29 in 2003 while the Rockets who were in the lottery that year come away with nothing because their lottery pick ended up going to Memphis? And how is it that they could pass on the chance to add a Gay or Brewer or Redick - good young players with talent -this year in favor of Shane Battier - a player they could have traded for in 2001 instead of Eddie Griffin? My intent here is not to go back and nitpick past moves (too easy) but rather to illustrate what has become a recurring theme with this organization. Now, all teams make mistakes on personnel and the draft but at least the majority manage to get it right every now and then. No so for the Rockets who are like the perverbial "broken record" in that they continue to screw up year after year after year. It's just so disheartening to see that it has come to this for a former two time NBA champion.
Mike James was a relative bargain at the MLE. You can argue about the number of years but @ ~5.5M for a savvy vet that had the year he had, I would have done it for 4 years. In other years we might have had to pay more for James and it was only the fact that there are so few teams that are under the cap that can pay him more. It's not a horrible contract, K-Mart, Marbury, Troy Murphy, Adonal Foyle, those are horrible contracts.
99% of posters on this board also BELIEVED that Eddie Griffin would be a superstar too. What people believe or don't believe makes absolutely no difference. Right now Rudy Gay's stat line contains a bunch of zeros and Shane Battier is above the league average for a SF in basically every statistic for his career. He is also a high character guy who will provide positive influence in our locker room, practice, games, community and won't ever need somebody to tell him that he needs to improve his effort. I am 100% sure that Rudy Gay will not provide all of that because he didn't do it at UConn. Time will tell the truth it always does.
Jeezuz, these comparisons of Rudy Gay to Eddie Griffin are so ridiculously hysterical. As far as I know, Rudy Gay never had any character issues to the point of beating the crap out of his teammates or trying to shoot his ex-girlfriend. I also know that Gay's overall game was better than Griffin's (mainly his ability to play 3 different positions) and that he was not a 1-dimensional player who camps out at the 3 point line. But most importantly, NO lottery pick out of UConn has ever been a bust. Hamilton, Allen, Okafor, Gordon, Butler, even Villanueva have turned out to be solid to all-star players in the NBA. And guess what? Time has told on that fact. Maybe Rudy will be the first to break that trend but I wouldn't bet on it. So I would like for people to stfu on comparing Gay to Griffin. Just because his coach (Gay's) said at one time he could come across as being unmotivated doesn't warrant that comparison to the loser Griffin. But I guess people do that to make themselves feel better that we or I should say CD didn't get raped by the Logo. Whatever makes you get through the night, I guess.
The lies of Mike James, The lies of Rockets Management will haunt the Rockets team for quite some time! I see that it is going to take the departure of CD and JVG to make a change and Morey will have to gain experience that Moneyball is not the whole picture, risk and gut feeling have a role to play. We must start to be honest with ourselves first! No more players like Howard or Bowan who have very limited abilities. We need to take chances with our younger players like Rudy Gay and have a coach who has the need to develop players and looks to the fiuture of our team [ Isn't that what coaching is all about] I just hope that this can happen before Yao Ming retires. Les will have to learn that experience has an important part to play in the running of his Houston Rockets, he needs to provide jobs for men and women instead of all the inexperience he is bringing into his management team.
Well said Yetti - Like the administration in Washington, it's not a lack of caring, it's a lack of competence and a strictly narrow view of how things "have to be" in order to succeed. They clearly take NO advice from anyone outside the organization and listen only to those who agree with them, thereby insuring their continued belief in the JVG -type player will succeed in a JVG system mantra!!! I agree that Les needs to dump everyone on his Mgmt team in favor or some old time NBA Vets and Coaches who understand how to develop talent and who have at least a modicum of offensive creativity under their caps to go along with the experience they can bring. JVG's system and outlook on "talent" are killing us in the present while handicapping the future of the team as well. Yao and TMac may well be on the downside of their careers before we finally get a decent group to surroung them with!!!
Don't say that. I'm starting to think of Hakeem after the 86 season which promised so much... I don't pretend to know what Rox mngt are thinking with their recent moves but I understand the sentiments being voiced here. If it is win now then MJ should have locked up regardless. The team needs a 3rd scorer so bad, like we all need the price of petrol to go down. The Rox' inconsistency with their aim and their actions is very frustrating!!! It will not surprise me that the Rox make the play-offs purely on the play of Yao/T-mac's (if health all season). That painful G7 exposed the Rox as a two man team. If nothing else I hope that Battier becomes 16-7-3 player and be the 3rd wheel. And prove me wrong about the management.
and in due time, i will be laughing at you and crying at the fact that Gay is dunking and dropping 3s all over Battier and the Rockets.
