Does anyone else get the feeling that once McGrady punked out on the team and did what he did that management just gave up on the season?? It was like, "Well, we can't do anything great now that we have lost T-MAC!! Let's give up on the season." I honestly think that the Rockets would have improved now that McGrady is out of the picture, but with this deal, I am not so sure now.
We had an incredible shot of getting out of the first round. Even without McGrady, we easily could have maintained this current .600 pace, locked up a 5th or 6th seed, and played hard with Portland, Denver, Utah, Dallas, San Antonio, NOH, or whoever we had to face. You tell me we couldn't have taken Portland? And then another one of those teams? It wasn't a high probability, but with consistency and no drama, this team had a legitimate shot at a conference finals berth. I love Aaron Brooks, but we all know we have unbelievable instability at point guard now.
You are the thick one here. If you want a run deeper in a playoff then you need a championship caliber PG. Why do you tell people not to use the argument that Rafer isn't one?
Our likely first round opponents are the Hornets, the Trailblazers, the Nuggets, or the Spurs. Does anyone actually think Rafer would change the outcome in our favor of any of those series? Just looking at those teams, I feel sad again, is it another first round exit this year?
I won't reason with someone easy to sling out personal offensives and with a fourth grade brain power. Happy?
You are such a baby, Why don't you re-read the posts to see who slung the insults first. If you can't take the heat, get out.
why is everyone so down on this trade? The Rockets got rid of an over-rated 32 or 33 year old point guard who is on the decline and thats it. When he was hurt and out with that hamstring injury Brooks did a wonderful job filling in. We only traded away one person. Last year Artest, Wafer, and Barry weren't on the team. I honestly think McGrady will be back later on during the season. He is not going to go through that surgery. No way he goes through that surgery knowing that next year is a contract year for him. He goes through with it and who knows the time table it will take for him to get better knowing that he doesn't really rehab correctly. Rafer can easily be replaced. Also with this trade I think we are able to have another large contract or something like that. People are going to be waived and we can pick them up. I'm sure we can get a combo guard to back-up brooks and use them as the back-up. We are 33-21 its not the end of the world guys
Deals can be approved after the deadline as long as they were submitted to the league office before 3 p.m. -Marc Stein
oh wow that's great. So who knows there still might be another trade happening. I guess we all just have to wait later tonight or tomorrow morning for the smoke to clear.
Bottom line is we already had Brooks, so it wasn't about Brooks vs Rafer when evaluating the trade. They could have easily kept Rafer and started Brooks if they really wanted to. As much heat as Rafer takes for being replaceable by "any one", he has managed to win the starting PG role every year he has been here. As far as national perspective, the general rule is that the player mentioned in trade headlines is the best talent involved in the trade, and the head lines read: Magic aquire Alston, not Rockets aquire Lowry. So the only thing I see this doing if the trade goes as described, is getting younger. According to 610 radio, salary wise the two players make the same as Rafer, and their contracts are longer... I don't think the trade ruins the franchise or anything, but I do think that too many fans here get caught up in scoring numbers and under appreciate what Rafer brought to the table both defensively and in actually running the offense with a solid assist to turn over ratio. Pretty much anyone here would take an upgrade over Rafer gladly. It's just at this point it looks like we got a down grade in return, and it's hard to understand why we bothered.
we were after caron butler!!!!! http://blogs.chron.com/jeromesolomo...02/post_80.html Any idea on what the Rockets were offering for Caron Butler and any idea on what the Wizards wanted? --------------------------------------------------------- Supposedly straight up for Artest. The Wizards didn't want anybody. They weren't interested. I'm sure if you brought up Yao Ming, they would have been interested, but that would have been stupid. Posted by: NIM at February 19, 2009 06:19 PM
I agree with you completely. The Rockets have gone from "win now" mode to "win a little bit later" mode. Prior to the deadline, Morey did say that some of his trade proposals are part of a bigger plan to bring in a real impact player down the road - like how the Bobby Jackson trade led to Artest. I think this trade is one of them. I expect they'll use the rest of the season to evaluate Brooks and Lowry, and may make another move in the summer.
Season just begun! At least we know whose on the team for the rest of the season. I can do the same on NBA2K9.
