We traded for Shane and targeted James were clear moves trying to build a contender in the very near future. Unfortunately we missed out James. We let Wesley and Bogans walked as they don't seem like part of a championship team. Yao and Tmac are our core. Shane could be our best role player and can be a starter for a championship team and these 3 are locked for the next 4 years. Rafer and Juwan can be very good backup and Rafer can even be a occasional starter. Head has good potential and is a good trade asset, he can also be a good backup. Hayes is fine as an energy booster and 12th man. A 6’9” sharp shooter in Novak can always be a trade asset or firepower off the bench. We now had 8 members for a championship contender. I remember reading an interview of Les and CD sometime ago that they mentioned the Rockets would go over the cap only if they can get something significant, which means going over the cap is not impossible. Looking at the moves the Rocket made lately, they seem to be very careful and waiting for a chance. What if we go over the cap and sign Bonzi Wells or Al Harrington? How about Drew Gooden? Who will be available FA next year? I am pretty sure that the Rocket management is trying to win a champion with Yao and Tmac! Just wait and see. Our time will come.
Going over the cap isn't as simple as just signing Bonzi Wells or Drew Gooden for whatever they ask. You might want to acquire some basic understanding of how the NBA cap works before you start making threads. The Rockets can only offer more than the MLE in a sign and trade and they don't have many assets another team would want to take on in return, making a sign and trade worth more than our 4.2 million dollar TE pretty unlikely.
I have no clue how we could possibly sign Bonzi. The guy made like 8 million last season and we just do not have that kind of money available even if less did want to spend it. If there were something CD and Les could do to sign him then I would be dancing in the streets. I still think Banks should be signed because he is young, athletic and can shoot. He would be one of the very few commodities on the Rockets. As of now we have TMac, Yao, Battier, Luther and possibly Alston. Howard may or may not be a commoditie but he is so old that I really doubt anyone is still interested in him. But who knows since PJ Brown was just involved in a trade as old as he is. A back court of Banks, Wells, Head and Alston would not be bad at all. I just don't see how we could make it happen.
In response to Les and CD going over the cap, CD also said he wanted to get younger and more athletic but proceeded to trade away Rudy Gay and Stromile Swift. And then for less than market value. So take what they have said with a grain of salt.
And I am pretty sure that the Rocket management have their heads stuck up their butts. Sadly, I would highly consider doing this trade (but I doubt the salaries would work out).
I agree -- assuming we could magically acquire two starting-caliber players this off-season. Unfortunately, that's probably not going to happen, so it looks like both Alston and JHo will be starters. Which also means our bench becomes instantly way below-average. Even if T-Mac and Yao avoid injury and have great years, that doesn't get us past the first or maybe second round.
I find it funny that you talked about a championship contender then I saw you keep using 'backup', 'occasional starter', '12th man', 'bench', etc, to describe most of the key players we have now.
