I was thinking that since Rice is definately gone by next year,Piakowski would take his place. If you look at the clippers situation like I have: 1.Brand- He was *told* they would keep the nucleous in tact. He wants to play with Odom/Maggete and good players. But recently,Miller has been offered a HUGE contract from the Nuggets and the clipps will NOT match. Odom has been rumored to be offered only 24 million from Clippers,while Pat Riley will offer ATLEAST 60 million over 6,and possibly even max money(80 million) to steal him away from Clippers. You have the Utah Jazz offering Maggs HUGE offer ,more than Mobley. I dont think the clipps will match him either since they might replace him with a much cheaper Quention Richardson. So the way I see it, Brand CAN NOT be happy. No way. He will be surrounded by a bunch of scrubs forever. No way he wants to stay. He has to good of character to publicly say anything. I expect a Sign and trade real soon. He is friends with Francis,likes Ming(who doesnt) and has seen and played with Pike man. I would guess that Houston would be #1 on his wish list. We still can offer Mobley/Grifin/Rice/picks for him and plug Pike into sg or Steve and go get a vet pg like Marc Jackson Francis/Mark jackson Pike Boki Brand Ming 2.Odom- he has PUBLICLY this week stated he HATES the clippers. He DOES NOT want to play there even if they KEEP brand. He wants a max from Riley or just 1 one year tender from Clipps to leave next year. We have Rice gone,so maybe we can sign him next year. Also, he was in Miami wednesday arrived that morning stateing he will STAY for a few days,to definately get a deal done. What happens just hours after he arrives in Miami? Posey leaves and we verbal sign Pike man(another friend of Odoms). Odom and his agent then mysteriously leave Miami with out a deal whatsoever.I think somethings up with us. So now you have literally an entire team cast they Odom loves. He is friends with Mo taylor. And Steve. And Pike. And would like Ming. And played college ball with Mobley in practice at RI.He played in the rookie allstar team game with Steve and they had great chemistry. And he has good chemistry with Piakowski also. The media (like oielipere,DOC,and espn insider and Kevin Mchale) are saying how we intended to KEEP posey all along and also trade for Spreewell. I think we offered Mobley since Posey would be the sf. we wanted: francis spreewell posey griffin ming But it didnt happen. But atleast the rockets and JVG want to try to run and gun. The next dude on the list would be odom. I bet we are offering something,I just dont know what.Sterling needs to reach the minimum salary for the year. He NEEDS to take back salary instead of letting Odom walk to Miami. Rice would expire this year and we can throw in Griffin or Mobley.And picks since Sterling likes picks. Pike is not a splash. Les needs to do something or else he will again have low attendence like the last 3 years. JVG can only go so far. We need more talent.Theres a reason why all the fans and experts predict the Suns ahead of us. They have 3 stars. Amare and Ming are almost equal(non-rox fans would pick Amare in a heartbeat) Steve and Starbury cancel each other out Who do we have to cancel out the allstar calibur Shawn Marian? Nobody. We need a third star, dallas- finley,dirk,nash,maybe even lafrentz kings-webber,bibby,peja spurs-duncan(basically 2 stars in 1),hedo,parker lakers-kobe,shaq,malone,payton wolves-garnett,spreewell,cassell,wally,candi suns-amare,starbury,marian
Neither of these things are really possible, but I guess its nice dreaming. Btw, any fan with any basketball sense takes Yao Ming over Amare Stoudemire. Besides height, he is way more polished in his game, and doesn't have to rely on his pure athleticism to get his points. Plus, he has better court sense and passing ability as well. The fact Amare got ROY over Yao was a joke plain and simple, to put it bluntly.
I've said it once, and I'll say it again. The Rockets organization has got to be one of the most tight lipped bunch of people in sports. Anything that may have "leaked" to the public was done so intentionally. I wouldn't doubt it if there was something huge in the works. Lets wait and see.
Brand can't be traded for what? 90 days now, or until december 15th - and even then he's a BYC player. It'll be a b**** and a half to make that trade work, and involve a third team. 'Tis a pipe dream. And Amare doesn't compare to Yao. He deserves comparison when he can a) Play any defense at all - he's horrid; b) go left on offense. Going right and jumping really high is nice, but it's a one trick pony.
I don't know, but if Lamar Odom wanted to play in Houston he will be here for sure. I know he has lots of friends here (Mo Taylor,Mobley,Francis,Pike) but alot of things must go right before this could happen. He first has to come out and say ethir clippers sign & trade me to Houston or I will go to Miami and leave LA getting nothing at all, or he has to say make it happen with Houston or i will just sign 1 yr deal with clipps and just leave as a freeagent to Houston nxt year. I really beleive something is in the works because How does Lamar Odom not sign a deal worth 60-80 million in Miami? I'll tell you it's because he was waiting to see if Houston was going to match the offer sheet for Posey, and Houston didnt sign it so Rox must have came to conclusion that if they were going to pay that much for Posey they could pay that much for someone who they really want (Odom). Eric P. isnt the only thing the rockets will do, yall must be crazy if you think Les will go into a new arena with Eric P. as the starting SF. JVG really wants someone who can run with Francis and Mobley and who can control the game and play some point forward type role thats why he tried his hardest to get Spree here but it didnt happen so know it's time for plan B. ROCKET FANS WHERE IS THE FAITH? this really isnt a pipedream it's a business decision, and Lamar Odom is very possible. BigRay
A sign and trade involving Rice is conceivable, but unlikely. They may want some cap relief with Brand's monster contract, and especially if the Clips match for Maggette. They might even throw in WZZ or Chris Wilcox. Sterling loves Odom, or at least he did, but he won't be willing to shell out THAT much cash. Then again, like I said, it's unlikely.
Just picturing Piatkowski clubbing with Lamar Odom and Elton Brand brings tears to my eyes in laughter.
So a team needs 3 stars to win a championship? Or does it take a star to guard another team's star? It seems to me that a defensive presence is more helpful than having another star on a team. Ex.) Bruce Bowen was able to harass Kobe & Duncan, Robinson did the same to Shaq. Ex.) Dallas cannot defend anyone in the post. A healthy Webber and Divac were able to destroy Dallas. Dallas will not win without some solid D in the front court. No way is Lafrentz considered a star, especially as foul prone as he is. Phoenix is in the same boat as Dallas. The Timberwolves are now a top team b/c they have size down low. If Olowokandi can play better in a couple of years with that team, the Wolves will be right there with the Kings. A team has to have a defensive presence to negate the other team's strong points. That is why the Spurs and the Lakers will be the top 2 teams for the next couple of years at least. The Kings knew this, and tried to get Brad Miller to help out on Shaq. This addition will keep them at #3 team in the league, but as long as special players like Shaq and Duncan can dominate and their respective teams have defensive players like Bowen, Ginobili, Payton, and Kobe, no team can challenge in the NBA.
Really? and you know this how, by the fact that they both enjoy long walks on the beach, sunsets, puppies, and the musical stylings of Hall & Oates? Oh, I see now.... Anyway, as long as we're fantasizing, how about if the rockets sign Albert Einstein's DNA, then we can genetically reengineer him and he can build a time machine to go back and get Bob Cousy in his prime to be the pass first pg that is desperately needed; somebody run this through realgm and see what the veteran minimum for a 47 year vet like Cousy willl be...
If Yao becomes a dominant center....then we can talk. Our future is based on Ming. Who can't agree with that? If Yao is medicore....... Then maybe there will be a big splash...only out of desperation. The Rockets future hinges on YM becoming a true superstar. Odom and/or Brand will not be Rockets. You heard it here first.....or 50th. Wait...newsflash... I heard next year, cos of signing pike...we will land Brand and Garnett......yeah, thats it...thats the ticket... Focus all your vibes on Yao becoming the premiere Center in the league. It's the only way for the Rockets to get a championship.
Guys I just don't see anything coming right now in trades or sign and trade deals... I really don't think we are going to make any moves UNTIL the trade deadline... Some team will want to take Rice's last season salary and by then Jeff Van Gundy will know what players he can work with and which ones are not going to work in his scheme(meaning JVG can't get them to play his style/way)... Watching them play under Rudy T is hard to judge how they will play under him because they have different styles/ways... Also playoff teams will want a Cato or Mobley for the playoff push... I just don't expect any more moves other than maybe adding a vet. PG or vet. SF(yeah I know you have Rice but I just can't see us going into the season with Rice and Boki as our only 2 true SF's unless Hawkins at 6'7 is going to play there) to the team some where... So guys like MoT, EG, Cat and Cato should be alright at least for now... Its a wait and see time right now, In my opinion.. Not that big on Odom... Where ever he has been, he has caused or had problems... In college and in the NBA... One thing is try not to get caught up in what all these other Western Conference teams are doing... Some are just adding players for a year or 2 like the Lakers and other teams will have to resign the players they have traded for in the next year or 2... We are not going to win a championship next season but in 2-3 years(hey guys its reality-we are still a very young team) we should be in the mix, no doubt...
