The team as constructed is another first round exit. A trade of only 1 player, an MLE signing and the #25 (if kept) barely treads water. Apart from the assumption of health, you are placing far too much emphasis on your Jazz-hatred and Streak 22 and it's blinding you to how tough the WC really is. Brand and Oden will be back, POR adds a Lottery pick, the Kings finally got healthy and were +.500 for the last 6 weeks...the Lottery-bound Kings also have the ability to SnT Artest, PHX gets Atlanta's #15, SEA or MEM could end up with Derrick Rose...the Hornets are young and formidable (and will probaly KEEP the productive Wells)...the Grizz have about $13m in cap space when Kwame comes off their books...the Lakers will have Gasol for a whole season...Duncan and Parker still make SA fertile FA-signing territory...in spite of crash and burn, the Mavs have talent and Cuban isn't afraid to make moves... I won't comment on "sanity" but if you think small tweaks are all that's needed...maybe "reality" will not be so kind.
LEs also said "never say never" in this business....i don't think TMAC would be traded but if it happens, it wouldn't be a complete shocker
Tmac gets one more year cause if he don't get it done a 20 million dollar expiring contract . . . that's gotta be worth something good Rocket River
Unless rebuilding (which we're not), there is not one free agent or Player tradeable by another team even close to the capability of Tmac. Agent Zero, Elton, Brand, Michael redd, etc. none of those guys. TMac played 66 games last year, i'll take it. Along side a healthy Yao (god Willing!) and maybe a third scorer we can acquire, you cant give yourself a better opportunity than that. My level of respect for tmac sky-rocketed after this last series......and Wes imply cant get BETTER by trading him.
McGrady? No way. Next Season is too big for us to make a trade now. Especially our role players. People here need to understand that the Rockets were very dominant before Yao went down with an injury. If Barkley and Kenny both say you're gonna be trouble next year, the rockets will be trouble next year. Lets wait before trading big pieces like McGrady or Battier. Battier has been our defensive specialist. Who knows what could happen to our defense without Battier. Battier is one of the reasons we're still a top defensive team after JVG is gone. If we're gonna trade, BENCH ONLY.
Sorry, but I'm here to stay. It is the first thread I've started though, so give me a break on this one. I'll do better in the future.
Luther Head's gotta go because his shot isn't reliable in the playoffs Chuck Hayes should only stay if his role is reduced and minutes cut drastically and his salary is too cap friendly to unload. Rafer Alston in my mind should not be the starting PG but getting rid of him would create a need for a starting PG and a more experienced backup PG than Brooks which might be hard to come by for a team that's at the luxary tax level, and has little to offer of value to get improvements for Alston. Almost every team in the west who made the playoffs have a better starting PG than the Rockets accept for maybe Dereck Fisher of the Lakers not being a pure PG but his shot is much more reliable than Alston's. I would never give up Novak and would try to develop his game and his weaknesses. I would love to see Bobby Jackson stay but at a much lower salary if that's likely.
Who said the west would get easier next season? I said I don't see any major moves being made this offseason. There are 28 other teams, and the chances we get a Pau Gasol, or even a Travis Outlow are slim and none. After Artest, the only real chances we have to improve are through the draft, and maybe just maybe we might get a Mike Miller salary dump type deal before the trade deadline. I like our chances with this roster fully healthy. It all comes down to matchups and a little luck.
Time to retire for Dikembe Mutombo. Also Rockets can sent players like novak, jackson, hayes to upgrade roster.
