Out: Shane Battier Aaron Brooks Ish Smith??? In: Hasheem Thabeet Goran Dragic 2 x 1st round picks Still Competing or Rebuilding? Do these trades give us a direction?
Yeah, they definitely went the "rebuilding" route... which I'm completely fine with. I really like the future Memphis pick, though. That could turn out to be an excellent pick down the line.
Morey opened up some potential minutes for growth guys (Bud, TWill, etc), jettisoned our problem child (AB), and picked up a couple of decent draft picks. Not much to work with, and we shouldn't suffer much in the short term. It would have been nice if Aaron's stock wasn't so low and his attitude wasn't so bad lately, but the situation being what it is, you weren't going to get anything more out of him. Unfortunate all around. Also too bad Battier didn't get to go to a contender. He's a class act and deserves the chance at a title. The Rockets are going to miss his veteran presence in the locker room.
Rebuilding, this is the exact process I was hoping for in this time of the year. Glad that Morey made another good trade this time.
Not necessarily. I don't think the Rockets have depleted the roster to a point where they aren't able to compete for a playoff spot this year. Especially with the potential decline of 3 of the other teams in the western conference playoff chase.
Hasheem Thabeet - what is his ultimate upside? Excuse me. . REALISTIC Upside. If he can come in and clog the lanes I think he significantly increases our defense I think he needs to learn to be a Poor Man's Chuck Hayes are least . . except Taller! I'm not concerned about his offense yet. . . If he can defend with position and leverage . . .then rebound I will be happy to have him here Goran Dragic - Range from Bench Warmer to Poor Man's Steve Nash PG is not a spot were were hurting From what I saw of him last . . [playoffs but i hear he has fallen off this year] Seemed like he was primed to replace Nash when nash retired He gets to the basket and has some of that . . .weird crazy odd looking game that just WORKS at time. [See Ginobili] neither of these are World beating movies but These are people that CAN be contributors. . . These are gambles Lowry is hear so no worries about Dragic . . . he will work his way in Dragic could thrive in an Adelman offense IMO Hill vs Thabeet - ????? Battier was not a long term solution for anything . . . . AB was disgruntled Ish was Potential . . but still unrealized. I think we went from being a team rated 5 out of 10 . .to being 5.5 out of 10 at worse. . . *shrug* Rocket River
Brooks was giving us nothing and this opens up time for T-Will while getting us great draft picks. Love it. Plus Battier, Brooks = Expiring. No brainer.
I was hoping all along we would trade away Battier and another player or two to acquire draft picks, especially since it's clear we aren't landing a superstar anytime soon. Now Morey has enough picks to land a legit big man, maybe two, in the draft along with another PG. And if that doesn't work out perhaps he can use a few of the picks as leverage to trade for a superstar. Speaking of the draft, the Rockets might have a shot at Jimmer Fredette and possibly Kyrie Irving if the picks are packaged for a top 5. We could potentially add a big like 6'11" Perry Jones too.
Honestly we didn't get better today but we set ourselves up to get better in the future. I kept saying that if any deals were made they would be to acquire assets and that's what Morey did. He got more draft picks for us that we can use or package together and get a star eventually. We weren't going to approve and become that much better after this trade deadline so I am happy.
It really looks like the Rockets are going to try to play for 2012, a lot of our contracts seem that way.
