Besides the obvious starter position that GRice brings to this team and an outside/post up threat for half court sets, GRice was brought to HTown for another very important reason that shouldn't be underestimated. GRice takes MAJOR pressure off Griff to quickly produce. Now this lets the Rocks bring Griff along much more slowly and more calculated than if we had kept Shandon. We can bring Griff off the bench for defensive reasons when we think it is appropriate instead of making up the slack when Shandon goes on one of his disappearing streaks. Then Griff can slowly bring his offensive game up to speed. About the time we can really start expecting real production from Griff, GRice will be on the downside of his contract. This is a brilliant acquisition for the Rocks...assuming we don't see chemistry problems. -krosfyah
Chemistry may be a very big problem. Rice was a problem in LA. He was a problem in NY. Hopefully he can co-exist with Steve and Cuttino.
Although we were really deep at the SF position before the trade for Rice I think the rockets traded for Rice becuase they were dissappionted with the current SFs on the team. I think the rockets were looking for a SF that has experience, a consistent outside shot, can handle the ball maybe even set up plays, and keep up with his man on defense. Williams never was steady(consistent from the outside), Langhi has a great outside shot but right know he isn't starter material yet, Griffin is good but his game really is of a PF, TRock fits rockets system but is just a rookie with no experience and not ready to start, Bullard can start and has range but too slow to keep up if we play a run and gun game, and Anderson shot is to othen cold from the outside and he started to pass up open shots. What Rice brings is that he can hit the open shots consistently. In any given game Rice can score 20pts keeping defense honest which none of the current SFs were capable of. I mean rice is a threat to score in any game, of our previous SFs they might score 20pts once in a while but not enough that defense would stay with them or before the game the oposition coach would tell them to not switch off on them. Rice can handle the ball which none of last seasons SFs could do well. The negative is that Rice is not the a good defender but I think he can keep up with his man enough to not leave a them open and with the new rules Rice will have help. The rockets have completely replaced last year's weakest link, our SF position. Now we have Rice, Morris, Griffin and Langhi. I think the rockets are satisfied with Langhi's play and are ready to give him more playing time by subtracting Bullard and Williams. I think we are much better now then last year at this position. I'm very joyful about our new roster. Last year: Anderson(can drive, great defense) Williams(can get really hot from outside) Bullard(great 3pt shooter, not much else) Current: Rice(great shooter and could be a major scoring option) Langhi(can creat own shot and good shooter) Griffin(Great post up game, Rebounds and Blocks) Morris(athletic all round player)
I wish I could get comfortable with this transaction -we get Glen Rice a good shooter with a terrible attitude. We don't have money to sign Moochie now. Charlie Palillo of Kilt 610 said in June that if we did not sign C Webb in the off season the Rockets had failed. Now looking at what we have done -No Hakeem-I can live with that, No Shandon-I can live with that, now no moochie -I'm disappointed, we sign Taylor for 48 mil over 6 seasons, and trade for the Glen Rice contract-over 20 mil for 3 seasons which counts as 27 mil against the cap. We are now out of cap room. This is not what I had expected...
Although I have seen Rice play in more than 100 games for the lakers I still don't know how much of an bad attitude he has(if he has a major one). I know he didn't really fit with the lakers becuase he wanted more touches but with kobe and shaq there really isn't room for a 3rd major scoring option. At that time shaq was averaging 29pts and kobe was averaging 22, together 51pts per game. With the rockets last season Francis and Mobley were averaging 19 a piece, together 38pts per game. Even with the lakers Rice was averaging 15 in they're shadows, I think he would get more shots with houston now. I don't know what happened in NY. As for attitude, he might of been upset with not getting much shots but on the court he didn't do anything major to disrupt the chemistry, in my opinion the lakers wouldn't of won the first championship without him. I don't know much of his attitude on the court or with his previous teamates but off the court Rice does have a good attitude. Off topic, my friend who is a 31yr old South Bay H.S. basketball coach was at the Santa Monica Promanade when the lakers were set to play the first round of the playoffs in 00, he saw rice sitting at a resturant which had seats and tables outside(rice was waiting for some friends) and my friend came up to Rice and said hi, I don't know what else he said but Rice asked him if he wanted to sit with him and have a drink. Well Rice talked to my friend for almost 30mins then Rice friends came and Rice even introduced his Friends to my Friend, then my Friend decided to leave because he didn't want to feel like he was intruding on Rice, but Rice even asked him if he wanted to stay alittle longer. Anyways this is a true story and my friend kept saying how nice Rice was and how skinny he looked compared to on TV, so he seems like a nice guy in my opinion.
LA, Good story. I beleive you that Rice isn't as big a whiner as everybody portrays. He probably made one comment after a frustrating game and the media blew it up. It's good to know that he is a good person. That is always important to RudyT which may be another reason why he was so high on him. -krosfyah
Cap room IS something that would have been a problem anyways...that is if you expected to see improvements in the team. We may have even UNDERPAID for someone like Mo Taylor. Sure, you may say he isnt a good rebounder and isnt the most athletic PF out there, but when you look at the money that players like TOdd McCollough and other completely horrible big men are getting, Taylor's deal was certainly in line, if not a good deal for us. Look at Shandon's deal. $42 milllion!! Imagine if we had kept him.
We don't have money to sign Moochie now. Yes we do. We have Moochie's bird rights, meaning we can sign him to whatever amount we want whether we are over the cap or under. And you shouldn't really bring Glen Rice's contract into the equation. If we did not trade for Rice, the alternative and cheaper solution would've been either to resign Shandon for 5 million per or to sign Marc Jackson for about 5 million per. If you do one of those things, you are looking at approximately 5 million in cap room next offseason. Cap room in 2003 is a mute point, because Steve's max extension will not give you the opportunity to have any at that point. Anyway, on the original point, the 5 million in cap room you'd have is roughly equal to the amount of the Middle Class Exception that over the cap teams get. So why not go for that instead, and try to field a better roster? Here's a look at the Rockets offseason so far, not including a deal for any potential big man, and assuming Moochie resigns, which is still fairly likely. Losses: Hakeem Olajuwon Shandon Anderson Matt Bullard Carlos Rogers Signings/Trades: Eddie Griffin Glen Rice Terence Morris Kyle Hill Extensions: Mo Taylor Moochie Norris Look at this from a basketball perspective, if possible. We are not worse off in the dollars and cents department because of the value of the MCE, and the product of the team on the floor is what we should be concerned with anyway. On topic: 1. Would you not trade a 38 year old aging center in Hakeem Olajuwon for a potential superstar on offense and defense in Eddie Griffin? 2. Would you not trade Shandon Anderson, an undersized small forward who clearly did not fit with the team, for Glen Rice, a superb shooter and scorer who can keep double teams away from our guards and stretch the zone? Bullard, Rogers, Morris, and Hill are all spare parts whose roles can be filled. Mo Taylor is back, and Moochie is likely to be. The main swap from last year to this year is Hakeem Olajuwon and Shandon Anderson for Eddie Griffin and Glen Rice. I fail to see how any Rocket fan could be anything but thrilled with that for an offseason. And the great thing is that it is still likely to get better.
That's a good story. I think Rice has gotten a whiner reputation from the media because of his wife (just a theory, though).
Imagine how many lineups this team can throw out? They can go anywhere, they got alot of different unique type players. When this team gells, watch out. With Rice, I think he will get the hang of the team easily because he is use to it now. But Griffin and the rest will learn more each game. We got a fun team to watch next year. I want the season to start NOW
I totally agree with you Francis3, compared to last years SFs we are much more multi-faced now and more athletic. I also can't wait for this season to start, I'm more excited about this season than any previous. Thanks for the complements krosfyah and Manny Ramirez.
If anyone remembers the nature of Rice's complaints in LA, it was because Phil Jackson was benching him during the fourth quarter. He's a competitor and just wanted to contribute. Just prior to going to LA was a bona fide SUPERSTAR. There are plenty of guys out there with more skill than Rice or who are more athletic but will never accomplish what the guy has as a player because they don't have the will to win or the game intelligence that he does. I've been watching him in NY and the guy contributes and rarely complained. The Knicks are the most overpaid/apathetic team I have ever seen and Rice rarely said a word. He did however play hurt and, with Camby, was a major reason for their wins over the top teams in the league. Now I hear this story about the guy having dinner with a fan at some food court in the mall, or wherever (great story by the way), I am more convinced than ever that this was a very good move. Just because Rice doesn't have a reputation for great defense doesn't mean that the guy sucks at defense. How many players can you name (who are not guards) who are known as defensive specialist? I would challenge anyone to name more than a dozen. You get the feeling that if we traded for anyone other than Dike or Augmon everyone would be crying about their defense sucking. This is a good trade. The thing that sucks is were gonna loose Bullard. That really sucks.
