I'm on the fence about rebuilding, but if we do, this plan doesn't seem so bad to me: I don't know how long he has to limp through seasons for people to finally accept that McGrady is injury proned. He'll never be that great dependable star we need. Everyone in the league knows that, and that's why his trade value is down. That being said, there's always someone around who's willing to take a risk... I say we trade McGrady and James to Miami for Jason Williams, Ricky Davis, Dacquean Cook, Alonzo Mourning and a draft pick. Miami will do it because they still think they have a chance this year to do something, and with McGrady they have the added firepower they thought Davis would bring, and they need a point guard badly enough that they would be willing to take on James. This trade is good for the rockets because all the players they get back have expiring contracts, except Cook, who's a nice young rookie. After this trade, we could try and find a taker for Francis, Snyder, or Wells, but only for picks (since Snyder and Wells have expiring contracts and Francis is cheap with a player option). They probably wouldn't get us much more than second rounders, but Morey seems to be pretty good finding steals in the second round. For the rest of the season we let our three rookies and Novak get all the playing time they need to develop and for us to have a better sense of their place in the league (Brooks a future starter or career back up? Will Novak ever make it?) Next season we will be armed with our draft pick, Miami's, any second rounders we may have scrounged up from other side deals and any picks that the Rockets decided to buy (Morey seems to really like buying second rounders). More importantly, with Williams, Mourning, and Davis coming off the books, we are all of the sudden way under the salary cap and a player in the free agent market. Possible Restricted Free agents: Josh Childress Josh Smith Emeka Okafor Luol Deng Ben Gordon Andris Biedrins Monta Ellis Andre Iguodala Jose Calderon Possible Free agents: Baron Davis (ETO) Jermaine O'neal (ETO) Elton Brand (ETO) Cory Maggette (ETO) Ron Artest (ETO) Gilbert Arenas (ETO) Shawn Marion (ETO) Antawn Jamison What makes this so interesting is that virtually no team except for Philadelphia will be significantly under the cap, and they still have to sign Iguodala. With no other players in the free agent market, we'll see a buyer's market, with Houston being the best buyer. If any of those big free agents opt out of their deals Houston would be the only team with enough money to pay them. Morey has proven savvy so far when it comes to contracts, and he seems smart enough to know that you don't bid against yourself. Thus, I think it wouldn't be out of the question to pick up a star caliber player at a discount price with enough money left over for a quality starter and some cheap character roster filler types. I think this basic plan could jump start the Rockets. With the new draft picks and quality free agents, we could be competitive starting next year, but still have a long term plan with added youth from two first round draft picks and several second rounders. Out of those free agents I'm sure everyone has a different idea of who we should/could get, so I won't offer one particular solution but I will say this: I do hope Morey would try to sign younger guys to long contracts than older guys that are likely to be duds by the end of their contracts. One possible example of what Morey could do: Use around mid-level money to sign Jose Calderon (Hollinger thinks this would be enough to steal him away from the Raptors who have no extra cash next year) and make a run at Josh Childress and Elton Brand. Because of ownership problems and Smith being a better player, Childress could probably be had for a bargain, and of the super stars Brand would probably be cheapest since he's coming off an injury, although the older Jamison would also be a possibility. This gives us a lineup of: PG- Calderon, Brooks, Alston (where he belongs) SG- Childress, Head SF- Battier, Childress, Cook PF-Brand, Scola, Landry, Hayes C- Yao, Scola Plus two first round draft picks and a few second rounders. Some people might argue that Brand and Yao don't fit well together, but I think Brand has a good enough jump shot to give Yao space and feed off of Yao's double teams. If that doesn't convince you, plug Jamison in for Brand who can shoot the three. Childress might be better suited coming off the bench since he doesn't have an outside shot.
Please stop comparing this team to the 94/95 team. That team struggled and brought in another stud in (Drexler) to right the ship. That team had arguably the best player on the planet (Hakeem). That team had plenty of other clutch players who had been in big games (going back to the 93 season) and had championship experience. Horry and Cassell are damn near 40 and still known as two of the league’s best players in the clutch. That team has great chemistry, did not get rattled and never got down no matter how down they seemed to be. This team doesn’t have one star as good as Drexler, that teams secondary star. Neither of our stars has shown the ability to step up and ]b]DOMINATE[/B] when it really matters. Can you really call any of our role players clutch? Head bombed in his first playoff series. Battier has never made a huge difference in any series he has been in? I guess you can say Bonzi has stepped it up. This team can’t hold a lead. I could go on and on…. With the old team, you just said to yourself wait until we get to the playoffs and I know we can make some noise. “We just won the title last season and we have Hakeem” is what I told everyone. When this team loses to the Sixers no one is surprised. I’m not trying to bash the squad. I just don’t have faith that we will bring it every night to overcome the deficit we have built for ourselves. I will be very happy to be wrong….
Obvious the schedule is sweet.... the rest of the way, could see us winning 44-47 games just based upon the schedule and the way Yao is really playing strong. But I don't see us having what it takes at the top or bottom of the rotation if McGrady is gimpy knee'd. A Healthy McGrady with rest is an equalizer. Need to play Brooks, Scola, and Landry heavy minutes no matter what.
How about a Chuck Hayes and Mike James for Sam Cassell trade? I love chucky and all but Landry and Scola are the real deal.
phoenix? ehrrr, maybe not. bad matchup. i'd say 40vs60 chance. but boston? they never scare me. not a bit. maybe we're "lucky" to squeeze into the postseason and play the spurs in rd-1?
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/bk/bkn/5477070.html don't always like feigen's work. but this one me like. i think the mentality of this team is just about right. not too low, not too high. particularly liked what the chuckster and mcgrady had to say...
My question is why the numbers are down this year and almost everybody's underperforming ? Where did this Chuck Hayes go: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_s7l57v_Ko And why's everybody on Snyder being traded while everybody's screaming for a big SG, wasn't he good enough last year ? Where did the three point shooting go ? The even more stifiling defence you can see against the Clippers in that video above ? Why was Juwan Howard traded ? It looks like they had all the pieces last year and now everybody wants a trade of some sort but it's almost the same team. They're just heavily underperforming and some other factos like a new coach, new system etc. but i don't see the energy i see like in that game posted above. The defence now is okay but nothing compared to what i see there. Can any1 tell me where did the good team from last year go ?
