If the Rockets get out of the blocks well and are contending for a top 2 seeding, I think Deke will play through any minor injuries. But, if we get off to a rocky start and find ourselves muddling around the 6th seed or fighting for a playoff spot, I think Deke will pop something in his knee and wind up on the IL. That being said, I think we are going to start the season well, and Deke will average 18-20 mpg and be adequate defensively. But his teammates will be playing keep away on offense.
cabbage, you're resenting cd for getting these role players because they did not produce for us, but fact is they did performed on the previous team(s) they played for. Pike was a part time starter/solid bench player with the clippers, and i know you're not faulting pike for clippers' disastrous records all these years. Grif was another solid player off the bench while with the mavs and in boston. We did not get these players in hope they'll become superstar, but solid role players. But turned out they played lowered than their expectation/capability, can't really blame cd for it, especially unforseeable injury. We took a gamble on these 2 journeymen, didnt worked out, so we traded them to fill a hole we badly needed. It's easy for you to say u get what u paid for, but you're not the one writing checks to these players, so u have no idea bout all the financial limitation the rockets have. In fact, sometime you will find a surprise bargain who contribute more than you expected.
Umm, okay- he's still then a 5+ mill expiring contract that will be easily peddled at the trade deadline. Or at the very least gets out of Pike's deal a year earlier. And if you have a premonition that Mutumbo is going to get hurt early....congratulations. There's no point to this if you're basing it off a premonition of not being able to "see him make a significant contribution". Maybe we never should've done the McGrady deal so we would still have Cato?
I haven't read through all these posts in this thread so don't jump on me if this has already been suggested. First off, I think the acquisition isn't a bad one at all even if Deke is very old and slow. This is only a suggestion, maybe we should have... Wouldn't it have been better to wait and see if ZO is seriously returning to the NBA and see how he holds up in camp and preseason and if he is strong and looks like he may hold up, go after him. I know the Nets discouraged his comback and may have been willing to dump him off for the same players we gave up to the Bulls plus a Mo Taylor or other average player. I think an 80 % ZO would have been awesome to play backup to Yao and maybe even start at PF since both our PF's are as tough as Justin Timberlake. Just an idea...Peace.
We only need Deke to play 10-20 minutes and give Yao some rest. That's it. If we really need him, JVG will put him in the critical times for defensive purposes.
lol when was the last time YOU played basketball on a court instead of a playstation or computer hillboy? You dont average almost 2 blocks a game in 23 minutes a game without having something "left in the tank."
I objected to both of these aquisitions at the time because of the fact that they were journeyman type players and below average journeymen at that. Piatkowski was supposedly a good outside shooter from the 3-point - essentially he was to be the "new" Matt Bullard. In essence he was a one-trick pony who was exposed when he was counted on to contribute. Griffin had not played on a regular basis for the previous 2 YEARS at Dallas because, and I'm sure this will come as news to CD, he was always HURT! If the Rockets are being forced to operate under financial limitations, a large portion of the blame has to go to the complete ineptness of Carroll Dawson who wasted precious salary cap dollars on guys who ended up contributing little, if anything, to this team's fortunes. Do not misunderstand the situation the Rockets now find themselves in: they are prevented from making moves for GOOD players because of the bad drafts, bad trades and bad free agent signings that have forced them to become NBA bottom feeders when looking for talent. They have nothing to show from the last 3 drafts. They are hamstrung by big contracts given out to average players (Mo Taylor) and they are desperately trying to get rid of marginal players they signed or picked up via trade (Griffin, Piatkowski). Until MEANINGFUL changes are made at the top of this organization, nothing will change and the talents of Yao & McGrady will be wasted. With T-Mac & Yao, they have the starting pieces of what could be something special. To make it to the top, they'll need to do better - MUCH better than they have thus far this offseason.
-Believe it or not, every GM makes mistakes. Yes, the fact that CD is in essence at a minimum erasing a mistake a year early. That alone makes it a good deal. You keep harping on Dikembe being washed up. He was a virtual statistical clone of Cato. Mutumbo: 65 games, 23 mpg, 5.6 ppg, 6.7 rpg, 1.89 bpg, .83 tpg, 47.8% FG%, 68.1% FT% Cato: 69 games, 25.3 mpg, 6.1 ppg, 6.8 rpg, 1.39 rpg, 1.22 tpg, 44.7% FG%, 67.6% FT% So Mutumbo played all of 4 less games, 2.3 less minutes, had .5 points less, .1 rebounds less, .5 blocks more, .39 turnovers less, and a greater FG and FT%. Seriously, Mutumbo can for all intents and purposes replicate Cato's production. What's the problem exactly? We're counting on him to be our backup center for one. Certainly the Rockets aren't going to look for him to be productive beyond this year, and his contract ends. If we needed a guy for one year, what does it matter if he's "younger" or not? We used our MLE this year to address the PG slot. Next year we can turn attention to backup big men. In the meantime, we got Mutombo. We're not going to find a backup that will be able to step in the case of injury to Yaowithout missing a beat. If Yao gets hurt, there really isn't much better we can do than Dikembe
Every team in the league has players they signed who never full filled their role in which they were brought in or were paid too much for what thay are really worth. EVERY TEAM! I find it funny how you are making CD look like a complete idiot or worst GM in the NBA. Pike and Griffin were signed to be two decent bench guys and to full fill a certain role. Both were unfortunately hit with injuries and CD is at fault with this? And, even if he did make a mistake, you have to give him props to go out and correct them. Deke may not be the best backup center in the world, but he will be a decent guy to play the 20 minutes asked of him and the plus is that he comes off the books at season's end. So what if he is injured alot. Sure, it won't be a good scenario for the team if he is, but we traded three guys who weren't going to play much as it is. Whatever Deke gives us is a plus because of this alone and he fills a hole on the roster. Interesting you complain about who they got, but who exactly should they have gotten, that is available to what the Rox could offer, to fill the backup 5 in your opinion? Who is this younger center that they could have acquired that would have produced more?
More than that, why do they have to copy his post. Some of us have him on our ignore lsit, and would prefer to not read him by mistake.
i really don't see how 2 signings (wilks and griffin) at like the bare minimum can be viewed as HORRIBLE or so you say. they're essentially nothing deals which we got rid of anyways. whatever, i'd be shocked if someone pulled up a post where hillboy liked ANYTHING.
