f the Houston Rockets are to improve, GM Daryl Morey says it will most likely come via a trade rather than in free agency or the draft, the Houston Chronicle is reporting. Most of the team's free agent money will go on surprising rookie Carl Landry, which will put the team close to the luxury tax, while the Rockets will draft 25th later this month. "We're probably going to have to upgrade through trade," Morey said, "as opposed to free agency." The trade may not come until close to the trade deadline, however, where bargains can be found. The Lakers landed Pau Gasol around this time this season, and now they are in the NBA Finals. "We're really focused on being able to upgrade for next year's playoffs," Morey said. "Don't judge the team on Oct. 1. We think we've got a lot of assets that a lot of teams want — a lot of ways to upgrade. Often the best opportunities to use those come at trade deadlines." Source: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/bk/bkn/5815234.html
This is what I was hoping for. Maybe once, we'll get to come into a season with a little continuity from the year before. Health is always the issue, but for the first half of these recent 50-win seasons, the Rockets have been struggling to find unity with the ridiculously high employee-turnover rate.
Guess Morey learned exactly zip from the "Win Now" trade for Battier. One player short then, one player short now. If you're waiting until the trade deadline, you're starting Battier and Alston. I'm baffled to think of what important talent boost will be gained for BJax's $6.1m expiring when that's barely MLE $ to most teams. Count me in the minority here who thinks a pre-season talent influx is more important than continuity. The fact that "height" is NOT an evaluation factor for Morey explains why he doesn't yardstick the team against the WC elites. The Morey Rockets are always going to be one step being the talent curve. And an admisssion that they are dipping into to the MLE for Landry? Foolish, foolish, foolish.
Continuity is fine and needed yes, but if you don't have the talent to compete with other teams, then you will still lose. Just in a different way and for a different reason. With that, I'm all for trades as long as they actually improve the team. Lateral moves? No, don't bother anymore. Only trades that clearly improve the team.
i agree 100% with you GATER. he was a bit too candid, as well as revealing a "wait and see" plan for next season, which no fan wil be happy to hear about. however, he may choose to hold on to bjax expiring, as well as steve's which would be a total package of just under $9M i think. that's pretty substantial come trade deadline. holding on to that won't hurt the rockets in their attempt to fix one major issue... athletic wings. they won't sign anyone because of being close to the LT, but you can trade the #25, luther, hayes, scraps basically. nothing important will come in return, but whoever it is will be tall and athletic. that alone might help more than people will think.
GATER,It is foolish to make a premature statement about using most of the MLE on Landry,but honestly the LLE option won't work. Nobody will give us anything of note for Battier,Alston,or for the expiring contracts of Jackson,Francis,Head plus the 25th pick. Unless Yao or Tracy are involved in a trade we can't get a big name back.Luis obviously is a player that the Grizzlies want to get from us for Mike Miller who is a good player but is soft as well. The only way I see us not signing Landry is if we take an athletic 4 with the 25th pick,which could free up the MLE for a SG/SF or a backup C. There is a risk that the pick might not pan out irrespective of whatever position he plays as well which further compounds the issue.Moving up the draft to the low or mid-teens at best without using Luis will be very difficult as well and is not worth it in my opinion. I'm also pissed off about not using height as one of the criteria in the selection of a player. We can't afford runts. We are stuck,plain and simple.
That was certainly true on his draftexpress.com interview. I wonder what he means by 'all this craziness'; he might wanna talk to JVG about when the job has a lull. JVG would probably just tell him to stop eating meals and replace them with caffeine.
as long as we remain healthy, which is always a big if, i'm fine going into the season with this team and see how they go. remember, had yao stay healthy, we most likely would have gotten the #1 seed b/c we were only 2 games behind when the season ended. maybe at the trade deadline through mid-season, we might want to upgrade our bench a little bit (well A LOT) rafer and battier may not be the best starters, but when you have tmac and yao on the floor, our offense should be fine. it's when we go to the bench that i'm scared to death.
Where exactly do you see this admission? In saying that signing Landry won't leave them much under the lux tax? That was not Morey, that was the writer putting in conjecture.
Well who can be the most logical person we can get? Not Mike Miller or Artest, I don't see the starting lineup changing at all, just adding upgrades over Jackson and Head.
I sort of like Morey (affectionately known as the "Beav"), but his candor does not always serve the team well. I wouldn't show my cards. The "one player short" idea is naive, sounds like Les talking. If Battier and Alston start the season, I am just giving up all hope and waiting for the Yao/TMac era to quietly end on its own. I suppose I can still somewhat enjoy the games even though I know in my heart the Rockets are really going nowhere. Actually, I think we are one owner away from being a contender.
let morey do his thing...cant wait to see what we can get especially when we have shane, bobby, luther, even landry and alston to offer... lets get another superstar...
I don't believe a word he says and him saying that they will use the MLE on Landry is basically telling every other team in the league your wasting your time if you make Landry an offer. Morey definetly doesn't want to be forced to overpay by some crazy offer from some potential western conference rival.
Looks like it's going to be a quiet offseason. Everyone's going to complain, no one knows how it's going to turn out. Remember the lakers? They were in a much worse position than we were last year. The team had been embarrassed in the first round, Kobe wanted out, and no one was willing to trade them a second star. The talent gap between them and the WC elite seemed huge. Laker fans were crying for huge changes, starting with the firing of Mitch Kupchack. Nothing major happened, yet they started the new season off as a completely different team. The lakers were dominant even pre-Gasol trade. Kupchak was right and the fans were idiots. None of them will admit it though; they act as if they had faith in Odom and Bynum the whole time. I wish the know-it-alls here would admit when they're wrong. I used to think this board was full of informed and insightful fans. Now it's worse than listening to whiny laker fans all day.
Well he better have a great pick at #25, because announcing you want to improve your team by taking another team in a trade (ie - Gasol/Grizz) is pretty much saying you are going to do some minor tweaking (Bonzi for BJax) Minor tweaking would be nice if both TMac and Yao prove durable this coming season and they both improve their play. We don't have the talent yet for TMac and Yao to carry the entire load. And they haven't proven they can stay healthy through the season with a long playoff run at the end. I think TMac has been worn down in both of the last 2 playoff series against Utah. Maybe it is his weakness, but he can't carry us for 4 wins in a series against the caliber teams in the West. I think they might consider what it would take to get the #2 pick. I would part with Scola or Landry to get in the top three. We must improve our backcourt and move TMac to the small forward. I rate the draft class 1. Rose 2. Beasley 3. Mayo I vote for the bold move go after a top three pick. Start Landry, Battier, TMac, Yao and Rose or Start Alston, TMac, Beasley, Landry, Yao or Start Landry, Battier, TMac, Yao and Mayo Either way you are building your team with quality players and increasing your ability to compete in the West. Rose, Mayo and Beasley all have future all-star ability. Getting a stud rookie might not pay off in Nov-Dec but I think we would have a better team come playoff time.
Where does he say they are going to use the MLE on Landry?? Someone explain this to me. I read the article and he doesn't say that!!!
With that said, maybe the only realistic free agent we could get would be Gerald Green. Use most of the MLE on Landry and use whatever is left for Mr. Green.
