you seem to me either very short-sighted, misinformed or delusional in your evaluation... There are many teams on their way UP: the Suns, the Nuggets, the Jazz, the Lakers, the Clippers, the Warriors, the Hornets. first off I would like to state that EVERY one of these teams is in the same cap position as the rockets... of those teams only the hornets and jazz can really make the claim to be on their way up considering they are young teams with the pieces in place to grow... the warriors and nuggets are both veteran teams which have mixed and matched pieces...neither of which has any cap room to add a major free agent player...hrrrmmmmm sounds similar to the rockets situation... the Suns have effectively hit their ceiling of potential, so to say they are on their way up is misleading. they are certainly in a position to be good for years to come with a number of high draft picks this year and some young players to build around for the future. but their best player is over 30 and playing on a bad back...if nash goes down, lets see just how far UP the suns have to go shall we? the clippers and lakers? were you just throwing out names to make your list look longer for these two? what a joke... If the Rockets are reluctant to go over luxuary tax in the coming season, the Rockets at best will be 6-8 seed if they make the playoff. It will take a miracle for the Rockets to contend for championship. wow! very insightful! 6-8 seed makes alot of sense considering we achieved the 4h best record in the west with yao and tmac combining to miss over 40 games...you should rework your math there kidd-o However, if the Rockets hire a coach that knows how to pull rabbit out of his hat, i.e. a coach who knows how to identify some good role players from CBA or NBDL, then the Rockets will have a chance to contend. Who will be this guy? yes...our team savior will definitely be coming from the d-league... signed, Chuck Hayes -- I apologize this reponse didn't have much in the way of meat to it, but nonsensical posts like the one this dufus defecated upon the board really piss me off!
Don't get mad Pete, the doomsday posters are coming out in full force nowadays. Bogey does have some truth to his post about the Rox being cap-strapped obviously, but instead of beating a dead horse about it, let's get creative and optimistic about what our team CAN do with a new GM, new HC, and new MLE/LLE for next season IMO...
U'r right man. I maybe delusional, naive, ignorant, blah, blah, blah, etc..... But I still think I am better than those who's been screaming: "we're contender", "JVG is a championship coach", "Head is clutch", etc...... If you give me another round of homer attack, I will drop dead right here, right now. All the teams I mentioned are either have multiple picks, or better trade assets, or they are just hampered by injuries. Yeah, some of them for sure will be ahead of the Rockets next season, no doubt. Given there is no drop off from the Spurs, the Mavs, and the Suns, I just dont see how could the Rockets be top 5 next season. I promise the Rockets wont have a chance to pass the Suns before 2010 if there is no major change (like a new coach) . If you think the Suns have hit their ceiling, then I am sorry for your lack of knowledge of NBA. The Suns have a top 10 pick, a late 1st round, a 2nd round, and lots of trade assests. They can still improve easily. Who want Marion or Diaw? There will be a lineup. I am sorry if you dont know enough of NBA and this season is the worst year in injuries in the NBA history. The injuries of the Rockets are just in the middle of the pack. The Rockets also has benefited from many teams that got worst injuries. I guess the Rockets are healthy and have HCA in the playoff. Another 1st round exit says it all. The Rockets would be how good at regular season if they were healthy, blah, blah, blah.... Hey, Who cares? There is Chuck Hayes but there is also Udonis Haslem - a worthy starter. If you cant dig your gold pot, that's your own problems. I acknowledge you dont have any meat or enough knowledge of NBA, so your apology is accepted.
you can upgrade either PG or PF/C, but not both... I think Rafer is fine, considering the price, we just need to find/develop a backup for him. Billups/Bibby will sure be nice, but they are twice as expensive as Rafer, around 10MM range, I'd rather spend that much money to get a decent PF/C for us, that's where we need the most.
Unless Hawks' pick ends up being top 3, it will go to the Suns. That is a high pick (4-8 overall) in a very deep draft
your acceptance of my apology was about as misguided as your post. If you could save such things for posters with actual credibility next time it would be much appreciated... All the teams I mentioned are either have multiple picks, or better trade assets, or they are just hampered by injuries. Yeah, some of them for sure will be ahead of the Rockets next season, no doubt. Given there is no drop off from the Spurs, the Mavs, and the Suns, I just dont see how could the Rockets be top 5 next season. wait which teams were those again? last I checked the only team worth a damn with multiple picks in the first round is the suns... and as far as trade assets go, the only team with a real trading chip is PHX once again. unfortunately that trading piece is shawn marion whose versatility allows them to play their controlled choas style in the first place... so please...enligthen us to how any other team has substantial trading pieces to improved upon their current status? and of the "injured" teams you mentioned above only the hornets stand to gain any real ground...if I am missing anyone...once again please enlighten me.. and while the Hornets starting line-up sounds formidable..paul, jackson, peja, west, chandelor -- and they have undoubtedly given the rockets fits with matchups -- do you honestly believe that when it is all said and done next year new orleans will have a better record then us? I promise the Rockets wont have a chance to pass the Suns before 2010 if there is no major change (like a new coach) . If you think the Suns have hit their ceiling, then I am sorry for your lack of knowledge of NBA. The Suns have a top 10 pick, a late 1st round, a 2nd round, and lots of trade assests. They can still improve easily. Who want Marion or Diaw? There will be a lineup. perhaps you miss understood me before (..hard to imagine I know). just write it off to my lack of NBA knowledge...but when I say PHX has hit it's ceiling, it doesn't mean that they're going to get worse...it means that this is as good as they are going to get. this is it, this roster right here. if I did my math right...it's the year 2007...and as of the 2007-08 season PHX will have 2 max players (Marion, Stoudamire) and a substantial contract in Nash. Fortunately Bell, Diaw, and Barbosa have all been locked up in long term deals for reasonable price tags... but with 3 first rounders...PHX simply doesn't have enough roster spots to go around. this means they will have to either trade their picks or one of the key cogs to their well oiled machine... certainly they're outlook is bright. but they don't have an easy decision here. nash isn't getting any younger. they have two max contracts on the books, and barring their highest pick doesn't fall in the top 3, they have 3 first rounders to deal in a trade. -- this is as good as they are going to get...
Are you trying to say Sun is in a good position or bad? It seems that you are downplaying their position. They are in a great position, much better than the Rox. Sure you might say they depend too much on Nash. But don't be biased, without Nash, they might not be as good, but Phoenix never lacks a good PG, with the talent on their team, they are still better than the Rox. I fully expect the Suns to draft a young PG this year and let Nash train him.
Certainly they are in a good position. But I don't think that any player they draft this year is going to put them in a better position to win a championship then they are already in... having barbosa locked up for 5 more years and bell for 3 more years is a wonderful situation to be in... but unless their owner is committed to paying a substantial luxury tax every year to retain the two max contracts he has on the roster, they are going to have to move either marion or stoudamire... you also have to take into account that if they don't get it done this season their are going to be alot of knee jerk fans (similar to the ones on this site) who are going to demand some serious changes... ...so simply put they are as good as they are going to get...
With Howard's contract now, we are not in a position where we are trying to get rid of it to clear space. At this point, Howard's contract is what other teams will be looking to trade for so they can clear space. We can trade it for someone on a longer deal that doesn't fit with their current team's plans. Mobley would be an example of this. Howard packaged with Sura can match salaries for a trade for Mobley, but the Clippers would be on the hook for 2 years of Howard and 1 year of Sura instead of 3 years of Cat.
One can hope....and hope for something better than Mobley. I wish there was some way to grab a TJ Ford. Maybe Earl Watson - he works for Juwan straight up, and has 1 more year on his contract, so he'd provide Seattle some relief. Good ball-handler and defender, but horrific shooter. I'm afraid Matt Barnes is moving into Austin Croshere territory...though I'd be less concerned about him signing a huge contract a sucking quite as much as Austin has. But it seems very unlikely that Matt woudl be available for anything less than the full MLE at this point, and then the question becomes, do you spend the full MLE on a position that is not the immediate need? Wouldn't you rather identify a PF or PG that fits? Probably, but it doesn't seem like there are any of those either. I, and probably everybody else, would give the full MLE to Maurice Williams, but he may be above that level, too. Though hopefully some GM's might be scared off by what happened with Mike James. At a minimum, you'd think Milwaukee would match an MLE offer on him, but maybe you can entice him by saying he'd be getting starter minutes on a playoff contending team. Anyways, my plans would be as follows: 1. Target Maurice Williams first and foremost 2. Try to pull off a Juwan cap trade, whereby the other team might be giving up more talent, but would be taking a year or two off their cap. Some targets here include the Mobley deal mentioned, the Watson deal mentioned (if you couldn't get Williams), maybe Juwan + Sura for Dalembert (who still has "potential" but also still has 4 years left as Philly's highest paid player)....something along those lines. 3. If you can land Williams, dangle Rafer around. He'd be somewhat duplicative as a backup. Maybe as a means to move-up in the draft. One option here, for example, could be Rafer + 26th pick in sign and trade with Lakers for Luke Walton and 19th pick. The Lakers are letting Smush go and can't possibly be ready to give Farmer 35+ mpg as the starter quite yet. Rafer woudl be a good stop-gap for them, imo. They might be reluctant to trade picks, though...in which case, I'd probably still do that deal assuming we found another starting PG somewhere. A very similiar scenario would be doing the same thing with Miami, who has the 20th pick, and could sign and trade James Posey to us. With the 19th/20th pick you're more in the range for an Acie Law, Rudy Fernandez, type pick. 4. If that doesn't work, target Matt Barnes with the full MLE. The other option is to split the MLE like in past years, but I think we need to start thinking about adding quality role players, instead of a bunch of players hoping one of them you sign will work (like Bonzi, V-Span last year). Barnes could provide that depth you need, and improved athleticism. 5. Assuming some of the above works, and even if not, you definitely re-sign Chucky. Get V-Span to work on his shot like a madman. Probably let Deke go, but if he will come back real cheap again, why not? Bonzi...who cares? Taskalidis...pass. In the dream scenario , here's what you'd be looking at, then. PG: Maurice Williams / V-Span / Lucas / Head SG: T-Mac / Head / Draft Pick SF: Battier / Walton or Posey / Draft Pick PF: Dalembert / Hayes C: Yao / Deke or Whomever (Voskul, PJ Brown, Dale Davis, Chris Mihm, Kurt Thomas, etc.) Head Coach = Rick Adelman You continue to be very susceptible to injuries and lack of depth. Hopefully Luther continues to improve and doesn't freeze up in next year's playoffs. Hopefully V-Span continues to improve. Hopefully a new coaching system helps. What's clear, though, is that your starting 5 has drastically improved. It has a legit 3rd score/playmaker in Mo Williams. He put up 17 points, 6 apg last year. 3 point % wasn't great, but the year before it was better, and everyone gets more open looks in Houston. You also have Dalembert, which means Yao doesn't have to guard a Boozer in the playoffs. Dalembert is the perfect defensive complement to Yao, shoots a very high percentage with all those dunks and the like, and strikes me as a player who could work well in the high post (though he'd need to work on his jumpshot, obviously), which Adelman knows well. And, of course, you can put Dalembert at center and go "small", or athletic. The lineup is much better prepared to run with GS and Phoenix, or play half court with Utah / San Antonio. I don't really care if the coach changes, or any of the other moves happen. The 2 key things to target this offseason woudl be the Juwan + Sura = Dalembert trade Mo Williams for MLE
Looks like we are stuck. I don't see any young Robert Horry's, Sam Cassell's or Mario Elie's in our current lineup of role players. Let's face it, the Rockets drafted poorly since the second championship. Our youth pipeline is thin and we've come to rely on signing old players on their last legs in the quest to "win now". At best, all we can hope for is to make it out of the first round. Winning the first round for us would be the Spur's equivalent of winning the championship.
Great post JayZ, I forgot about mentioning Mo Williams as, like a Matt Barnes, will probably be retained by Milwaukee. That is afterall, why they were able to deal TJ Ford in the first place... But no doubt, he would be a GREAT addition to the Rox, and yes, Skip would become rather expendable at that point, V-Span and JLIII could continue to back him up and hopefully get more minutes under a coach like Adelman or Elie. Novak too please! He has the potential to be integral for us due to the matchup problems he creates from his range, ala Okur...
Only way to be quasi-contenders is to get really lucky in the offseason via trades/drafting. We will never win the championship with Tmac and Yao because of past mistakes/bad contracts, but hopefully we can pull of a run like the Twolves did a couple of years ago.
KG, Spree, and Cassell, I remember that series against the Kings a few years back, epic... The Suns and Warriors are modeling themselves after the Kings of the late 90s, early 2000s IMO, Jason Williams, Bibby, Webber, Peja, Vlade, Bobby Jackson, that one series against Utah was amazing too...
Matt Barnes is on my short list. The last thing we need is a non-athletic soft big like Mihm. Blake is OK as a back-up, but I might rather try Diener who has a better shooting potential. Yes they have his bird rights, though he is unrestricted. I have thought of this to. That said Barnes has been very consistent. He is shooting well, passing well, and playing smart. It isn't like he is just exploiting 1 favorable match-up (Croshere), he is playing well many games versus many opponents. I have plan B I'll get to here as well. I'd say probably yes. Will get back to this. It would be great to add Mobley for Howard. The Clips might do it to save long term costs. I see Watson bogging down our offense worse than Rafer, much rather have Mobley--who can shoot, drive and is OK defensively. TJ is a no chancer. Luke Walton is worth a heck of lot more than Rafer. We would at least have to give up our 1st + Rafer for Walton in a S&T, which Lakers wouldn't do anyway because Walton when healthy is there 3rd best player. But Walton is an URFA--it is his choice where he goes. JayZ I am close to your thinking. I think we foremost need to add athleticism and scoring punch in the offseason moves. Chuck is a nobrainer to resign (more value to us than other teams anyway). Bonzi is gone, Tsaka is gone (man I am dissappointed we used our TE on him instead of someone like Atkins). Deke I'd like to bring back. Howard or Alston might be on the roster or might be traded depending on other moves. My plan is as follows: "A List" FA MLE targets: Williams (URFA) Nocioni (RFA) Barnes (URFA) "A- List" FA MLE targets: Pietrus (RFA). Walton (URFA) Plan B free agents to use more than half of the MLE include Stack, Charlie Bell, Peterson, Posey and Atkins--though I hope we can do a lot better like the above 5. I would also target Williams 1st, since he is unrestricted and addresses one of our two weakest positions. No issues with having to work with Milw, if he comes great. I also am interested in forwards, though no true PF or PF/C who would bring athleticism, smarts and scoring punch would be realistic at all with an MLE. Nonetheless adding a 2nd PF/SF tweener forward and having a big SG like Tmac I think we would add much scoring punch and athleticism around Yao. Thus I am interested in as follows: Nocioni. Since the Bulls are so deep in younger and more upside forwards (SFs and PFs) and swingmen I wonder if he might not be matched for a full MLE. Or alternately perhaps we can get close to an offer sheet than could negotiate a S&T giving up our 1st rounder. Nocioni can shoot, rebound (really well for his size) and plays tough/smart. Him or Battier would get more work at the PF than the did this year--and that would make our SG through PF spots a lot more mobile and potent than what we had before. Chi I expect to maybe be an early big trade looker (KG, Gasol?), maybe we can get to Nocioni early offering a starting spot on a contender, and perhaps Chi does not want to match to tie down their flexibility when they have bigger fish to fry. If the Mo Williams thing doesn't look likley I'd go here quick. I also am interested in Barnes and Pietrus. I really don't see GS committing big money to both given their depth in related positions and salary situation. Both have far more plusses than minus, Pietrus would bring freaky athleticism and provide an excellent individual defender to the 3/2 (allowing Tmac to further conserve on the defensive side), Barnes has a little more size (like Nocioni, play some 4 for us) and is headier. Both also are very solid at the off the ball 3 spot up. I have a hunch Nelson likes Barnes better, but he is unrestricted. I rate both just below Mo W and Nocioni but both would be most if not all of the MLE. Walton (see below) would be a next option, but lesser one as the primary FA moves. NEXT STEPS If we got Williams we need to go draft/trade/LLE route to do the best we can to add wing athleticism. Maybe something like Rafer for Posey would work. Walton if we added our #1 in the mix, maybe. Walton isn't as athletic as Nocioni or Barnes but it is maybe an even better set up guy to get the ball to Tmac and Yao, and he certainly is more athletic as a PF than Howard. There might be other LLE types lesser than these guys, but would have to check. If we got a tweener SF/PF like Nocioni/Barnes/(or lastly)Walton I would expect this guy, Battier and Hayes (versus the power 4s) to gobble up the 4 minutes. If we kept Howard it would then be only for back-up C. No more of playing slow 4s around Yao, and now we get 3 range and off the dribble skills out of the 4 spot. We could then take the LLE for PG depth or pushing for the starting spot--Diener, Parker, Hart, Blake, etc OR trade for Mike James to share the load with Rafer close to 50/50. If we got Pietrus than I would really want Battier hitting the weight room and practice competing with 4s defensively because that is going to be his primary job. He will have a much longer and more effective career if he pulls a Robert Horry (who used to be a twig SF as a young player). I would want to start Pietrus-Tmac-Battier in the 2-3-4 with Tmac taking the easiest defensive assignment. Again Hayes is there when Battier is overmatched in lower body strength (Duncan, Boozer, Brand) or you just have Yao guard this guy with Battier taking the Okurs, Elson, Horry, etc. That is where I am at.
One of those boneheaded, but tough kind of players that might be interesting would be Ricky Davis. Heard a guy on the radio mention him but it did sound like a good idea to at least visit. Minny might opt to keep him cause his 7 million comes off the books after next year but we all know awesome a GM Mckail is. Davis reminds me of Stephen Jackson in the possible low stock department due to his questionable attitude and character but there's no question dude can fill it up and run. Just another name to throw out there but I thought it was inspired.
I know everyone hates the "shooting guards masquerading as point guards", but are any (THAT CAN HANDLE THE BALL) available? Obviously Mike James or Francis would be my favorite, but any would make a difference. If you replace Head's PG minutes with a ball-hog penetrator that can score effectively, the Rockets get better instantly. Acie Law would definitely fit the bill, but he's out of the Rockets range right now. Ideas?
Nice thinking dude! Those players would be a huge upgrade and put Adelman in the mix .... Just imaging!
