Sane, I understand that you're still aglow over getting McGrady and I think that he's an ENORMOUS improvement over Mobley. But the facts are that trade severely weakened them and to date, not much has been done to upgrade the overall talent level around both Yao & McGrady which BTW, is the hallmark of this team & CD. As I see it they have done the following: Traded SF, Jackson & ? at the point for Ward (6' 3"), Lue (6' 0") & Gaines (6' 6") (if he doesn't get moved). Ward will play the position much better than SF and exactly as JVG wants which means more slowdown basketball and low scoring games. Lue's physical limitations make him the perfect backup. What bothers me here is that if Ward was any good, he would have gotten more playing time at SA which he didn't. Add that to the fact that every team out there looking for PG help passed on him leaving him still setting around when CD decided to come calling with a cheap (make that CHEAP) offer. So now you have a bunch of backups: Ward, Wilks, Gaines & Lue to go up against the likes of Nash, Parker, etc. Not a very promising scenario. Traded Mobley for McGrady. Great move here as T-Mac will bring something Mobley sorely lacked: consistent scoring from the 2 spot. The only negative is that Mobley was a far better defensive player who could often play lockdown defense although Kobe did turn him into roadkill in the Laker series. I'm taking a wait and see approach to T-Mac's defense and how his relationship with a stern taskmaster like JVG (expect a few fireworks along the way...) develops. He and Yao will still see a lot of collapsing zone D because the other guys playing with them won't be enough of a threat to force opposing teams out of this strategy. Picked up Juwann Howard (6' 9") to play PF with Mo Taylor (6' 9"). Big Whoop! To me, Howard is an OK backup but not the starting answer at the 4 spot when you have to go up against the likes of Duncan, Nowitzki, KG, A. Stodemire, K. Martin and so on. Actually, both Howard and Taylor are really the same player with the exception that Howard remembers to grab a rebound every now and then - something that's still foreign to Taylor. He'll make up somewhat for the loss of Cato's rebounding but not enough. Plus, both are only 6' 9" which puts the Rox at a clear height disadvantage in terms of matchups. I just don't see them bringing enough to the game to be able to force teams away from collapsing in on Yao. Picked up Sura (6' 5") to play with JJ (6' 6"). Unlike others here, I see Sura as more of a 2-3 than a 1-2. I also think that JJ is more of a 2 than a 3 but nevertheless he's stuck at the 3 spot. Sura can play D and has energy coming off the bench but he does not hit the 3 point shot well enough to burn opposing teams. This will be JJ's 12th season and he began to slow down considerably toward the end of last year so getting Sura was a good move. As for the rest of your "great" role players: Nachbar (6' 9") - Fairly nice looking player but this is his make or break year. Was drafted for his outside shooting ability. Still waiting for said ability to manifest itself in game situations. Unless his outside shooting improves dramatically, he's on his way out. Wilks (5' 11") - With Ward onboard he's a goner. Lue fills their quota for undersized PGs. M. Jackson (6' 3") - Should retire/will retire. A. Griffin (6' 5") - Let's see: He was always hurt at Dallas and he was hurt here. Prediction: He'll get hurt again and will miss most of the season...again. Has a very bad back which limits how much he can do but I'm sure this will come as a complete surprise to CD. Padgett (6' 9") - Decent backup forward but with 2 other 6' 9" F's he's the odd man out. Piatkowski (6' 7") - An ex-Clipper who plays like an ex-Clipper (and I not talking Elton Brand either). A 3 point specialist who was unable to consistently hit the 3 point shot. Weatherspoon (6' 7") - Solid backup at the 4 but at 6' 7" a bit too small to be a backup 5. He's more of a physical presence than Padgett which is why I think he'll stay. Like JJ, this will be his 12th year so age will be a factor as well as the cumulative wear-and-tear from all of those NBA seasons. Now to this rather dubious cast of characters, you propose that they add Mutombo as the backup C. Mutombo (7' 2") has no offensive game (to be fair, neither did Cato), no lateral movement and is slower than slow. There are TREES that move better than him (hell, SHAWN BRADLEY moves better than him). Plus he's looking at his 13th season and has been injury prone the past few years. His days of being "the best backup C in the league" are long gone. There's no way that adding him will be enough to put them "over the top" as you put it. He's nowhere near the best of the best but is instead, the best of what's left This then, is the group of fellows who will be looking to "find their roles" about T-Mac & Yao assuming that most of them actually stay on the team long enough to make it on to the court. I don't know about you, but for now, I find myself solidly in the "underwhelmed" camp. There's nothing about this group that whispers championship contender.
Forget salaries, forget everything.. Are you telling me that 12 of the last 13 championships had a better supporting cast than Juwan Howard, Mo Taylor, Mutombo, Bob Sura, Charlie Ward, Jim Jackson, Tyronne Lue, possibly Adrian Griffin and Bostjan Nachbar? It's a strong supporting cast. If these players were anywhere near their primes, we would be looking at breaking some records... However, they are EXCELLENT role players who have accumulated experience over the years, and that will be the different... Compare them to the Lakers, Spurs and Rockets supporting casts... Tell me we're weaker...
You cannot forget those things because they are a crucial component to building a championship team. You are focusing too much on what others have done rather than on what the Rockets have done in the past and are doing today. I have seen this all before. This off season is vintage Houston Rockets. They have always shown a willingness to make the effort to go get the star player: Drexler, Pippen, Barkley, E. Hayes, etc.. This year it's Tracy McGrady. They got their "splash" and everyone has a feel-good hickey from the trade but this was as much a business signing as it was a basketball deal. Ticket sales are up as there is a genuine cause for excitement amongst the fandom. However, I knew that given their history, they would then go out and load their bench with the most inexpensive players they can get which is exactly what CD has done. To be fair, this offseason's FA market has sucked big time and there really wasn't much by the way of quantity available so CD was really in a bind from the get go. That's why his crappy drafting cripples the team because they have no young maturing players nor the draft picks to acquire them. This isn't a STRONG supporting cast, it's a FAIR supporting cast at best. Solid in nature but fair in terms of overall quality. That's because the guy in charge, CD, is incapable of finding talented young players in the draft so he has to build through trades and you can only do so much via the trade route especially when you have to do it on the cheap because you gave out too many bad contracts in the past. It shows on this team. Their bench players are somewhat better than last year's (which is not saying much) but they are in no way superior to those at Denver, Utah, Memphis & Phoenix. It goes without saying that they are not in the same class as is the benches of SA, Minn, SAC, Detroit, Indy. As for the theory of championship teams, you cannot compare the Rockets to those teams because the Rockets don't possess the same track record. Remember, this is a team that's one year removed from NBA lottery land. This is a team with a pathetic draft record. This is a team stocked with players nobody else wanted. My advice is to hold off on planning that victory parade and make this team and organization prove themselves on the court where it counts. I admire your passion but be advised that the flame of passion can become an all consuming one that leaves only ashes in its wake. Just ask any Astros fan...
I agree with Hill boy and Mr. Meowgi's comments. I'm not going to be overly optimistic until the team has proven itself. Like many of the board posters, I'm hoping for great things to come for this bunch but we have yet to see how well these players mesh together. Just remember from last years team it seems like we're only keeping Yao, JJ, and Mo Tay.
No doubt CD (and somewhat Rudy T) have been hit and miss in the draft hits- Horry, Cassell, Mobley misses- about everyone else who wasn't a top 3 pick
