These trade-Steve and fire-Rudy threads aren't helpful in isolation. Most of us don't want radical change. But suppose we miss the playoffs yet again by continuing to be sloppy, stupid, and inconsistent. Suppose you look at this team in the offseason and still can't figure out why they can't win with all the talent they have. Suppose you need to shake them up by making a big change. Here are your choices: 1. Fire Rudy or kick him upstairs. 2. Trade Francis for a PG package. (Name your package.) 3. Trade or package Mobley for a PG or PG package. 4. Trade Griffin for some inside muscle. (Name your muscle.) 5. Your big shake-up idea here. (Or amend any of the above) Remember, the scenario is that you MUST do something big. You can't just dismiss all the options. Pick your poison. Off the top of my head, I'd try for 3 and explore 4 as well, saving 1 for the next offseason if things don't improve.
I don't think that will happen. If really so, my choice would be trade Yao to another team for whoever, maybe even a future 2nd round pick, then Rockets will never have hope to win a championship and there will be no "SteveBallHog, YaoPeaked, RudyRetarded" threads ever again. LOL, sorry to be so cynical but I really hate to see rox play this way.
You should have made a poll out of it. I say 1. Change the coach, get a new system and have Steve play SG. It's dumb to trade Francis IMO.
Okay, although I am NOT a proponent of trading Steve, here is a solution: Houston trades Steve Francis to Chicago. Chicago trades Jay Williams and Marcus Fizer to Cleveland. Chicago trades Eddy Curry and Jamal Crawford to Houston. Cleveland trades DaJuan Wagner + #1 Protected #1 to Houston. Cleveland trades Desagana Diop to Chicago. Houston receives Crawford (PG), Wagner (SG) and Curry (PF). Chicago receives Francis (PG) and Diop (C or PF). Cleveland receives Williams (PG) and Fizer (PF). Granted, some cap filler here and there has to be thrown in, but this lineup might be pretty good. PG -- Jamal Crawford (guards SGs) SG -- DaJuan Wagner (guards PGs) SF -- James Posey PF -- Eddie Griffin, Eddy Curry C -- Yao Ming, Kelvin Cato Sixth Man Extraordinaire -- Cat Mobley
In the spirit of the thread, I'd go with - #1. Rudy's time as a coach is over. In actuality, Rudy has grown on me over the year. There are a lot fo positives I've seen from him this year that I truly didn't expect, such as: (i) Handling of Yao situation (ii) Hnadling of Boki situation (iii) Pulling the trigger on the Thomas for Posey deal (iv) A surprising ability to desing good plays (when the ROckets actually run plays - double high post, Ming on the wing, pick and roll with the right players and good spacing, their offense is solid) (v) Spectacular defensive coaching and philosophy However, there are still many issues that I find difficult to comprehend from him as a coach, such as: (i) The team's inability to use time off (rest) in a effective manner (ii) Rotations, rotations, rotations - Rudy's rotations sometimes baffle me. In his defense, he obviously understands the need to have a consistent rotation that the players can get used to. But, why are Francis and Yao both out of the game generally at the same time, why does Mobley play a quarter and a half before getting a rest, and is never ever pulled when his shot is completely off, why haven't we seen Yao and Cato on the floor together at least once (this can't possibly cause as much confusion as Rudy claims), small ball has been seen less and less, yet Rudy now seems to throw it out there at the most inoportune times (example - Utah game), etc. (iii) Control over the team, and, more specifically, the backcourt. When Francis plays under control, the game comes to him and we all know what can happen. When he doesn't, the team completely falls apart. Does anyone think that Rudy has any control over this? Shouldn't he have more? (iv) Creating more opportunities vs. taking advantage of those that exist. Rudy has always barked about how he looks at matchups, and when something is working he goes with it. He needs to make things work better. The only current play that has Yao (a rookie center who still has difficulty posting up close to the basket) catching the ball anywhere close to the basket is the double high post play. For a player who can have such an impact on the game, yet is struggling with his shot as he is, Rudy needs to throw in a couple of plays quickly that get Yao the ball literally right at the basket. This should be the first thing done in Detroit's game for example. Mobley is a better spot up shooter than people expect - why not run him off baseline picks?
Oops, I did screw that up. I originally had the Rocks getting Williams rather than Crawford. However, then we had a backcourt that was 6-2 and 6-2 with no one there to defend against the tall guards. Make that swap on the who gets who and it works. My humble apologies. I also forgot to include Diop in the Chicago gets. Forget this correction. We can edit now! Yessssss!
1. les sells the rockets to me for $5 and a pack of camel lights. 2. i kick steve square in the nuts and tell him to stop being stupid. then make him watch all of his games and tell what he was thinking when he makes stupid stupid mistakes or why he wasnt thinking at all. after that ill make him watch steve nash and john stockton tapes. 3. i tell yao to rest. 4. i trade moochie for anything i can get. 5. i tell rice if he shoots under 45% then he will be benched until he hits 50 3's in a row during practise. then he will be awarded one game to get his avg back to 45% or better. if he doesnt the cycle continues. 6. i make the offense go through yao. 7. i sign myself to play backup pg. 8. motay starts and eg better come in and play a mean game or tmo gets his minutes. 9. boki will split time behind mobes and posey. 10. ill lower ticket prices by $10 and decrease the amount of clothing the power dancers wear. that should be a good start.
Helpful how? I hate polls. I don't want a mindless tally in which the votes of trolls, idiots, and intelligent CC.net vets count the same. I want to know what you think and why.
OK here is a big one. Houston trades to LAC Kelvin Cato Eddie Griffin LAC trades to Houston Elton Brand Lamar Odom Cherokee Parks TRADE ACCEPTED Due to Houston and L.A. Clippers being over the cap, the 15% trade rule is invoked. Houston and L.A. Clippers had to be no more than 115% plus $100,000 of the salary given out for the trade to be accepted, which did happen here. This trade satisfies the provisions of the Collective Bargaining Agreement. Reasons for this trade are simple. LAC’s gets rid of two high paying contracts coming up at the end of the year and in return get: Cato: one very contract friendly center that can rebound and run the floor, play defense and rebound like crazy. Why do they want a center? Because Kandi has already said that he is gone when the off-season gets hear. Since Cato would supply the Clipps with a center they can now offer Kandi in a trade to the highest bidder. Griffin: one of the youngest, most promising athletic, shot blocking power forwards in the game. He is still in the middle of his first contract. Together Cato and Griffin would give the Clippers a very young athletic front court that would be a terrific replacement at a very low cost for the front court they are going to loose in the off-season. Houston gets two all-star caliber players that are ready to contribute now as opposed to waiting for Griffin to finish developing and Cato’s back up minutes to Ming. Collier still has another year on his contract so he can back up Ming. Brand: because he is the absolute perfect enforcer to watch Yao Ming’s back and he comes with all-star caliber skills. Odom: the point forward this team has been missing. Cat and Steve now get to run the wing with Lamar bringing the ball up the court like they wanted in the off season. Both Tmo and Posey are free agents at the end of this season so Odom and Boki could run the 3 spot. Parks: trade for him and cut him. He is nothing more than filler to make the trade work. Houston’s new line-up: Yao Ming Elton Brand Lamar Odom Cuttino Mobley Steve Francis Yao Ming and Lamar Odom would provide some very good passing to help with Steve and Cats passing deficiencies. Houston can even toss in a conditional future 1st round draft pick. You asked for big...well here it is.
Well, that would be big. To play along, who would back up Yao? We lose any chance of keeping Posey? (We get Brand?? Yummy! I could live with Odom, I guess. )
I would trade Griffin before I traded Mobley or Steve. If we didn't make the playoffs, I would be interested to maybe see Griffin traded for a guy like PJ Brown and a good backup PG that might could replace Steve if we ever DID decide to trade Francis or Mobley.
I vote for Crash's trade idea. It looks like the Clippers get raped in the deal but since they probably aren't going to resign their own players anyway they have to get "something" for them. The question then is, is OUR deal better than any other deal they could get from any other team. Nevertheless, if that deal was brought to the table if I were the Rockets I would jump on it. We all talk about Griffin being a great shot blocker (that being his greatest asset to date) but, have you guys seen were Brand is in shot blocking this season? He is in the top 10 if not top 5. His low post game matched up with Yao's would be awesome. Then you add in Odom's passing and playing point forward. It would really add ALOT to the team in a hurry. But would we be able to SIGN all these guys to contacts? Francis is Maxed out. Yao will be Maxed out when he resigns. Where does Brand and Odom fall in salary? Brand will want a near Max deal, Odom has less leverage because of his injuries. I am not sure a team can handle more than 2 max deals. Crash, in this scenario, are we trying to keep Posey as well? I really like his game and would love to keep him, even if it is to back up the 2 spot if we have Odom and Nachbar at the 3. Chris
As ESPN insider pointed out a while back, Sterling will not pay the money, and will not trade these players. He is that stupid!!!
number 3 trade or package Cat for a pg with Odom being the pg. Cat doesn't get IT, Steve doesn't get IT, Odom can help. We know he can pass, can rebound, and is 6'10. He also understands the game. Here he is on D. Here is Odom after a 20 pt , 20 + turnover loss at Dallas (sound familiar?) three years ago when the Clips (Derek Anderson in particular) self-destructed with selfish, jack-happy, no defense play. IMHO, LO gets IT and can play team ball with Steve and MING. Lamar Odom: "If you watch the best teams in the NBA, they sacrifice for each other on the defensive end. When one guy gets beat and another has to step up, they rotate. Right now, we don't have none of that. It seems like we're playing and then when we look up, we're down by 10. Anyone who watches us knows that it is more than one thing. You just can't sit there and say we're losing because we're not playing good D. It's more than that. It's all little things and in the NBA, little things add up to big things and that's what is happening right now." Then I'd look at a power 4 and coaching help, like Will said. Those are important, but I think we need playmaker help even more. Steve needs help and Yao needs help to get the ball in good position RIGHT NOW. let me add this little nugget from Clippers forward Maurice Taylor after that loss at Dallas : Maurice Taylor: "It's getting redundant. We say the same things after every game. Until guys want to win we're not going to win, it's as simple as that. It's obvious we have to play better together. We keep talking about it, but we haven't done it." Taylor: "Every time we came back in the 4th quarter, we shot ourselves in the foot with quick shots and turnovers. It never fails. 3 times we cut the lead to 6 points and then we turned the ball over. It's real frustrating and it's getting redundant that we make the same mistakes every game."
Collier backs up Yao Ming. We could keep Posey to back up Cat and Odom if we wanted, or we could trade him for something else or just wait until the season is over to decide what to do with him. The beauty of this trade is that it does not immediately have to impact this position outside of power forward, which just happens to be our most unstable position right now. With Posey starting and playing well we could just work Odom into the line-up as he and the Rockets adjust to each other.
Going off crash's idea of acquiring guys LAC won't resign... Houston trades: Eddie Griffin Kelvin Cato Cuttino Mobley Bostjan Nachbar 2nd round Chicago obligation Los Angeles trades: Elton Brand Sean Rooks Andre Miller Eric Piatkowski We get all-star caliber PG/PF combo, a pure shooter, and a bench big man. They get a really young/talented PF, and a high scoring 2 guard that will help them resign Odom, plus a solid replacement C, and a young SF. Starting next year, LAC lets Kandi go, and resigns Odom: Cato/Ely/Wang Griffin/Wilcox/Parks Odom/Maggette/Foulkes/Nachbar Mobley/Richardson Jaric/Dooling LAC is pretty load all around. They could actually afford to let Foulkes go for sure, and then choose between Maggette and Richardson on who they want to keep. Looking at it now, it's possible they'd even let us keep Nachbar based on their forward depth. We line up: Ming/Rooks/(go small with Brand or Taylor at C)/Collier Brand/Taylor Posey/Morris Francis/Piatkowski/Hawkins Miller/(Francis)/Moochie plus Rice and Maddox off the IR This does two things- big post presence inside with Brand, and makes our guard play SO much smarter. Miller/Pike/Francis vs. Francis/Mobley/Moochie is not even close. In this scenario, you can basically cut out Moochie from the rotation, here's how the guards would break down IMO, with both Francis and Dre averaging conservatively 36 MPG, which is under their current averages: PG: Miller= 36 mins, Francis= 12 mins SG: Francis= 24 mins Leaving 24 more SG minutes that can be played easily by Piatkowski, plus Hawkins/Posey possibly picking up scrap minutes there for defensive assignments. Inside, there are 96 MPG between the 4 and the 5 slot. Brand can also be figured for around 36 MPG, and if Yao is at 30 MPG, that 30 more minutes. If MoT plays 20 MPG, that leaves 10 minutes for Rooks and/or Terence Morris who has been getting minutes at the 4.
