of course it's all speculation but, the rockets are in win-now mode. if morey was to draft a foriegn player or a young guy who can't contribute right away, then he essentialy wasted a first round pick. not expecting the pick to contribute next season just seems like a soft way of saying we're planning on moving it. also, why the heck is he saying there is good talent in the 40-45 range? our pick isn't anywhere near that. this seems like he's trying to soften up the fans/media to the idea of trading out of the first round and into that range in particular. the fact that he didn't just say "there is talent to be had in the second round" is a bit telling as well. sounds like he's targeting a specific team in that range.
The more I listen to him or read about something he's said, the more my hope and optimism for the future of the Rockets continues to wane. He strikes me as someone who thinks that if he spouts the company line enough times, folks will start to buy it hook line & sinker. So far his "tenure" has been less than underwhelming. If he thinks that getting Mike James while keeping Bonzi "Sta Puff" Wells and adding another undersized PF is going to make a significant difference in this team's chances in the West then he's even dumber that his predecessor was and that's saying a lot.
what the hell is "win now" mode??? as opposed to "win later" mode? no matter if you are the san antonio spurs or the atlanta hawks, the idea in acquiring talent is to acquire the best talent possible. it doesn't matter if you're talking about drafting or free agent signing, the theory is the same: get the most talent...foster the best chemistry. if there's a quality player available at #26, draft him. i dont' care if he's a center, a foreigner, a long range prospect, an "immediate contributor"...whatever. draft/acquire the best players possible.
Just worth noting... One of the teams in that range is Portland. It would be their second 2nd round pick (#42). They have FOUR total picks in the 2nd round. You know they aren't going to use all 4 of them. So, we could make a trade, or just buy a pick.
I totally agree with you and I'm almost certain the Rockets are going to screw it up.I hope they prove me wrong.
Spouting the company line is pretty much requirement for anyone who works for Les Alexander unless you want to piss him off and lose your job like Van Gundy. GMs rarely ever tell you what they actually think anyway. They are always trying to one-up each other and the last thing they want to do is reveal too much in public. So, you end up with quotes that range from bland to complete lies. As for evaluations are concerns, does anyone actually think it's just Morey and his spread sheet doing all the talking? As far as I know, Morey traveled to Treviso to watch the international draft prospect camp and there are traditional scouts like Dean Cooper still with the team, and so are other scouts. Stop crying over things that are not happening. And I can't understand how anyone who claims to have actually watched the team play would think Chuck Hayes and Shane Battier are some sort of statistical anomaly. When the Rockets shooting got cold, it was often Chuck out getting the team a second, third shot at the basket. Shane Battier was there taking on every matchup, stopping fast breaks, defending everyone else's man. The real stat geeks are those who think they know the value of Battier and Hayes from their fantasy stats.
very interesting. they are also rumored to be trying to aquire a second first round pick. the rockets already have 13 players under contract, not including hayes. it doesn't seem like there are so many roster slots to fill that we should invest in buying a second round pick. seems more like, the guy they want should be available in the second round, and so they can use tiher first rounder as trade bait.
Gater, I'm among those who thought we should've gotten more in that trade. Still, JVG's word doesn't mean that much to me. Given the choice of seasoned defender/3pt-shooter Battier or rookie Gay, who do you honestly think JVG would take? That's a no-brainer. It might have been Morey's germ of an idea, but do you think Les and CD weren't overseeing things at that point? They wouldn't bring in a guy they say needs a year of seasoning under CD then let him pull the trigger on a deal by himself. Since last year. You can't drop the blame for Rudy Gay in Morey's lap then turn around and NOT give him credit for this one. Yeah, BUT... Morey *helped* to build the Celtics. Neither of us knows how much input he had in the process, though. It's just as likely he was there to provide input to Ainge and nothing more, especially given his lack of experience at the time. As for McHale, sure the Joe Smith contract was his big failing -- but that's part of being the GM. He screwed up so badly that his team still hasn't recovered, and that makes him a bad GM. Isiah? He brought in Francis when he already had Marbury -- that's a HORRIBLE move, unless he was planning on following it up by shipping one of them out for another piece. Jalen Rose? Mo Taylor? Jerome James? Malik Rose? Isiah may indeed recognize talent, but he's not so great at acquiring it, which makes him a bad GM. I'm not saying Morey is good or bad -- I'm saying we need to see more of what he does before we can say either way.
agreed you cant judge morey yet, but hes done well so far. cd blamed morey for pushing him to do the battier deal, then when the owner started loving it later in the season cd started to try and take credit for the deal...classic cd
odd for one of the more honest guys in the nba. but i thought its been pretty well accepted that the move WAS morey's. of course jvg signed off on it but saying its morey's "germ" of an idea is not accurate.
when it comes to draft of FA the idea is to aquire the best talent possible. however in the draft, the point is to aquire a player who will become the best talent possible. that player may not allways be the best talent right now. win-now mode (as opposed to win-later mode) is when you give up the future for the "best talent possible". rudy gay for shane battier is a win-now move. battier is a better talent right now. gay will probably be much more talented down the road. a long range project will not be the best player possible. either you want to take the most talented player on draft night, or take a guy who you think will be the most talented later on.
i hope the sixers fall in love with someone and trade their 30th and 38th pick for the rockets 26 would be great.
Shane Battier is signed for 4 more years, he's for the now and the future. He will be making the critical plays and competing at a high level for a long time. Trading prospects for for Ron Artest with 1 year left on his deal would be dealing the future for "win now." Trading a pick for Battier is not. As for Rudy Gay (or, more realistically, Thabo Sefolosha), decent prospects, but you are taking a big chance that they'll pan out at all. It's more than just a matter of time.
You freaking kill me. People have their little causes around here, from the cult of VSpan, to the Juwan Howard haters, but your hatred of Carroll Dawson is hilarious.
ive tried on multiple threads to explain what a fraud cd is, but no one wants to deal with the facts just the media driven perceptions...
I support the Battier trade and I don't complain about not getting the #24 pick. I mean it's good to have the #24 pick, and I would say the same if they add Mike Miller in the trade. "It's good to have, but not neccessary.." Or let me put it this way. It like in a situation that you need a pen to sign a contract that you think you could a million dollar off, but you don't have a pen at the moment, so you go to the store, the guy was telling you, the pen is $20 bucks, you know you are buy the pen at 20 times the market price, but you still buy the pen anyhow..
