never understood the excitement over this guy. i guess he may be able to help our team next year, since we're depleted, but i wouldn't want to sign him to anything long term
1. EVERYTHING that you typed in post #174 is about "building" around Yao and Tracy. Everything. You can't have it both ways. Going "all in" requires both to be healthy -- something that apparently will never happen. Trading for Captain Jacko while retaining both Yao/McGrady is the epitome of a "win now" type move. 2. Again, I think you are beyond naive if you really think banking on this "building around Yao AND Tracy" thing is a good idea. It's failed countless times. They can't stay healthy. We get it. You can play the "OMG anything can happen!!" card but logic and history both point to a roster catered to this duo being tremendously flawed. Why do you think Morey keeps adding dynamic scorers with all this youth and upside? It's not by coincidence. He's trying to safeguard this team from another injury meltdown. You do that by finding cheap players with upside -- not by trading for 30+ year old flawed players with large and lengthy contracts. We KNEW Artest was a shaky idea from the start but we pulled the trigger regardless because with Yao/T-Mac healthy he made us a serious threat, in theory. With our roster in the boat that we're in now Jackson absolutely does not provide that same element so why try to force a square peg into a round hole yet again? For a title, yeah okay, it's worth the risk. For right now, though? 3. Of course Tracy is going to be primetime trade bait. It's about 50/50 whether or not to hang onto him. Both strategies seem to make sense. You can hang onto him and let his deal expire or you can shop his massive $23M contract in a slumping economy. This February's trade deadline is going to be wild. You can bet the house that T-Mac's name is going to be front-and-center in the middle of all this. The funny part is you doubt Morey's desire to move McGrady and/or his overall trade appeal then you end all of your rambling with a "McGrady + Landry + Brooks" mad scientist type prediction. 4. The overall depth of our roster? Most seem to get the impression that our depth continues to improve. Rather than pursue this vague point i'll just agree that Adelman is the real deal then leave it at that. 5. Artest was on his best behavior last year and he was still somewhat of a locker room problem. You must have slept through the entire regular season to not be aware of him butting heads with Tracy and Rafer. It's pretty well documented. Rafer was the only one that tried to keep Artest in check and consequently they butted heads. It was part of the motivation behind making the solid Kyle Lowry trade (which you, in knee-jerk fashion, labeled a "dumb" move). Plus, I don't know how you could have missed the McGrady vs. Artest drama both leaking out of the locker room and through the media. It mostly stemmed from them being unable to play on the same unit due to their ball dominating tendencies and lack of effort when playing together. Do you not remember how terrible our off-the-ball movement was with both of them out there? It was hideous. Jackson plays the same exact way only he's a bigger ball stopper. 6. What makes Jackson a "perfect" compliment to Yao? His assists all come from ball dominance. I don't think I have ever seen Jacko throw a post feed. He's an ISO player which is a dying breed of player in today's NBA. He's inefficient, dominates the ball, kills movement and takes horrible shots. I mean, really....how does a player like that fit on this team unless we're going for Artest Part II? Did I mention that he's known for his strong defense too? Yeah, not Artest Part II AT ALL! "Perfect compliment to Yao" "High basketball IQ" These are all statements that I can barely even process.
I don't know about you but I guess Morey is picking up assets to trade for that allstar potential guy. IMO Jax is too old but you never know. I don't really mind him coming over here because he is fun to watch. Personally I would want to have a younger guy.
Precisely I kinda agree to your 5. and 6. point. One thing I can imagine Stephen Jackson do. Coming off the bench when Tracy comes back strong as our Stackhouse.
This is a ery intiguing idea. I won't argue that S-Jax has his faults, however he can do more for this team than Artest did, which says a lot. We might all hate Ron now, but we applauded him for his truwarrior attitude and hustle he brought us. I have my doubts, especially since he might be a black hole on offense, however there is no denying that he is talented. Is he worth the contract he is getting paid? Maybe not. Verdict: I'd play it safe and not go for him, but I wouldn't blame DM if he pulled the trigger. To be honest, Morey has played safe his entire tenure as GM, so I couldn't see him making this move.
But the fact remains that he is a 31 year old journey playing on an overpaid contract. If he was such a good guy who can fit in everywhere, how come he always ends up signing with a new team? He just signed for GS who was kind enough to give him an amount no one else would even touch and now he wants out just like that? S-Jax might not be the cancer everyone thinks he is, but he IS overpaid, and his style of play is not conducive to winning basketball. No body would even consider him as the missing piece that can put a contender over the hump, why the heck would we even waste time with him when we aren't even contenders?
If you do not think that Stephen Jackson has a high basketball IQ, well, no need for me to finish this useless tangent. Agree to disagree...And Pops and Nellie are on my side... Thank you, I suggest you check this out baller23143, It pretty much sums up how I feel about Stephen Jackson. About Tmac and Yao, I am flexible. If we can get a star for Tmac, we might have to do it, but I do think Tracy+Yao could very well still be "on". Yao will always be a Rocket, so that leaves Tracy as the only question mark. If Tracy is a Rocket and possibly extended, (Like that recent article in the GARM just pointed out) I will bring up this thread. And If DM thinks Tracy and Yao are his guys, Jackson has proven that he is a guy that can be a significant piece on a championship contender... "Chameleon". My thoughts on Stephen are pretty much summed up in that article...btw, Thanks for the read DribbleHooper...
I consider him to be as or more valueable than Battier, He makes about Battier money... When he gets to 10 million in his final year, he just becomes a nice expiring contract at only 34 years old. His style of play is not conducive to winning? Strange thing to say considering he has been and contributed to a winner his entire career essentially...
Great post. I too think it is close, and would be a bit of a gamble. I just wonder if this is a gamble we should take... Back in 2001 we could have had Rasheed (Who had the EXACT same kind of questions about him) to play with Yao/Steve/Cat. Instead, detroit gambled with him and got a ring. Dang that would have been a fun Rockets team to watch... Steve Francis/Mooch Cuttino Mobley James Posey/Jim Jackson? Rasheed Wallace/Eddie Griffin/Mo Taylor Yao Ming/Kelvin Cato What sucks is that Steve never really got a chance to play with the really dominant Yao that came the year after...Forsooth
Sorry for going off on a tangent here, but I agree. It would've been very interesting to see what would've happened if the T-Mac/Franchise trade didn't go down. Prior to the trade, the rockets finally made the playoffs again and were on the way up. Note: that francis also played selflessly in his only season in rockets red (first JVG season). Had he stayed, he may have developed into a billups type player with better offense. This is all in hindsight though. At the time, I got swept up in the T-Mac hype.
rockets could trade him for Carl Landry and Brian Cook BUT MAVS GM WNT TO TRADE HIM AS WELLL DAMN and also rockets could trade someone of Eric Goron from Clippers good lucks rockets if they want to trade him and NXT SEASON!!!!!!!!!
I like Captain Jack. I was one of the proponents of getting him in the Monte Ellis thread. I think his contract is fairly reasonably. How many 20 point scorers are there that don't make over 10 million a year. I can't think of any that aren't on their rookie contract. He was won a ring and helped take out the Dallas team. He has had a pretty good track record in regards to winning. Yes he can be a knuckle head but he as also shown that he can play within a system. Who ever said he doesn't know how to pass into the post is talking out of their butt. He's played with Duncan and Jermaine Oneal. If didn't know how to pass into the post, Pops and Carlisle would have never played him.
From Feigen's blog: [rquoter] hey Jon, You have created a recent of certain players being a ''Morey Player'' or non ''Morey player''. In your words can you define what a Morey player is to you. Thank you (He prefers well-rounded players to players that can score, but do little else. He considers defense under-valued and wants efficient offensive players, rather than ones that put up misleading numbers. He can't always have all those qualities, but that would be his preference. -- Jonathan) [/rquoter] So, by that definition, is Stephen Jackson a "Morey Player"?
Unless a player is at an extreme end (defense: Battier) on the scale, it would likely require more of a comparison to other players to see where Stephen Jackson would be slotted in regards to being a Morey player. Where would Captain Jack be slotted on the Morey scale in the group below? Artest Melo Caron Butler Stephen Jackson T Prince Andre Iguodala Paul Pierce
I'd say so. He falls short in the offensive efficiency department but he's definitely a player I would consider well rounded. He can do plenty of things on the court as well as defend the ball. I like the part about him prefering well rounded players to scorers who do little else, my least favorite type of player. Seems like there's less of a chance of us picking up a player like Corey Maggette or Kevin Martin...and explains why he didn't re-sign Wafer.
LOL...I didn't think you would have much to say after my last response. And that article you're referencing basically labels Captain Jacko as a T.O. type player that's decent for a while despite all the problems then eventually wears out his welcome. Here you are misinterpreting an article that labels Jackson's contract extension a "mistake", calls him out for being too selfish in Atlanta and highlights all his other faults that i've been beating into your head as a positive. Much like Artest, nobody will ever question his effort. Jackson is exactly the same way and that limb that you're walking out on keeps getting thinner and thinner by banking your case for getting him on it.
That is not what the article is about, at all. It is supporting my claim that Stephen Jackson would be a good fit with Yao, and that he would find a way to "fit" in Houston, like he has done everywhere else. Stephen Jackson has made a career out of working himself successfully into different systems. That is the point the article is making, and it makes it much better than you make yours. To say for sure that Stephen can't fit in or does not have a high basketball pedigree is quite frankly with Stephen A Smith a joke, and you have my unrelenting sympathy...
knote, I agree about jackson, but I don't think you haave jackson and tracy just as u don't have monte and brooks. Jackson is a pretty good decision maker with the ball, but there are few in the league from the wing that are equal to tracy. If a deal was to go down with gsw, somehow Turiaf has to be part of the deal. I pointed out another scenerio earlier involving tracy for jackson,maggette,and turiaf. Another deal that could happen could be tracy and brooks for ellis,jackson,and turiaf.People will cry about ellis 9m per, but for a 21yr old with his talent,that's a good deal. Ellis,Jackson,Ariza,Scola,and Turiaf as starters with landry,battier,lowry, and whomever else off the bench is a pretty good squad.
