Shhhhhhh. Listen . . . What's that sound in the distance? Can you hear it? The low rumble of a large armored vehicle on treaded belts approaching? Put it together. The Rockets trade down out of this year's lottery. They stack up first-round picks for next year. They begin to line up their offseason trading options with an eye toward clearing cap room next year. That means taking on people who aren't in our future plans and won't necessarily help much this year. If it falls into place, the idea is to pull together a new team in one stroke and coach it into a cohesive fighting unit. Rudy gets to pick the rest of his squad all at once, focusing on which pieces will fit together. The players grow, train, and practice together. Everybody knows his role and plays it. Everybody knows where everybody else will be on the court. (Good riddance TO's!) Just the kind of thing a chemistry-obsessed coach loves. Except that all of that starts in 2001. To get there, you have to defer your good pick in the 2000 draft and accept the confusion and bad chemistry that comes from choosing your trades and free agent acquisitions with an eye toward clearing cap room a year from now. In short, you have to sacrifice the 2000 season. I'm not complaining. I'd rather suck for a year and peak together in the finals three years from now than lose three straight respectable first-round playoff series during those years. Swing that turret and open that hatch, baby. I'm climbing aboard.
I'm in Will, let Tank-A-Thon 2000 begin. But unlike last year lets do it properly this year and go something like 21-61, that should give us a good solid top5 pick. It will only help with Rudy letting the Bullards triplets Start. ------------------ Stuff BBS, the Rockets and you guys It's all Clippers these days, come join the bandwagon and visit http://www.ClippersCity.com
well if what you say is correct then the two guys we got should start learning their roles right about now which is sittinon their asses ..... on the bench ------------------ TycoonChip
Newsflash from the year 2001 draft... In another in a history of stunning draft day decisions, Rudy T. and Carrol Dawson stunned the world once again by Passing on All world youngster Brian Dunkalicious, for an eyescratcher at the number 2 pick in Byron Maybemakeateam. In his post draft comments Rudy was quoted: "We really like how Byron can fit our team. He performed pretty well for us in drills. And we were shocked at his ability to run the floor." "He had good hands, and a nice post up game."
I think that Rudy and the team proved at the end of the year that tanking was not in their vocabulary. Considering the free agency possibilities these days for a well run franchise a perfectly good personnel philosophy is as follows: -Don't draft someone who doesn't have a permanent role on the team or cannot be traded for someone who does. -If you have to be patient and wait a year to draft a starter that is OK because the objective is to win a championship, not just get by. -Play to win: for every spot you lose in the draft your franchise becomes more attractive for free agents. -Treat players well and players will come. Houston is one of the more attractive teams in the NBA for players to come to via free agency or trades. I don't think there are more than 6 teams in the league that can compete with Houston when it comes to this. Tanking is not necessary to get the personnel we need. Collier and Langhi fill the positions we need players at and bring defenders away from the basket to open passing lanes for our guard offense. ------------------
If we tank then having all that free agent money is kinda pointless because no one good, especially Chris Webber, will want to come to a crappy team.
outlaw, It is up to Dallas and the Rockets to bump others out of the playoffs. 2000 Playoff Western conference teams La Portland Utah.....just getting older Spurs....Duncan? Suns Minn.....need more players Seattle..Baker? Payton? Sac......need more players Five out of eight playoff teams have problems that they need to address before the 2000-2001 season. The noise that Will has heard is from the General Managers of some of the above teams tossing and turning in their beds because their unresolved issues have kept them from sleeping. Mango ------------------ Eat more spinach! Live long and prosper! Donate blood! Smeg will be assimilated. Now...back to updating The Serious Police Files.
Or perhaps Rudy has seen how this team came toghether late in the season, and thinks perhaps..just perhaps, he has the nucleus of a good team. That being the case, he adds role players that can add to the success. I think Rudy knows what he is doing, and I do not think he is giving up on this next year. I expect to be in the Playoffs, as a healthy Hakeem, and a lightning in a bottle Francis lead the way. The Rockets will get better, but not through the draft, mostly through trades and Free Agency. Look at the Lakers...Shaq..FA...Kobe...trade.. Rarely do teams become champions solely on the draft. DaDakota ------------------
Let's all go to Las Vegas... Clutch can open a trust account, and we all bet on whether or not the Rockets make the playoffs. This is probably illegal to post here but were we in a gambling friendly area I would bet a sizeable amount of money that we will make the playoffs next year. There will be no tank. This is not your father's team that had two dead horses leading the way. ------------------
We could of had Dermarr right now but we dont because the rockets decided to start winning the last 2 weeks of the season. Thats what you get RUDY!!! ------------------ President of the Moochie Norris FAN CLUB
Achebe, I thought you had your money on the mighty Clippers to make the playoffs Smeg ------------------ Stuff BBS, the Rockets and you guys It's all Clippers these days, come join the bandwagon and visit http://www.ClippersCity.com
Will -- thanks for reminding me and showing the light. I almost got caught up into that winning disease. Here is the good news: Many Western conference losing teams, like Dallas, LA Clippers and Vancouver, significantly improved themselves and their chances to move up. Suckers. ------------------ NOTHING BUT .NET CLUTCHCITY.NET
Will, I certainly hope you are wrong. I find the thought of tanking abhorrent and cannot understand anyone who would embrace it. Tanking in the NBA is second only to the great Baseball Payroll Inequity in current sport travesties (OK,I'm ignoring the South African Cricket Match Fixing debacle). Maybe I'm exaggerating a little, but a lot of people invest money in season tickets (myself amongst them) and the thought of tanking is just to much to bear for 42 games. ------------------ http://rocketdavo.tripod.com
No Davo, you're not exagerrating. The thought of anyone embracing and hopping off the Rockets bandwagon and onto the Tankwagon is sickening! I find it pathetic that we're even joking about tanking months before the draft. Maybe we aren't going to win the title. Maybe we'll stun the NBA like we did years ago. There are alot of variables that can't be counted out, but assuming this team is not going to compete and proposing tanking before pre-season even starts isn't even funny. ------------------ We need some meat in the post and I don't mean Brian Grant!
Now that's pathetic. Come on RP -- aren't jokes just that -- jokes? There's no way in hell the Rockets are really going to tank. But when your team is losing, I find it to be funny cracking on it. Just me I guess.... ------------------ NOTHING BUT .NET CLUTCHCITY.NET
My personal feeling is that this draft has provided us our bench for years to come. Do I think Collier and Langhi will be superstars? NO. But they will provide our bench and second unit with some solid offense. Someone besides the Cat who can score is a nice thought. You have to have solid role players and that is exactly what we have in Collier and Langhi. Remember 3 years ago no one really knew who Austin Croshere was when Larry Bird drafted him. 3 years later he is budding young star and contributed significantly to the Pacers run at the NBA title. Austin played huge minutes in the playoffs and during the Championship. He took a huge burden off of Jalen Rose and Reggie Miller. In some games he was the main offense. My point is that I think Collier or Langhi will play a similar role as the Rockets are making their run for a NBA title. To be honest with you I am happy with the draft picks. I think they will pan out. They have the right attitude of working hard, fundamentals, and look like they will not disrupt the chemistry. Remember the no name guys for the Orlando Magic last year did a great job. The main reason being that they had great chemistry, they played their butt's off each night, and they wanted to win. I see the same for this Rockets team. Guys, the future of this team is being built one player at a time. Did other teams improve. Yes (mainly Dallas, LA Clipp's and Vancouver). The Mav's in particular have surpassed the Rockets in the rebuilding process. I think Mark Cuban has done a wonderful job turning that team around. I really see the Mav's and Grizz having strong rivalaries with us for years to come. The Rocks, Mavs, and Grizz will be battling out for the Midwest Conference title within the next 2 years. Remember that rebuilding takes time, but the Rocks are moving in the right direction. Keep the faith.... ------------------ Vice President of the Austin Croshere fan club. [This message has been edited by Dream34 (edited June 30, 2000).] [This message has been edited by Dream34 (edited June 30, 2000).]
Dream 34 that was a good post! I think it put just cannot put it into words like you and Freak. In a few years some of these posters will be screaming how could they trade Collier or Langi away like they are we need them! I would like to be able to show them their post about how much they did not want these players when they were drafted in 2000. ------------------ One minute ago you had 60 seconds longer to live then you have now. Did you enjoy the 60 seconds you just had?
But I expect more than a bench role player out of a lottery pick. After a long frustrating losing season like last year I expected us to pick up a starting SF or PF or C to replace Dream. I know everyone is counting on FA to find a second option (post player who can score). However we can't really control free agents but we can control, except if a guy pulls a francis, our draft picks. I'm just frustrated that yeah we added depth, but all we have is role players at the 3,4 & 5 positions (I know Dream is better than a role player but he only has one year left). Williams is a shooter, Anderson is still a natural SG, KT could be OK, I'm not sold on Cato. So depth is nice if you have good starters but w/out starters depth is really nothing, IMO. An example is the Blazers & Magic were both deep teams last year, but the Blazers had good talent (if not great) at the starting 5, while the Magic had essentially 10 hard workers who played well together, and although they were exciting were not a real threat. ------------------
The Rockets' wins at the end of the season weren't a fluke. They beat several teams jockeying (sp?) for playoff positioning... Miami, Portland (when they had Utah in their rear view window), Utah (when they actually had a chance to surpass Portland and take home court advantage in the 2nd round), and several others. I have to stand by my mantra of a few weeks ago, to use the draft to shore up Devin Gray's position (#12 off of the bench), and to call it a summer. We didn't get Mike Miller or Dermarr Johnson... but we also didn't trade away a 1/3 of the team as in seasons past to rectify a need (damnit, we didn't get Mike Miller or Dermarr Johnson... anyway). It gets better. Reading Collier's bio I have no reason to think that he won't do the same thing a Croshere (that will be demanding $5 M plus this summer) would do. Bang, set a hard pick or two--- and if the D rotates actually shoot over someone. I hope this is Rudy's version of Croshere and that the $4.5 M exception isn't wasted on him (barring anything great (Rose), let it die). It gets even better. The Rockets were so often injured last season that there was no continuity. If you think that a healthy Collier will be more influential than a healthy TBone and that Langhi can rest Matt Bullard's needs then this draft further satisfies. ------------------
