You'd take Williams and Walker over Battier? Hmm. I would take Haslem and probably Posey. But for all the press they get, particularly after being on a championship team, their numbers are no better than Battier's. Haslem is solid, though- somewhat in the mode of a Thorpe with a little better of an outside shot but not as much of a defensive presence. He would be a nice addition.
They are better. They were playing their roles for a CHAMPIONSHIP team. Battier was Memphis' 6th leading scorer (counting Damon Stoudamire and Chucky Atkins as one player) and was 2nd in minutes played. You better hope his role is not 3rd option on offense in Houston. He also is not aging well. Looks and plays like a player 30+ years old athletically. We will see....
1.I'd take Haslem because of defense and rebounding. He also has a decent mid-range game and attacks the rim with well placed alley-oops. He also did a great job on Dirk in the Finals, unlike what Battier did in the Playoffs last year vs. Dallas. 2.Walker would be decent addition because he is a natural scorer. My opinion changed of him somewhat because of his role acceptance of being the 3rd man on his team. He can also play point-forward which would take away some of TMac's duties and making him more potent on offense. If only Walker would tone down the amount of threes he takes!! 3.Posey is a very similar player to Battier. They both are defensive specialists, good shooters, and decent rebounders. However, in comparing the two, Posey is the more tougher guy and has a meanness to him. You saw what he did to Hinrich. I'm not saying we need a guy to push someone over on purpose, but we need a guy who takes things personal and fires his teammates up. It's a void this team had without Sura last year. 4. Williams is probably the only one I wouldn't take over Battier. However, if we could trade Alston for Williams, I'd be okay with it. They're not too different, but Williams is also tougher then Alston.
what are you talking about.. one of the primary reasons Haslem played was for defensive purposes.. you think he was playing primarily for his offense?
Battier is a Rocket like it or not. Memphis fan speaks too much IMO as to the weakness of Battier. Maybe, maybe not. Just like him play. At the end of the season, if Yao is healthy and TMac is OK, they are in the playoffs. If any of the scrubbs we picks up surprises, then we may get to the second round. No, Battier is not a scrub. He is the 3rd option unless the 2 Guard, whoever he is, steps up. That's the way it's going to be. BTW, if Yao continues to improve, then it doesn't really matter. Everyone on the team will look better. He may have similiar impact as Nash (but he has the ball more). The team will get open looks and be nasty inside. Can't wait for Yao's team to get to the WCF/Finals. And yes, TMac needs to realize now that it's Yao's team and he is here to help him get the Rockets to the promise land.
How is he not remarkable? He lobbied for Shaq before his season even ended in Orlando to come to LA. Traded Divac for Kobe Bryant. Turned Memphis's ****ty franchise into a consecutive 50-win team. List me 5 or 6 better GMs better than him. He's easily top 10, he's right now the best GM in the NBA.
Dumars, Colangelo, R.C. Buford, Geoff Petrie, Donnie Nelson/Mark Cuban (not too sure who the real GM is), Pat Riley
He did a good job with LA and Memphis, for sure. Now, because we decided to go with Yao instead of Jay Williams (or trade the pick) and made the trade for McGrady, will that then make Carroll Dawson a genius if we win the championship in the next 2 years? No, here's the argument: anyone would have drafted Yao and McGrady's refusal to return to Orlando practically forced that trade our way. And Shaq wouldn't have come to LA if it had not been for West. And trading Divac, the perennial All-Star, for Kobe Bryant, was such a risky move. I give Jerry West credit for doing a very good job. Both with LA and Memphis. But I think being in LA helped him land Shaq, and I think Memphis was primed for improvement even before he got there (although I didn't expect 50 wins). I just think he receives more credit than he deserves, given his recent drafting record and Memphis' playoff record.
Yeah yeah, it was all luck. What you don't seem to understand about CD is he understands the game and he understands that you have to find anchors for your team before you can go anywhere. So, he waits until he gets anchors and then he builds out. CD understood after Hakeem left that SF and CM were not going to be able to get it done. He knew he needed a better player. Do you think he just sat around waiting for Yao to fall in his lap? No. He was trying to make a deal all along, for picks, or for that superstar player. What materialized was a shot at Yao. The luck was the ping pong balls. But if it had not been for the ping pong balls, believe me, CD would be dumping contracts until he got into a position to entice a superstar player to come here and play with SF and CD or he would have made trades until he got that piece to go with SF and CD. What CD understands is TALENT. CD recognizes talent. Go back to the Yao draft. Don't you guys remember, we were going to take Amare if he fell to Boki's slot? And I'm sure if Amare could have been gotten by moving up a couple slots with a trade, CD would have done it. He had that draft pegged right. Yao #1 and Amare #2. We also know CD understands talent by his willingness to move BOTH SF and CM for TMac when that became a doable deal. The old axiom is still true. The harder and the smarter you work, the luckier you get. CD is smart and he works hard. And he's helped us get lucky. Don't you guys remember before we had 111??? Every major, legit, big time player that went on the market had rumors attached to them involving the Rockets. That was because CD was stirring up stuff, working to make a deal happen. Every GM, including Dumars, Riley, West, etc. has missed it on the draft. The draft is a hit and miss proposition. But CD has done just as well as anybody, plucking players like Mobley out of the 2nd round. Remember, he was the one that sprung the deal that landed Francis to begin with. He got that deal done. He got us Clyde. He got us Quitten (even though he didn't work out, CD got him here.). He got us Barkley. Remember Dumars is the guy that passed on Melo for Darko. Hey, someday Darko may pull even with Melo.....but it's doubtful. Detroit got nothing out of him and got basically nothing for him. West's draft history is littered with misses. Know why? It's because hitting on draft picks is like a MLB player hitting against Roy O. They're only going to be successful a couple times out of 10 because there's only so many big time players out there. So, you can't hold draft history against any of these GMs, except the ones that never hit in the draft and who traded away all their picks for trash. I'm tired of all the doubters. All the people in the know in the NBA will tell you that the Rox have a great front office and a great coach. Yeah, there may be some haters that don't like Van Gundy's style. But they all admit that he knows the game and he knows players. And when is the last time you heard professionals in the NBA say anything bad about CD or criticize him for his management of this team? How about....never?
Exactly. Too many people on this board are hyper-critical about the Rockets' deals without looking at what the rest of the league has done. For every San Antonio in the draft, there are 15-20 others who bat .300. For every Detroit who pulls off great trades (Hamilton, Wallace, Wallace), there are 15-20 others who make trades that do not lead them to the title. I'm not saying fans don't have the right to question or criticize, but fans also have an obligation to keep perspective. I do question a few moves, but I roundly applaud more than I question.
You also have to remember Detroit had a back up center by the name of Darko which they foolishly traded away before resigning Ben Wallace. In time, i'm sure Darko could do everything Wallace brought to the table. Which was only rebound, defend, and miss foul shots. I don't even think it will take Darko as long if those are the only things he is told to work on.
It's pretty funny how time can help people "rationalize" even the most idiotic moves and mistakes. Yes there's no denying that Battier was a good pickup. Nobody even said that Battier sucks and doesn't belong with the Rockets. What really bother me (yes up to this point) is that we gave up: 1. A 1st round pick with great superstar potential (who BTW at worst would be a mediocre to good player, which is what we got in Battier) 2. PLUS a young, atheltic, serviceable backup PF (which is pretty hard to find nowadays) with a relatively LOW SALARY (A RARITY in the league) Please, let us not forget the travesty that has happened, just because you see Battier doing well.
This trade is BAD, whether we signed James or not. This trade had NOTHING to do with James. We could have signed James whether or not we traded for Battier. Besides, if what you said were true, why not wait until we signed James first, before making the trade?
Carroll Dawson by no means will ever be considered a genious. He has never managed the teams personnel on his own, he always talks to the coach, usually that's proper, but even in the slightest moves. He needs to be able to do SOME on his own. Then, I love how Van Gundy denies he had anything to do with the trade and it's all CDs great act. You can't honestly tell me that CD didn't get heavily influenced into adding Battier, and you cannot tell me that CD wouldn't have cut Bowen. It's basically Van Gundy's mind in a different human being, same goes for Rudy, when he was here. Jerry West took risks. He signed Shaq to a nasty, fat deal, he was a proven superstar, but that contract lease had no fine line for them to benefit out of any bad circumstance. Trading a great center, at that time, for a high schooler is as risky as it comes. A proven, quality Center for a HS-er? You think CD or JVG will think of that? Little did we know, Kobe would groom into one of the league's best. But that's the risk he took, and again he is taking it with Gay. I'm not saying Gay will be Kobe, but then again Battier wasn't Divac. However, if Gay stayed here, he wouldn't have developed under Van Gundy.
so that explains moochie, cato, maloney, drew, passing up on r lewis, trading 3 draft picks for eg, etc..
It was a great trade! The rockets don't need a superstar at power forward, they just need a dependable hard worker that can defend and rebound, score a little and even shoot the 3. They got it. Shane will help Yao and Tracy tremendously. If they are healthy expect big things from them, and hopefully all our new guards will really help to to make this a very good year.
