I noticed that. Looks like he's stepping up with Gasol out this week. Navarro also had a big night with 27 pts.
Gay watch? Why don't you have a Thabo Sefolosha watch since JVG was going to draft him instead of Gay until Jerry West contacted the Rockets about drafting Gay for him and dealing for Battier?
I took Gay almost all my fantasy leagues so I am always watching. I was amazed at how low he was ranked preseason, below Durant? Are you kidding me? Once he gets the passion for defense (and he will) Gay is going to be nasty. Better than Durant ever will IMO. Yup. Thats what I am sayin.
Gay is really scoring well and looks to be improving as the season progresses. I've watched a few Grizz games in the past week and can easily say it was horrible to be so impatient to take battier over this guy. I wonder if it was JVG or CD that thought Battier would give us a chance to be championship contenders in that 'win now' season. We aren't anywhere close to a champion...that's what happens when you take chances with a known mediocre 'glue guy' and a could be great player. The thing that's probably harder to take than anything is even if Gay turned out to be a bust, we wouldn't be any worse off than we are now.
As I recall what Van Gundy himself said to the media within weeks after he was replaced.... The Battier-Gay trade proposal was NOT presented by CD but was 100% presented by Morey. VG claimed he was "neutral" and didn't get caught up in things like the draft. Not sure I buy that. Les thought the price was too high and that minimum the Rockets should push for Memphis' #24 pick. The unfortunate reality...they made the trade, didn't push for the pick nor were they successful in trading down which would have added vet depth.
what a debacle. that's not even touching on the fact that they had sefolosha ranked ahead of gay. i wonder what was worse: this or the richard jefferson for eddie griffin move. or maybe letting james posey walk so we can save money by bringing in jimmy jackson. maybe wasting our mle on ward and sura instead of signing derek fisher who is the perfect PG for this team. ah hell, the list can go on forever.
I'm still a little confused about that draft day trade.why do they get Rudy Gay and Stromile Swift and the Rockets only get Battier.It seems like we should have gotten their draft pick along with Battier.Somebody explain that to me.
The Battier/Gay trade is by far the worst. We're talking about adding a 21-year-old athletic, slashing scorer on a team that's deprived of athletic, slashing scorers. With the attention Yao and T-Mac receive he easily could have thrived as a third option and been a cornerstone of the franchise for years. Irrelevant though, since as you mentioned we had Sefalosha ranked ahead of him....and what's done is done: we have Battier and it aint the end of the world either. I'm fine with having Battier and I prefer not to dwell on "the trade" but if we're speculating about which scenario you mentioned worked out the worst then it's by far this trade since he could have potentially put us over the top.
because Stromile Swift has a negative trade value. so they are *supposedly* doing us a favor by taking on his contract.
Your question is sort of confusing but here are the facts. An unsigned draft pick has NO monetary value under the NBAPA Collective Bargaining Agreement. None. Teams can swap unsigned picks regardless of where they were in the draft order. Under the CBA, there were limited ways (trade exception, 3rd team with cap space, Assigned Player Exception) to bring Shane Battier's contract on to the Rockets' payroll. The Assigned Player Exception was used to swap Swift's contract for Battier's contract. Since unsigned picks have no trade value, Rudy Gay's contract (or any unsigned pick MEM would/could sent to HOU) had no impact monetarily. The prevailing theory at the time was Swift had NO value to the Rockets so we were forcing MEM to take him. In retrospect and IMHO, Swift would have been a pretty decent rotation player and a fairly live body for any coach other coach than Jeff Van Gundy. Does that help?
Thanks fellas that helps. I also agree with your point about stromile Swift would have been a pretty decent rotation player and a fairly live body for any coach other coach than Jeff Van Gundy. and from what I have seen from him this year he seems to be playing very well.
In my mind prior to that draft, Rudy Gay was the #1 player. When he was available at #8, I was so excited. When the rumor went out about the deal for Shane, I was ready to throw my computer out the window. Last season, I was satisfied with the trade because Stro remained the complete bust that he always was and Gay didn't show me enough. This season, it's been tough watching Gay's boxscores. While I don't think he's going to be a superstar and it's good to be rid of Stro, Shane's substandard performance and Gay's improvement prove it was a bad trade for us.
I think this title is alil misleading... Oh well. Rudy gay is only going to get battier. Think of Carmelo with more athleticism and 3point shooting. Damn..
