What about Kerry Kittles? Isn't he a free agent? And, IMO, Garcia should be pretty high up in the draft, maybe not lottery, but up there. Would love him on the team though. He can play the 4 and the 3. And the 2. Really Versatile.
Exactly. I really don't understand HillBoy's argument at all. You can't be in favor of the McGrady deal and then turn around and criticize management for what it left us with. We pretty much knew going into this year that we didn't have much left to work with, yet they made the best of a bad situation by turning garbage into Barry, Wesley, and James. What free agents were it that you were looking to add, HillBoy? Was it Derek Fisher at over $30million? Perhaps 32 year old Brent Barry for over $30million? Brian Cardinal, maybe? You can't say you were for the McGrady deal and then criticize the organization for not having a supporting cast - they had nothing to work with! You can't have your cake and eat it too. The Rudy T administration pretty much left this roster in shambles in terms of cap management. We're now seeing recovery through shrewd player personnel transactions and fiscal responsibiity. They have their core duo and look to be in a good situation in regards to their cap (in that the garbage comes off the books sooner than later). From their recent track record, I don't see any indication as to why this team will not continue on its upwards trend into the upper echelon of the league.
kittles is a free agent but he practically sat out this entire season with a number of injuries. at his age i would not risk anything over a vet minimum contract because of the injuries he has had. as for what this team should do in regards to trades and free agents i am going to wait until the draft is over to speculate. many people are saying get warrick,garcia,may etc but no one will know who will be available when the rockets pick. who knows maybe bogut will be there at 24 (ok he wont but who knows) wait till the draft is over, see who jvg and cd decide on drafting and we'll go from there
We don't need him, plus from what I've seen he's pretty soft...something we don't need next to Yao. Pau is a bit too high profile...we wouldn't be able to afford him in the longrun. I really wish Reggie Evans was unrestricted. He'd be an ideal choice to bring in as a backup for Juwan. That's the thing I hate about Restrict free agents...you have to wait so long for the outcome that you may miss an opportunity to get another player while waiting.
We definitely don't want Gasol. Both Yao and Tracy would be at risk for serious ankle and knee injuries with Pau flopping and diving all over the court like a wounded animal every time he is breathed upon.
'We' don't? Getting Gasol would require taking back Jason, and maybe more crap and giving DW, JHo, CW, and BS + a pair of #1s. If Grizz offer for that pkg I say grab it.
This is the 4th time you've lumped Sura as a secondary solution. If he doesn't get hurt, he solves the PG "problem" from the beginning, no? The only PG we may have missed on this summer was Damon Jones. And Jeff's sources say he never really wanted to come here. Fisher was a joke, and Utah dumped Arroyo ASAP. Believe it or not, it takes 2 to tango. After pulling off one blockbuster, it's very difficult to make other trades because: a.) other teams are trying to address their needs in free agency b.) recently acquired players can't be packaged c.) newly signed free agents can't be traded. When putting together a nucleus centered on a 24 year old 7-6 center and a 25 year old superstar, time is in your favor. Can you name any power forwards (that reasonably could have been acquired) that got traded or were available for the MLE last summer that would have upgraded over Juwan Howard? Any point guards? Your argument seems to be they didn't do enough- we used all of our exceptions. CD certainly wasn't shy about pulling the trigger on trades- can you not accept there might not have been upgrades available in the summer? With both Taylor and Howard coming off very solid seasons (and about 20 mill committed in fairly unmoveable contracts to Taylor, Howard, and Spoon), it was reasoned a backup center replacement was important to fill Cato's void more than another 4. We got Mutombo. We expected average play from Taylor and Howard, which I don't think was unrealistic, and they gave us garbage. Howard started playing pretty well about a month and a half before he went down. Here's the list of players that were eligible to be traded off the Rockets roster last summer without restriction following our summer activity: Yao Ming (hah) Clarence Weatherspoon Maurice Taylor Jim Jackson Bostjan Nachbar The rest were free agents or had been recently traded. Spoon was worth less then as being 2 years away from an expiring contract than now. Taylor wasn't going to get you a talent upgrade (at best, maybe he gets you a contract that expires this summer as opposed to Baker and Norris next summer). So that leaves Jim Jackson. Jackson was coming off a good season, and Boki was still all potential no results. Propose me a plan using Jim Jackson and Boki Nachbar to upgrade the 4, better the point guard situation, and fill the void left by the departing players. Hell, I'll even let you wipe away the 1.5 mill we gave to Charlie Ward. We had a late 2nd round pick. We actually moved up a few slots (with $$$) to pick up the rights to Spanoulis. Anyone picked after him or went undrafted you'd rather have? You're repeatedly asked the question why, after a full year of nothing but solid and some even spectacular roster moves you have no faith in the management, and all you give is this ethereal "CD tried to make do with holes in the roster" garbage. We were out of resources. We couldn't pay for free agents if we wanted to, and the only things left on our roster were garbage. Sorry, basically blowing up an injury free team with a less than ideal cap situation that could only win 45 games isn't going to yield a 65 win team in one season. The fact is, this team displayed tangible improvement on the court (13%) and played better as the season went on. We played on a 57 win pace after that 6-11 start. That's called upswing.
Don't know why I am getting involved with this as I think CD is doing a great job, but Sura was not and I am beginning to think is not a good solution to the PG problem. Sura's career has been littered with injury after injury and they seem to be occurring more lately. Signing him was a risky proposition as his past indicated that even if he panned out as a good PG he would most likely go down with an injury or play hurt. So I'm not sure we could say "if he doesn't get hurt", it is more of a "when he gets hurt".
This reminds me of an old girlfriend I had. Whenever it was time to make dinner or movie plans, I'd ask, "So, where do you want to go for dinner." The response would almost always be, "Oh, I don't know, whatever is fine." I would suggest a restaurant, and she'd say "no, I don't like that". Then I'd lob up another suggestion, and she'd respond, "nah, I'm not in the mood for that either". Hillboy, to INTELLIGENTLY and CREDIBLY criticize Rockets management, you can't just say they did a crappy job. As Nike has asked, please tell us exactly how they could have done better, even with hindsight being 20/20. You don't think Sura/Wesley/Howard are quality starters in the league. Ok, how could management have done better after the TMAC deal? I go back to my original statement: I don't think that you'd be happy unless we snatched Parker and Ginobli with late first or 2nd round picks. If that's the only way to get passing marks, then you better go around firing every GM in the league except in SA. In Denver, Dallas and Phoenix, you have teams that have done well by getting intriguing young talent: Marquis Daniels, Josh Howard, Nene, Anthony, Joe Johnson, Richardson . . . Fine. I get that. Which of these teams have 2 or even 1.5 legitimate franchise players that can compete with Houston? Phoenix, with Amare and Nash? Ok. Quick, name Phoenix's bench, besides Jim Jackson. Right. It's Barbosa. Voskuhl. Hunter. Face it. Only 1 team has done what you want. Have a top 5 franchise player, young, top shelf, developing talent and good role players. That's Duncan, Parker, Ginobli, Bowen, Horry, Barry, and Udrich. I don't think there's anything wrong with holding management to a high level of performance. However, on several occasions, you suggest that they are flat out incompetent and have issued a vote of no confidence. There's a big difference between the two. That's where you're getting all this push back.
NIKEStrad, again listen to what I'm saying here. You continue to try to defend the moves that have been made over the past season when that is not what is at issue here. I am not being critical of the players they got or the moves they made because getting Sura, Wesley & James rescued their season. Nor am I second guessing because I wanted them to go out and get a Vince Carter or somebody like that. It's doubtful that this team even makes the post season if they tried to play all year with the team they started the season with. In that respect, they (Rockets) were very lucky because this time, their moves worked out. Again, I direct your attention to the statements and beliefs that were coming from CD and the Rockets at the beginning of the past season when they truly felt that they could make do with the guards and fowards that were on the team at that time. I was not the only person here who looked at the rosters of our competitors and voiced concern with this approach because I could not see how that was a competitive team. Then as the season evolved, I became REALLY concerned because after 4 straight years in the NBA lottery and one year removed from their 1st playoff appearance, the Rockets again found themselves in the position of having a roster that was not built to compete with their counterparts in the West. To use your own words: "We were out of resources. We couldn't pay for free agents if we wanted to, and the only things left on our roster were garbage." That is not the mark of a good organization. The Rockets had no one to blame but themselves for being in that position because the years of poor planning, bad drafts, cheap FAs who contributed nothing (Remember Adrian Griffin?) and bad/bloated contracts had finally caught up with them. To me, the primary issue is that this organization had fallen into a rut of mediocrity and YEARS had been wasted while they went about their business spinning their wheels. I am concerned today because the same people responsible for that situation are still in place calling the shots. I am not ready to let this organization off the hook just yet based on the actions of a single season. Has this organization turned a corner? That's the big question in my mind. Again, I have no problem with your belief that this team is on the upswing based on the moves of the past year. Given this team's history, it's not a given that they will put together a contending team around Yao & TMac. I have watched the Rockets for well over 20 years now (I'm an OG Rockets fan) and I have seen them waste YEARS stumbling and bumbling about. Before we know it, both TMac and Yao could well be approaching their 30's and nothing significant will have changed. I understand that there are many folks here like you who are hanging their hopes on the fact that TMac's & Yao's youth would appear to indicate a bright future for the Rockets. But implicit within that hope is faith - faith that we have the right guys at the top making the decisions. As I look ahead to next season and beyond, I'm just not sure.
