I've thought about this for a while - and I think T-mac has at least 3 more years in him. So does Yao for sure of course. That means we need to acquire or grow one player a year to be a supporting role-player (not scrub). That means Deke Mutombo should be moved to a contender for youth. That means more playing time for VSPAN and Novack - give up on a one year goal for a ring - play for the 3 year plan. In 3 years, guys like Jho will be gone. Off the books. Draft picks will be incoming, and young talent will have time to grow. Synder, Head, Vspan, Hayes, Novack can only get better. Better to the point they fit - or good enough to trade for players that fit (but not older players!). To win a ring, we need an athletic poward forward that's a great defender and can hit a jump shot. We need a point guard that can handle like Rafer but shoot like Kenny Smith. And we need either a 3 or 2 to complement T-mac. 3 good solid role-players, one of which can average in the teens consistently, and a few who can do it at least semi-regularly. We need five guys who can top 10 points a game. We can't do that between now and Nov 1st. So let's try to get one. And then next year, let's get the other. And then the following year, get that final piece. In all fairness, the management has tried to build a better team around T-mac and Yao - it just has failed miserably. Who's fault is that? JVG? CD? Les? I really have no idea. Maybe they all should be men and take the blame.
KG + Spree + Sam (healthy*) = WCF, maybe CHAMPS (Sam not healthy causing Lakers to beat Wolves) KG + Mike James = puppies
And it should be done again, over and over and over. Eddie Griffin was potential that didn't work out. But it was right to gamble on it. Rudy T always looked at what was best for the team longterm. He did it when he traded away Kenny Thomas. They probably would've made the playoffs had that trade not gone down, but Rudy was looking ahead; Griffin needed playing time, and he wasn't going to get it with KT around. Rudy probably got fired for doing what was best for the team, not himself.
Quote: Originally Posted by blazer_ben The bulls went through a patch where the regulary had a lottery pick due to there horrendus record. they were litterally thrash for that period. i dont wanna see the rockets go through tht period. Do you realize how many years the Bulls had a top 4 pick? The Rockets NEVER had that. Most of the times they were in the lottery, they were barely missing the playoffs. So NO, they did NOT go through a stretch similar to the Bulls, NOT EVEN CLOSE.
We may just have run out of time. A proper rebuilding job will take maybe 3 years or so and that's assuming Morey can do something the previous GM couldn't do: find talent. Three years will probably exhaust Tmac's window of opportunity as an elite player. By then Yao will be in his what? Eighth year? I guess the NBA is a lot like gravity: in the end gravity wins. For the Rockets, all of the bad decisions and stupid moves have finally caught up with them and I have no idea how to get out of the box into which they have put themselves.
after a few days of watching more playoff basketball and looking at our cap situation... i have officially changed my mind. we need to start getting younger and more talented ASAP. our trade assets are ****. we have one 1st rounder this year. anyway we could get somebody else's 1st this year? hell, i'd give up ALOT. watching milsap from utah makes me a believer that we can win with youth. man i'm pissed at how we drafted in the past. we suck at drafting! f*cK
Man, what an eyesore. Surely we must have picked up someone of value that's being left out here. Otherwise, YIKES.
Good post, NY - here's my three year plan. Only add players whose contracts expire by the summer of 2010, or players on rookie contracts. That way we have plenty of cap space, plus Yao and hopefully a few young low salaried players, to attract either LeBron or Wade when they opt out of their contracts and become unrestricted free agents during the summer of 2010. Under this plan, would should try to move our most tradeable asset outside of the big two, Battier, in the next year or two. This is because he is under contract until 2011, and we may need him off the books for the cap space. Ideally, we should try to trade him for a veteran scorer with no more than three years left on his deal, or a good young player that was a rookie this past year (Rudy Gay? ), or a draft pick in this upcoming draft.
no. it wasnt the right gamble. why? because the guy had issues and a lot of people knew that yet for whatever reason those warnings were not known due to lack of research or just ignored. Either way, when you spend that much for a guy you better have done your homework and be pretty certain that the guy is dedicated to playing and getting better, that the guy is competitive and has a decent head on his shoulders. He had none of those. im sure his intentions were for the best, but that doesnt mean it was still stupid.
I can see where you're coming from, but I have to disagree. If the Rockets had brough Griffin in for a workout and interview, But IMO, the biggest mistake was not that they traded 3 picks for Griffin specifically , but rather, that they traded 3 picks for a guy that they had never worked out or interviewed (as was the case). And given Griffin's past history (having lost his old brother and mentor, punching out not one but two teammates in two consecutive years, quitting on his Seton Hall team), there were way too many red flags to justify trading away that many picks. I know the Rockets tried to get away with trading only 2 picks, but when NJ demanded all 3, the Rockets should have walked away from the deal. Even if just 2 of the picks had panned out (my money is that they would have used their #23 on Terrence Morris, instead of trading a future 1st for him), we'd be in better shape today.
