Who knows what will be in store from the Rockets come October? Battier is a solid player and James if he signs, will add some shooting ability. This is how the Rockets draft went down to me. Portland wanted to trade with the Rockets before the draft, we get the #4 pick and they get our #8. We trade Head but they wanted us to take Darius Miles. Too big of a contract for the Rocket, plus he's too much like Swift. Two Swifts... no deal. The next deal was the one the experts said the Atlanta Hawks were stupid not to take. Atlanta gets Head and our #8 pick. We take Williams from Duke at #8 they take Roy. We swap. They get Williams whom they really wanted to draft plus Head and we get Roy, the one we wanted. Instead of getting two good players they only get one. Now the Rocket is in a no win situation with Roy. Minn,Bos, and Port then blocked the Rockets from getting Roy whom they know the Rockets want. They swapped, traded and did everything possible to make sure the Rockets didn't get Roy. So now were left with the 8th pick. The players at are point in their minds is projects. Gay is Eddie Griffin. So in the draft the ultimate goal is to get a starter. The Battier trade. That trade was always there. West proposed it to the Rocket before the draft. We get Battier a starter and get rid of Swift. Hayes was now taking on Swift's role in the line up, and Novak was taking also to fill the Swift departure. Right here I think we should have gotten the Memphis's 24th pick included in the deal but you can't have everything. Time will tell if the Rockets screwed themselves but by in large it wasn't as bad as it first looked. Later AIC
Everybody is so happy we got rid of Swift. I don't like him either but at least he played 2 positions: Center and PF. Right now, what would happen if Yao goes down for a few games? Who will be the backup center? We have Mutombo who can only play for 15 min at max. Who is going to play the remaining 30+ minutes. Sorry but this trade does not look good to me on any angle people is trying to make it look like we are ready to win now. We are too far away.