Kind of funny you mention both Rashard and Mike James in the same post since those two seem to be the players Rockets management cannot seem to do anything right with. On a more serious note, I agree with your point that Rashard wouldn't have a position here if we held onto Battier. Another problem is do we even want a T-Mac/Rashard SG/SF duo? Sure, they would be great offensively (although Rashard shoots mostly jump shots too) but defensively we would be in trouble. Rashard is too soft for my liking.
Yeah, I like Rashard, but probably not as a combo with Tmac. I think Battier is a much better Tmac combo because Battier can give Tmac nights off defensively. Tmac/Battier/Yao are solid at their positions. PF and PG are the spots we should target. Backup (or starting) PG and at least one more player that can "create their own shot" should be things we should be looking at over the summer. Also, Howard is playing well now, but we should not rest on our laurels with that. It is kind of like fools gold. We have to continue to look at the PF position, adding in another "big" that can play defense and has a 15ft jump shot.
McGrady lit up Bruce Bowen. I don't hear nobody calling his D overrated. Great defensive players always get lit up from time to time. So Shane had a bad defensive game against Joe Johnson and Paul Pierce "closed his eyes and threw it up and it went in"(actual quote). Shane+more for Rashard would be a disaster.
I am a fan of Battier, But he is definitely trade bait. While I like Battier I also think we should have gotten a draft pick with him.
Why not look into this guy? Seems adequate for a back up. http://www.nba.com/dleague/playerfile/will_conroy/index.html?nav=page
If Rudy T were coaching this team then what you say makes sense. But he's not. JVG is the coach and as such we are going to have a defense first make up. That, in my opinion, is the single biggest reason it is a waste of time to talk trade with Battier or 111. And frankly, with Yao and McGrady, you can't find a better fit or replacement for what Battier does. Bonzi does not play defense, take the opposing team's best offensive player, help out on all the penetration, take charges, etc. etc. etc. Battier is the single best defensive player in the NBA..............bar none. Not because of his one on one skills, but because he is so smart with team defense and help. You cannot replace all the things he does defensively with Francis, or Bonzi, or anybody. As much as I love Rashard, he cannot possibly do what Battier does. If you take Battier away and replace him with Rashard, you have a Rudy style offense with a bunch of offensive players, shooters, scorers and maybe even worse than Rudy as far as the commitment to defense. It's just not going to happen on a JVG team. What I am proposing is possibly adding Rashard without giving up Battier, adding Rashard to the other Big 3. Does Seattle insist on Battier? Why sure they do? They insist on McGrady if they can get him. But they know they can't. This is another deal where the player has a lot of leverage. If Rashard wants to come to Houston (and if JVG and Morey want him, don't see why they wouldn't, even at $70 million for 6 years, he's a great +/- player), then what Rashard has to do is get Charlotte or Orlando to throw a big multi-year offer on the table and then he has the leverage he needs to go to Seattle and demand a S&T to Houston or walk on them for nothing. Seattle may be forced with the choice of S&Ting him here for Juwan, Luther, Novak, and a couple #1s or letting him go for cap space. No, they don't want Juwan, nobody does. But they would probably take that deal if they were going to lose Rashard for nothing. And if they wouldn't do that deal, Rashard either takes the long term deal with Orlando (which he would probably be happy to do) or he leaves half the money on the table and does the MLE to come here, if he really wants to come home that badly.
I think you having something here. It is not completely impossible that Rashard forces Seattle's hand by making it known that he prefers to go to Houston. In that case you could possibly trade for Lewis without having to give up Battier, but probably giving up Head. What then do you do with Battier? I could invision a starting lineup of Alston/McGrady/Lewis/Hayes/Yao with Snyder/Battier as your wing players and Mutumbo/Tsakalidis as your backup Centers. That still leaves a need for a backup PG/PF. How much cap room would the Rocket's have in this hypothetical situation?
Here's a fact son, I would not trade Battier for Lewis straight up. Lewis is awesome, blah blah blah; but you don't have any idea how much Battier has brought to this team do you? We are a defensive team even without Battier, with Battier we are the best, or top 3 best, defensive team in this league for the next 3-5 years, If you're seriously saying that we got burned on the Battier trade you must not be watching the same team the rest of us are. Gay looks promising, but even with the early promise he has shown he likely will not be an all-star talent. There's still a chance he'll be a 20 min. a night guy for life. But Battier? Battier is not only exactly what we need on this team right now and over the next serveral years where we'll compete, but he is more valuable to our team than say... Lewis would be. Would I trade Battier if the right offer came along? Of course, but that offer aint coming... ever. Battier is the third most valuable player we have. Sure, Skip, Bonzi, and Juwan are bigger scoring options but in overall value... Battier is no question a highly valued third. And like... diss Head (who, for all his flaws, is a hell of a 3 point shooter and still growing as a player and teammate), Bonzi, and Skip all you want. While I value those guys a lot (even Bonzi cause I know what he can and will do for us down the stretch) they have their obvious flaws and don't deserve 100% praise, but to say we "lost" the Battier trade is a down right insult to this team and what Battier has done for it. I know its your opinion and that's fine... but give real respect where it is due man. Also, we saw what kind of team we are without at least one of our superstars last night. We are a team lost without direction. But I don't think we should mistake that as our team sans superstars as untalented or pitiful or worse than anyone, it's just that the way our team is built we have to have at least one superstar in the lineup to consistantly win. We've sacrafice a more well round team with maybe one superstar as the go to guy, for a team with two of the best players in the league, the best defensive player in the league, and capable role players. That is a winning formula... but only if at least one superstar is healthy. So, for you knee jerkers out there that immediately want to shout about how terrible this team is when we lose without the main component of our team structure and success... just relax. There is way too much pessism on these boards. Some negative comments are always justified, but right now... how can you really say anything bad about our team?! Now don't get me wrong, we've got room for improvement, our team doesn't do some things it maybe should, JVG can be stubborn, and we reeeeally need a capable back up PG, but there is a difference between offering up input on what needs to be improved and saying some of the stuff Rockets' Dynasty (and many others outside this thread too, don't wanna just point the finger at him) has said. If we were .400 and fighting (praying?) for a shot at the playoffs... alright, but we are a banged up team who, despite all the apparent negatives and hardships we face, are one of the 5-6 best teams in the entire league and a serious title contender. To hear some of you guys tell it, it's like we are a mediocre team on a dreaded downward spiral and we have to fix our team immediately or something.
These are a couple of reasons why #1 The team won't ever reach it's potential and loses games like they did against the Celtics, and #2 the reason why as you would say they can easily and probably will downward spiral out of the playoffs in a round or 2.
Yeah, you're one of those pessimists I'm talking about. Dude, every team has its flaws. Ours do not disqualify us from a chance at the title. If Rafer stays healthy we'll be fine at PG with out two stars back in. JVG's stubborness can be aggrivating but he usually does what is right, jesus, he's a legit coach of the year for how he's held this team together. And every team doesn't do some things they probably should, my point was everyone has room to improve. But leave it to a knee jerker to knee jerk at my post.
If the rumors are accurate and that all it would have taken to get Mike James was to take Eddie 'no brains' Griffin - it should have been a no brainer. Especially with the backup trade of Kleiza for JL3. MJ/Kleiza/Griffin > Juwan/JL3/Sura's contract That would be 2 potential starters for ONE potential starter. In fact, when Yao comes back Kleiza and Griffin will be much more comlementary players - play D, spread the floor, hustle on the boards. Compared to Juwan who is primarily a low post scorer. This was the reason Howard saw such limited time when Yao was healthy - his game just does NOT complement Yao's. This was the best time to trade Juwan, when his value was at its highest.
I'm calling your bluff. Now WHY would the Rockets make a trade to a formula that is WORKING!? We DON'T HAVE YAO, and we're doing MARVELOUSLY. How many people here were about to give up on the season when Yao went out?
I'm not holding onto much hope of that happening. Remember, the only reason why he's even being bought out in the first place is because his knee hurts too much for him to play. If he could even go for 10 minutes a game, they would play him, so I'm thinking even in the event of a buyout, he wouldn't be able to fill any gaps here. I would love to see him in Rockets Red again though....I loved him when he was here, even if he didn't always make the best decisions on the court....you had to love his heart and loyalty to the team and the city.
The topic creator is an absolute fool for thinking this team is the same if not worse as the 04-05 one WE ARE 35-21 WITHOUT YAO..GET THAT IN YOUR MIND. If we trade Alston + Head/Battier for one guy, we'll be extremely thin, have no depth, and I guarantee you miss the playoffs. This team is fine as it is, maybe short a backup PG or PF which we could get with some minor trades... you ARE just reacting to the Celtics game, or you have very bad timing.
