I don't think there are many people here who really have unique views on the Rockets' ownership and management. I'd say roughly 90% of the bbs population agrees with the teams' involvement in any and every transaction (and I think I'm being generous there). It's interesting to watch how some posters have their intelligence insulted only to be proven correct later.
They couldve drafted a young center 4 yrs ago. To use a better example is orlando. Howard hasnt missed many games since being drafted,but they found time to draft a young center behind their young center in gortat. Howard misses some games, gortat plays well, someone offers him mle, they flip 2 mle contracts for jason richardson. If the rockets had drated a uy like that, he would be an upgrade to what they have.
I would say 70-100% of the BBS disagreed with Alston for Lowry trade(most of the BBS, since most of us never saw him play), the drafting of Brooks and Landry(closer to 95% against draft in July 2007), firing of JVG(closer to 50%), hiring Adelman(50%+ against), resigning Mutombo(50-60% against), drafting Patterson instead of trading up or picking somebody else(70%).
Please be more specific. "Draft a young center 4 years ago" doesn't take into account what was available at the time and what the prevailing sentiment was about those young guys around the league at the time. To be more specific, in the 2006 NBA Draft the "young centers" drafted in the first round but after the Rockets' pick (#8) were a thoroughly unimpressive lot. You could have had your choice of Patrick O'Bryant (#9 overall), Saer Sene (#10), Hilton Armstrong (#12), Cedric Simmons (#15), Oleksiy Pecherov (#18), Josh Boone (#23) and Joel Freeland (#30). Every single one of those players is either out of the league or an end-of-bench player. But let's give you the benefit of the doubt and look to the second round. The Rockets maybe could have spent $2-2.5M or so in cash to try to acquire a pick to select Solomon Jones (#33), Paul Davis (#34) or Kosta Perovic (#38). They could have spent around $1.5-2M or so in cash to try to acquire a pick to select James Augustine (#41), Alexander Johnson (#45) or Vladimir Veremeenko (#48). They could have spent around $500k-1M or so in cash to try to acquire a pick to select Ryan Hollins (#50), Chiekh Samb (#51), Edin Bavcic (#55), Loukas Mavrokefalidis (#56) or Damir Markota (#59). That's every single center drafted in 2006. Other than Ryan Hollins (who I don't think is a good player), none of those players are even in the league today, nor are there any hopes that any of those foreign guys will make good NBA players. As far as undrafted centers from 2006, it is wholly unreasonable to criticize Morey and company for not selecting any of those guys. So, there you have it. Not drafting a young center in 2006 cost the Rockets ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. This is the danger of throwing out criticisms without concrete facts to back up your point.
The Astros play in a league that allows 8 teams out of 30 to advance to the playoffs. Even the very best teams celebrate clinching a playoff spot. The Rockets play in a league that allows 16 teams out of 30 to advance to the playoffs. More teams get in to the playoffs than stay out. Kinda different. Over a decade, you can make whatever excuse you want. At the end of the day, the question is are you good enough to win on the scoreboard? It's pro sports...a bottom line business. I'm not asking you to agree with me...I think it's great that you're satisfied with one playoff series win in 13 seasons...that you take heart in NBA regular season accomplishments. I'm just not there with you.
count 'em up: 98 - out in first round 99 - out in first round 00 - no playoffs 01 - no playoffs 02 - no playoffs 03 - no playoffs 04 - out in first round 05 - out in first round 06 - no playoffs 07 - out in first round 08 - out in first round 09 - BEAT PORTLAND/lost to Lakers in semis 10 - no playoffs that's 13 seasons...one playoff series victory.
While Bima has some good points (you aren't going to find young centers who will be anything in the second round most of the time after all), my point of view on that complaint is that how would drafting a young center have made a major difference? If say, Morey brought the rights to Fesenko, a second round draft center in 2007, would that have been the difference in Yao getting injured or not? Especially since said young center would not have been better or gotten major minutes over Deke, or heck really Chuck? Yes, since Yao is completely gone, it makes some difference, but it's not like we're going to be going completely different if we had Ryan Hollins or Fesenko today.
All Amare wanted was the max, he would have resigned with suns if they were willing to offer him that, we would have had that opportunity to resign him with having his bird rights. Deke was perfect as the back-up, but it would have been smart to prepare for his departure knowing he's already at his retirement age.
Did the Rockets not have one of the top 8 records in the NBA during this time? Or were they barely scrapping the bottom of the playoff barrel? Indeed. The Rockets have failed. But that's not the question. The question is COULD THE MANAGEMENT LIKELY HAVE DONE BETTER? I'm not satisfied. I'm just capable of understanding that there are many factors which contribute to a team's success beyond what the management is capable of. The only thing I can "blame" the organization on is not tanking enough times. In which case, I agree. If we had a few more Nets-like years, we may be sitting with a Durant or DWill right now.
Forever the company man,lol. Bima, you're a smart guy, so youre telling me there were 0 centers who couldve been developed in the injury plagued yao era? Since you're reat at pulling the draft, tell me what yrs gasol and gortat were drafted I am often criticized for bringing up guys like jordan,turiaf and even boone. Its not that i ever thought those guys could replace yao, but those would have been cheap guys who couldve been mentored by the rockets and a guy like deke to serve a purpse. Then when yao misses time, that young player is blocking shots,rebounding and finishing inside. When yao goes down, the rockets miss his interior size at the rim more than his offense. So continue with your reasoning or thought no young center was availible,but someone keep finding them either via trade or draft.
I agree with many other posters in this thread in trying to take a more even keeled approach when it comes to appraising the job that management has done up to this point. What they've excelled at is flipping mediocre talent for above average players. Aside from that, their drafting history over the past few years hasnt been half bad, with notable hits on late round/2nd rounders like Landry and Budinger. The Rio Grand Vipers is also one of the best endeavors in the league, and has afforded this team a pretty viable farm system which has been used on occasion to call up guys in case of injury (ish smith, mike harris). That said, there are areas of weakness. As I've mentioned in another thread, I think the decision to not make the Amare trade was a blunder, although I'll concede that at the time I didnt fault the organization too much given the circumstances and Amare's health history. Looking at it now, Amare was our chance at landing a superstar, and we blew it. I cant remember the last time this team was able to lure any free agent that was coveted by other teams as well. I recall Morey going to Gortat's house at the start of free agency, just to see him return to Orlando. We also failed miserably with Bosh, and the fact that they put so much into getting Bosh when there was little indication that he was interested in Houston was a major disappointment. The last area that I think this team needs to improve in is the medical staff. I dont doubt that the doctors and strength/conditioning coaches are good, but teams like the Suns and Pistons have resurrected peoples careers (Grant Hill, McDyess) and effectively rehabbed other guys from major surgery (Amare and microfracture).
I don't think any of the players you mentioned would have been a difference maker for us in the playoffs or getting into the playoffs. Does Jordan or Turiaf make us a playoff team last year? Do they get us past the Lakers the year before that? IMO, it would not, in which case what have we really lost by not acquiring them? The Rockets feel that they assembled a roster that is balanced and resilient enough to still compete for a playoff spot without Yao. That would be quite a feat, if it happens. I'm curious to see if they can get it done.
Gortat, 2005. Gasol, 2007. I guess you could argue that we should have brought Gortat's pick back then, but that wasn't part of current management. And the Lakers aren't exactly a team that sells their picks for straight cash. My view on it is really, how would have having Josh Boone or DeAndre Jordan made a difference? Would they have really made the Rockets a significantly better team than keeping Deke, or Hayes, or heck Jordan Hill today? You argue that they would have developed differently here, but that's counterfactual analysis. You can't prove that, and so you can make up whatever you want, and there's no way you can argue that they would have been significantly better than the guys already mentioned above.
Josh boone? At least bring up someone who is gonna help build your point. Also, we already have a better version of turiaf with hayes. It seems like you are just complaining to complain. Should we have developed these centers and not signed or played Deke? Would you have been mad too if we would have offered the full mle to gortat and got him without the magic matching? Are you unhappy that we are trying to develop Hill at center? I just don't get what all the complaining is for.
