Jordan Hill in his 2nd season is already better than Boone in his 4th year. Josh Boone(career avg 5 pts 4.9 rebs 1.8 PF 0.7 BL) is awful. Hill is also better than Turiaf (4.1 pts 2.9 rebs, 1.3 BL, 2.7 PF). They play simliar minutes, but Turiaf and Boone have had 3 full seasons to improve vs 1 full season for Hill.
Also remember that JVG was running the show, and he has no patience for playing rookies over vets. He would have gone with Mutombo over Boone and Turiaf every time. Mutombo was far more effective than those floormats.
Honestly, you're just embarrassing yourself at this point by labeling me a "company man" for simply pointing out that, as a fact, there were no quality centers in the 2006 NBA Draft (unless you count Bargnani or Aldridge as centers, but both were taken in the top-2). As for Gortat and M.Gasol, neither one of those guys was viewed as much by any GM until they eventually made names for themselves AFTER they were drafted. Both were "just big guys" when they were drafted. Gortat had a nice little season his first year with Orlando; but he was a restricted free agent at that point. Gasol ended up having a dominant season in the Euroleague the year after he was drafted; and after being a key component in the Pau Gasol trade, the Grizzlies were not going to trade the younger Gasol easily, even before he came to the NBA. I have to agree with robbie380. You are just complaining for the sake of complaining. You just sound so desperate to find fault with the current management. Is this management team perfect? Hell, no. But they're pretty damn good. Better than most. Everything I have just written is factually accurate. Tell me again how that makes me a "company man"???
Da "objective approach" based on da "factuals" and "statisticals" iz obviously da Morey company line. You iz obvioius da company man.
Bima, you're a lawyer by trade,craft,or whatever and in the defense of the rockets, you use excuses as facts. After yao and his first stint of injuries in 05, the rockets didnt address the young big man problem. Again, I never had a problem with mutombo as the backup for the first few yrs. Btw,deke was a cd/jvg move,but the guy behind him. Now,its very easy to say they didnt have options,but somehow other teams a way to make it happen. They found a way to injury protect themselves at every position except center.So, we're just going to agree to disagree.
Fair enough. Agree to disagree, it is. Again. (Although I do find some irony in being pegged a "company man" for disagreeing with a guy who purports to have his own lawyer on his payroll.)
I'm not really for the Battier trade But if the Rockets kept Rudy Gay, couldnt you fault the STUPIDITY of the previous SEVEN GMS for passing on Gay? The fact is he made the deal happen. If Bonzi Wells put the Rockets into the WC Finals, we'd GLADLY credit Well's stupidity for turning down a $40 million contract.
BTW, not that it matters or should be a deterrent from posting these types of threads, you can create a thread directed toward ANY extremist of any kind. "To All the Unconditional _____ Supporters" You can put in any name of anyone in the Rockets organization and put the "jock sniffers" on alert. I personally think its just sensible that you try to get a real FULL minutes center to play behind Yao. Not only was Yao playing extra ball in the summer and an injury risk, the main backup center was on HIS last legs as well. Loren Woods doesnt count as addressing the need
Right...then there's that, Morey not selecting the ATHLETIC players. I haven't read this whole thread to see what everyone thinks, but I think its a tad unfair to think Morey ONLY values undersized beefy plodding guys. This is my post from the Stanley Robinson thread straight copy and paste Batum and Gay are the most obvious examples of missed chances at long lengthy athlete. Add in Sefalosha. I guess Deandre Jordan would be the next "shoulda-had". But its not like its been a bunch of Jerry Sloan goons either.
I suspect they would have traded down to get Sefalosha plus something else. Picking Sefalosha at #8 would have been quite a stretch, don't you think?
The Rockets also brought in Kirk Snyder and Bonzi Wells that year they traded Gay for Battier. Two athletic, offensively-talented wings with plus size. People seem to lose sight of that, because they turned out to be flops. But to argue that the Rockets didn't look to add athletes or offensive players with all-around skills is being disingenuous, IMO.
Sefalosha went #13. There was no guarantee that he'd be around if the Rockets traded down. I think they would have (reluctantly) just used the #8 pick on Sefalosha. (By the way, Shroopy2, Thabo is very athletic.)
When you make the kind of money I make, i need one of your kind on payroll. I always bring a gun to a knife fight :grin:
LOl really I don't think the organization should be starting Shane Battier and Chuck Hayes, I don't think the organization should of picked up Brad Miller in the off season. I don't think they should of drafted Patrick Patterson. Oh i think that Morey should worry less about statistical analysis and pay more attention to basketball. Any real basketball guy would understand that Kmart and AB can not coexist. Oh yeah how about building a team with one of the least athletic front lines in history. Battier, Scola and Chuck Hayes, this is the NBA in 2010 other teams have super athletes and nobody on the rockets starting front court can jump over a phone book. But other then that they have done everything right
Let's look at that: 98 - 41-41; 17th best record in the league 99 - (strike year); 31-19; tied for 8th best record with 2 others 00 - 34-48; 20th best record in the league 01 - 45-37; 14th best record in the league 02 - 28-54; 25th best record in the league 03 - 43-49; 15th best record in the league 04 - 45-37; 10th best record in the league 05 - 51-31; 7th best record in the league 06 - 34-48; 22nd best record in the league 07 - 52-30; 5th best record in the league 08 - 55-27; 7th best record in the league 09 - 53-29; 8th best record in the league 10 - 42-40; 16th best record in the league So..to answer your question..5 of the 13 years, we've finished with a record that is among the top 8 in the league.
I'm certain Morey does indeed value length, athleticism and potential (Had the trade for Brand and the 2nd pick gone trough, I'm pretty certain we'd have Favors or at least Cousins now). The thing is, so do the other teams, to the extent, that some of them overvalue it during the draft. There are no good and long athletes left at the picks we've typically had, at least not ones that are also basketball players. When the Saer Senes and Patrick O'Bryants go in the lottery, what kind of nba caliber length and athleticism can you expect to get with the 20-50 pick range? The overvaluing isn't exclusive to the teams doing the drafting. I remember a certain truck company owner wanting to use our lottery pick on Solomon Alabi, while one certain guitar hero inventor and video gaming company honcho wanted us to pick Hassan Whiteside. I'm glad that Morey instead chose a basketball player.
You don't have to duck my name, i said it and I stand by it. Btw, how is that nba ready basketball player doing right now? The rockets were late lotto which essentially stops after the first 10. Most drafts through history and morey has said it before, from 14-40 the players are pretty equal. Alibi went early 2nd as did whiteside. The rockets said before the draft that the guy probably wouldn't play and is a long term project. Now alibi and whiteside might be bust, but the same can be said for patterson. Both of those guys have way more special gifts than patterson. Now, thats not to say they will get there, but when you're trying to develop players, you want a big ball of clay vs a finished product.
