This trade is sickening. I have no faith in anyone in the organization save and T-Mac, who both are getting robbed of their best years by being stuck on franchise that is only second rate because of its inept leadership and inability to surround its stars with talent.
Face it,CD is the one of the worst GM in the league. What about the rumor about swapping draft pick with Atlanta? Nobody will pick Shelden Williams at 8th spot. We can give them 8th pick + Head or Swift or next year 1st round pick. CD just cant make it happen. This JVG-type-player excuse is totally a joke.
I've come to peace with the trade. Know what helped me? http://www.nba.com/history/draft_round1_1990s.html After reading over the first round picks over the past 15 years, and realizing that only 10% of them even amounted to ANYTHING made me realize how much of a risk any draft pick is, even a top 10 pick. Shane Battier's proven consistency is better than some pie-in-the-sky draft pick. Mark it down.
Let's talk about draft history... Charlie Villanueva Emeka Okafor Ben Gordon Caron Butler Rip Hamilton Ray Allen Donyell Marshall Those all the lottery picks to come out of CT. If Gay flops he'll be the first lottery pick from Uconn to do so. All of those guys even had good/great rookie campaigns.
Dawson has got a free pass for too long. i don't care if he is a gentleman or class act or whatever. He is a crappy GM. Period! Look at what this team has done over the last decade. With the exception of Yao, when was the last time we drafted and developed a good player? Mobley? Yao was a no-brainer and Mobley was a great second round pick, but we're talking 10+ years. Our picks since our glory days have sucked. I live in the San Antonio area and it used to really bother me that I didn't get to see many Rockets' games. Over the last couple of years, that feeling has faded. After last night, I'm not bothered anymore. I'm not a fan of anybody who believes we were only a Shane Battier away from contending for a championship. So see ya JVG and CD!
I don't buy the school legacy thing. So we should expect JJ Reddick to be in a bad traffic accident then I guess?
Who else is not sold on us making the playoffs. I am not even sure we will make it if we get James or Wilcox. I don't think I can trust JVG to take this average team to the playoffs. The only thing I can see helping us is the return of T-Mac.
hope we'll see this again... http://**************.com/images/gallery/05_07_23_swift_dunk_on_01_17.jpg
While I know you can't always judge things by box scores, here's Dirk's performance against MEM this past season: 27/10, 35/9, 18/12, and 31/6. Then in the playoffs: 31/11, 31/4, 316/9, and 27/7. 'Course, I can't say who was guarding Dirk in these games, but if Battier was the lock-down defender for MEM you would have thought Fratello would have had Battier on Dirk, no?
are you kidding? IF we add James and/or Wilcox w/ a healthy tmac and yao this team is easily a top4 seed.
i heard that tmac was one of rudy gay's favorite players so houston would've been the ideal place for gay to flourish...tmac could've brought him along and helped groom him into a star for many years....it's just so infuriating that after the crappy season the team had and a draft lottery all we have to show for it is shane battier and we lose stro and gay in the process
suppose Novak make the team roster for next season,we only have 10 players on roster: PG:Alston SG:TMac/Head SF:Battier/Novak/Bowen PF:Howard/Hayes C:Yao/Deke (Sura looks done his career.) We only have MLE/Vet's Mininum/2TEs to fill up 5 holes. And we are looking for JVG-type-player ONLY.How many are they still left? Yes we can still make the playoff only if Yao/Tmac is healthy. But we will never be anywhere near the championship caliber.
i wonder if it was stll possible to trade with portland to get brandon roy. rudy gay + swift or head = roy? why wouldnt portland do it?
I got the complete opposite impression by reading the lists. A huge portion of the top 8 picks became stars or were very good. I wouldn't chunk one away for Battier. No way!
Team Stupid strikes again. Is there something in the air in Houston, like petro-chemical toxins that make sports management teams lose IQ points? Not even the addition of the allegedly "bright" Morey could rescue the crack Rocket's management team from snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. They have the incredible luck of having one of the top picks in the draft fall in their lap and what do they do? They not only give it away, but they have to sweeten the deal with Swift. And for Shane Battier, in his contract year (remember James?) who is something of J.Howard Jr. Certainly a decent player, a journeyman. But at what cost? Like if they wanted Battier they couldn't traded for him straight up? One thing about Houston Sports teams, they make other people happy. Last week I wrote that I had this sick feeling that the Rockets would find some way to disappoint their fans and they did.
