sorry for the length... To give my reasoning behind my answer let's look at how I see the NBA today. I'd like to preface that stunk* = had a bad year = tanked = rebuilding year = whatever you want to call it. All contenders had this at one time or another before they got their franchise player. ALL contenders. Young contenders (there or getting there): Bulls – Stunk* for a couple, had a couple of good seasons, stunk* for a couple more but finally got their franchise player, had good seasons since Thunder – Stunk* for a few, had a good season, stunk* for a few more finally got their franchise player, had good seasons since Very young “far future” contenders: Clippers – Stunk* and have the worst FO but finally are at a state that even the worst FO can’t mess it up TWolves - Stunk* and have a horrible FO but eventually they will have a decent team though self destruct button is just 1 doh trade away Grizzlies – See the TWolves only a year or 2 ahead of them. Contenders but still missing some pieces or will need some playoff breaks: Knicks – Stunk* but finally cleaned off enough cap space to since their 2 players. They can do this because they are in NYC. Magic - Stunk* until they got their player but are close to losing him Hawks – Stunk* for many years until they have the team they have today – perpetual Playoff but never a true challenger IMO (questionable FO) Dallas – Stunk* until they got their franchise player (draft day trade). Then kept buying players until they got it right. Might have lost too much this year to repeat the magic. Heat – Stunk* until they got their player (Wade), traded for robins, won big, slipped, stunk* some more, cleared space and got the big 3. Still need a bench but that should be easy from this point. Might have enough this year to finally do it. Contenders take it but on the downhill. Might have another run or 2 left in them: Celtics – Stunk* until they drafted a robin and had enough assets to trade for their franchise player Lakers – Stunk* and got Kobe and have reloaded every year around him but he’s getting older Spurs – See the Lakers except substitute Kobe for Duncan Treadmill teams (last time in finals) (overall W/L): Hornets (never) (.492) Blazers (1992) (.535) - Owner is trying but the injury curse is strong in this one) Jazz (1998) (.544) - Had some good years to skew the results but let’s be honest, they will always have a hard time keeping non-white players. Nuggets (ABA 1976) (.497) Pacers (ABA 1975) (.503) – Treadmill Poster Child Bucks (1974) (.552) – W/L skewed by the Chamberlin years. Perpetual losers for the last 30+ years (horrible FOs): Wizards Kings Warriors Nets (trying real hard to pull out of this category and I think they will in a few years) Raptors Bobcats Had a contender but lost it: Cavs – stunk* until they got their player but then lost him Pistons – in the process of stinking bad Suns – never could get that last piece. Need to trade Nash and rebuild IMO. Rockets – we were close but just couldn’t keep the Juwan Howard curse off us. No tanking orders moves us to the treadmill status IMO. We aren’t perpetual losers, We aren’t “Contenders but on the downhill” (that was us a few years ago). We are young but our young star player is still missing so we aren’t any kind of young contender...so that puts us on the treadmill team in the immediate future. 76ers – It’s been awhile since the AI years. They are moving hard to the treadmill status very soon. Now what does all this tell me. 1) I’m very bored and it’s a very quiet week at work. 2) The new CBA will make it harder for teams to take the NYK’s way and we don’t have the marketing city to compensate. 3) The last franchise player to be truly traded for was KG. I don’t see that happening again as franchise players today are picking where they want to go and we need a draw before we can make their short list. 4) Our owner is not Mark Cuban. So it comes down to trade vs draft vs stay the course: Stay the course? Really? Trade? Trading for Robin’s will not net you a Batman especially if you have to gut the team to get the Robin. Not since KG has trading worked. And that worked because Boston stunk* enough times to build up enough assets to trade for a Batman (not a Robin) from a poorly run team willing to give up the Batman and Boston was still able keep their Robin (Pierce). I don’t see that we have the same kind of assets that Boston had to pull off the trade for a Batman while keeping our Robin(s) – even in the uber rare chance of it occurring. ie I don't see this happening. Trading for a Robin (Pau) and signing a Robin (Nene) still leaves us a Batman short. And while that might make us a Hawks type contenter, I don't see that move as making us a true contender. Draft? IMO this is the only way to reach the true contender status. That doesn’t mean we lose on purpose (though I really like that 13 men play idea that the Jazz have put in and there are "ways" at the end of the season when you don't try winning games when it hurts more than helps you (see JVG). But we have to recognize where we are vs where we want to be and use history and logic to help us achieve that. I know our FO will not put us in the even-a-blind-squirrel-finds-a-nut or perpetual loser category but I would expect more than 1 year in the tank based on the history of most contender teams today. i.e. It won't be easy but we can't just get on the treadmill and think it's going to happen with 1 magic trade. I just don’t see any other way to get back to that true contender status. And I don’t want to spend the next 10 years fighting the Pacers for Treadmill Team Championship.
Huh.....All I got was that we need to tank and I agree, BTW I wish we were in the pacers shoes, they have more talnent then we do. We suck!
Voted trade... but really i'd say 'all of the above'.... I mean thats what DM has been doing... drafting well (Landry, AB, etc) and trading for good solid players Scola, KM (despite 1st game) and guys with potential upside... Most seem to think a top 5 draft pick is going to give us a saviour who's gonna take us to the promised land... but for every Shaq or D12 there are typically 7-10 other guys who dont deliver... DM has put us in a great position capwise for next season... if a trade comes before then - great, but let's see what DM can do with some real capspace to play with.... Most are saying a star wont come to Houston - I think DM can pull it off though... This is a good young team with alot of upside (JHill, PPat, Morris, etc)... all we need is to let some of these players develop, pull off a trade or two, get another solid player from the draft (Nowitzki was a 9, Kobe 13, etc...) and we're in business... In the meantime, lets enjoy what we have.
If you really think about it Morey has maniacal combination of every path used to get back into contention draft, trade, stay the course, free agency, He's got future picks in drafts(although not high still there, and we could be not good this season) , the cap space to do something in free agency, the experienced players and veterans to stay the course and remain competitive or be used in trades , the developing players that could turn into stars or be used in trades I think trade is the best option
wow i totally just typed what you just said before me sorry i really gotta stop skimming and read carefully
I agree 100%... We are really in a great situation - despite all the people declaring the sky is falling.... lol
Unless you're a finals contender, no one should 'stay the course' whoever voted for that needs a kick in the nutts
sign this guy for backup SG <iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/iaIM4z85rS4" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Suuuuuure it isnt. lol They will NEVER come out publicly and say thats what they're doing that. And if asked, OF COURSE they're gonna say "we want to remain competitive" Fact of the matter is they didn't get Gasol or Nene....they should realize they'll have to give up TOO MUCH to get a b/c-level star so why do it unless it's worth it? To me, giving up Martin, Scola plus picks for Gasol was like, huh???? Gasol is B-level star and on the decline and thats the going rate for that caliber player???? PASS!!! Eff it! Get yourself a A-level star in the draft. Trade Martin and/or Scola for more picks if u want. Deepest draft in years coming up. Take 2 or 3 players in 2012 draft and hope one turns into a star or use those picks to move as close to the #1 pick as u can get. The goal should be Drummond at this point. Some may not like that line of thinking and I get why, but honestly....we are NOT getting Howard or the other D-Will or whoever UNLESS we can get a BEAST player on this team....not a role player....but a BEAST player. Once we do that, then we can get FA's to sign here. Until then, wheels are just spinnin'...
Trade, only because the current personnel does not mesh with McHale's alleged principles, with the exception of a precious few. Weed out the guys who won't factor in, acquire picks and start with the draft. Don't wait on free agency to bail you out.
Everyone wants us to be the Zombie Sonics, but everyone seems to forget that after tanking for Kevin Durant and Jeff Green, the home attendance plummeted, which gave Clay Bennett the ability to move the team. Everyone seems to gloss over this fact, but in a business with no revenue sharing, if you lose 2,700 tickets per home game in your reported attendance ( which is probably doubled in reality), you're talking about a $15-20M loss per season, unless you luck out with a generational superstar like Durant, LeBron or Rose. Similarly, the Bulls are a terrible example of how tanking can work: they spent nearly a decade as a total joke, wasting number upon number of top 5 picks, and what is their core now? Noah (acquired in a trade), Deng (acquired in a trade), Boozer (free agent), Hamilton (free agent), Asik (2nd rounder), Gibson (late 1st rounder), and Rose, a guy they won when they had a 1.7% chance to win the lottery. If they don't get incredibly lucky on a season where they were merely bad, they're still demonstrably worse than the Rockets right now.
Look....trade will not get us there because no one is going to send us a game changing inside guy. Gasol was the best bet and it didn't happen. Who can we get? Dwight is not coming here. If we want to get back into contention our best bet would bet to get someone like Andrew bogut who is still getting better and might emerge as second only to Dwight howard. If you can't get him go for the draft.
Time to hit the panic or reset button???? Time to hit the panic or reset button???? The point guard spot is the bright spot of the team as well as luis scola. Martin is having a bad year, budinger, dalembert, and patterson are all career backups at best. The interior defense and offense if awful. The only way Scola can score is from jump shots. The rockets essentially live and die by the 3 and mid-range jumpers. This is not a recipe for success. How about dealing off the "older" guys. MArtin 28, scola, 31, dalembert, 30. for draft picks/ younger players and just stink it up. We will not get past the first round "if" we make the playoffs. Mchale has a great staff as all his assistants could be head coaches, but you need toughness and size to defend. The rockets have neither. Play: Lowry/Dragic/Flynn Lee/Williams Budinger/Morris Patterson/Parsons Hill/ Thabeet All young players.
