Why are you so against it in the first place? It doesnt effect you. It effects the Rockets. If Morey cant pull it off? Well thats his problem. How exactly are we gonna draft one if we never have a high enough pick? The draft is like the lottery you win and maybe you lose even if you pick high. What makes you think that 1 in 32 chance is gonna be us over just trading for the guy?
That is an interesting game strategy, but what about the team building one? I am interested in hearing whether people actually believe that the Rockets will be able to acquire a superstar level player, and why? Why do folks think we can simply acquire a superstar? History suggests it is very hard, and you usually have to have another one already on your team to make it palitable to the guy coming in..... DD
Case in point? These idiots were gonna select Thabo Sephelosha or whatever his name is over Rudy Gay. How confident are you they can draft a superstar when they never have unless its the first pick and they have no choice but to take the best player available. The Rockets have always been horrible at drafting stars.
There is no strategy your giving but to wait. That sounds like some team management concept coming out of their office for PR reasons because they dont have a guy lined up to please the fans right now. I can understand that line. It doesnt mean they have to give up on the concept of getting a real solid player like Iggy, Chris Paul, Gerald Wallace, and a bunch of solid stars that solidify this team to make it more attractive for other superstars. Moving forward is key. You can get it through trade then do it. Drafting is fine if you have a high enough draft slot and are lucky or good. Rockets have been neither in the draft so what makes fans think they will all of the sudden get lucky now? Thats as big a crap shoot or even more than trying to trade for a better player. its like winning the lottery literally.
not sure if you read my reply earlier: If we can't get Iggy (and he's really not even a superstar), then i think we have a very very low chance of acquiring any other impact player, much less a superstar. At least not within 2, maybe 3 years. The only bright side to that is the worst case scenario would be early playoff exits.
Jerry freakin West was going to select adam morrison over rudy gay and 5 other players the rockets couldnt even consider, so quit complaining..
I need to see much better on the court performance before I ever consider to think Morey has done a "great" job putting together this roster. The fact remains that Morey's "philosophy" is 100% unproven.
My point is RV6 and stop getting hurt everytime I post because its against managements bad decisions. I call them as I see them and give props for good decisions. My piont is they have no history of drafting good. Their draft slot will be in the 16 range or a little higher maybe? They will not be able to draft a superstar in this range and they have no hostory of getting good superstars from this range or being lucky. Thats the truth and reality. If there is a trade out there that upgrades us and makes our team more attractive like DD says needs to be the case? Well you better start making your team more attractive to get that Superstar here you want. You go out and solidify the roster and have a good year and then add the final peice when he sees that he wants to be part of our team we built. Thats how you do it.
I don't disagree with anything you say in this post except it seems that you are asserting that Morey has put all his eggs in the "trade for a disgruntled superstar" basket. Morey thought he had 2 superstars, Yao and Tmac. They didn't reach their potential, so he wants to acquire a superstar. Since, as we all know, superstars don't grow on trees, he figured the best way to acquire one is to stockpile assets and use them to trade for better draft position or a superstar. In the mean time, since he's stockpiling "assets" and not scrubs, we could remain a competative team... thereby lining Les Alexander's pockets with a sold out arena and a few playoff games... thereby allowing Les to buy draft picks (at a record price in JT's case) and spend his luxury tax dollars when the very-expensive superstar is acquired. I don't think Morey's plan is flawed, I think the system is... to a degree. To get a superstar though the draft, you usually have to be remarkably bad, then lucky enough to win the lottery (i.e. San Antonio). If you are not winning the title, and you are not a bottom-feeder (ala the clips/wolves/nets/etc.) you get stuck in a cycle of mediocrity. Superstars dictate where they go in a trade 9 times out of 10, so how do we improve our team other than draft picks that are in late teens at their highest? The only true championship caliber superstar our team has had, Moses Malone excepted, we acquired with the #1 pick in the draft after getting very lucky and being a terrible team (Hakeem). So, DD, I guess I am asking what is Morey's other alternative other than a tank job?
yet the poster you are responding to is 100% correct. The only starts the Rockets have had were #1 overall draft picks. TMac was a different situation, as he bullied his way onto the Houston roster. Fact remains that the Rockets have been mediocre drafters. Morey has changed that a bit. Rudy T. was like Mike Milbury in terms of drafting and trading drafted talent. Which is basically horrible, and set the franchise back a decade.
Its not egge before chicken here. Its you make yourself attractive then real in superstar if you dont have the option to draft one. Thats the only real way if you arent ever gonna draft within the top 10. Its simple freaking NBA logic. Its how teams have been built in this league for years. Only the worst teams wait for the draft every year to make moves. Then the star leaves them because their team is so horrible and unbuilt.
Hmmmm, good points in your post, and I guess my answer would be to acquire a high pick through trade etc. The 76ers pick was available this year, and according to Morey the asking price was too steep. Does that mean they wanted too many of our players, or that we would have to absorb too much salary (IE Brand) to make it happen. Because to me, the salary absorbtion might be the best way to go about getting a shot at a Superstar. Now clearly the number 2 pick was Evan Turner, but if you didn't like him, you might have been able to flip it for Rubio, if you liked him better. But, I think trying to acquire high picks, is a little bit less risky than hoping a Superstar wants to play here and is avaialbe and we have what the other team wants. How do you make your team more attractive when it best, and most expensive player has a significant injury history? Maybe the answer is you just don't try to sign Yao again? Do you guys think the Rox would consider that option? DD
Well if you are gonna aquire a higher draft and you can? Then that is probably the way to go. If we have to eat a contract to get a superstar then we have to eat a contract. Then when the contract is up the player we got in the draft will be in his prime. The money we had to eat will be gone and we can sign him a sidekick. Morey has to be willing to take on bad contracts to get a young star through trade or through a high draft pick for this strategy to play out over years. Morey hasnt proven he is willing to do anything unless it totally favors us and then not that big of a plash anyways. I hope he opts to make a huge splash even if we have to pay somehow in a way that hurts us. Thats honestly the only way it works. Worry about the bad contracts after we get them on how to get rid of them.
No you dont resign Yao. Thats probably the first step. I dont think Les is willing to take it yet though. Unless Yao really does consider taking a huge pay cut?
Maybe it was worse than that, maybe the price WAS too high. Like others have said, teams aren't exactly itching to move top picks, I don't think that plan is very solid for this team. RV6 broke it down pretty well. It's all about Nash and Iggy. That's our hope to be a winning team IMHO. That and a change to how Yao is used right now.
If you call them like you see them then it's time to visit the optometrist. Dawson hasnt been around for a while and Morey's only real questionable pick was that 06 draft, and im not even refering to the trade, but getting Thabo. Im not sure how you expect them to draft a superstar with low lottery picks or none at all. The jury is still out on this last draft, so there's nothing to coplain about now. It's like blaming the Jazz for not drafting more superstars during Malone and stockton's career. You need to take a second to think about your posts. You tend to forget certain things in your rush to reply that would have have an effect in the way you view things.
One of two things needs to happen in a big way for Yao to remain a Rocket: a drastic change in durability or a drastic change in pay and role.
You tend to criticise my posts off the mere fact that i post them. So I tend not to take your advice. Your in no position to give me advice since you clearly follow my posts after every minute they are posted. Its like Joker complaining about Batman. Nobody should listen because of the agenda.
And what team has been great at drafting? Everyone has bad years, sometimes it has more to do with luck than proper scouting. Another thing to look at is how long a system has been in place. Utah and San Antonio seem to draft well because they manage to get lower picks to make significant contirbutions within their system....but is that really being good at drafting the best player left? Or is it just being able to concentrate on drafting the best player for your system, since you have a stable system? You dont have that luxury when you switch coaches in the middle of a title run. You also can't get superstars often when you dont suck often, unless you get really lucky (luck playing a role AGAIN) like the Spurs.
