figure we might as well get a thread going for those who actually like or even just get what the rockets are doing here. personally i wouldn't have the stomach to pull the trigger on this thing and pass up gay no matter how much i think its the right thing. that said, i get it, and looking at the big picture, certainly we are a better team next year with shane battier then rudy gay. we can't build this team at the same time assuming t-mac's healthy and also assuming t-mac's going to be hurt. we have to pick one and go for it. if you think t-mac is not going to get right then you take gay and hope he turns into something when yao enters his prime. or you do this. obviously the staff feels tracy will be fine and we need to surround him with guys that can help us win over the next 3-4 years. for all gay's potential, in that scenario i don't see him as valuable as shane battier. as for swift, his value is pretty much zero. actually it is zero. he was thrown in as simply salary filler. i'd rather it be juwan but i'll get over it. getting rid of him was addition by subtraction because chuck hayes is imo a superior player. when stromile went down and chuck got playing time, at no point did i want swift to get his job back. hayes flat out out-played him and stromile didn't even raise his game to fight back. he's a freak athletically who could give a **** about being a good player. i think hayes has far greater potential then swift who hasn't shown anything in 6 years. i was crazy excited over getting gay when the celtics took foye but i can get with this even though it's not as exciting. if we sign mike james with the mle which i think is doable, then the offseason will be an A plus.
BigM, I agree with just about everything you've said here. I'll go as far as to say that, in my opinion, the Rockets probably had to coax Memphis into taking Stromile back from us. The one thing I don't agree with you on, though, is that we need to use the MLE to get a bruiser of a power foward. Once again, like I say every year, we could use Danny Fortson.
that's one of the things i'm most sure about. gay may certainly be better in the future but not one scout, coach, analyst, has me convinced that gay can immediately contribute as much as shane battier.
It's all about winning. I just dont see Battier is that missing link worth that much. Gay may take time to develop and may be another Eddie, who knows. BUT, it's just plain dumb giving up a raw talent and a cheap servicable forward for a non-exciting "solid" Battier. There is no defending in it. Bottom line, we probably wont win it all next 2 years with Gay. We probably wont win it all with Battier either.
If the deal is shane for 8 and stro then NOOO. I like shane and he can really help us but giving up 2 athletic players in this league for shane is just plain Stupid. I will love this trade if we are getting something back!! Thats IT!!!
i wouldn't be so sure of that. Battier is a 10/5 guy. That makes one 3 pointer a game. Gay is coming out of Uconn and every single one of their lotto picks have had strong impacts in their rookie year (Villanueva, Okafor, Ben Gordon, Caron Butler, Rip Hamilton, Ray Allen, Donyell Marshall). I don't think Gay will break the streak. I'd take all of those guys in their first three years over Battier. He also seems more NBA ready than Villanueva who had a far worse rep coming out of school last year. Now if Battier was some guy who was 14/7 or a big impact player like that i'd say you're right. But I don't think it's certain that Gay can't contribute as much as Battier this year.
warming up to Battier okay, at first i was royally peeved that the Rockets traded away a potential star like Gay. but now, i'm not even sure that Gay could contribute more than Swift did last season. for all the talk of the 3rd scorer, the ball is going to spend at least 90% in 3 players' hands (assuming perfect health): Alston, TMac, and Yao. ideally, it looks like the 3rd scorer should be the point guard. now, i've never really seen Battier play (anyone have a mix of Shane?). it would seem that he is in his prime years right now, similar to TMac right now as far as windows of opportunity are concerned. but from what i hear, he is an excellent defender and a more than decent shooter. in other words, better than that guy from Duke that so many clutchfans were posting about. at the very least, he improves 2 of the Rocket's biggest weaknesses: perimeter defense and shooting while keeping Yao out of foul trouble, and letting TMac focus on offense. i just don't see TMac or any Rocket turning Gay into an all-star. again, remember Stromile? or better yet, remember Pippen? is Pippen remembered as the third scorer for the Rockets? or even third scorer for the Blazers? the reason i say this is because Yao and TMac are going to dominate the ball much like Hakeem and Chuck did, or even Stevie and Cat. it seems very hard for a potential superstar to develop in a two superstar system, unless one of the superstars is a true point guard/forward. so in the end, it does come down to fit/chemistry to take advantage of any talent. the other reason i bring up Pippen (hated as he is here), is because of his defense and being that glue in Portland supposedly. Battier apparently has excellent character and leadership as well as basketball IQ and that has to count for something even if it doesn't show up in the stat sheet. i think the Rockets if healthy, could become outstanding defensively. offensively, if Battier can allow TMac and Yao to be 111, i think they just might be able to win the whole thing even in spite of Van Dummy. of course, now that means finding a starting PF. for the MLE or less at that. ack... is Stromile really that worthless?
i think you're too blinded by 10 and 5. shane is a more valuable player then those two numbers. even if gay performs as well as villanueva in his rookie year, which is probably high-balling him, i don't think he does as much as battier.
I like this trade and TBH I don't get some of the reactions. After getting burned by signing Stro last summer, it's pretty clear we're going to steer away from the players who carry any question marks with them. And Gay is one of those. If he wasn't, he would've been drafted way before our turn to pick... not to mention this is the draft everyone was labeling as 'very weak'. OTOH there are no questions about Shane Battier. Hard worker, very good perimeter defender with size, decent shooter from outside. Those were all qualities we lacked last season. And on top of that he's a player who missed only 14 games during his 5-year NBA career. We want to win, and we want to do it right away. No time to wait Gay to develop. That's why IMHO this was a good move. Teams that were champions over the last 3 season all had type of player similar to Battier playing SF. Too few ppl give credit to those guys for the success of their teams. They're not there to post flashy numbers, but to do stuff others can't/won't. That's why their coaches/teammates love them. That ain't role for some 19 year old kid who some say has a questionable desire for the game.
1. Battier allows us to rest TMac on defense. 2. Battier will hit open shots ...which he will get a lot of. 3. Battier can play multiple positions esp on defense. 4. Battier and Gay are both SFs, as is TMac, but Battier will be less of distraction for TMac. 5. Battier can step in on day 1 and contribute with no NBA learning curve. I get it. It ain't sexy ...but I get it.
i don't see any way around 10/5. i can actually see him contributing less than that this year on the rockets. a guy that for his whole career has not shot much is not going to start becoming a 15 pt. scorer. heck, he only scored more than 20 pt. once in calendar year 2006. i've seen battier since college and he does have some intangibles, but at the end of the day he is a 10/5 guy. gay performing as well as villanueva doesn't seem like high balling to me. villanueva had way more question marks than gay coming into last year's draft. also, gay would have to be the worst lottery pick out of uconn basically for this to be a good deal for Battier.
Gay can help us right away. We have TMAC and Yao, he doesn't have to do much. Horry was a rookie and he was great, F*CK Van Gundy! This trade if f**ckin horrible.
Van Gundy does not handle personel decisions. I think you owe him an apology. CD made this move. Morey probably helped.
