expect the rockets to sign mike james this offseason, with the expectation of him being the 3rd scorer behind yao and tmac. the argument will then be that james is a proven scorer and better fit at the point than alston. he also will be able to contribute NOW, whereas rudy gay would not have been able to contribute as much as james this year. keeping that in mind, the trade for shane battier will be spun as "a part of a larger picture that most fans are incapable of seeing." battier will not need the ball to be effective and his "proven shooting and veteran leadership" will relieve pressure from james, yao, and tmac. his heady play will be a welcome reprieve from rookie (head) and bonehead (stro) mistakes. they will tell the houston fans that their objective is to win NOW and drafting gay, while enticing, would not have brought us closer to that goal this year than acquiring battier would have done. win this year...plan for this year...besides, if yao or tmac aren't at optimal performance levels, we don't have a chance to win the title anyway...gay or not. last, expect (ever so subtley) for the responsibility of the gay/battier trade to be pointed towards jvg. this despite the fact that jvg has repeatedly said throughout his nba coaching career that he does not like to be involved in personnel decisions. not in new york, not in houston. he does not have an interest in these matters. still, he put himself out on the limb already by saying that (paraphrasing) "if we don't improve next year, significant changes need to be made, and you can start with me." perfect scapegoat situation. blame jvg if this crap doesn't work out, maintain that morey/cd/lindsey are still the future of houston rocket management, cite their track records pre-jvg, and try to renew our faith with promises of changes in team philosophy. all the while ignoring that this merry band of idiots has more influence on team decisions than a man that has already stated he just wants to coach.
thank you, negrodamus. (chapelle show reference for those thinking that i was being racial) just phocking with you. anyway... with that being said... i agree.
Obviously Van Gundy is going to be under scrutiny this year. We've just brought in Morey and CD is phasing out. So, where else is there to look? Morey isn't responsible for what happened prior to this next year.
oh, and here's what they (mgt) will never acknowledge: they are betting the farm that tmac's back will hold up. if his back goes out (which, imo, is inevitable) every fan in houston will see the obvious: we need to groom a swingplayer to take over for tmac. gay was that player. nevermind that he could contribute in small amounts immediately. but, it won't be spun that way. they'll say that "an injury to tmac would have tanked this season anyway...gay or not." they'll tell us that "putting that kind of pressure on a rookie would be potentially detrimental to his development" and that "we did the best thing for him (gay) and for us (giving us a chance to win now because the nba window is small and closing rapidly)." they'll try to convince us, just as they did with rashard lewis, that they made the right move...never once acknowledging that vlade for kobe never was a good move for charlotte.
Of course they're not going to say that publicly, but it seems obvious to me that they're conceding that point by trading for Battier. They're saying that we have to win now, and that we don't have time to wait for Rudy Gay. I disagree with this. I think Gay would contribute immediately and then possibly replace McGrady as a go to guy. That said, I understand the team's decision, even if I strongly disagree with it.
I doubt it. McGrady shoots much better than most ppl in the league. There is no comparison between TMac and Gay
Yeah, that's just like something CD would do; you know his character has always been in question. And of course JVG, he always tells the truth.
At Rudy Gay's best there is no way he becomes a player even remotely similar to TMac. Out of all the player comparisons that is by far the worst. I agree with you Airmanz.
Oh for god's sake, I'm not saying he's going to be the same player as McGrady. Just that he could develop into the type of superstar perimeter player who could carry a team. Geeze.
Let's see Rashad McCants is going to be the next McGrady. He is out this year. Marvin Williams, Josh Childress, and most of the Hawk players are athletic. Rudy Gay who did vertially nothing at UConn is the next McGrady. We drafted Eddie, who is a model citizen. Don't forget about Baby Jordan. This guy from Alabama helped us win two championships. I wished we got another pick. If we win and go past the first round of the playoffs next year, then I think we will all be fine.
Gay represents a young talent that could have developed into something really good. You just don't pass up that talent or trade it away for someone like a Battier who is pretty much a known quantity with no upside. Gay repesents that upside that Battier doesn't have. If they didn't want Gay, then they should have drafted Brewer or JJ Redick or tried to trade Gay to Portland to get Roy. Failing that, they should have at least gotten Memphis' 24th pick. Instead they got Shane Battier who is a taller, better version of David Wesley. Before this draft, we heard all of this talk about their wanting to get younger, longer and more athletic. I guess now we can all see that it was just that: talk.
No need to spin anything. Mister Van Gundy has been a borderline failure in Houston, and his contract is up at the end of the season. If the Rockets are not deep (6-7 games) into the Western Conference finals this season, there is NO excuse for keeping the guy around.
Sure. I also described Kobe, Jordan, Pippen, LeBron, Iverson, Bernard King, Dr. J, George Gervin, Magic Johnson, Rick Barry, Jerry West... And I'm not saying that Gay is going to be any of those guys. Just that he has the talent to one day become a player of that magnitude.
How many opportunities does a team have to add a player with superstar potential when they already have 2? How many chances did we get to add that caliber of player when Dream was on the team? -0- When you get the chance to add a real difference maker you have to go for it. When will be the next time that the Rockets will have a chance to draft a player with the ability of Rudy Gay while Yao or TMac are on the team? Very very slim. I can't imagine the Rockets ever having a worse record than the past season as long as Yao is on the team and healthy. Even with the Rockets record as bad as it was we still needed the cards to fall just right for Rudy Gay to fall to us. Why should we have kept Gay? Even if it is a risk that he will not work out? Because it may be the last time we have a chance at a player like that for the next 20 years. As nice a player as Battier is, he is not close to a once in a generation player for a team.
What are the stats? 9 out of last 11 Rocket draft picks have been busts. The orgnization is just playing the odds; better to get a contributor than to bust again. Battier brings a lot of what this organization needs (leadership, character, outside shooting, defensive effort). He's not the stud athlete that we wanted but he's part of what we needed. Look at Portland past. What a collection of great athletes with zero head for the game or for life. And again, look at Portland remote past: Walton and who? Lionel Hollins Dave Twardzik Maurice Lucas Bobby Gross Larry Steele None of them (Lucas maybe) great athletes but strong character guys and all-around skilled players.
I think only just know are we fully understanding the influence Hakeem Olajuwon made on this Rockets organization. After putting up one of the most dominate two years by a big man EVER(for those of you who remember - it was amazing) and grabbing two titles for the Rockets in the process, I think he has forever changed the landscape of basketball played in Houston. It's almost like ever since then the Houston organization has been infatuated with that style of basketball and refuses to deviate from it. Slow tempo, dump the ball into the post, kick out to shooters on offense...grind it out defense that seeks to put a hip on every body on the rebound and get a hand in the face of a shooter more than a hand in the passing lane or a block. We are seeing rule changes drastically affect the flow of a game, foreign players bringing their different(to American ballers) playing styles into the NBA, younger players coming into the pros nearly developed physically, but lacking mental strength. It's not Jordan, Bird, Hakeem, or Ewing's league any more. Every team doesn't have to have a physical enforcer anymore - no more Charles Oakley, Ho Grant, Dennis Rodman, Bill Laimbeer. Fewer great shooters in the game now. More slashers, less mid range game. My point is it seems like we are stuck in a loop here in Houston. Coaches & players have come and gone but the Rockets still maintain a certain type of team and I think that's a little dangerous given the ever changing climate of basketball in the US. Houston is just too stuck on bringing in traditional players and not recognizing the talents of players who fall outside that mold. This goes beyond Gay or Battier - its a developmental stigma that prevents the Rockets from adapting. They aren't alone in the this, but certainly teams like Phoenix & Dallas are proving that the old school way of developing a team isn't the only way and I think as the new school of players(2003 draft players like Bosh, Lebron, Melo) start taking over the league, more and more teams are going to benefit from abandoning the traditional team methodology.... But don't quote me on that.
This move pretty much goes says just that. If JVG doesn't get this team to the playoffs, he's gone. If he does but they get stomped in the 1st round, he's gone. As I see it, he has to get them to at least the 2nd round in order to save his job. However, if TMac goes down again, then that's it: they are screwed! And then we can all sit back next year and speculate on who they will take in the NBA lotto and then trade away for another "solid veteran player" because they have to win "now".
