As a fan I owe it to the team to give my own unbiased opinions regarding it. If all I do is proclaim the Rockets the "real" nba champions every season even if we lose in the first round every year does that make me a better fan? No it just makes me look stupid. Regardless this is off topic and if you want to discuss it further I suggest you make another thread. Back on topic, I think the one with the most potential is the Tmac trade, but as of now the Scola trade was the best one value-wise. Thing is, Scola is the best non-superstar Pf in the league. His blend of skills, toughness and character is hard to find in the league, even with the guys in the 9 million a year range. You look at his number when Landry left and they was comparable to Bosh, and it was even more impressive considering he was practically the only offensive option we had in the post last season. Now think what would have happened if we hadn't acquired him and the Spurs signed him instead to play with Duncan and Splitter. LOL expect Duncan's career to be exteneded by 8 years.
Gotta go with Scola, although the Tmac trade may win out in the end. Results yet to be determined since picks and assets were a such a big part of the deal.
nobody claimed rockets 'real' champions anywhere in this thread. giving the benefit of the doubt to the team this bbs is made for, instead of the jazz who was 4-1 vs the lakers who we took to 7 games and even won on their home court, without 2 of our highest paid players, is not stupid. its called being a fan, and an informed, fair one at that. stupid is deciding what you 'feel' would have happened but did not happen, and use that as a proven fact cos u owe it to the team to give your 'unbiased' opinion.
an informed fan is one who realizes the rockets haven't won a playoff series against the Jazz in recent memory. How can suddenly assuming winning against them now be fair? Your bolded part doesn't even make sense. All I said was "I'm not sure we would have beaten the Jazz", where's the "using what I feel would have happened but did not happen" as fact in that? LMAO, you're the one using what would have happened but did not happen as a basis. What makes you so sure we would have beaten the Jazz in 7 games? Unlike the Blazers, the Jazz don't have any superstar swingmen-who would Battier and Artest guard? Kirelenko? Or maybe Kyle Korver Think any of them have the footspeed to keep up with Deron Williams? What about Okur and Boozer, who's gonna guard those two guys? Didn't those two make Yao Ming their b**** every time we face them in the playoffs? I guess we would have owned them this time, when Yao was playing on a foot with a hairline fracture Unlike the Blazers, the Jazz take so many cheap shots Yao probably wouldnt' have lasted 7 games. One kick from Boozer and he would crumpled to the floor and we would have discovered Yao's fracture much earlier. Just because we took the Lakers to 7 games doesn't mean we can all of a sudden whoop the Jazz, whom we have lost to for the past 3-4 times. Unlike the Blazers the Jazz are a horrible matchup for us simply because Okur forces Yao to leave the post, allowing Boozer to tear a hole in our defense. By what basis do you automatically assume that we would have won? On the basis of being a "fan"? Wow, that's factual!
roslolian, u first brought the jazz series into the discussion saying our 09 team wouldnt have gotten past them. granted you said youre not sure. my reply to that was a friendly reminder that our team was perhaps good enough for the jazz since we took apart the blazers and stretched the lakers series to 7. and since neither team actually faced each other in that years playoffs, we couldve used our results and the jazz's results to compare and since we're actually in a rockets bbs, its perfectly acceptable to give the benefit of the doubt to our team, especially when the other team is utah. again, my post was meant to be friendly. if you took it the wrong way, maybe my english isnt up to par. your respond was to say that thinking the jazz wouldnt beat us makes that person not only bias, but also stupid. jeez ok. what happened to youre not sure in the first post. anyway, thats ur opinion, mine is that it makes you a pessimist. finally, youre arguing how the jazz owned us in previous years, but you wouldnt give artest the credit for putting us past the 1st round, cos its due to the maturation of our young players. by that logic, we couldve said those players wouldve gotten us past the jazz had they met in 09. granted, maybe if they did play a series maybe the jazz wouldve won simply due to previous years results and maybe our roster change or player skills didnt improve. but theres no way of knowing that for sure and seeing the teams performance for that year, the playoffs seeding, the lakers being the one constant, it wouldnt be STUPID to give our own team the benefit of the doubt.
The best part about all of these trades/moves is the fact that they are fairly low-risk/high reward. Even some of the moves that didn't work out (Francis), were moves that could have paid huge dividends, but if not, the Rockets could cut losses without damaging their future. That is what makes Morey such an excellent GM. I would actually love him to come run my stock portfolio.
Getting Scola - no doubt. I think VSpan would have been good under Adelman but they would have had to convince him to stay. Better that we got the true heart of the team in Scola....he is simply awesome. DD
Good thread.....I actually voted for the T-Mac trade, but when I thought about it and realized the question asked for up to date....it was defenitely the Scola trade.....we got a great player for a guy that wasn't even a rotational player....he hasn't missed a game since he's been here and you could easily argue that he has been the backbone for the success of this team...not the best player, but backbone in the sense of his ability to be counted on and the importance of a role he has played since he's been here.... However, in a year or two, you have to see how the T-Mac trade can be evaluated....he got rid of a huge expiring and injury prone contract for a guy who is arguably in the top five at his position, a lottery pick in hill and potentially additional lottery picks....depending on how hill and the picks can be parlayed this coming up year, you could say the T-Mac trade could potentially be his best deal...
I did not vote Scola simply because Morey benefited from luck as much as skill in getting him. The Martin/Hill trade showed off some skills.
Scola would be the easy pick. This trade provided the best added value. But I choose Ron Artest trade. It made Rockets a true contender. Unfortunately, both Tmac/Yao went down that season. If they kept healthy, they should won 65+ games and beat everybody easily. Also coach RA was underachieved that season. Actually coach RA underachieved in all his tenure as the Rockets head coach.
I think the T-mac trade and Scola trade are his best moves to date. The Scola trade was great because we got a guy that can play PF and is the leader/heart of this team. Morey was able to strike a deal with a divisional rival and you don't see that much in BB. The T-Mac trade is up there because Morey took his time. He didn't jump when the fans/media wanted him too. There was at one time when no one was certain he could even move Tracy. He was able to fill a need in SG and pick up a player in Jordan Hill. The picks are just a bonus. I'm not sold we'll keep them though. I can see them being used in a deal soon.
km trade is a good trade for sure but we also gave up carl. well, we didn't give up anything to get scola. it makes the difference and puts the scola trade on the top.
I like this thread. It shows the genius of Morey. It's no surprise that the Scola trade is winning hands down. Not only did we get a great player--he plays with such heart night after night--but we gave up nothing for him. Years from now we might be able to look back at another move, such as drafting Brooks who has potential to be a real star, as the best move, but at this moment you'd have to stick with the Scola trade.
