That's why I said Scola is a free agent. He has to agree to the sign and trade. The 48-hour trade clause must be added to the contract, there is no way to avoid it. If he doesn't want to be traded to Minnesota, he could sign with another NBA team. The Rockets can match the offer, but the 48-hour clause would not be in the contract. Scola would then stay with the Rockets. No trade. I didn't make the rules. Even if the Rockets could just match Scola, if he signed with another team. I don't see Minnesota wanting an already slow Scola on a 5 year contract that would make him 35 in the last year. I have never heard of Minnesota even hinting at getting Scola.
I agree that you don't win the championship with only role players. And, I'm not really counting on Yao in the long term - I'm turned off by how injury-prone he is. But, 1) I don't know about our young players not becoming all-stars. Specifically, Brooks, Hill, Llull, maybe Budinger have a shot. I am not making guarantees, just saying that I wouldn't be so quick to count them out. 2) The important thing is, we will be building total team talent, which can be traded for All-stars. Young players are cheap, and should be cost-effective, if you manage them right.
I love his hair!! I know he will eventually cut it at sometime in his career, but it will be a sad day.
Did I say it was a straight up trade? Go back and read my post again. I shouldn't have to include everybody that needs to be included in a trade when we're talking about one particular player, Hill. So get off your high horse and quit acting like you're the only one that knows anything around here.
This is your post. It kind of does bear at least a raised eyebrow, though I apologize for the sarcasm. There is so much more that we are being asked to pay; not just the gamble that Hill may turn into something special. There are the additional pieces we would lose. There is the money that Bosh would take, money that, IMO, would be better spent on somebody at the 1,2, or 3 spots. You are the one, in this post, that makes it look like all we are gambling is Hill's future. As for the high horse thing, I will have to think about that. I was really surprised that you said that. I don't think of myself as knowing more than others here about the Houston Rockets, but I am quite analytical, and sometimes I see something I have a hard time letting pass.
I would agree you on this IF, there was an All-Star player available to the Rockets at the 1, 2, or 3 spot. Unfortunately, there aren't any available at those positions. It's not like the Rockets would be giving up too much to get Bosh. Battier, Jeffries, Hill, and a 1st round pick would not be too much to give up in order to get an All-Star level player. Hill may or may not turn out to be All-Star but Bosh already is. That being said, I wouldn't be upset if the Rockets didn't make any changes at all but, if they have an opportunity to get an All-Star at the 1, 2, 3, or 4 position, they should do it.
If only we could somehow get Bosh while keeping Scola and Hill. Then our average hair length as a team would beat every other team. Thats the trophy I want...
I have made a few dozen posts on this. Yet, if DM pulls the trigger, I will know that he knows what he is doing. Yes, "Battier, Jeffries, Hill, and a 1st round pick" seems quite reasonable.
The guy looks kinda clumsy on the court. He may pan out in the long run but like has been said here before, he's only 20 games in to his career.
At some you point, you have to move beyond a bunch of young players on cheap contracts that can become future all-stars and get real all-stars. The Clippers, Warriors and Kings have been built around young players with a shot of becoming all-stars. Rockets don't need to do the same thing.
He needs to get Carl Landry's vertical jump coach. Otherwise, he gives hope to Yao to not be last on the team. Have to get up to throw it down!
I said, build team talent, then make trades. The Clippers, Warriors, and Kings aren't the Rockets, and just because somebody gets out of bed and eats breakfast just like somebody who's going to commit mass murder today, doesn't mean he's a mass murderer. The Clippers? You're afraid we're becoming the Clippers? How about, say, OKC or Portland? Not that they've won it yet, but maybe we're like those teams? As for teams that traded away their youngsters for proven stars, the Charlotte Hornets traded away a young chip for the great Vlade Divac. You remember who the young chip was, right? All I'm saying is, just because you can name 3 teams that tried a strategy and failed, doesn't mean it was the strategy that was bad.
Did you forget that everybody knew Kobe was a star, but passed him up because he pulled a Steve Francis, before the draft instead of after. There's a huge difference between Kobe and Jordan Hill. One guy was expected to be an all-star and would have been drafted #1. He was passed up, because he refused to play for any team besides teh Lakers The guy was passed up, because nobody saw him as an all-star. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpa...AA15755C0A9619C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2010/03/05/1289903/passing-on-kobe.html#ixzz0pH0pnL5D
OK, look at it this way: of the greats that have won the title, how many won with the team they started with, and how many won it with teams that they went to later? There's KG. There's Shaq, who won with two teams after Orlando. Shaq won with Kobe, then D-Wade, though, who both won with whom they started with. Jordan, Olajuwon, Robinson/Duncan, ... I think most won with the team they started with. None of this really matters. You came up with three teams with whom we don't want to be compared. OK. I think, it is clear that you have to have at least a couple of All-star level players, or one all-star and a couple of near-all-stars. Right now, we have one all-star and three that are kind of within sniffing distance: Scola (last half of last year, anyhow), AB, Martin. It also makes sense to grow the team, to sign players to good contracts, to build overall team talent, even if you want to trade later. Even if you can come up with some examples where that didn't work out.
Those guys were all stars in their first year. With the way the CBA is built, star players stay with their team to get a larger contract. AB, Scola, Martin, Jordan Hill, Lowry, and Budinger are not comparable to those players. How many Jordan Hill/Brooks players will the Rockets need before they can get past the 2nd round? Will 15 of them be enough? They need to pick up a star eventually, whether it's through a Kobe/Francis draft trade for a player that threatens to not play, or it's through a trade of young player(Jefferson). It will help.
OK, none of our guys were all-stars their first year. or second. I'm not arguing against trading for an all-star, just that it has to be handled wisely, and not from panic. But really, look at, say, LA and Boston of recent years. LA only has one top-level star. Boston, too. They have some guys that used to be top-level. Are you sure that Scola of the last half of last season, or the way we think AB will play this season, or Martin, wouldn't play a very serious role on any of the championship teams of the last few years? I'm just saying, we have a lot of talent already, and we don't need to panic. Shrewdness, that is the watchword. We can add one, maybe two bad contracts in our pursuit of the Boshes of the NBA, but we have to be very careful. And, what do you think of the three stars Washington had last year? Is that what you want? I think not. You kind of have an idea, but getting there is fraught with peril. It isn't too hard to go down instead of up.
