Can we vote cluster****? If you have to twist my arm, I'll go with CD. JVG says give me a vet now over a draft pick. That might be an acceptable strategy - but then CD brokers a terrible deal that if we hear correctly revealed too much strategy to our rivals while the draft was going on, thereby making it more likely the terrible deal would ensue. CD willingly goes along with the ripoff, thinking if JVG doesn't get short-term help, he will rip him a new one. After the debacle, everyone then circles the wagons. Shouldn't have settled for this twisted deal. Is it so hard to draft BPA (we have plenty of holes, it's not like it's risky to do this) and then see if we get something good later? Caveat: It is still remotely possible though that there is still more to this deal than we are seeing...if so, a retraction will come from me.
Agreed on every point. The most blame needs to be placed on Carol Dawson IMO, being the GM and supposed man he has been a pushover, a below average talent finder and a yard sale expert without vision.
Everyone on this thread forgot about Portland! If you know anything about basketball (NBA Basketball not Fantasy Basketball), you must know that Portland screwed us on the impending trade with Minnesota. We were to select Foye and send him along with Head for Brandon Roy.
I started a similiar thread on this right after the draft... basically, I wanted the Rockets to just come out and tell us who is in charge... not just for the last 3 years, but ever since we signed Matt Maloney to a 6 year contract. The last time they had a true "GM" (where his decisions mean everything) was Steve Patterson. Since then, Rudy had most of the power, and now it seems like a "meeting of minds", mostly influenced by JVG (just listening to him, you can tell he'd probably win a ton of arguments, and make others feel dumb if they don't do their homework... but that can backfire if you have the myopic view of production like he does). Maybe having Morey would change that. I don't mind whether its "moneyball", or only liking players who look cool... as long as he is OFFICIALLY a GM who is able to apply an ideology, or put his own stamp on this team. Right now, we look CLUELESS/RANDOM when we do things: We want players who are explosive, so we trade for Mike James. We decide we need to be conservative, so we trade James for Alston. We decide again we need scoring, so we're going after Mike James. We need athletes, so we get Stromile Swift... we decide we don't need athletes, and we need more smart players, so we get Battier. We sign Bob Sura, Charlie Ward, get Jon Barry, and every NBDL retread... and then they have the audacity to be shocked when they discover its a "talent" issue. Also, for those of you who just want to strike it up to a "group failure", and move on... accountability is VERY important in pro sports, and its what leads to monumental changes that can make a difference in the future of the franchise. If Carrol Dawson was the real guy in charge whenever contracts were dished out like candy to Mo-T, Cato, moochie, or Maloney... there is NO WAY he would still have his job if he was with any other team. Who knows how much further along the Rockets would be in their "re-building" process, if they had actually gotten an experienced GM, who was adept at BUILDING a team, around 2002 (when this team was long overdue for a total change of regime)? But, alas, we're the Rockets, who make decisions as a group... and you can't fire them all.
this is a very good post nick summing up the rockets's situation since the maloney deal. if they sign mike james its telling. the fact that they're going after him is already a bad sign about the direction in the front office. that's the basic issue, they have no direction. from "youth" movement to "win now" in just one season?
Im not saying Battier is the missing piece to the puzzle, but every1 here obviously thinks Gay is the Missing piece, and he may be but i doubt he is the guy that would put us over the top. And its been reoprted, The Rockets had NO INTENTION of drafting Rudy Gay for themselves, so this is a moot subject, whats done is done. We never wanted Gay for ourselves, end of descusion.
Nick: Every word you say is is Gospel, IMO. But, it is hard to just blame the Indians and let the Chief off the hook. Les Alexander is a lucky man. He bought a struggling franchise with a pretty poor Arena and a worse contract to operate it, for a bargain basement price and lucked out and watched that team win a coupla championships. That was not predictable at purchase time, so it was luck. Getting Yao and the subsequent bonanza was also lucky, beyond belief. Luck does not an owner make. Putting the right people in the right places within the organization is the way a franchise is built. Les does have a job within the organization also, he RUNS it. Y'all have to be pretty naive to believe that Les hands a $500 million ball club to a bunch of knotheads and tells them not mess it up TOO bad. He has the third most valuable NBA franchise, is now in a large media market and there is no telling what the Chinese connection will bring him. He is going to gamble that a bunch of guys won't mess it all up for him? If he is that supid and short-sighted then he deserves whatever happens. The odd thing is: If he can stay more or less competitive his investment is safe witout winning and he saves a ton of money that goes in his pocket.
Not sure where anyone on this board said Gay was either the "missing peice" or "the guy that would put us over the top." Perhaps you should pay attention first before you try to derail a thread. This was about selling incredibly low in a seller's market and mortgaging the future for the present when we're nowhere close to contention.
nice post. i'd like a face for my dart board too but i'd really be satisfied if someone bought Les a good broom and sent him to the front office. time to clean house.
JVG should be the first to blame for. Remember Stro. signed last yaer? He wanted to help us with less contract which he could het more from other teams. But Jvg gave him time ,maybe you could say Stro didn't grasp the chance. But I would say, with Yao and T mac.health problem, how can he reach his potentional because he is only a role player? Think if he was in Suns last season, he would have been more successful with D Anthony coach. Remember aging knics players?
You know why I like these threads. I still feel like **** about this trade. I hate it on every level. When your team has the 8th pick in the draft. You have to study every player in the top 10. I spent alot of time figuring out who I liked. Who would have been our 3rd best player. When everyone knows that we lack players 3-8. I have been looking forward to this draft for about a month. Thinking that this draft is much better than people give it credit. THEN WE GET KICKED IN THE MOUTH with this trade. Now I need to read about why? why did this happen? And it feels good to see others hate it as much as I do.
You could be correct on a different topic, such as why do our superstars have such worthless role players. But not this draft situation. The Rockets are not the Texans and basketball isnt football. In very few situations is the head coach who is in a contract year allowed to make personel decisions which might impact the team for a long period of time. One of the few that I have seen is Thomas with the Knicks and that was only because he plays dual roles. Van Gundy may have stated his opinoin, which im sure he was asked, along with even McGrady and Ming, were probably talked to but ultimately it came down to the higher archy. You can bet your buck on that JACK!
I actually am blaming Les, but in a roundabout way. But, having some knowledge on how the Rockets run things (knowing people who work for Les, in his corporate world), Les put guys like Postolos, and way before that, Weinhauer, as the guys that would actually make those sort of clear cut decisions, that Cuban and other hands-on owners seem to be involved in. Les is not Drayton, he's not McNair... but he isn't Shinn or Sterling either. He's right in the middle... and he needs to make better decisions on getting guys to run the basketball side of his operations.
what do they mean develop battier averages 10 pts that is below starting standards how many years is it gone take before gay puts up that garbage. they could sign a number of guys to do that derek anderson put up better numbers and we dumped him
Cabbage your analysis has hit the mark. Morey has his fingerprints on this deal with the moneyball approach. CD has blundered yet another draft (it would be nice to get at least something close to half of them correct). CD has got to go now! Why wait a year? Getting fleeced by Jerry West after being in the game as long as he has is the last straw. Even a novice NBA fan would be reluctant to strike a deal with Jerry West for fear of ending up with egg all over their face. He has no excuse! However, I most of all blame JVG for this reverse mortgage on our future. We could have drafted a very youthful premier athlete (our last chance to do so until rebuilding when Yao breaks his foot for the 11th time and McGrady's back goes JJ Reddick). Instead we opt for Battier (a fine player), but do we really need a 6'5" jack of all trades with no upside at the expense of all of our team youth, height and athleticism? Were we that incredibly desperate to get rid of Stromile Swift that this was the very best we could do a two for one for a used tire with some tread wear? If we now fail to get out of the first round for the next two years what kind of a blunder will this turn out to be. I'd have rather taken my chances with Ming, Howard, Gay, McGrady and Alston and been patient dealing Swift for something better while risking Gay's upside. This deal SUX, thanks JVG. Sure Battier may look better on paper in year one, but are we really going to get past Phoenix, San Antonio and Dallas next year? I think NOT! Thus, I'd rather gamble on Gay's future and be more patient in dumping Stromile Swift for at least something in return (say a half assed 6'5" 2 guard).
1. My biggest pet peeve of the last week is the talk about Jerry West being some infallible genius. We get it, he landed Kobe for Divac and signed Shaq. His team still hasn't won a playoff game. The last draft day trade he made was with Boston, dealing Marcus Banks and Kendrick Perkins for Troy Bell and Dahntay Jones - Bell is out of the league already, and Jones to this point is averaging 4 points a game on 41% shooting, showing no aptitude for a perimeter game. Meanwhile, Banks is likely to get a healthy contract this year in free agency and Perkins is considered a legitimate piece of Boston's puzzle. (PS- Guess which current Rockets executive was a part of the Boston staff that made that deal?) 2. Battier is a legit 6-8 and I'll take Hayes over Swift, height and athleticism or not. I was one of the biggest Stro pushers, but it's time to face that he is what he is. Battier is what he is as well, but it's a hell of a lot better than Swift. 3. So, you want Derek Anderson back, basically? The problem with the deal isn't that we didn't get better or that we didn't get fair value (to be honest, I think we win in terms of #8 plus a bad contract Swift for Battier); the problem is we could've theoretically gotten more. When you look at Morey's background with Boston (they've drafted Perkins, Al Jefferson, and Gerald Green since he was there and Delonte West was drafted as a junior), and the rumors of us trying to move up for Green last year, the thing that makes the most sense to me is that this wasn't just about necessarily winning now. I think the staff truly just did not believe in Rudy Gay. I think Rudy Gay is a boom or bust pick - not drafting him doesn't mean we were being risk averse as much as using the research we had on him which may have heavily swayed towards bust. If cabbage is right, and Rudy Gay is never going to be a star player, I have serious questions about a role player who has drive issues. Josh Howard is a pain in the neck because he plays hard. If we're then looking at Ronnie Brewer or someone else like Rodney Carney etc. at 8 (who would be solid), I would've been thrilled if Brewer turned into Battier. Instead we got the real thing.
