Zach Lowe - Power of the 'Pretty Good' Guys

"You never know when an opportunity might emerge."

That last sentence is the killer - if the Rockets somehow manage to pull off a miracle and win this series, there is a very real possibility they could have home court advantage throughout the rest of the playoffs. It's just a terrible year to be both snakebit AND facing a team that is coming up with one miracle play after another.

The well HAS to run dry on those guys' mystical good fortune, doesn't it?

I know it ain't over til it's over, and if any team has ever proved that you don't turn out the lights until the last buzzer sounds, it's Houston..

But man, it is just hard trying to beat an evenly-matched opponent AND the referees too..

Sigh.

 

Makes the Rockets 4th quarter choke-jobs that much more disappointing. Should be up 3-1, instead down 1-3 and most likely done.

 

Yeah.

Just one of SA, OKC, or LAC goes down, Rockets fans are gonna be kicking themselves.
Two of SA, OKC, or LAC goes down, Rockets fans are really gonna be kicking themselves.
Miracle that all three go down, Rockets fans are gonna...well I don't want to know.

But but but at least SA, OKC, and/or LA lost too so it's all good! :grin: Doesn't make some of you feel so bad about the Rockets losing (too)!

Ha.

 

The Rockets went into this year with season with two goals in mind-

-Be good enough to win home court in regular season(gives a fighting chance in the playoffs)
-Set themselves up for a longer window of success after this season for the future


This was never a team built to win it all this year. Lowe is right that the window could have been this year, but I believe that even if the Rockets lets say FOR EXAMPLE- (note this is just one example. I'm sure you can think of other scenarios but I think this conveys pretty well what the Rockets might have been able to do).

-Traded Omer Asik & a 1st rounder for Ryan Anderson
&
-Used their lower mid-level exception on say Wayne Ellington

Would the Rockets have been any better off than they are now? Ryan Anderson ended up getting hurt, and Ellington can't even get off the bench for the Mavericks, and is getting outplayed by Jay Crowder.

Even if Anderson wouldn't have gotten hurt, and the Rockets had a more potent starting lineup, what happens when the Rockets lost Dwight for a few weeks to close out the season? How horribly bad does the defense drop when Dwight leaves the game? Does Anderson have a shot at defending LMA as well???

We can come up with several different scenarios where the Rockets put themselves in more of a win-now type of mode, and still ended up right where they are now more than likely.

In the end the Rockets COULD HAVE acquired a few more players if were willing to give up a little future flexibility sure, but IMO I think they still end up right where they are today anyways in the end. Its going to take a little bit more than what they COULD HAVE done to get them where they need to go to sustain multiple years of contending.

-If sacrificing 1 or 2 wins & one or two role players this year to NOT use up the Rockets flexibility gains them a true big fish that allows them to contend strongly for 3 to 5 more years easily I think sacrificing incremental impact from a veteran role player is well worth it, but thats just my opinion. I honestly dont think the Rockets would be THAT MUCH better with what they could have gotten this past Summer and throughout the year.

 

Well, all you can do is try to win tomorrow. And see what happens. Right now, there's not much more else to say.

 

Im just interested to see peoples takes on this- What moves could the Rockets have made differently(notably using the mid-level, or using picks to get trades done) that could have made a bigger difference in the regular season, in this series, and the series that are sure to follow with potentially better or equally as good but differently proportioned opponents?

(note: coaching change aside. That's a separate argument)

 

the ability to create a good roster doesn't concern me. the ability to manage and utilize it does.

 

I think making short sighted moves instead of being patient can be a crippling mistake. Adding Ryan Anderson this past year was not going to be the difference between where we are now and a finals win.

It was fairly well established that we weren't going to win this year. Let Morey do his work and we can still take 1-2 significant steps forward in the next two years.

 

LOL yall kill me with the need of superstars because the heat did it. We have a $22mill best center in NBA and harden (both are allstars)!! Its sad we have to say oh we need another star to get out first round when we were all over news this summer on making the biggest splash. We won 2 against okc last year and had an easy chance of winning game 6 at home so rockets took a step back if they don’t get out 1st round the way I see it. But whatever makes you feel better as a fan I do understand. But its 2 sides to that story buddy

 

One move that I would have liked to see Rox make sooner is bringing up Daniels. His type of shooting is what this team needed if they are going to run the type of offense they run. If Daniels would have played in first two games of this series, he could have made a huge difference. I mean he almost saved the Rox ass again in game 4 down the stretch.

 

I think similar to Greg Smith a few years ago, the Rockets keep a close eye on their guys they like in the D-League, and if they feel like GM's are starting to scout them closer, that's when they will snag them and sign them. The Daniels signing took till after the trade deadline cause they wanted to wait till the last minute so they could potentially use Brewer's salary in a trade at the deadline.

Since he's been on the roster, why its taken him so long to get PT??... I dunno that's McHale's call, but we do know that when signed he was still assigned to the D-League for pretty much the rest of the season & playoffs because he was their best player & they obviously care about winning down there. The fact that he's getting PT at all which such little practice time is pretty amazing either way.

 

Excellent post, you nailed the whole feeling of this post-season very succinctly.

 

Didn't saying anything about a superstar making a super-max contract. I was referring to a big fish, but that doesn't mean true superstar you put on your billboard.

Whoever the Rockets get to help them round out their roster can't just be an overpaid veteran. It has to be someone that is the "straw that stirs the drink" so to speak. Could be Melo on a max deal, or it could be David West, or it could be Igoudala, or Rondo. I dunno, but there will be more options in the future to add that veteran piece, or pieces.

My point is, tell me who that piece is the Rockets could have gotten this Summer that Lowe is referring to, and tell me how much better the Rockets would have been both during the season, in this matchup, and further along in the playoffs.

The Rockets opted for flexibility rather than making a short term move so they can get this type of veteran player next year. Could be a max player, or could be a mid-level player. Either way that player or players are obviously being viewed as something Morey is willing to wait for because they will make a huge impact.

 

It seems that after the Rox officially signed Daniels that the Rox needs should have taken precedence over the Vipers. One of the Rox major missing pieces has been a legitimate sharp shooter. The day he signed he should have been put in rotation. Oh well...

 

Good post.

It seems every important lose ball, deflection, defensive or offensive rebound, bounces the Blazers' way. Just incredibly upsetting to watch as a fan. We could easily be up 3-1. Instead, the fat lady is entering the building upon us. Damn.

 

The value of NBA franchises have gone up a couple hundred million in the last few years, but Les can never go over the cap?

Some of the blame needs to be put on him.

 

Morey will not do so-so trade
Flexibility is always Morey's deadline, Morey has long plan

 

If you read the entire article, it's littered with players that have gone through Houston. Trevor Ariza, Courtney Lee, Goran Dragic, etc. The Rockets have both the fortune of landing two elite talents almost by sheer luck and also the misfortune of not having these "pretty good" guys at the right time.

Maybe it was by design--Morey built the team the years after Yao/McGrady and before Harden as the ideal destination/lure/bait for an elite player to come with a roster full of "pretty good" guys. Unfortunately most if not all of those "pretty good" guys are gone and the Rockets lack of depth has been severely exposed this postseason.

Getting Carmelo this summer would be a boon for a team that has brought in two All-Stars in the last two years but it's not necessary. This team needs quality, depth, and veteran presence...not just another star.

 

I think that speaks well of Morey's ability to evaluate talent. He wasn't flailing around and getting Kelvin Cato'd all over the place. The players mostly gave the Rockets quality play with flexible contracts but having an entire team of "pretty good guys" just lands you at the #14 pick and just outside the playoffs every year. He needed to aim for superstars, which he now has, so the next few seasons will be about fitting in quality support pieces around them, which we know he can do.