Let me spell out the facts for you pessimists right now. We did the Rudy Gay trade to win now and thats what CD is doing. Battier will help immediatly. Yes i will miss Rudy Gay but life goes on. Here is our lineup right now. pg: Alston/ sura sg:Battier/ head sf:tmac/novak/bowen pf:juwan/ chuck hayes C: Yao/ Deke Add a SG/SF like demarjohnson, Devean george, or jarred jeffires and a back up PF with our MLE and were allright. Sign John Lucas III to be back up point gaurd. PG: Alston/ Lucas/ Sura SG: Battier/Head/(New SG/SF) SF: Tmac/ (New Sg/SF)/Novak/ Ryan Bowen PF: Backup PF (you cant get worse then Juwan)/ Juwan Howard/ Chuck hayes C: Yao / Deke that doesnt seem so bad assuming all 3 of those additions contribute because if 2 of the three additions contribute 7-10 points a night we are good.
I think the Rockets can be a PLAYOFF team next sason with the roster they currently have it's just that I don't expect any deep post season runs without another scorer.
We're not athletic enough to be in the elite. Sura's too old, and injury prone. Head is 6'3 and can't defend bigger guards. Our first priority should have been to get faster and younger. That should have been obvious after we watched younger teams outrun us for the last 2yrs. Dallas, San Antonio, Sacramento, Phoenix all have multiple weapons. The Rockets seem to be comfortable on relying Tmac to score 30pts a game, even after back surgery. Battie might help, but he doesn't solve all the other problems we have. The Rocket claim they didn't want to wait and see if Gay would contribute. But they're taking the same chance on Steve Novak. Makes absolutley no sense. The organization needs to do some cleaning in the front office.
Unless the Rockets get another outside scorer, they will be in bad shape. Gooden is the only PF on the market that could get the MLE, but I don't know if he's worth it. I would rather see them grab Deshawn or Rasual for the full MLE. Ouside defense and scoring - priority 1 Novak can contribute right away standing out there and shooting. Thats all he'll be asked to do. Rudy would have been carrying a burden of scoring and being the top defender on the team his first year. I like Battier better with that responsibility, for now at least.
I still like the addition of Battier it isn't like he's an old man, and one of Gay's biggest knocks was the fact that he couldn't create his own shot, but the Rockets still need more help.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting moeinhouston:</div><div class="quote_post"> Novak can contribute right away standing out there and shooting. Thats all he'll be asked to do. Rudy would have been carrying a burden of scoring and being the top defender on the team his first year. I like Battier better with that responsibility, for now at least.</div> Novak might be able to contribute, but he's one dimensional and can't play a lick of defense. All Rudy Gay's responsibility would've been to simply be an athlete and make plays. Kieth Bogan's job is to be the best defender. The excuse that we can't take the risk of developing a young player is stupid. If that's the case, Tony Parker & Manu Ginobli would never be in this league.
Even with Battier and another player to be signed later, we're not going to win the championship, we won't even beat Dallas or SA or Pho to win the West, and I don't think the goal of the Rox is to win just a playoff spot. I still think we should've kept Gay, Yao's going to hit his prime in 2 years, he's only 26 or 27, most centers don't come into full effectiveness til they're close to 30. I wonder what Hou is going to do next year when we get beat in the playoffs by a team like dallas, sa, or pho., trade tmac?
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">what Hou is going to do next year when we get beat in the playoffs by a team like dallas, sa, or pho.</div> I know things aren't lookin good right now, but I'm not ready to put a nail in this teams coffin just yet.....with a healthy Tracy and Yao anything's possible
Tmacgarnett, I think they plan to put Battier at SF rather than SG in the starting lineup. God I dont know what to think anymore..I say lets give this season a chance and if it doesn't turn out well, screw JVG and CD. I'm gonna hate them for the rest of my life as a Rockets fan.
I think we should try to add devan george and try to play him at the pf spot because his body could allow him to thrive there plus he is 6'9".
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting tinyballer:</div><div class="quote_post">I think we should try to add devan george and try to play him at the pf spot because his body could allow him to thrive there plus he is 6'9".</div> TMac is 6-9, why not play him at PF? Height doesn't really matter; George's been a wing player his whole NBA career, expecting him to bang down low is quite impossible. Rock4life, Head doesn't need to guard bigger guards. That's what we got Battier to do.
Reason being George would fit a lot better at the post in now a day games. With guys like marion at the pf now we need a guy who is a lot more swift then howard to man the position. George has the strength needed to guard pfs speed needed to guard marion type pfs has a decent jump shot.There is no doubt in my mind he can provide better defence against the likes of garnett and duncan then howard and since moving to pf his rebounding numbers would go up significantly because he would be moving around chasing rebounds instead of standing on the perimeter waiting for a shot. Marion never played a game in the post in his life until he played pf that season so i do not think that George would have any problems either. I see him as a poor man's marion offensively but a rich man's marion defensively.
Uhm..I dont agree at all. George doesn't have marion's athleticism plus he is injury-prone. I wouldn't mind getting Drew Gooden at all
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting tinyballer:</div><div class="quote_post">Reason being George would fit a lot better at the post in now a day games. With guys like marion at the pf now we need a guy who is a lot more swift then howard to man the position. George has the strength needed to guard pfs speed needed to guard marion type pfs has a decent jump shot.There is no doubt in my mind he can provide better defence against the likes of garnett and duncan then howard and since moving to pf his rebounding numbers would go up significantly because he would be moving around chasing rebounds instead of standing on the perimeter waiting for a shot. Marion never played a game in the post in his life until he played pf that season so i do not think that George would have any problems either. I see him as a poor man's marion offensively but a rich man's marion defensively.</div> To say that Marion is enjoying the success he is now just because he is playing PF now is false. If you've paid attention throughout his career, he's been a 10 rebound guy every season, whether it be as a small forward or power forward. From your opinion of George, it doesn't seem like you've seen him play much. He's strictly a perimeter player, and expecting him to guard Duncan or Garnett is quite a pipe dream. Also, what we need is more of a traditional power forward as we're not going to become a running team like Phoenix, not with Yao around.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Locke:</div><div class="quote_post">Rock4life, Head doesn't need to guard bigger guards. That's what we got Battier to do.</div> Good point....but I thought he'd be guarding the SF/PF's. My point was coming off the bench, we have nobody to guard bigger guards without playing Tmac 50mins a game. We don't even have Bogans anymore, so that makes it 10times worse.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Rock4life:</div><div class="quote_post">Good point....but I thought he'd be guarding the SF/PF's. My point was coming off the bench, we have nobody to guard bigger guards without playing Tmac 50mins a game. We don't even have Bogans anymore, so that makes it 10times worse.</div> Well, Battier would be guarding the perimeter first and foremost. We're not likely to stick him at power forward, so having him guard a power forward might leave Howard on the perimeter... As for Bogans, the Rockets still have seven days to match his contract. Matching it won't go against our MLE and if the contract is reasonable, I don't see why we won't match it. After all, he was a spot starter last year.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Locke:</div><div class="quote_post">Well, Battier would be guarding the perimeter first and foremost. We're not likely to stick him at power forward, so having him guard a power forward might leave Howard on the perimeter... As for Bogans, the Rockets still have seven days to match his contract. Matching it won't go against our MLE and if the contract is reasonable, I don't see why we won't match it. After all, he was a spot starter last year.</div> I'm 50/50 on this one. Bogans plays hard, but do we really need ANOTHER defender on an already defensive team. We've already proved we can play defense, but shouldn't we go get some more offense. Can't win if you have 2 players doing all the scoring.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Rock4life:</div><div class="quote_post">I'm 50/50 on this one. Bogans plays hard, but do we really need ANOTHER defender on an already defensive team. We've already proved we can play defense, but shouldn't we go get some more offense. Can't win if you have 2 players doing all the scoring.</div> Well, we decided to not match Bogans' contract. Not really a bad thing, especially if he signed a big deal. His inability to knock down shots at all hurt us. We traded Lonny Baxter for Bogans, now the Rockets have Baxter on our summer league team, so it's as if the trade never happened.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Locke:</div><div class="quote_post">Well, we decided to not match Bogans' contract. Not really a bad thing, especially if he signed a big deal. His inability to knock down shots at all hurt us. We traded Lonny Baxter for Bogans, now the Rockets have Baxter on our summer league team, so it's as if the trade never happened.</div> This team has absolutley no direction right now. It's a shame because we had a chance to make this team great, but we've really made some idiotic moves. When it's time to stay still, we move too quick. When it's time to move, we stay still.
