Jacobsen Reaches A 1 Year Deal With The Houston Rockets.......dont Know If This Is A Good Or Bad Deal?
Good deal. We've already discussed it in the other thread. Btw, please include a link with your post next time when breaking news. Thanks.
Let's see, we have 8 unproven guards and 1 starting powerfoward (who technically shouldn't be starting). We're still the most unathletic team in the NBA and don't have NEAR the firepower to compete with the elite. So what happened to the "We're trying to win a championship now, not later" cop out phrase we used for not taking Gay in the draft. If this team holds up, we're nowhere remotley close to competing for a ring this year. Time for heads to roll..............
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Let's see, we have 8 unproven guards and 1 starting powerfoward (who technically shouldn't be starting). We're still the most unathletic team in the NBA and don't have NEAR the firepower to compete with the elite. So what happened to the "We're trying to win a championship now, not later" cop out phrase we used for not taking Gay in the draft. If this team holds up, we're nowhere remotley close to competing for a ring this year. Time for heads to roll..............</div> Who are these eight guards you're talking about? Currently, the only guards on this roster are Alston, Azubuike (most likely will be cut anyway), Head (not bad), Lucas III, McGrady, Snyder, Spanoulis, Sura, and now Jacobsen. Now, out of those guards, Alston, McGrady, and Sura (proven albeit not going to play) have already proven their worth to the team. You can also make the case for Head after his performance last season. In addition, the same can be said of Spanoulis who played great in FIBA including torching USA's team in the semifinals. Take away those players and you have Azubuike, Lucas III, Jacobsen, and Snyder. That makes only four, and even if you count in Spanoulis and Head, that would make six. Am I missing someone? In addition, I really don't think we're the most unathletic team anymore. I mean, we have guys like Snyder, McGrady, Head, Alston, Battier, and Lucas III all pretty good athletes. In addition, Spanoulis really isn't that bad either in terms of running the floor (I liken him to Ginobili's athleticism). So by no means do I believe this team is the most unathletic in the league. I would say its pretty much on par or similar to what other teams are putting out there. As for the firepower problem, I think we're just one or two pieces away from solving that problem. We have a player that scores around 26 ppg (McGrady), a player that gets around 22 ppg at least (Yao, if not more), a role player that fills in nicely with around 10 ppg (Battier, he could score more though), and point guard thats a pretty decent scorer (around 10 ppg, Alston). Add some more guys that score occasionally such as Head, Snyder, Spanoulis, and Howard, and I really don't think the team's scoring is as bad as you're making it out to be. <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Did we sign him to a gauranteed contract or what?</div> According to the other article, we signed Jacobsen to a partially guaranteed contract.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting AznxBaller:</div><div class="quote_post">Who are these eight guards you're talking about? Currently, the only guards on this roster are Alston, Azubuike (most likely will be cut anyway), Head (not bad), Lucas III, McGrady, Snyder, Spanoulis, Sura, and now Jacobsen. Now, out of those guards, Alston, McGrady, and Sura (proven albeit not going to play) have already proven their worth to the team. You can also make the case for Head after his performance last season. In addition, the same can be said of Spanoulis who played great in FIBA including torching USA's team in the semifinals. Take away those players and you have Azubuike, Lucas III, Jacobsen, and Snyder. That makes only four, and even if you count in Spanoulis and Head, that would make six. Am I missing someone? In addition, I really don't think we're the most unathletic team anymore. I mean, we have guys like Snyder, McGrady, Head, Alston, Battier, and Lucas III all pretty good athletes. In addition, Spanoulis really isn't that bad either in terms of running the floor (I liken him to Ginobili's athleticism). So by no means do I believe this team is the most unathletic in the league. I would say its pretty much on par or similar to what other teams are putting out there.</div> Mcgrady is the only proven guard on our team, and he's technically a SF. Alston is a big question mark, being that we still don't know what he's gonna give us. We don't know what Head's gonna give us, and Spanoulis is a question mark. I don't know if you fully comprehend the concept of athleticism, which means quickness, speed and the ability to finish at the rim. The only person we have that'll consistently finish at the rim is Tmac and Snyder, and Snyder might not cut it. The difference between us and the REAL contenders is they have players that know how to win. Our players are mostly CBA bound and aren't difference makers. <div class="quote_poster">Quoting AznxBaller:</div><div class="quote_post">As for the firepower problem, I think we're just one or two pieces away from solving that problem. We have a player that scores around 26 ppg (McGrady), a player that gets around 22 ppg at least (Yao, if not more), a role player that fills in nicely with around 10 ppg (Battier, he could score more though), and point guard thats a pretty decent scorer (around 10 ppg, Alston). Add some more guys that score occasionally such as Head, Snyder, Spanoulis, and Howard, and I really don't think the team's scoring is as bad as you're making it out to be.</div> That's the prolem!!! We've been one or two players away for about 3 seasons now. If that was the case, we could've kept Rudy Gay and let him develop while we got our "one or two players" we socalled needed. It's not rocket science, our goal this offseason was too retool, get younger, and more athletic. Is Novak really gonna make a difference? Is Jacobsen gonna lead us to the championship? Can we trust Head to be that consistent 3rd scorer? Is Battier capable of giving Wade, Lebron, Dirk or Kobe problems on defense and still giving us 15pts a game. In my personal opinion, NO. We didn't get the neccesary players to help us win a ring. We got the neccesary players to help us make the playoffs.........Unfortunatley, that's not good enuff. Bonzi? Gooden? Evans? Jones? all players we didn't even attempt to sign.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Rock4life:</div><div class="quote_post">Mcgrady is the only proven guard on our team, and he's technically a SF. Alston is a big question mark, being that we still don't know what he's gonna give us. We don't know what Head's gonna give us, and Spanoulis is a question mark. I don't know if you fully comprehend the concept of athleticism, which means quickness, speed and the ability to finish at the rim. The only person we have that'll consistently finish at the rim is Tmac and Snyder, and Snyder might not cut it. The difference between us and the REAL contenders is they have players that know how to win. Our players are mostly CBA bound and aren't difference makers. That's the prolem!!! We've been one or two players away for about 3 seasons now. If that was the case, we could've kept Rudy Gay and let him develop while we got our "one or two players" we socalled needed. It's not rocket science, our goal this offseason was too retool, get younger, and more athletic. Is Novak really gonna make a difference? Is Jacobsen gonna lead us to the championship? Can we trust Head to be that consistent 3rd scorer? Is Battier capable of giving Wade, Lebron, Dirk or Kobe problems on defense and still giving us 15pts a game. In my personal opinion, NO. We didn't get the neccesary players to help us win a ring. We got the neccesary players to help us make the playoffs.........Unfortunatley, that's not good enuff. Bonzi? Gooden? Evans? Jones? all players we didn't even attempt to sign.</div> McGrady and Yao determine whether or not we make the playoffs, get to the 2nd round, the WCF, or the Finals. I don't think we can sign anyone else that can make up for this difference you are talking about. We don't really need Bonzi or any other volume shooter. All we need is role players that can get us 8-15 ppg and mesh well next to T-Mac and Yao. We have T-Mac and Yao, all we need now are the right role players around them. ---- Yao 22ppg Howard 10ppg Battier 10ppg TMac 27ppg Alston 10ppg 79ppg and all I am expecting from Alston, Battier and Howard is 30 points night in/night out. We want to be up to 85-88ppg. V-Span, Head, Hayes, Novak, Deke, and Snyder is a very nice bench imho. We will see how all of this plays out once the season starts.
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post"> Mcgrady is the only proven guard on our team, and he's technically a SF. Alston is a big question mark, being that we still don't know what he's gonna give us. We don't know what Head's gonna give us, and Spanoulis is a question mark. I don't know if you fully comprehend the concept of athleticism, which means quickness, speed and the ability to finish at the rim. The only person we have that'll consistently finish at the rim is Tmac and Snyder, and Snyder might not cut it. The difference between us and the REAL contenders is they have players that know how to win. Our players are mostly CBA bound and aren't difference makers. </div> He is? Because it seems to me like you pretty much ignored all the points I made before and stated what you said before again. How do you not know what Alston's going to give us? He gave us around 12 ppg last season along with close to 7 apg. Not to mention he struggled the first half due to injury. Although I think we can both say Head's inconsistent, as a whole I think you can pretty much ballpark him around what he had last season. He's the Eddie House type player that can heat up off the bench and score tons for you or just give you some cold nights. But if you take the entire season into account, how's it possible not to understand what he's going to give us? As for the whole athleticism thing, you wouldn't say Alston, Head, and Battier are athletic? Battier certainly meets your criteria of quickness, speed, and the ability to finish at the rim. As for Alston, you don't think he can finish at the rim? Have you followed basketball at all? Seriously, wake up. As for Head, he meets two of your criterias, but is that really too much of a problem? We need outside shooters anyhow, and players driving in would only be met in a logjam with Yao being camped in the post. Yeah, definitely makes a lot of sense to have a lot of slashers. I'm also wondering why you think Snyder "might not cut it". He meets all of the three criterias you listed, so theoretically he should be the athletic player you want. Way to bring down the whole team by saying we don't have anyone that "knows how to win". Apparently Yao and McGrady aren't good enough for you. Lets take a look at the current Suns for an example. Out of all those players, none of them can actually be called "winners" before Nash arrived. None of them. And Nash himself wasn't even that big of a "winner" himself in Dallas. And certainly, you think they're contenders don't you? <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post"> That's the prolem!!! We've been one or two players away for about 3 seasons now. If that was the case, we could've kept Rudy Gay and let him develop while we got our "one or two players" we socalled needed. It's not rocket science, our goal this offseason was too retool, get younger, and more athletic. Is Novak really gonna make a difference? Is Jacobsen gonna lead us to the championship? Can we trust Head to be that consistent 3rd scorer? Is Battier capable of giving Wade, Lebron, Dirk or Kobe problems on defense and still giving us 15pts a game. In my personal opinion, NO. We didn't get the neccesary players to help us win a ring. We got the neccesary players to help us make the playoffs.........Unfortunatley, that's not good enuff. Bonzi? Gooden? Evans? Jones? all players we didn't even attempt to sign.</div> Why do you like Rudy Gay so much? There's so many things going for him to become a bust in the league. Just wondering. Its not like his perimeter game is that outstanding, which is really want this team needs. Plus, his dribbling game is still subpar. And on top of that, people really question his intensity and confidence level. We all don't know how he'll pan out, so ragging on management for trading him is kind of moot. Besides, weren't you wrong on the whole Stromile Swift thing? When you create a contending team, you pretty much should start off with a strong foundation, and in our case, it would be the dynamic duo. Then, you add role players the fit the system to the team. You do this by slowly improving the team every offseason so you wouldn't screw up the chemistry of the team every year by retooling every single offseason. Right now, we are in good position to do just that. We have young players that have the potential to develop and get better every year. We have hard working players that can motivate the team. You're seriously misguided if you think ANY player is supposed to lead a team to the championships. It takes a team effort, not just a player to lead the team. Head's not even supposed to be a third option for this team, so I have no clue why you're ranting on about that one. Besides, if you read my previous post, you would know my feelings about the scoring. Battier isn't supposed to be scoring fifteen a game either, but he can certainly do it. In fact, I remember several times last season when he did a great job offensively (he was on my fantasy team for some time last season) as well as doing a good job on his defensive target. Bonzi hasn't been signed by a team yet, so possibly management is talking to him? Gooden was demanding far too much for this team to go after him. I also heard Evans got a ridiculous deal as well, something like five years. As for Jumaine Jones, I heard the only team he would have signed that cheap for was Phoenix, which is exactly what happened.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting AznxBaller:</div><div class="quote_post">He is? Because it seems to me like you pretty much ignored all the points I made before and stated what you said before again. How do you not know what Alston's going to give us? He gave us around 12 ppg last season along with close to 7 apg. Not to mention he struggled the first half due to injury. Although I think we can both say Head's inconsistent, as a whole I think you can pretty much ballpark him around what he had last season. He's the Eddie House type player that can heat up off the bench and score tons for you or just give you some cold nights. But if you take the entire season into account, how's it possible not to understand what he's going to give us?</div> First off, Skip played his best basketball when everybody was injured. When Yao & Tmac were on the court, he played nervous and extremley unsure of himself. I'm still not convinced he's the long term solution out there for point guard. Also, comparing Head to Eddie House at this point is a far reach. What you really mean to say is he COULD be that "Eddie House type player". I wouldn't ballpark him anything yet, especially in the playoffs against the elite. <div class="quote_poster">Quoting AznxBaller:</div><div class="quote_post">As for the whole athleticism thing, you wouldn't say Alston, Head, and Battier are athletic? Battier certainly meets your criteria of quickness, speed, and the ability to finish at the rim. As for Alston, you don't think he can finish at the rim? Have you followed basketball at all? Seriously, wake up. As for Head, he meets two of your criterias, but is that really too much of a problem? We need outside shooters anyhow, and players driving in would only be met in a logjam with Yao being camped in the post. Yeah, definitely makes a lot of sense to have a lot of slashers. I'm also wondering why you think Snyder "might not cut it". He meets all of the three criterias you listed, so theoretically he should be the athletic player you want. Way to bring down the whole team by saying we don't have anyone that "knows how to win". Apparently Yao and McGrady aren't good enough for you. Lets take a look at the current Suns for an example. Out of all those players, none of them can actually be called "winners" before Nash arrived. None of them. And Nash himself wasn't even that big of a "winner" himself in Dallas. And certainly, you think they're contenders don't you?</div> Alston, Battier & Head athletic? Are you serious? Again, an athlete is somebody who can A) finish above the rim at a high level consistently B)has a combination of speed, quickness & explosiveness. Ex: Baron Davis, Bonzi Wells, Reggie Evans, Stromile Swift, Rudy Gay, Jarret Jack, Richard Jefferson, Reggie Evans, Josh Smith etc......all the players are athletic and the majority are very affordable. Alston is a shooter, Head is a shooter, and if you watched the olympics you'd know that Battier doesn't fit the description of athltetic. In a league where teams have 4 or 5 even six athletes we haven't even began to address that problem. I'm not "bringing the team down" either, I'm being realistic. Tmac & Yao are great players, but the team's lack of direction is gonna hurt their careers. As far as your Steve Nash comment, he was very much a "winner" in Dallas. The Mavericks were a respectful team with Nash. Most of our players are either rookies, CBA players or coming from bad teams. Huge difference. <div class="quote_poster">Quoting AznxBaller:</div><div class="quote_post">Why do you like Rudy Gay so much? There's so many things going for him to become a bust in the league. Just wondering. Its not like his perimeter game is that outstanding, which is really want this team needs. Plus, his dribbling game is still subpar. And on top of that, people really question his intensity and confidence level. We all don't know how he'll pan out, so ragging on management for trading him is kind of moot. Besides, weren't you wrong on the whole Stromile Swift thing? When you create a contending team, you pretty much should start off with a strong foundation, and in our case, it would be the dynamic duo. Then, you add role players the fit the system to the team. You do this by slowly improving the team every offseason so you wouldn't screw up the chemistry of the team every year by retooling every single offseason. Right now, we are in good position to do just that. We have young players that have the potential to develop and get better every year. We have hard working players that can motivate the team.</div> Be realistic for once. The Rockets NEED ATHLETES. Rudy Gay is an ATHLETE. If your gonna trade an ATHLETE, you make sure you get a combination of ATHLETES back in return. Trading an athletic player with Rudy Gay's potential and only getting one player in return is foolish. If we could've traded Gay and got back Battier and maybe another player I'd be perfectly fine. But with all the holes this team has, it was almost idiotic not to get a combination of players back. As far as Stro, I did expect more. But if you think about it, Stromile is an ATHLETE. He isn't a spot up shooter, or half court decoy. Van Gundy failed to utilize Stro's strengths by never implementing a more uptempo offense. I gurantee if Stro was in Phoenix, he's be an allstar. Walking the ball up court and running the clock out every game isn't the type of system built for a athlete. That's why Van Gundy loves washed up role players, their perfect for that. <div class="quote_poster">Quoting AznxBaller:</div><div class="quote_post">You're seriously misguided if you think ANY player is supposed to lead a team to the championships. It takes a team effort, not just a player to lead the team. Head's not even supposed to be a third option for this team, so I have no clue why you're ranting on about that one. Besides, if you read my previous post, you would know my feelings about the scoring. Battier isn't supposed to be scoring fifteen a game either, but he can certainly do it. In fact, I remember several times last season when he did a great job offensively (he was on my fantasy team for some time last season) as well as doing a good job on his defensive target. Bonzi hasn't been signed by a team yet, so possibly management is talking to him? Gooden was demanding far too much for this team to go after him. I also heard Evans got a ridiculous deal as well, something like five years. As for Jumaine Jones, I heard the only team he would have signed that cheap for was Phoenix, which is exactly what happened.</div> I understand you can't sign any player. But at this point, we still haven't addressed all our holes. Juwan Howard is STILL our PF, which baffles me knowing we had a 8th pick in the draft, and a midlevel exception. Snyder is an average player, but if Van Gundy doesn't speed up the offense he'll end up like Stro. We didn't really throw anything at the key free agents, so we'll never know if they'd like to come here. Instead we chose to go to the CBA and get some "cheap" players. If your a real Rocket fan, you'd understand my, and others frustration with the puzzling decisions of this franchise.
Jacobsen, IMO, is just a cheap version of Jon Barry.... Hes younger, and probally not a better shooter. I dont know why the Rockets waived Barry, then sign this guy... Time for a new GM...
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Rock4life:</div><div class="quote_post">Ex: Baron Davis, Bonzi Wells, Reggie Evans, Stromile Swift, Rudy Gay, Jarret Jack, Richard Jefferson, Reggie Evans, Josh Smith etc......all the players are athletic and the majority are very affordable.</div>I find it funny you mention Reggie Evans twice, when he's far from athletic. I don't know which game you watched, but he's like any other power forward out there: slow and lumbering. Kirk Snyder is athletic, yet you're not happy. If we'd gotten Fred Jones or Shannon Brown through the draft, would you have been happy? No. Yet you mention Reggie Evans twice.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Locke:</div><div class="quote_post">I find it funny you mention Reggie Evans twice, when he's far from athletic. I don't know which game you watched, but he's like any other power forward out there: slow and lumbering. Kirk Snyder is athletic, yet you're not happy. If we'd gotten Fred Jones or Shannon Brown through the draft, would you have been happy? No. Yet you mention Reggie Evans twice. </div> Reggie Evans is a BEAST, and a athlete. He's gonna finish above the rim, block shots, rebound and defend. Pretty much the opposite of anything we have now. I would VERY happy if got Fred Jones, that's the prototypical player for this team. But we didn't even attempt to throw a proposal to the guy. You mean to tell me with 8th pick in the draft, and a midlevel exception all you get for that is Kurk Snyder? That's pathetic
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Rock4life:</div><div class="quote_post">Reggie Evans is a BEAST, and a athlete. He's gonna finish above the rim, block shots, rebound and defend. Pretty much the opposite of anything we have now.</div> Evans is a great per-minute rebounder, probably the best in the league, but we have Chuck Hayes who's also a strong per-minute rebounder. Evans is not a very good defensive player (other than defensive rebounding and flopping), and he does not block shots. He's not particularly athletic either as far as finishing above the rim. Ironically, your description describes Chuck Hayes just as well as it does Reggie Evans, if not more so.
""You mean to tell me with 8th pick in the draft, and a midlevel exception all you get for that is Kurk Snyder? That's pathetic"" You cannot forget Shane Battier and even more important getting rid of a garbage player that I wont dignify as a player by typing his name. Shane was exactly what this team needed. Not potential to work on or some athletic dunce. If you didn't like that trade, wait till the season starts. Kirk came over with a player exception for cheap. Great get IMO. JVG has been a critic of R.Evans for a while saying that all his unnecessary dumb antics like pulling down shorts and grabbing (players)balls hurt his value and integrity. Leave the ball grabber in Denver. No more dumb or unmotivated guys. That should be the Rockets Slogan this year. Now the MLE thing I get. JLIII and VSpan don't look that appealing right off. They still got some left on it to work with, and they did fill some holes this offseason so it aint been a waste. Some how some way if they win the Bonzi sweepstakes, this would be a great offseason for the Front office. Stay optimistic.
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">First off, Skip played his best basketball when everybody was injured. When Yao & Tmac were on the court, he played nervous and extremley unsure of himself. I'm still not convinced he's the long term solution out there for point guard. Also, comparing Head to Eddie House at this point is a far reach. What you really mean to say is he COULD be that "Eddie House type player". I wouldn't ballpark him anything yet, especially in the playoffs against the elite. </div> Well, I remember Alston playing horrible during the beginning of the season, and during that time, McGrady, Barry were injured while Wesley just came off of surgery. So if there was a time when he had his best game on, it was probably with Yao and McGrady. In fact, one of the most effective lineups we had were with Alston, Wesley, McGrady, Howard, and Yao. The Rockets had a 58.8 win percentage with a total of +16 net points. How's comparing Head to House that far of a reach? Besides, don't tell me what I "really meant" or whatever, because if I didn't mean it, I wouldn't have taken the time to type it up. They're both undersized at shooting guard (which is their natural positions), have not enough point guard skills to make it at that position, can turn it up coming off the bench, are shooters, and are also very streaky. <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post"> Alston, Battier & Head athletic? Are you serious? Again, an athlete is somebody who can A) finish above the rim at a high level consistently B)has a combination of speed, quickness & explosiveness. Ex: Baron Davis, Bonzi Wells, Reggie Evans, Stromile Swift, Rudy Gay, Jarret Jack, Richard Jefferson, Reggie Evans, Josh Smith etc......all the players are athletic and the majority are very affordable. Alston is a shooter, Head is a shooter, and if you watched the olympics you'd know that Battier doesn't fit the description of athltetic. In a league where teams have 4 or 5 even six athletes we haven't even began to address that problem. I'm not "bringing the team down" either, I'm being realistic. Tmac & Yao are great players, but the team's lack of direction is gonna hurt their careers. As far as your Steve Nash comment, he was very much a "winner" in Dallas. The Mavericks were a respectful team with Nash. Most of our players are either rookies, CBA players or coming from bad teams. Huge difference.</div> Yes, I am very serious. Did I stutter? Okay, so you pretty much ignored my little analysis before using your criteria and felt like wasting energy and typing that little criteria of yours up again. But hey you know, whatever floats your boat. First of all, I'll let you know that Davis, Jefferson, and Smith are unaffordable. Secondly, we're currently pursuing Wells. Also, Evans is by no means athletic. Just a good rebounder. Swift, I'm pretty sure you understand that he's a moron and his athleticism doesn't really mean anything. So that leaves you with Rudy Gay and Jarrett Jack. Genius! Great list of two guys by the way. And yes, Alston and Head are athletic. They both can do what you said- having a combination of quickness, speed, and explosiveness. And in my opinion, its hard to hold it against them for not being high flyers, because well, its not like you're going to see 6-0 to 6-3 guys dunking it that much in the league. Guys like Nash, Parker, Hinrich, Marbury, and Paul all aren't known to drive it in and dunk it, so I don't know what you're complaining about. Please let me know when they made a law that shooters can't be athletic. Seriously! Ray Allen and Rashard Lewis are both athletic players, and are also shooters, so by your logic, they really don't exist now do they? I watched the Olympics, and Battier had some nice fast break points in there, as well as doing some things that I really liked. The Nets last season basically had two athletic guys on their team- Carter and Jefferson, and yet they got into the second round of the playoffs only to lose to the eventual NBA Champions. They also had a pretty good record as well. Another good example are the Spurs. Last year they had Ginobili, Parker, and possibly Bowen (but according to your definition, he's a shooter, so he can't be an athlete). Everyone else were nearing or in old age. You can make the case for Van Exel and Finley, but those guys really didn't look that athletic in the playoffs last season. If Nash was that much of a winner in Dallas, how come the farthest they got was to the Western Finals? And, he only got there once.He never actually "won" the championship either. You say we are made up of scrubs, yet last years and this years Suns team is also made up of "losers". Aside from the big three, they had Jimmy Jackson, Raja Bell, Kurt Thomas, Eddie House, James Jones, and Tim Thomas. This season, they just added Jumaine Jones. <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post"> Be realistic for once. The Rockets NEED ATHLETES. Rudy Gay is an ATHLETE. If your gonna trade an ATHLETE, you make sure you get a combination of ATHLETES back in return. Trading an athletic player with Rudy Gay's potential and only getting one player in return is foolish. If we could've traded Gay and got back Battier and maybe another player I'd be perfectly fine. But with all the holes this team has, it was almost idiotic not to get a combination of players back. As far as Stro, I did expect more. But if you think about it, Stromile is an ATHLETE. He isn't a spot up shooter, or half court decoy. Van Gundy failed to utilize Stro's strengths by never implementing a more uptempo offense. I gurantee if Stro was in Phoenix, he's be an allstar. Walking the ball up court and running the clock out every game isn't the type of system built for a athlete. That's why Van Gundy loves washed up role players, their perfect for that.</div> Stromile Swift is an ATHLETE. He's a freakin ATHLETE. Yes, Batter is an ATHLETE. Do you understand how annoying saying/capslocking ATHLETE can get? We didn't just trade Rudy Gay, we traded him and Swift who was a complete cancer to the team. Gay hasn't exactly proven anything at all, so why the hell Memphis would be foolish enough to do trade more than one player for him as well as taking in a team cancer? Considering we really didn't need Swift and he really wasn't utilized, its pretty much trading straightup. He's not those things, but he sure needs to rebound more, which really shouldn't take that much knowledge of the game to do so if you have this thing called athleticism. I guarantee you, Swift is by no means an allstar, even if he was in Phoenix. You're going to tell me he'd make it over guys like Nowitzki, Gasol, Anthony, Marion, Stoudamire, and Brand? Please pass me some of that crack you're sniffing. The championship Detroit team with Larry Brown pretty much did do what you said, yet they were loaded with Hamilton, Prince, the Wallaces, and Billups. Not wash up role players like you made it seem. <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post"> I understand you can't sign any player. But at this point, we still haven't addressed all our holes. Juwan Howard is STILL our PF, which baffles me knowing we had a 8th pick in the draft, and a midlevel exception. Snyder is an average player, but if Van Gundy doesn't speed up the offense he'll end up like Stro. We didn't really throw anything at the key free agents, so we'll never know if they'd like to come here. Instead we chose to go to the CBA and get some "cheap" players. If your a real Rocket fan, you'd understand my, and others frustration with the puzzling decisions of this franchise.</div> Yeah, I'm annoyed at the powerforward position, but we really don't have too many options. At the 8th pick, Shelden Williams was gone, and I doubt anyone in the league wants to trade a proven powerforward (and it has to be not that big of a contract) for a draft pick and Swift. As for the midlevel exception, we might use it on Bonzi Wells, but even if we didn't, you need to consider that Lesley Alexander is one of the cheapest in the league. Its something called money. The reason we didn't try to woo guys like Gooden was because we didn't feel like throwing away money on guys that might not help the team. I guess the management's just being a bit cautious here on this one. The only CBA player we got this season was John Lucas III. If I remember correctly, the other two guys weren't given guaranteed contracts. I am a real Rockets fan, but I'm also laying off the drugs. <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post"> Reggie Evans is a BEAST, and a athlete. He's gonna finish above the rim, block shots, rebound and defend. Pretty much the opposite of anything we have now. I would VERY happy if got Fred Jones, that's the prototypical player for this team. But we didn't even attempt to throw a proposal to the guy. You mean to tell me with 8th pick in the draft, and a midlevel exception all you get for that is Kurk Snyder? That's pathetic</div> Evans doesn't block shots that well at all. And he's not really that great of a defender. So pretty much the only thing he's going to do is rebound and get wide open buckets that would make him an embarrassment if he didn't make them. Fred Jones' shooting is pretty streaky, his ball handling is kinda average, and I think he needs guys to create for him. He's really not the type of guy to take the load off McGrady and Yao. Are you seriously retarded? We got Shane Battier, Snyder, Lucas III, Spanoulis, Novak, and Azuibuike this offseason. How the hell do you just come up with Snyder?
