Although the Rockets best two players are pretty young, they are one of the oldest teams in the NBA. Because of the size of the contracts for some of their players like Howard, Taylor and Weatherspoon, I think it will be difficult for them to make moves to shore up their weaknesses for next season. So I'm guessing that it won't be until the '06-'07 season that they can challenge for a championship. My question to the forum, is: Besides Yao and McGrady...Who do you see on the roster right now that you envision could be a major contributor to a championship contending team 2 years from now?
I think we are the oldest team in the NBA, and i'm not quite sure if we have anybody besides Yao and T-Mac that will be a major contributer not even a good contributer IMO, the only person I see with a chance is Andre Barrett, but he isn't being given the minutes to prove how good he can be...
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting jmc1:</div><div class="quote_post">Although the Rockets best two players are pretty young, they are one of the oldest teams in the NBA. Because of the size of the contracts for some of their players like Howard, Taylor and Weatherspoon, I think it will be difficult for them to make moves to shore up their weaknesses for next season. So I'm guessing that it won't be until the '06-'07 season that they can challenge for a championship. My question to the forum, is: Besides Yao and McGrady...Who do you see on the roster right now that you envision could be a major contributor to a championship contending team 2 years from now?</div> Two years from now, most of the other players on the roster will probably be at retirement age. The Rockets dilemma is that there is so much pressure on the organization to win NOW, and at the same time there is pressure to become a championship team. So, they load the roster with old men who can contribute some now but have no long term value (Ward, Strickland, Sura, Wesley, Barry, Howard, etc.). I can see Van Gundy keeping Padgett and Bowen around, because coaches tend to have an affinity to hustling white guys. If Sura can hold up, JVG would probably want to keep him too. I think Andre Barrett can become a key contributor off the bench in 2 years (or maybe even start).
Tough one. This is really hard to say because you can't reallly tell if when a lot of our guys are going to retire. But I think some main contributors to our team in the future would probably be Barrett and Padgett. Bowen doesn't really have a future anywhere, he doesn't posess any real shooting talent, no playmaking skills, just a player that gets garbage time and hustles. Barrett on the other hand, I think is developing some great playmaking moves and is probably working on his shooting so he has plenty of time to develop that. Padgett is a great hustle guy and is still somewhat young so he should probably be staying. Plus he made some of those lucky shots that brought us those wins so who's to say he can't do it again. As for everyone else besides Yao and McGrady, I see retiring in the near future- Mutumbo, Howard, Ward, Weatherspoon, and maybe Sura, Wesley, or Barry. So in the future, I really don't know how the rosters going to look. A lot of fresh faces I'm guessing.
well in a few years I can see barret,sura,padgett, and possibly even wesley contributing somewhat, but we still need the big pieces like a PF and a pg
This team is not built for the future IMO. Howard has four years left on his contract, Mo Taylor also has a long-term one, as do Sura, Ward, and Wesley. These guys will probably still be eating up cap when T-Mac and Yao hit their primes, so I doubt that Dawson would be able to sign some key free agents when the time is ripe for us to challenge. Sadly, I feel that going after Mike James or Antonio Daniels in the summer to start at point for us would be the best option, but instead we went out to get two old-timers who might contribute now, but what good will they be when they reach the last year of their contracts? The only way we can improve now is if we make some smart choices in the draft. We have Badiane and Spanouliss coming in, and they've been reputed to be great young talents, and we can probably make some smart choices in the draft. We won't be out of the playoffs in 06-07, but we won't be in championship contention neither.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Trip:</div><div class="quote_post">This team is not built for the future IMO. Howard has four years left on his contract, Mo Taylor also has a long-term one, as do Sura, Ward, and Wesley. These guys will probably still be eating up cap when T-Mac and Yao hit their primes, so I doubt that Dawson would be able to sign some key free agents when the time is ripe for us to challenge. Sadly, I feel that going after Mike James or Antonio Daniels in the summer to start at point for us would be the best option, but instead we went out to get two old-timers who might contribute now, but what good will they be when they reach the last year of their contracts? The only way we can improve now is if we make some smart choices in the draft. We have Badiane and Spanouliss coming in, and they've been reputed to be great young talents, and we can probably make some smart choices in the draft. We won't be out of the playoffs in 06-07, but we won't be in championship contention neither.</div> I had no idea Howard had four years left on his contract. That's terrible, I think Cato only has this year and next year. They would have been better off just trading Francis and Mobley for McGrady, and keeping Cato. I think they will be able to trade Taylor after next year, because he will be going into the final year of his contract, so some team will be willing to dump some longer contracts on the Rockets for him because they know he will free up money for them after the '06-'07 season.
Right now, the only players I see contributing to a championship team is Barrett and Padgett. Barrett needs to get more minutes for him to show us what he can do. He has good potential and I can see him being an integral part of the team in years to come. He slashes and dishes the ball well and has good handles. Padgett gives us defense and hustle plays and every championship team needs a good hustler imo. But we don't know for sure what the future holds for us. For all you know these guys might be traded or we might have stars from our draft picks so it's hard to predict the future. Seriously I don't see us challenging for a championship in the '06-'07 season. We'll probably get past the first round and maybe the second but we won't win the trophy. I sure hope that I'm wrong though.
Well, Howard signed a 5 year contract in 2003, so I guess he will have 3 left after this season. Still bad. It was thought that he would be a good third option on offense, but his time with us has proven otherwise. I had thought that Cato would just bog space down in the paint on offense, but his departure has proven that it would leave holes in our defense, and hurt us in ways more than just defense. It even affected Yao's development. I guess the only way that we could redeem the trade would be to sign someone who is similar to Cato. I like Keon Clark. He's long and rebounds, and is a great shotblocker.
Sura is only 32 going on 33, he has AT LEAST 4 seasons left in him IMO. So I could see Sura as a great veteran won out ream in 2 years time when he'll only be 35. retirement age for a solid player like him might be about 38 or so so I think he'll still be on this team. There is the obvious Barrett and Padgett, and maybe in 2 years time wel will have a great veteran PF in Donyell Marshall. Of course that is some wishfulthinking.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting dakeem1:</div><div class="quote_post">Sura is only 32 going on 33, he has AT LEAST 4 seasons left in him IMO. So I could see Sura as a great veteran won out ream in 2 years time when he'll only be 35. retirement age for a solid player like him might be about 38 or so so I think he'll still be on this team. There is the obvious Barrett and Padgett, and maybe in 2 years time wel will have a great veteran PF in Donyell Marshall. Of course that is some wishfulthinking.</div> I like Sura and I think he could still be a decent player two years from now. If injuries don't take him out. Unfortunately he will have to log a lot of minutes this year and possibly next.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting buzzer555:</div><div class="quote_post">Seriously I don't see us challenging for a championship in the '06-'07 season. We'll probably get past the first round and maybe the second but we won't win the trophy. I sure hope that I'm wrong though.</div> you are probably correct. In my original post, I should have said that the '06-'07 season would probably be the earliest that they could challenge for a championship. I have to admit that I don't think it is very likely either. Most teams that challenge for championships have a strong nucleus that has been together for awhile.
I think we can contend for a title even next year. We were supposed to be title contenders this year i think but have been a dissapointment. Our Pfs are really slowing us down, if we can change that i think that we'll be great contenders by then. Barret and Padgett could have bright futures ahead in houston, that is though if we keep them. How about this year, we can go 8th, beat SA, SAC, but pheonix and seatle worry me.
We'll gonna have to make some awesome trades and some great draft picks for us to contend next year. It all depends on the management. We need some younger players on the rosters. Some veterans are nice as they teach the rookies and they have valuable experience, but they don't have the same kind of explosiveness and eagerness in their games anymore. They don't have to prove themselves to the world as much as the rookies do. For us to win, we're gonna have to have the right mixture of vets and rooks to surround Tracy and Yao. And the guys upstairs are the only ones who could do that.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting buzzer555:</div><div class="quote_post">We'll gonna have to make some awesome trades and some great draft picks for us to contend next year. It all depends on the management. We need some younger players on the rosters. Some veterans are nice as they teach the rookies and they have valuable experience, but they don't have the same kind of explosiveness and eagerness in their games anymore. They don't have to prove themselves to the world as much as the rookies do. For us to win, we're gonna have to have the right mixture of vets and rooks to surround Tracy and Yao. And the guys upstairs are the only ones who could do that.</div> That's just it, I don't see anyone taking on Howard, Taylor or Weatherspoon's salary until they reach the final year of their deals. That will make it very difficult to make a trade that would bring a player that could help make this team a real contender.
The Rockets have players playing one a 1 year contract. They are Padgett,Barry,Barrett and Bowen. Mutumbo is also on his final year. I'm not sure about Strickland but I think he's on his second 10 days contract. I think 2-4 of them will be ratained. It depends of course on Van Gundy cause we know he likes them a lot. It seems also that the trading deadline is near and there's little chance of trading one of our PFs. So we might have to hope we could get a good player on the 2005 Draft or in the Free Agency season. Though we have promising players in Badiane and Spanoulis which have the positions we badly need in terms of productivity they might as well undergo a lot of adjustments. If things go on the same next season just like the one we have right now wherein we have 50-50 percent chances of making and advancing the playoffs. We have to bear again another season. By 2005-2006 season Wesley, Weatherspoon and Gaines(I doubt the Rockets would exercise his 4th year option if he continues to be on the bench or the IL)would have served their final year of contract. This would give the Rockets another promising start for the 06-07 season. I just hope the Rockets Organization will have the ultimatum this time to get quality players to surround Yao and TMac otherwise it would be a waste to see them in the prime of their careers without being a championship contender.
