Rockets Debate Round Two: tmacgarnett vs. Thefreshprince vs. AznxBaller vs. Blurr#7

This debate will run from 2:00 PM CT Sunday August 13th to 2:00 PM CT Tuesday August 15th.

If you are general manager of the Rockets, what actions would you take with the current roster?


Only AznxBaller, thefreshprince, tmacgarnett and Blurr #7 are allowed to post in this thread. Any other posts will be deleted promptly and actions may be taken.

Let the debate begin!

 

With the available money in the Free Agency decreasing by the day, I would use the rest of the MLE to sign a veteran SG/SF because our bench is very very young. Our 6th and 7th men are Luther Head and Kirk Snyder who are both very young. Chuck Hayes is by default our back up PF. Our back up PGs are both rookies in VSpan and JLIII. Our SF situation is very uncertain as to who will play it in Tmac or Shane Battier, but both are solid enough to play it while the backups for that position are Steve Novak and Ryan Bowen which isn't very productive.

Sure, you can make the arguement that we allready have two leaders in Yao and Tmac. Tmac is recovering from a back injury and his work out is so strenuous that his focus will be on getting back to 100%, making the Rockets better, and making the playoffs. Yao has vowed to be a leader in the past and has only shown signs of that late last season. We need that other guy that can say "Hey, when he comes at you like that make sure you take the charge" or "They will do that to you, give him a little push to know that your serious and that your not gonna be pushed around."

You can also make the arguement that our most stressing need at this point is PF. With the money we have left, a decent starting PF will not be available. The best you could get with the money would be Melvin Ely who is getting better offers at this point.

I'm Happy with Juwan Howard playing PF but if we can work out a Sign in trade that sends Luther Head and Howard to Cleveland for Drew Gooden, then id be all over it. Yes, Luther is an amazing ROLE player and I would love to keep him, but Gooden would give us a step up against other teams. Luther would replace FLip Murray in their lineup and Juwan could open lanes for Lebron.

 

I would look to add veterans. This team has an amazing nucleus of Tmac, Battier, and Yao to win a championship, but need some solid vets to put us over the edge. I think that Juwan Howard and Bobby Sura (if healthy) will be great helps off the bench. We have hayes and head to provide energy and youth. All we really need is a vet point and pf to bring this team a championship. At pf, though not a true vet, i'd go after reggie evans. If he cant be signeed, then do a sign and trade involvong wesley. He will give Yao tons of help with rebounding and defense, and will be the banger that yao never will. that will give us a depth chart of

pg Alston/Sura/Lucas III
sg Tmac/Head
sf Battier/Bowen/Hayes a little bit
pf Evans/Howard/Hayes
c Yao/Dikembe

this looks like a championship contender to me, and the only move i made was very realistic. Battier will guard the best wing, saving tmac's energy for scoring. Head and sura can provide nice scoring punches off the bench, while Dikembe and Hayes will provide solid D.

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting TheFreshPrince:</div><div class="quote_post">I would look to add veterans. This team has an amazing nucleus of Tmac, Battier, and Yao to win a championship, but need some solid vets to put us over the edge. I think that Juwan Howard and Bobby Sura (if healthy) will be great helps off the bench. We have hayes and head to provide energy and youth. All we really need is a vet point and pf to bring this team a championship. At pf, though not a true vet, i'd go after reggie evans. If he cant be signeed, then do a sign and trade involvong wesley. He will give Yao tons of help with rebounding and defense, and will be the banger that yao never will. that will give us a depth chart of

pg Alston/Sura/Lucas III
sg Tmac/Head
sf Battier/Bowen/Hayes a little bit
pf Evans/Howard/Hayes
c Yao/Dikembe

this looks like a championship contender to me, and the only move i made was very realistic. Battier will guard the best wing, saving tmac's energy for scoring. Head and sura can provide nice scoring punches off the bench, while Dikembe and Hayes will provide solid D.</div>


Where is Kirk Snyder and Vspan on that list?...I agree with getting veteran help, but Reggie Evans is not a veteran. He has played only 4 seasons in the NBA and was traded last season. Hayes CAN NOT play small forward because he is way to slow to gaurd the new Age Sfs that almost 85% of the teams have which are Athletic three point shooters that can drive the Ball.

Sura has no cartilage in between his knee bones. Once he steps on that court, he is done barring a miracle. Sure he can be a leader, but how much of an impact will he have on the youth when they can't see his advice in action on the court.

As for the Wesley trade...why would denver want Wesley for Reggie Evans. They just traded Rueban Patterson for Joe Smith. Joe Smith is their Veteran guy. He is better than Wesley.

Your assuming way to much in your last 2 sentences. Dikembe Mutumbo can play some amazing D, but as last season showed he is slowing down ALOT. We might need to look for a back up C during the season.

 

This is always fun...

Right now, our current roster is surprisingly strong. We've got two superstars surrounded by some pretty solid role players. However, there's still some obvious holes in this team, most notably the powerforward position anchored by Juwan Howard and Chuck Hayes. Thus, as the general manager of the Rockets, my goal would involve trying to acquire a stronger powerforward that can adequately complement Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady. In addition to that, the other problem that needs to be solved would be more depth at the shooting guard and small forward positions, since after McGrady and Shane Battier, there is only Luther Head and Kirk Snyder filling out the positions. At this point, here's our lineup:

PG- Rafer Alston, Vassilis Spanoulis, John Lucas III
SG- Shane Battier, Luther Head, Kirk Snyder
SF- Tracy McGrady, Kirk Snyder, Steve Novak, Ryan Bowen (please god no)
PF- Juwan Howard, Chuck Hayes, Steve Novak
C- Yao Ming, Dikembe Mutombo

At this point, there are little powerforwards that the Rockets can acquire since they really don't have too many players that have good trade value. Or, all the other ones that do have some value are pretty much needed by this team (Alston, Battier, etc). In my opinion, our best option is probably trading Luther Head. I know I know, the guy is clutch, and played amazing last season, but really, I don't think he's really going to provide what the team needs. He's too much of a tweener/combo guard in my opinion and has a shooting guard's mentality even though he's too short to play the position.

Therefore, as general manager I'm proposing a trade of Juwan Howard, Luther Head, and possibly (if necessary) a second round pick for Troy Murphy. Even though he's not at the top level of powerforwards, I think he would fit in well with this team. Let me give you guys a summary of him. Murphy's a 6-11 powerforward that can rebound very well, has averaged a double double for three seasons out of his five in the NBA, is a very good three point shooter, and can score when needed. No doubt, he's going to benefit a lot from playing alongside a strong low post presence in Yao who can kick it back out to him for the open three. In addition, he will help out Yao tremendously on the boards as compared to last season, which is obviously a weakness of Howard. Which brings me to another point, Van Gundy played Howard a lot of minutes last season because of his ability (well, sorta) to hit jumpers since he got open off of Yao's double teams. Same thing goes for Murphy. So whats the catch? Well, the one drawback of Murphy is his defense. I'll be honest, he plays matador defense and hasn't really gotten how to defend down pat. However, I don't think it would be too much of a problem on this team. We already have a superb defender in Shane Battier which will no doubt prevent guard penetration. In addition, Van Gundy in my opinion is one of the best defensive coaches in the NBA. He's helped Juwan Howard with it (to make him at least be average) so Murphy should at least benefit a little from it.

Alright, so now we traded away one of the guys that actually provided depth at the shooting guard position. You're probably thinking what now, genius? Oh I've got a plan. My next move as general manager would be to sign Jumaine Jones with the rest of the MLE, who's an unrestricted free agent this offseason, and to my knowledge, has not been picked up yet by any team. Let me introduce you guys. Jones is a 6-8 small forward that is known for his three point shooting (he absolutely lighted up games sometimes). In addition, he provides solid defense and will no doubt bring some consistency off the bench. Two seasons ago, he averaged .391% from three, while last season he averaged .343 from three. Sounds kind of like Head eh? But here's the kicker, he isn't a tweener like Head where he would be undersized at his position. Instead, he would be playing small forward, where he is best at, and we would move Kirk Snyder over to shooting guard where Snyder will be able to cause some mismatches to small guards.

Therefore, the Rockets lineup would look like this-

PG- Rafer Alston, Vassilis Spanoulis, John Lucas III
SG- Shane Battier, Kirk Snyder
SF- Tracy McGrady, Jumaine Jones, Steve Novak, Ryan Bowen
PF- Troy Murphy, Chuck Hayes, Steve Novak
C- Yao Ming, Dikembe Mutombo

Everyone in the lineup outside of Yao are absolutely deadly from three point land. Which means, different from last season, teams won't be able to double off of our stars since they would have to pay with a barrage of three pointers. Seriously, Alston, Battier, Jones, Murphy, Spanoulis, and Novak are all great three point shooters, but also bring other intangibles as well. Battier brings stellar defense (he wasn't named as the best defender on 82games for nothing), Jones and Alston both bring solid defense, Spanoulis brings a good spark, while Murphy brings solid rebounding to help out Yao. I think this team would definitely be able to go up against the top tier teams in the West, and possibly go deep into the playoffs.

EDIT- I would like to add, that if we have any money at all left, I'd sign Kelvin Cato to help out at the center spot for the LLE. Cato shouldn't really cost too much either. He played pretty well with us before we traded him away in the Orlando deal. Mutombo's skills are regressing, and it would help if we had someone else to share the minutes with him in case Yao is in foul trouble.

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting TmacGarnett:</div><div class="quote_post">With the available money in the Free Agency decreasing by the day, I would use the rest of the MLE to sign a veteran SG/SF because our bench is very very young. Our 6th and 7th men are Luther Head and Kirk Snyder who are both very young. Chuck Hayes is by default our back up PF. Our back up PGs are both rookies in VSpan and JLIII. Our SF situation is very uncertain as to who will play it in Tmac or Shane Battier, but both are solid enough to play it while the backups for that position are Steve Novak and Ryan Bowen which isn't very productive.</div>
It really doesn't matter how young the bench is, as long as its productive, I think everyone would be happy with it. Hey I mean, even a couple years back while Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili were still young, the Spurs won a freakin championship. And, lets not forget to mention that they helped round out the Spurs bench as the point guard and shooting guard, respectively. I agree that there needs to be more depth, but that shouldn't be the reason for signing a SG/SF. McGrady in my eyes, will no doubt play small forward. There's a reason why we traded away Jim Jackson (who played small forward at the time) for David Wesley. We didn't want McGrady exerting too much energy on the defensive end guarding faster shooting guards and therefore, leaving him more easily exhausted. Meanwhile, Shane Battier will hold down the shooting guard position simply because he can guard those fast guards, and he won't be needed much on the offensive end. However, note that they can pretty much change anytime. For an example, whenever there is a star small forward on the other team, you'll always know Battier will be shutting him down.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting TmacGarnett:</div><div class="quote_post">
Sure, you can make the arguement that we allready have two leaders in Yao and Tmac. Tmac is recovering from a back injury and his work out is so strenuous that his focus will be on getting back to 100%, making the Rockets better, and making the playoffs. Yao has vowed to be a leader in the past and has only shown signs of that late last season. We need that other guy that can say "Hey, when he comes at you like that make sure you take the charge" or "They will do that to you, give him a little push to know that your serious and that your not gonna be pushed around."</div>
Thats one of the big reasons why we signed Shane Battier. He is a true leader. I've heard someone on this forum mention how at Duke, his teammates were more afraid of him than Coach K whenever they made mistakes or didn't work hard. Battier is definitely a guy that will motivate this team and make sure everyone plays hard and leaves everything on the court. In short, he's the glue guy that his team needed last season, which is probably why specially targetting a "veteran" isn't necessary.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting TmacGarnett:</div><div class="quote_post">
You can also make the arguement that our most stressing need at this point is PF. With the money we have left, a decent starting PF will not be available. The best you could get with the money would be Melvin Ely who is getting better offers at this point.</div>
Alright, so why not trade for one, like say, Troy Murphy? Rather than sit on your ass and hope Juwan Howard and Chuck Hayes can hold it down, wouldn't you be better off pursuing a powerforward through trade?
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">
I'm Happy with Juwan Howard playing PF but if we can work out a Sign in trade that sends Luther Head and Howard to Cleveland for Drew Gooden, then id be all over it. Yes, Luther is an amazing ROLE player and I would love to keep him, but Gooden would give us a step up against other teams. Luther would replace FLip Murray in their lineup and Juwan could open lanes for Lebron.</div>
It doesn't make sense from the Cleveland standpoint though. They already have a similar player for Luther Head in Shannon Brown, who I believe is actually better player. In addition, Howard's contract is pretty hefty so I'm not sure they would bite on that deal.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting TheFreshPrince:</div><div class="quote_post">I would look to add veterans. This team has an amazing nucleus of Tmac, Battier, and Yao to win a championship, but need some solid vets to put us over the edge. I think that Juwan Howard and Bobby Sura (if healthy) will be great helps off the bench. We have hayes and head to provide energy and youth. All we really need is a vet point and pf to bring this team a championship. At pf, though not a true vet, i'd go after reggie evans. If he cant be signeed, then do a sign and trade involvong wesley. He will give Yao tons of help with rebounding and defense, and will be the banger that yao never will. that will give us a depth chart of</div>
You mention we need a veteran point. However, you also mention Bobby Sura (who's also a vet), so why in the world do we need two aging point guards on the same team? We already have a decent point guard in Alston, and we would be absolutely jammed at the position with Spanoulis and Lucas III. Wesley was already signed by the Cavaliers, so we can't exactly do a sign and trade using him. Reggie Evans is nice, but Troy Murphy is better. One reason I like the Murph better is because he provides scoring when needed and still gives you a good amount of rebounds. Granted, not as much as Evans, but seriously Evans gives you next to no offensive skills. He can't shoot, he has little post moves, and is a bad free throw shooter. That would enable the opposing powerforward to double Yao much easier as compared to Troy Murphy.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting TheFreshPrince:</div><div class="quote_post">
this looks like a championship contender to me, and the only move i made was very realistic. Battier will guard the best wing, saving tmac's energy for scoring. Head and sura can provide nice scoring punches off the bench, while Dikembe and Hayes will provide solid D.</div>
There's a very good chance Sura will retire, so I don't really think we want to count on him for "nice scoring punches". Dikembe still gives you good defense and rebounding, but note that he's around forty years old now. He's doing progressively worse every season, so again, its not really something to boast about. Besides, like TmacGarnett mentioned, you're missing a bunch of players.

 

I have a 12 man team, the league max for games? so how am i missing guys?

alston is the ditributer we need. Tmac and battier are great wings, possible the two best in the league. Yao and evans will give us a great 4/5 combo with some solid guys off the bench.

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">I have a 12 man team, the league max for games? so how am i missing guys?

alston is the ditributer we need. Tmac and battier are great wings, possible the two best in the league. Yao and evans will give us a great 4/5 combo with some solid guys off the bench.</div>
Yeah but Ryan Bowen probably won't be getting much minutes with Kirk Snyder helping out at the wing position. In addition, Sura, who has gone through hell with injuries, likely won't be playing (its 50/50 now whether or not he's retiring), so Spanoulis is probably taking his spot.

Plus, I'd like to add that on your lineup, Evans won't be providing a good enough scoring punch for us. This team really needs a bunch of players around Yao and McGrady that are able to score and defend for us. A lot of the times we didn't have anyone outside those two that could help pick up the scoring load for us. With Murphy, we finally have someone that can. He averaged around 15 points last season, thats definitely something we need.

 

^^My bench is prividing the scoring punch, and i, as gm, will convince Sura to come back. Head, Howard, and Alston are all very capable scorers

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">^^My bench is prividing the scoring punch, and i, as gm, will convince Sura to come back. Head, Howard, and Alston are all very capable scorers</div>
Convice him? Are you out of your mind? Sura's at the point where we don't even know if he's capable of playing, so motivation isn't really a problem. Only recently has there been articles stating he's getting into practice and going through drills again. He's at a place in his career where he might even call it quits due to his injuries, and thats saying something because Sura is the toughest player on the team.

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting AznxBaller:</div><div class="quote_post">Convice him? Are you out of your mind? Sura's at the point where we don't even know if he's capable of playing, so motivation isn't really a problem. Only recently has there been articles stating he's getting into practice and going through drills again. He's at a place in his career where he might even call it quits due to his injuries, and thats saying something because Sura is the toughest player on the team.</div>

sura wouldnt even be a big soncern, just 10-15 minutes a game at the max, since Head will take on a bigger role. Anyways, Alston, if healthy shoudl provide some great scoring, and without sura, i can have Vspan, but right now, i'lls tick with sura because he is a vet, and in a winning atomsphere, i think he will do jsut fine.

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">
sura wouldnt even be a big soncern, just 10-15 minutes a game at the max, since Head will take on a bigger role. Anyways, Alston, if healthy shoudl provide some great scoring, and without sura, i can have Vspan, but right now, i'lls tick with sura because he is a vet, and in a winning atomsphere, i think he will do jsut fine.</div>
If he's just playing 10-15 minutes a game at max, is it even worth it? Why not just put Spanoulis in there who can play as much minutes as you want but will also bring solid scoring? Besides, the team you have up there doesn't really need vets anyway. Battier can bring what Sura did two years ago in terms of a leadership presence. Plus, you have Mutombo and Howard on your roster as well. In addition to that, even if Head is getting a bigger role, it shouldn't effect Sura at all. Luther Head should be playing shooting guard, and definitely not point guard. His dribbling skills are average, he isn't good with penetrating, and his passing skills are average as well.

 

Dawson pretty much dug himself a hole with some of the contracts he put out there, and Vangundy not willing ot take on young tallent to develop is probably the biggest hurdle to overcome. I've always like Murphy and mentioned his name before as a GREAT fit for our system, odly enough we passed on him in 2001. There's not much you could do as a GM, the most sought after free agents are gone(Not that it was a great FA class this year)and Howards contract is a HUGE reason why it would take a miracle to trade him.(Hey Iseah, need another PF?)
Instead of always looking for the quick fix, drop the win now attitude. Build some chemistry with what you got! The Rockets have had a revolving door of a lineup and sometimes CD tries TOO hard to make a move just to make a move!( Alston for MJ). So I would leave the roster as is, when you go out and contiously get older players your window becomes smaller, ever wonder why SA is always there? How many BIG deals have they done? Not many but they draft well and develop their tallent, likewise detroit,and remember Utah!those teams don't/didn't change drastically from year to year. But they were ALWAYS there at the end!
I said it when sura and wesley were our starting back court and we had the oldest team in the league, how far in the playoff can you go with an old backcourt? And how do you expect to win next year if you window is limited to one season?
A TEAM wins championships, you cannot expect to put a buch of guys together and win a title,(Except what Miami did, almost impossible) no matter who or how good they are(3#rd place USA team!)you have to have chemistry and cohesiveness on the court wich only comes with time and being able to play with the same guys for time

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Dawson pretty much dug himself a hole with some of the contracts he put out there, and Vangundy not willing ot take on young tallent to develop is probably the biggest hurdle to overcome. I've always like Murphy and mentioned his name before as a GREAT fit for our system, odly enough we passed on him in 2001. There's not much you could do as a GM, the most sought after free agents are gone(Not that it was a great FA class this year)and Howards contract is a HUGE reason why it would take a miracle to trade him.(Hey Iseah, need another PF?)</div>
Apparently, Murphy isn't really working out well for the Warrriors. Sure he puts up good numbers, but their team needs a different type of powerforward to win. Their needs are different from ours, instead of a shooter type powerforward, they need someone that can rebound the ball for them and give more of an interior style of play. In short, they need to give more minutes for Ike Diogu. At this point, Mullins kind of dug them into a hole by offering Murphy such a big contract. However, I believe the Rockets can take advantage of that by offering Howard, Head, and possibly the second round pick. Howard's contract ends in two years compared to Murphy's four, and is considerably smaller- giving them the opportunity to allow Diogu to get more playing time. In addition, Head gives them scoring from the two position as well. And its not even like Murphy is a project, so I don't really think Van Gundy is going to have a problem with it.
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Instead of always looking for the quick fix, drop the win now attitude. Build some chemistry with what you got! The Rockets have had a revolving door of a lineup and sometimes CD tries TOO hard to make a move just to make a move!( Alston for MJ). So I would leave the roster as is, when you go out and contiously get older players your window becomes smaller, ever wonder why SA is always there? How many BIG deals have they done? Not many but they draft well and develop their tallent, likewise detroit,and remember Utah!those teams don't/didn't change drastically from year to year. But they were ALWAYS there at the end!</div>
But the problem is we do have to win now. McGrady and Yao are really going to peak soon and thats pretty much the perfect time to win a championship. With what we got? Right now we have a crappy starting powerforward that wouldn't be starting material on most teams in the NBA. If we don't do anything about it now, we're pretty much wasting McGrady and Yao's time with us. In addition, we still lack depth to contend in the playoffs. In my opinion, Dawson is decent as GM. The Alston for James trade was necessary, because we pretty much would be giving him up in free agency anyway since we wouldn't be able to afford him. Did you see his new contract? With Alston we have a stable point guard that we can depend on to be here after a couple years. San Antonio actually acquired both Van Exel and Finley last offseason. In addition, they got Jackie Butler and Fransisco Elson this offseason. Hey, its not like Elson is a youngster either.
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">I said it when sura and wesley were our starting back court and we had the oldest team in the league, how far in the playoff can you go with an old backcourt? And how do you expect to win next year if you window is limited to one season?</div>
Hey, we were pretty close to getting into the second round of the playoffs with that team. Not bad for the oldest team in the league. The window isn't limited to one season though. The current roster stands with a starting lineup of players that really aren't that old (except Howard). In addition, the bench is fairly young with Kirk Snyder, Luther Head, Vassilis Spanoulis, John Lucas III, and Chuck Hayes. Plus, if we follow my gameplan and get Jumaine Jones and Troy Murphy, we would actually be a fairly young team.
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">
A TEAM wins championships, you cannot expect to put a buch of guys together and win a title,(Except what Miami did, almost impossible) no matter who or how good they are(3#rd place USA team!)you have to have chemistry and cohesiveness on the court wich only comes with time and being able to play with the same guys for time</div>
Right, but you still need to improve the team to the point where you're at least satisfied and believe they can win in the future. If this current team plays together for a long time, I can guarantee to you they will go nowhere. Guys like Mutombo and Howard will be retiring, so its only a matter of time before you need to make a move. And that time that you spent waiting for a second tier team to develop chemistry, is time wasted you could have used to make a top tier team that sooner or later, will develop chemistry anyway.

 

And altough I agree our PF is our weakets position, remember Houston won rings with this PF rotation.
Otis Thorpe/Carl Herrera/ 93-94
Otis Thorpe/Carl Herrera/Chucky Brown 94-95
And failed to win a third when Barkley was our PF.

 

Otis Thorpe if I remember correctly averaged double doubles till 96 when he had 9.7 rebounds per game. So its not like he's a bad player either, if anything I think teams would throw a pretty penny around to try and get a player like that today. Therefore, its not really that bad of a rotation. Meanwhile, Barkley was injured most of the time (53 games his first season as a Rocket). Plus, the year Barkley got there Olajuwon only played 47 games. You figure it out.

 

But the problem is we do have to win now. McGrady and Yao are really going to peak soon and thats pretty much the perfect time to win a championship. With what we got? Right now we have a crappy starting powerforward that wouldn't be starting material on most teams in the NBA. If we don't do anything about it now, we're pretty much wasting McGrady and Yao's time with us. In addition, we still lack depth to contend in the playoffs.

The main Issue is going to battle with a different 5 every year, as much as I wish we could upgrade our 4 if Juwon would have been healthy we may have beat Dallas.

Hey, we were pretty close to getting into the second round of the playoffs with that team. Not bad for the oldest team in the league. The window isn't limited to one season though. The current roster stands with a starting lineup of players that really aren't that old (except Howard). In addition, the bench is fairly young with Kirk Snyder, Luther Head, Vassilis Spanoulis, John Lucas III, and Chuck Hayes. Plus, if we follow my gameplan and get Jumaine Jones and Troy Murphy, we would actually be a fairly young team.

Yes, but you still need to know what you have. If he's not happy now we may be able to get him next year when we'll know were our weakness still remains.

Right, but you still need to improve the team to the point where you're at least satisfied and believe they can win in the future. If this current team plays together for a long time, I can guarantee to you they will go nowhere. Guys like Mutombo and Howard will be retiring, so its only a matter of time before you need to make a move. And that time that you spent waiting for a second tier team to develop chemistry, is time wasted you could have used to make a top tier team that sooner or later, will develop chemistry anyway.[/QUOTE]

Adding tallent does not neccessarilly gurantee you becomming a top team, like I said before how could Brazil give the US(With All-stars almost at every position!)such a tough match up? Simple they been playing together for years! It's making the right moves not the biggest and more attractive, think about this, when the trade for Barkley was made we lost an All-Star pg wich we still never been able to replace and a SF that was averaging 12ppg and 6rpg and was getting better. How many rings could we have won if we kept that team intact for a few more years?

 

Otis went against..
Kemp
Barkley
Malone
2 Hall of famers

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting AznxBaller:</div><div class="quote_post">

Therefore, as general manager I'm proposing a trade of Juwan Howard, Luther Head, and possibly (if necessary) a second round pick for Troy Murphy. Even though he's not at the top level of powerforwards, I think he would fit in well with this team. Let me give you guys a summary of him. Murphy's a 6-11 powerforward that can rebound very well, has averaged a double double for three seasons out of his five in the NBA, is a very good three point shooter, and can score when needed. No doubt, he's going to benefit a lot from playing alongside a strong low post presence in Yao who can kick it back out to him for the open three. In addition, he will help out Yao tremendously on the boards as compared to last season, which is obviously a weakness of Howard. Which brings me to another point, Van Gundy played Howard a lot of minutes last season because of his ability (well, sorta) to hit jumpers since he got open off of Yao's double teams. Same thing goes for Murphy. So whats the catch? Well, the one drawback of Murphy is his defense. I'll be honest, he plays matador defense and hasn't really gotten how to defend down pat. However, I don't think it would be too much of a problem on this team. We already have a superb defender in Shane Battier which will no doubt prevent guard penetration. In addition, Van Gundy in my opinion is one of the best defensive coaches in the NBA. He's helped Juwan Howard with it (to make him at least be average) so Murphy should at least benefit a little from it.

Alright, so now we traded away one of the guys that actually provided depth at the shooting guard position. You're probably thinking what now, genius? Oh I've got a plan. My next move as general manager would be to sign Jumaine Jones with the rest of the MLE, who's an unrestricted free agent this offseason, and to my knowledge, has not been picked up yet by any team. Let me introduce you guys. Jones is a 6-8 small forward that is known for his three point shooting (he absolutely lighted up games sometimes). In addition, he provides solid defense and will no doubt bring some consistency off the bench. Two seasons ago, he averaged .391% from three, while last season he averaged .343 from three. Sounds kind of like Head eh? But here's the kicker, he isn't a tweener like Head where he would be undersized at his position. Instead, he would be playing small forward, where he is best at, and we would move Kirk Snyder over to shooting guard where Snyder will be able to cause some mismatches to small guards.

Therefore, the Rockets lineup would look like this-

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Troy Murphy is a minor step up compared to Juwan. He has at best the same amount of offense as Juwan and the only improvement from Juwan is his rebounding. He is a very inconsistent player who on some nights can get it going, but others can't. We need solid numbers every night from our role players because we all know that Tmac and Yao can't do it alone.

A powerforward is necessary for the Rockets. The past 3 champions have had decent or amazing PFs that were either the first, second or third option.
Spurs had Duncan
Pistons had Rasheed Wallace
Heat had Udonis haslem and Antoine Walker

Troy Murphy is not what we need. We need someone that can rebound and shoot the mid range. Juwan can shoot, but isn't the rebounder we need. Why would Golden State do this anyways. They have a young PF in Ike Diogu and they just drafted Patrick O bryant so Adonal Foyle might be seeing C and PF time. Luther Head won't fit them either. Baron and Jrich dominate minutes there and Monta Ellis is the first gaurd coming off the bench for them

As for getting Jumaine Jones, Is he really a step up from Luther Head. The Lakers didn't want him and if he was the same time of player as Luther than why would Charlotte not want to resign him? Espeically after he scored 10 ppg for them last season.

Your moves are unrealistic because there is no chance of them happening.

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">
The main Issue is going to battle with a different 5 every year, as much as I wish we could upgrade our 4 if Juwon would have been healthy we may have beat Dallas.</div>
But think about it, in one or two more years, Howard will definitely not be the same player he was when we almost beat Dallas. Therefore, he would actually be a bigger deadweight than he already is now. Why not trade him now for a better powerforward and let that team play together for a couple years? You're going to have to let Howard go sooner or later.
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">
Yes, but you still need to know what you have. If he's not happy now we may be able to get him next year when we'll know were our weakness still remains.</div>
Who are you talking about? Needless to say I'm a bit confused here. Anyway, if we keep Howard here, its obvious the powerforward spot is still going to be a weakness. I don't know how it wouldn't be a weakness if we don't change anything. Weakness now, so therefore, if its the same guys, weakness later too.
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">
Adding tallent does not neccessarilly gurantee you becomming a top team, like I said before how could Brazil give the US(With All-stars almost at every position!)such a tough match up? Simple they been playing together for years! It's making the right moves not the biggest and more attractive, think about this, when the trade for Barkley was made we lost an All-Star pg wich we still never been able to replace and a SF that was averaging 12ppg and 6rpg and was getting better. How many rings could we have won if we kept that team intact for a few more years?</div>
I don't think you're understanding me here. I never said trading for Barkley was a good trade, I never said we should make deals just for the hell of it, nor were any of my propositions as "GM" a really attractive move. Yeah, but the Brazil team at least had quality players at every position. Varejao, Splitter, Nene (even though he didn't play, but whatever), and Barbosa are all on the team. In addition, the team is more accustomed to playing international ball as compared to the US players. They had more shooters which really benefited them due to international rules.

I don't know about the Barkley trade. Obviously, it was a stupid move if you look back on it, but then, it looked like a good one. Who knew Hakeem would go down in injuries. In addition, no one really took account Barkley having more and more injuries either. Think about it though. Even if we had Cassell, Brown, Bryant, and Horry, I doubt we really could have gone anywhere if Hakeem was missing for 44 games.