Discussion- my Rockets (re-)building plan

Wow...that's really long!!

 

I understand where you're coming from, but (a) this will never happen and (b) trading away half the team and replacing them with players who may or may not make the team better, just so you can have cap felxibility 3 yeras down the road, is not the answer.

 

Not bad, but it does not make us a better team. Well tought out though. Who are you trying to sign in 2005?

 

We are a competitor NOW, the Rockets do not need to wait three years to get a big FA pickup to be successful. Right now, all we need is a good coach who can give our guys discipline, defense and team coordination.
Also, trading Cat and MoTay and Norris for Mutumbo is ludicrous. I understand we get more money and flexibility in years to come, but that is too many offensive weapons that we lose, especially since the Knicks would never trade us Spreewell and Ward for Rice and Cato and Griffin.

 

In general, I like the way you're thinking. It's good to get contracts with 2 yrs or so. I don't like the specific deals so much.

The other thing is you have to be able to do something with the cap room. Not saying we'll be a pariah like Chicago, but sometimes having cap space doesn't help you very much. You don't get that FA player if they decide to stay with their own team, which is usually the best for them. The FA gets the most money by resigning. So, the best way to get top talent is sign and trade. Maybe you can trade one of those big expiring contracts you're going for to get a top guy from a troubled team.
Maybe not.

You also have to ulimately have a plan as to what kind of talent you want around Ming and Francis. You can't just get any old expiring contract - you need five players on the court, working as a team.

Personally, I don't trust the slot machine model ... you could end up like Orlando with Grant Hill instead of Tim Duncan. I'd rather just try to get my favorite players however I could, but still keep an eye on contracts. Use expiring contracts as trade capital, but avoid the slush fund model. You could end up with slush all over you.

 

we are a competitor with this roster we have! we got all the ingredients, all we need is a coach that will make our roster work the best it can. we dont have to change half of our squad and rebuild again. i can see your point, and it looks good. but imo, we just need a lil addition to our squad. like for example, if your food aint spicy enough, we dont change every lil detail of your food and go back to scratch, but we just add hotsauce. see what im saying? just some essential signings for the shooting guard will help us alot. move cat to be the 6th man or we can trade him for a good sg.

 

You dont know what you are suggesting! The paying public in Houston wouldnt stand for it! For Yao Ming to develop as the future leader of the Rockets, he would have no chance because Spreewell would compound the problems of last year and by example and challenge make Francis more selfish, when we are trying to get him to go the other way. It would become the Francis and Spree Show instead of the Franchise and Cat Show. Most of the Fans and public want more of Yao Ming not less. This team does need an overhaul and the most important renovation is to get rid of selfish play and bring back Team Basketball. This would never happen if the Rockets did what you suggest!
PS. Shooting for our major renovation in 2005 could be a killer, especially if there isnt any one available that is decent and fits our team.

 

With many, many, many horrible games we had last season, I dont think we have all the ingredients. We even dont have an pure shooter yet (Rice is old and will leave after next season), we have a very very weak PF position in western conference (I was told by many people here that Mr. Griffin need smoke anther 2 - 3 years to become solid) and lack an experienced PG that can make good decision.

 

I am completely with you on this one. Just to further elaborate:

New Jersey Trade - This is all based on them resigning Kidd, which may or may not happen. While they would no doubt love to get rid of Mutombo's contract, they certainly don't want two bad contracts in return (ones that are more lengthy in terms of years than Mutombo). With the current contracts and long term (resigned) contracts of Jefferson, Martin, Kittles and Kidd (potentially), this would absolutely eliminate any cap room for N.J. for the next 5 years or so.

Furthermore, adding offense is not at the top of N.J. list of things to do. Taylor and Moochie would both be backups (long term expensive ones) and while Mobley might be a slightly better player than Kittles, I am sure N.J. is content with him as their starter.

Bottom line, no way N.J. would do this trade as they can just wait out Mutombo's contract for 2 more years and be in the same position that you are trying to put us in.

Also, I have always been against all these Brown/Malone/Howard/Coleman trades and signings. These guys are all in their mid 30s. Considering the fact that Yao won't be at the top of his game (prime) for at least 2-3 more years, I don't want any of these guys as they all will be either ready to retire, nothing more than a solid bench contributor or way past their prime by time we are ready to contend for a title.

I am not opposed to getting another PF in here, but lets find someone a lil younger than these guys. Clark may be an option, although I don't think hes starter material at this point in his career.

I also don't want Sprewell, and it has nothing to do with his contract. If we trade Mobley, we need a SG who wont require a ton of touches, as they ball should be in Yao and Steve's hands most of the time. Taking on Sprewell will only further limit Yao's touches.

In addition, your moves leaves us extremely thin on the bench, with the only proven 8 rotation players being Ward and Mutombo (past his prime).

The last thing is, by making these moves for the purpose of having lots of cap room in a few years, you are putting the team into a position of having to sign FAs to be competitive during Yao's prime years (i.e. if the FA market happens to be thin that summer, we are left with a ton of cap room with no one to spend it on; in this scenario our team, without FAs, would be sorely lacking in debth).

 

Dont you see the problems from last season?
1) Francis doesnt know how to play Point Guard.He rebounds too often instead of getting down the floor and he doesnt play defence.
2) Mobley doent believe in our Center and doesnt pass the ball.( Black Hole)
3)Our Guards dribble and dribble.They are poor passers.
4) Most of our players are playing SELFISH Basketball not the Team Game.
5) Yao Ming needs to learn how to play the NBA Game.
6) Our Power Forwards play like Small Fowerds with a soft game.
7)Posey and Mobley are the only players that know how to play defence.We are a soft defencive team!
8)etc etc etc.......
If we keep the same team it will take Larry Brown [and only Brown] plus a team of good Coaches two seasons to sort out our present Roster without any MAJOR changes.IMHO

 

This team does not need any changes other than the area of "coach".

Remember, we completely choked against some really crappy teams. Hopefully, under a new coach, this wont happen quite as often. We won 43 games last year. Lets assume that next year, we take better care of the bad teams, thus leading to about 7 more victories (at least). Thats a 50 win team right there.

Also, Yao Ming will be one year more experienced and he will actually come into camp rested. Nachbar will also be added to the mix.

This team just needs a new coach. And new uniforms. We will have both next year.

 

The only part of this that's just out of the question is the New Jersey trade. I'll take Mo Taylor and Cuttino over an injury plagued Mutumbo any day, and it's not worth giving those 2 up for nothing just to clear up cap space.

 

Good ideas. Houston is going to have to do something radical to step up to a competitive level let alone be contenders for the ring. The rest of the league isn't standing still.

You've only captured half the magic of Pop though. The other half is identifying/developing talent on the cheap. Parker, Jackson, Rose, Ginobili, Bowen, that's also necessary for the formula to work. Without that the Spurs would be, at best, exiting early in the playoffs and next years cap space wouldn't be enough.

 

Hey, that was one long thread. At first....I was like...DIKEMBE MUTOMBO?!?

But then.....yeah I saw the rest.

It's okay...never gonna happen though. Let me read all of it now.

NEVER MIND! Nets would definitely do that. DEFINITELY. 3 for 1...
Eddie for 3... Tell them to give us a 2nd rounder!

 

Very well thought out, if slightly idealistic. First of all, even if you can find a taker for Cato at that price, good luck finding a taker for Taylor (what an underachiever). Personally, I'm not ready to give up on Griffin. He's shown flashes of brilliance. Remember, he could still be playing in college right now, so he needs a little bit more of a chance to prove himself. But what he really needs is a coach to light a fire under his ass!
I think Rudy babied these players a bit too much, they need discipline and a team mentality. Sometimes it looks like Francis and Mobley are out there playing a game of HORSE or something (there's 8 other people on the court guys!).

 

P.S. Hey Newgirl. Did you try running all those transactions on RealGM.com? Not that that necessarily means they could happen or not, but it's a good way to sort of check your transactions.

 

Great post Newgirl!!!!!!!

I agreee 100%. But I have a few variations to your ideas.

2) I agree with getting rid of Mo T and Moochies contract but we should be able to do a bit better than Dikembe. On this team, he will be nothing more than a 10 min per game backup. But again, I agree with your vision on getting rid of contracts.

4. I think these PFs will be difficult for us to get for the MLE.