I am a Morey fan but man this off season he had a chance to do something big and we may have gotten worse. If all it took to get Al Jefferson (Who I think the Rockets needed that type of player more than Bosh) was to trade 2 draft picks and we have 2 extra draft picks and did nothing I think that is a big FAIL. Now teams are trying to get Scola and Lowery, who may have wanted to stay if we had shored up that big man spot thinking we would be really strong, may now leave as it looks like we will be just average. Morey better have a HUGE trade up his sleeve especially since all the other teams in our Rival Circle got better.

Step back from that ledge my friend.

Jazz had a trade exception (from Boozer) they used on Al. I don't quite remember exactly what Al is due this season, but I'm thinking it's around $13mm. Twolves, management (Kahn) is a joke, but they were wanting to "get quicker" (save money) by releasing Al. No way to do that with the Rox.

Brooks Martin Ariza Jefferson Yao would have been a VERY scary lineup though.

My dream was to get a deal where we got both Jefferson and Rubio...Bosh is a great player but in the West Muscle wins over finess. W/O Gasol getting those 4 offensive rebounds in the 4th against Boston that game would have been different.

Don't think Morey dropped the ball. Problem is he lost on his primary target (Bosh), which was completely out of his control. The other trade possibilities right now are not in our favor because there are teams that can take the high salary guy (Jefferson) without giving up salary, meaning the Minny's of the world can get immediate salary relief. Barring an awesome deal, the Rockets best bet is to resign Scola, resign Lowery (or a cheaper replacement), maybe add a couple cheap pieces (backup C, SG) and sit tight. They will have much better trade options at the deadline when the expiring contracts of Battier (7M), Jeffries (7M) and maybe even Yao (17M) will be much more attractive to teams looking for a salary dump of quality players (CP3 & Okafor)

Morey is the f-ing man. Those NYK draft picks are going to look pretty awesome to some team at the trade deadline.



www.agsforsec.com

"Evil will always win because good is dumb."

[This message has been edited by AggieBob03 (edited 7/14/2010 3:16p).]

Or we can just stay the course and be average the next two years and use those Knicks picks to build our top 3. In three years we will have two lotto picks (unless the Knicks get dramatically better) Patterson, Yao, Martin and Brooks. That is a really good team and Yao will be the only old guy.

Yao is going to make it another 3 years?

You have to see where the team ends up after the off-season. A lot of stupid money got thrown around early. There is a long way to go for a lot of teams and you have to keep your wits about you. Lots of teams are going to hamstring themselves for years just to be part of the action and it's ultimately going to hurt them.

[This message has been edited by HotardAg07 (edited 7/14/2010 3:56p).]

No I don't think he is dropping the ball.

It's not like you can force things. I am not so sure what he was supposed to do to make it a good offseason that he has not done.

I am happy they are not trying to jump into the feeding frenzy that is this years FA system. They made a play for the one guy they targeted Bosh but I believe that was DOA and was decided before FA even began. Morey can't be blamed for that obviously.

There are just not a lot of solid Cs available. Miller is the only other one that makes since but not at ridiculous money. They made an offer and Miller is waiting to see if someone beats it!

So the question is what big splash move was Morey supposed to do to make this off season special? Sometimes standing pat is the way to go. I think Chemisty is a a vastly underrated commodity in the NBA. Every time you make a major change, you take a big risk.

I know this Rockets team has a great locker room and they have 4 really solid young prospects in Budd, Hill, Taylor and Patterson (I really like Patterson, liked him UK, going to be a solid player and a contributor in his first year) and they have solid high character vet leadership in Yao, Battier, Scola and Hayes that are team first guys that are not afraid to help these pups out. They have some solid guys coming into their primes, Brooks, Martin, Ariza and Lowry.

They have one weakness a back up Big.

They have one major question, Yao.

I do know Yao have heard he lost some weight and suspect we will see him do more of what Aldelman wanted him to do all along. Run at the high post and we'll see him shoot more 15- 18 footers that he can do very well.

The surgery he had has a history of being sucessfull. We just don't know, however it has never been done a 7'5" guy like Yao who really does use his deceptively quick feet to create shots.

IF Yao is healthy the Rockets are really good team, how good depends upon how guys like Brooks, Martin, Ariza, Buddinger, Hill and maybe Taylor develop in thier second year with the Rockets. This team has a lot of depth and a lot of options. Some play worthy guys are going to be riding the pine unless their is a trade.

I think there will be a trade either in the next two week or before the Feb trade deadline. Where some pretty good players may come available for expiring contracts.

i am hoping to see an improvment for ariza with yao back and drawing the double teams down low

Simply, I don't think he dropped the ball. I am sort of glad he is not going hard after these lower stars who are demanding big money. Al Jefferson is not a super star. He is a bit slow for a 4 anyways.

[This message has been edited by Gradin (edited 7/15/2010 5:39p).]

yeah, at this point, the worst you could really give him is an "incomplete".

don't get me wrong...i can see why people are disappointed. they first got their hopes up for moving up in the draft for cousins, which didn't happen. then they got their hopes up for bosh, which didn't happen. houston fans tend to forget that morey can't control absolutely everything.

i was pleased with the draft, though i thought once patterson slipped, it was kind of a no-brainer. so morey had little to really do with that.

i did like jefferson a lot, but i can only assume that minnesota either wasn't interested or wanted more than morey was prepared to give.

assuming he keeps scola, the only other thing i think he really needs to address is backup center.

but we also have to remember that it's not like you have to stop making moves by a certain date. morey has shown that he's always looking for a way to improve the club, so let's re-visit this thread in a few months.

I don't think Jefferson was really an option for Houston. Minnesota was looking to get out of that now - which means unguaranteed like Dampier or a team with a trade exception or cap room. Houston doesn't fall into that.

quote:

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I don't think Jefferson was really an option for Houston. Minnesota was looking to get out of that now - which means unguaranteed like Dampier or a team with a trade exception or cap room. Houston doesn't fall into that.

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true, but morey could have (and maybe he did?) explore involving a third team.

i'm mostly bitter because i liked jefferson and now that he's in utah, i must hate him

That could have worked.

I really think the Rockets need to get a more mobile big man. Their strength is in the athleticism right now and getting a center that could compliment that would be ideal. Jefferson would be an upgrade, but probably isn't ideal for this team like he would be on the Mavs.

agree with soup. I'd like them to get a back up C that is more on the athletic side. I want to see the second unit run.

it'd be great if we could add an athletic big man. and i gotta think that morey has been looking for just that. i think that's a big part of why he was apparently so attracted to cousins.

unfortunately, i just don't see anybody fitting that bill as being available. they would likely have to go with someone a little more raw since you can't offer starter minutes.

the bigger problem here is that we've got yao. if he stays healthy all season, you'd be fine having a raw, young talent backing him up. if he gets injured and misses any appreciable amount of time, i think you're going to wish you had a veteran presence there (like miller).

of those two scenarios with yao, which is more likely (historically, at least)?

He was asked to do more than he should have been on a team that didnt have its best player.

Yao completely changes the team so we will see what happens this year. Im not really worried about what he posts on twitter in the offseason.

If that's the truth that he really doesn't like Houston then he'll probably be included in the next raping of a trade that Morey pulls off. Maybe for Carmello? I really hope CP and Mello don't go to the Knicks to try and create their own big 3! I've already lost all respect for Lebron hope Mello doesn't follow that same path!

DC, where exactly on his twitter account did Ariza say anything about being unhappy in Houston.

Here I'll post a link to his verified account and await your response:

http://twitter.com/TA_Iam1

Here's all I can find in the past few months related to Houston or LA:

quote:

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In Houston man I missed yall what's good Wednesday, June 23, 2010 7:03:07 AM via Echofon

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quote:

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@aggierabz Im in la right now 10:24 AM May 17th via Echofon in reply to aggierabz

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That more or less it.

I'm fairly certain you are just stirring up crap, or you were looking at the incorrect Twitter account.



[This message has been edited by SuperAg05 (edited 7/16/2010 8:19a).]

So, you're sure it happened, but have no proof because the sly devil may have erased the evidence.....right.

And I'm sure there were tons of news stories about it, right? I mean, the Rockets main offseason acquisition says he'd rather play for the Lakers and that he's unhappy, I'm sure it would be all over Houston and LA news sites, right?

Oh no wait, it's not. They must have covered their tracks too. tricky tricky tricky.