How do you feel about the talk about you guys renting Melo for this season? Every article I read brings it up as a possibility, but your team has a ton of great trade assets, why waste it on a rental of someone who won't sign the extension? Melo isn't looking for a competent front office, which you clearly have and would entice a player interested in anything other than fame/pleasing his wife...

I think he realizes he missed the championship/dynasty building bandwagon and just wants fame and fortune now..which I could've told you that's what he was after from day one in this league

even if he doesn't sign an extension...he's still good good value in a S&T

I like the idea of bringing him in, but not as a rental. its one thing if we thought we could convince him to stay after this season & sign with us, but I just dont see that happening. all our trade bait is more valuable to us long term than Melo is for one year.

I think it might be a different story if we still had Yao healthy this year (or for the future), but oh well

i would do it in a heartbeat.

with yao out of the picture, the rockets desperately need a star, impact player. we have a lot of very good players and morey's done a great job of assembling "assets", but it's time to cash in those chips and make a move because what you have now is a fringe playoff team (at absolute best) and that's not good enough.

if you land melo, you've got the rest of the season to sell him on an extension. if you can't, then you can always do a sign and trade (assuming a new CBA hasn't been reached that prohibits them). if he leaves by free agency, you've cleared a ton of cap room and have increased flexibility.

I am not for it at all!

Here is my take, I think the goal is to build a championship contender, not a play off contender.
I don't think the selling off of assets to rent Melo for a year does that! It sets us back in my mind.

Melo is still pretty young, so if we could get him to sign and extension, then great. If not no way. We also have to be mindful of what we pay to get him. If we over pay for him that will leave us stuck in the middle. In the NBA there is really one bad spot to be, in the middle. David Stern is an odious Commissioner, he is the one that has made the NBA a show time, glitz and glamor, 'Star' driven league. It has destroyed the game, IMHO. We have always had stars and great players but the league was not built around them nor where they given special treatment. It is under his watch that we have seen the advent of "preferential officiating" and the advent of the DIVA. My point is unless you have a DIVA/SUPER STAR or you have no chance of winning a title.

There is only one of two ways to get one or two of these. Buy them as LA, Miami, have been able to do. Or draft them or find them as the Spurs have done. The one place you don't want to be is where the Rockets are, in the middle!

Though I think overall Morey has been a really good GM he has made some mistakes and to me his greatest mistake has been to not address the need for a true big. Outside of trade fillers he has not acquired one true center or player over 6'9". (Hill is shorter then Matt Bullard! I know Matt.) He choose Dorsey over D Jordan. Though I liked Dorsey I thought we already had a similar player in Chuck Hayes and D Jordan would of been a better fit for what we needed. The Rockets need in the absolutely worst way a tall athletic defense presence at center and D Jordan surely fit that bill much more then Dorsey and we could got him really cheap.

He would make a big difference for these Rockets. Morey has only drafted one player that I would call balanced. Patrick Patterson and He would be the one "untouchable" in any trade. What I mean by balance is that he can defend as well as be an offensive threat. The Rockets have gotten guys who are offensive players with no defense or defensive players with no offense.

So if you going to go with Martin, Brooks, Scola as your main offensive guys it is CRITICAL TO HAVE ATHLETIC DEFENSIVE STOPER AT CENTER! They need that far more then the need a Melo.

rental doesn't make sense. He would definitely have to sign a long term extension. That move alone still wouldn't put us over the top, either. We'd need Nene or Birdman as well to make it really work, to where you'd say -- wow, now that's a championship team.

quote:

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We'd need Birdman as well to make it really work

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dear god please NO!!!

tell me who you're giving up in a trade for melo that's irreplaceable?

here's the thing...you have ZERO shot at landing melo after the season. if you bring him in without an extension, you at least have a few months to sell him on the club and the direction you're taking.

would it be better if he signed an extension? absolutely.

is it risky to do the trade without an extension in place? yep.

is it a risk i'm willing to take? every day and twice on sunday.

the rockets are mediocre at best right now. you need to take a risk, especially one where the downside is nowhere near as bad as the upside.

Houston is low on the list because Denver would rather send Melo to the East. And Melo wants to play in NYC again. But if anyone could talk him into staying in Houston, I think Morey can.


Denver wants picks, young players with upside and cap space.

Al Harrington is first on Denver's cut list. Trade him for the Ariza Exception.

Then:
Yao
Jordan Hill
Jared Jefferies
Patrick Patterson
for
Billups
Anthony
Birdman
Renaldo Balkman

Now you have a Rockets team with:
Birdman/Hayes/Miller
Scola/Harrington/Balkman
Melo/Battier/Buddinger/Williams
KMartin/Courtney Lee
Billups/Brooks/Lowery

So you still have some really nice trading chips in:
Buddinger
Williams
Brooks
Lowery
Lee

Denver would immediately save $13.25mm PLUS whatever insurance they get from Yao's contract (around $8mm?) plus the Rockets could throw in $3mm. So the Nuggets could save $24mm, get some Chinese endorsements, get 3 young promising players, get some Knicks draft picks and get rid of all their problem contracts. EVERYONE on the Nuggets would have a contract ending this year or next year.

If you are a Rockets fan, you do that all day.