Francis3422

On this day in July, where Yao has yet again had a season (or maybe only a large chunk?) destroyed by the surgeons blade and his own physical demons. A day that is close to the 1 year anniversary of the arrival of Mr. Ron Artest, purported savior and proven wildcard. How great that day was last year. How nice the day was when Stevie came back. How it was also exciting when we got Bonzi. Ron never seemed like a booby-trap, but he was. He got us where both parties wanted to go, however both parties later chose to go elsewhere. We did gamble. We spent Donte Green and a pick (parts of our future!). I was for it at the time, and given the situation, you always go that route. But, we did spend some tokens and lose. Nothing about this TMac and Yao thing has ever worked. We beat Portland, and succumbed to the same opponent we ALWAYS lose to (injury). If Daryl Morey is building this team on the assumption that Yao is going to come back and lead it (in a production sense) He is wrong and obviously not the genius we think he is. He is a smart guy though, and I am guessing he sees 40 million in suits, and the fact that we have no star. Maybe Brooks one day? But not now. We have some young roleplayers, some cap space in a year and 2 contracts that could be valuable in an expiring/value sense the next 2 years in Mcgrady and later Yaos could become of value in the same sense. I dont agree necessarily with "Build a team a plug in a star" Obviously we havent been able to do the opposite, but How do you build a team around an uncertainty like acquiring said star? You can plug someone in, but how can you gamble on it being so tailor-made.

I think it is evident in the things that have NOT been said, that Tmac will at best come back this year. This is his last year as a Rocket. I dont see it ending any other way. I think it may be time to lower expectations a little on his trade value. We probably cant get a core block to build around. But maybe a better young player than what we have. It makes me real nervous to go the cap route with just letting him expire. Plus, he is a danger to us in the sense that he could allow us to eak out some games and get the 12th pick. Which is of far far less value.

Our assets are not bad. But I dont think they are going to fetch anything close to Big time. In order to get back to where we were, in order to build our team without Yao (but having a bonus if he comes back) to give us a chance to rebuild quickly, we need the versatility of a top 5 pick. If the guy that you dont wanna build around (Wall, Montenjunas, whoever) is not there, then just package the pick with something and you can probably fetch a big value player. I cant have it halfway. This year was a tease, but I wont mind sacrificing a season if we are going to be able to add such an asset. It will probably take a FA plus a high draft pick plus our role players to be a championship caliber team in the next 2-3 years, so even just being middle of the road and getting Joe Johnson, would not be enough IMO.

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FFz

"You play to win the game"

-Herm Edwards

Francis3422

Herm Edwards have been a fairly mediocre coach for awhile. My argument is reload big, because thats what we need to do.

rezdawg

Tanking is never a good thing...you dont bring a winning attitude into the locker room when you attempt to lose games.

Cannonball

If at first you don't succeed . . . hey look, a wiener dog!

Francis3422

Tell that to San Antonio

BetterThanEver

Tanking brought Hakeem to the Rockets and 2 championshiops.
Tanking brought Duncan to the Spurs and 4 championships.

dreamfellas21

so if we tank what is the draft going to give us?????

rezdawg

First off, with David Robinson injured, the Spurs had half the team the Rockets currently have. What was their lineup? Del Negro, Will Purdue, Sean Elliott, Carl Herrera, Greg Anderson, 37 yr old Dominique Wilkins, Mad Max, Avery Johnson, etc...

Secondly, one of the best players in NBA history happened to be in the draft the following year.

Thirdly, the Spurs were lucky enough to win the lottery to take Duncan.

So no, I dont agree with the stupid idea of tanking.

Landlord Landry

mediocre is a compliment. Herman Edwards was a dumbass coach with deplorable stats.

Originally Posted by Gene the PIG Landlord Landry won't be standing & applauding ... he'll still have his lips attached to his mothers left slopper & flicking off the rest of the stadium like a mental patient.

KenCus

You only tank if you're terrible after 50 games. The Rockets and Spurs didn't tank from the start of the season.

Cannonball

The draft is too much of a crapshoot. Who was drafted after Duncan? Keith Van Horn. Not a bad player but nobody you want to build your team around. What if we don't get the #1 pick? What if we tank for Antonio Daniels or Tony Battie? The chances of landing a gamechanger via tanking is extremely slim. Yes, it's happened but I would never bet on it, especially with the lottery in effect.

KenCus

Or you tank by trading your expensive talent for young prospects at the trade deadline...you neve tell your players to lose though.

doublebogey

WTF!!!!!!

rezdawg

Nice argument...how about the other 60 championships?

RV6

we shouldn't even count Dream, wasn't the lottery not even in place back then?

redao

without tanking , Magic got Howard.

we have TMAC. We don't have to tank.

Cannonball

No, it wasn't. Back then, the worst team in each conference had a chance at the #1 pick. Who got it was determined by a coin flip. Houston won and got Hakeem (Akeem). Portland lost and got Sam Bowie.

Accusations that the Rockets tanked to get Hakeem are what drove the NBA to start the lottery the next year. And back then, every team in the lottery had an equal chance of winning it.

BetterThanEver

They started the lottery, because the NBA suspected the Rockets of tanking. LOL. It must have been before your time.