You can never have enough depth. Remember that most of the team is very young - Cuttino is one of the older players at 26-27. The Rockets' goal, as I recall, is to be 2 deep everywhere. They aren't there yet - especially at shooting guard. Trades may be forthcoming, considering the glut of SFs and PFs on the roster, but aren't necessarily neccessary. So, in essence, nobody's "gotsta go." Continuity counts for a lot.
at center we are very strong with ming/cato and at sg we have a top 8 player and a decent backup in oscar torres
my point is the same as travfrancis, if not for the contract, many teams would want Cato. Mobley is easily a top 10 SG who loves his minutes, add to that 3 PF's capable of starting, 3 SF's (for now, is the wiz gonna stay?) and 4 PG'S (i like tierre browns game, loves to push the ball) then u see what i mean. I'm sure i've missed out some other players, sorry bout that, too many to mention, hence the name of the post.
a deep team has two serviceable players at every position. by serviceable, i mean able to play 12 minutes or more per game. when a team is "stacked" at one position, it is because they have 3. C: ming-cato not collier PF: moT, griff, kt = STACKED SF: rice-nachbar-Tmo = STACKED SG: cat PG: steve, mooch thats our 12 man line-up. it is safe to say that our fowards are stacked. even if glen rice went down or you dont think Tmo is serviceable, we still have griff and kt that can slide to SF. that kind of reasurance means that they are stacked. this summer, seeing tierre and tito go at eachother head to head to make the team will be more interesting than last years NBA finals. assuming we sign one, our PG's will be stacked.
"SF: rice-nachbar-Tmo = STACKED " Rice = If he's healthy and can return to his form 3 years ago he's a good offensive player, who doesn't play D. Nachbar = Rookie, don't count on anything quite yet Tmo = At least Stevie likes him. Didn't show much last year. Walt = Very Streaky, when's he's on he is a very good offensive player, but like Rice doesn't play D. I don't exactly think those 4 (I'm sure 1 will get moved) exactly scares too many teams with matchups. We may be deep at the position but we don't have a solid SF (maybe Rice if healthy).
If the definition of stacked is 3 serviceable players (12+ mnutes )at a position, then this team is clearly stacked. Why would Collier not be able to play 12 minutes per game? Why not Torres? Why not T. Brown? I would not say that the pick of Maddox is an indicment on Brown. Just like the selection of Brown last year was not an indictment on Jones who ended up being a serviceable point guard in Detriot.
I would be willing to bet that Oscar may be out in favor of Tito Maddox, and Tierre may be kept instead... afterall, Maddox is 6'4" and is definately a scorer when needed. That sounds an aweful lot like a SG with some great ball handling skills (much like Mobley). With Steve's questionable health at times, it would certainly benefit the Rockets to go with Maddox and Tierre Brown, rather than try to hold onto Torres (although I would not have a problem at all with Oscar sitting on the IR at the start of the season).
4chuckie have you been away from it all? We have a very solid SF in Nachbar he is our SF for years to come!
JWD- I've come to learn that you don't count on rookies, some pan out some don't. I wouldn't bet Nachbar will be our SF for the next 8 years. At the same time (I know contradicting myself) I am counting on Ming as a rookie. As for depth well sometimes it works (Dallas) and sometimes it doesn't (Portland). Great players (top 5 in the league ala MJ, Dream, Duncan, Shaq) win Championships in this league not necessarily the best teams.
I can't see how you can consider the rockets a deep team ... tons of potential sure ... but deep? ... You have a good PG, a decent SG, 3 intriguing, but non proven, young players at SF/PF/C ... some of the other players are decent but nothing special ... if the rockets are as deep as you say how come they imploded last year when you had some injuries? I belive that one priority for Huston over the next couple of seasons is to get better and reasonably priced (!) backups so you can afford paying Francis, Griffin et al ... right now you have 17 million (02/03) - 22 million (05/06) per year tied up in Taylor, Cato and Norris ... ... that won't be possible in the future if you want too keep your younger players ...
PG- Francis, Moochie, Madox SG- Cuttino, Torres SF- *Lewis, Nachbar, Morris PF- Taylor, Griffin C- Ming, Cato *KT & Rice = Trade for Rashard Lewis
Good point, Darth West. The Rockets definitely have a talented roster loaded with potential, but to call them 'Deep' is a stretch, nevermind 'Stacked.' 'Deep' = Solid players (i.e. > 'servicable') throughout the rotation. 'Stacked' = Similar to 'Deep' with several players capable of being solid to good starters. Let Nachbar, Yao, and Griffin develop offensive games and establish themselves first before the 'Deep' or 'Stacked' label is thrown around.
