Quit Freaking Complaining People!

I don't get us Rockets fans sometimes.  For three years most people have been clamoring for the Rockets to make a move and finally trade Tmac.  And finally, after Tracy missing the majority of the past 2 seasons with 2 knee surgeries, the ladder being the dreaded microfracture surgery, Morey, somehow managed to move him for A 2nd tier SG, 6'7" Kevin Martin, the #8 pick in the 2009 draft, Jordan Hill, who is 6'10" and compared to Amare by Dantoni, possibly the #2 pick in the 2011 draft and # 6 pick in the 2012 draft.  But wait there's more so I needed a period to avoid a run-on.  A 6'11" player in Jared Jeffries  who can guard all 5 positions on the floor depending on the player (he came into the league as a SG), and has a very valuable expiring contract next year, and a 6'11" C, Hilton Armstrong, who was basiclly a flyer with an expiring contract this year, but brings size on a previously size challenged team, and maybe could be a cheap, young, backup for Yao.  And the only piece  of our core that we gave up to make this work was Carl Landry. 

Now I LOVE Carl Landry, but give credit to Morey for selling high.  Landry's value was never going to be higher than it is now because with Yao out, he is free to operate inside, and be the primary scoring option when in the game, and he's underpaid on a 3 mil per year contract.  That was not going to be the case a year from now.  Next year is a contract year for him, he was going to have a good year, and command a huge pay raise in the summer of 2011.  We were not going to tie up 16 mil, or more, for him and Scola who is due a pay raise this year, especially when we desperately needed a SG and backup Center for Yao.  And Carl does have his weaknesses too.  It's not for a lack of effort, but he is not a good defensive player, he simply doesn't have much awareness on that end.  Not to mention his inability to get defensive rebounds.  He attacks the offensive glass, but just does not seem to want it as much on the defensive glass.  Don't believe me, go look at his numbers.  Landry should be averaging more than 5 boards per game.  Sacramento is setting themselves up for dissappointment thinking he is going to suddenly become Boozer or Howard on the boards.  They already had a good young PF in Jason Thompson, and it looks as if PF may be Donte Green's best position as well, so know they are trotting out all 3 of them in the starting lineup, and none of them can defend the paint. 

The bottom line is that Most of us would have traded Tracy for a $5 Footlong and a bag of chips.  And had we did that we would have used our cap space to resign Scola and Lowry, reached on a mid level exception guy like Ariza again, and welcomed Yao back.  And we would have ended up in the same place we've been the last 5 years, which is a mid to late seed playoff team, with no real chance of being a true contender.  That my friends is mediocrity.  In order to take those last steps, sometimes it requires taking a small step backwards, and what better year to do it than this one.  There is already a built in excuse, and the Rockets were nothing more than 1st Rd fodder at best.  Now they have options, with or without a dominant Yao.  And did I mention, we finally have a player whose natural position is SG.