Now What??

by Texas08 on Dec 14, 2011 8:16 AM CST

Since the Rockets have been stood up on Prom night, where do they go from here? No Chandler, No Pau Gasol, No Nene, No DeAndre, No Marc Gasol. We can NOT just sign a top free agent because they wont come here. We either need to trade for him or find him in the draft. I say this years draft me be our only answer.

If we miss the playoffs we possibly have 4 picks in the 2012 draft. 2 first rounders and 2 second rounders. Trading Scola and Martin can give us several more picks, maybe not in this draft but we can package picks to move up. Say we move Scola or Martin to Cleveland, Toronto, NJ or Washington to give them some veterans for their young teams and we get their 2012 pick. We can package several picks for a top 5 pick.

This draft is loaded with talent and potential in every position. I prefer to concentrate of getting a center, small forward or shooting guard because i think those positions are where superstars are born. Andre Drummond looks good as a center .... remind you of someone?? Look at the last video on that page. http://www.nbadraft.net/players/andre-drummond Harrison Barnes at SF or Jeremy Lamb at SG are all player who can become stars in this league. I think we have good young PFs already and Lowry is good at the point.

Play Thabeet, play Twill, develop Jordan Hill, trade Scola and Martin and you are guranteed a great draft and bright future for the Rockets. I'm tired of trying to trade for a super star, its not going to happen, we need to draft one. And this years draft gives you the best chance.

Poll

What should the Rockets do?

Go all-in with the 2012 Draft

65 votes

Try and trade our assets to get a Star

34 votes

99 votes | Poll has closed

No cursing in title. No pirated material, such as links to online game streams. Do not cut/paste entire sections of content from other websites. Thanks.

Tweet Comment 11 comments | 0 recs |

Do you like this story?

Comments

Hard to gauge where the front office

is trying to go from here. I keep seeing us sign or try to sign shooting guards. Makes me think they will try to move Kevin. They could move Luis with the depth we already have at the 4. Also bringing in young centers trying to find a diamond in the rough.
I would not be shocked to see them try to swing deals for picks or swing a big deal for an impact player at any position. I am happy to see that the disaster trade debacle did not put Morey on tilt and cause him to do something foolish just to be doing something.

by makinmajik on Dec 14, 2011 10:11 AM CST reply actions

I think the debacle we've experienced really shows us that this franchise wanted to go all in this year.

That plan having fallen apart it’s back to the rebuilding board. I can’t blame them, nor would I want to. Of the Centers you listed realistically we were only going to have a shot at Nene and that was only if the Gasol trade went through.

As for trade partners, most teams who would have top picks most likely aren’t going to be trading for veterans. Washington is unique in that their rebuilding strategy is something I think Houston should explore. Bring Out Your Dead (BOYD) is to take on horrifying contracts so long as they come attached with young talent or a nice draft pick, let the terrible contract expire, make yourself a salary dump haven for more youth and picks, and eventually use that space plus the compiled youth/talent and you have a contender. With Washington it’s coming together slowly but surely (Seriously, Wall, Vesely, McGee, Young, Singleton, tell me when your boner goes away, mine hasn’t).

I think we need to move Martin, he wasn’t happy after the trade and he’s doing the right kind of PR right now but he has spoken out about his dissatisfaction with the organization last season as well and it’s best to move him somewhere while he definitely has worth around the league. Scola has value in leadership and offensive skill, a good scoring punch when your two-way PF needs a breather/goes down to injury. I think we can get something for him.

As for moving up in the draft, I say try to get minimal draft pick protection, package the late rounders to move up, keep anything top 12.

My beingadick-butnotbeinganannoyingdick skills, they're impressive.
-TCWIR paraphrased

by BD34 on Dec 14, 2011 11:13 AM CST reply actions

Draft's a crapshoot

Lets face it, this team is “too good” to be bad, but “not good enough” to be good either. We’re stuck in the NBA’s middle class, except we’re in the lower middle class because Martin, Scola and Lowry are nothing more than solid role players.

I would have been fine if Houston had sent New Orleans the “kids” instead of a veteran package: 2Pat, Courtney Lee, Air Bud and Jordan Hill (with a pick or 2) as long as it got us Gasol. A Gasol/Scola/Morris/Martin/Lowry starting 5 would have been pretty intense, and yeah, our bench would have been Dragic, TWill, Thabeet?, you can always pick up pieces/players looking to prove themselves on this kind of team. The window would have been about 3 years, but in a wide open season like this? Yeah, they could have pulled it off maybe (Martin for Lee would have helped the finances).

Thoughts?

B^2

Organic Chemist PhD Student by day...Houston sports fan by night!

by Nitroberg on Dec 14, 2011 12:27 PM CST reply actions

I think that's a fine perspective, and I roughly agree

but I think at this point worrying over the Pau-Paul trade is irrelevant. Didn’t happen, probably couldn’t have happened.

The Dream Shake

by Only_A_Lad on Dec 14, 2011 12:41 PM CST up reply actions

Thoughts.

You are wanting something for nothing by sending Patterson, Lee, Budinger, Hill, and a pick to land Gasol out of that. I would have laughed at the proposal and told you to get out. We were shipping out two role players for a star and a backup PG when we have Flynn, Lowry, and Llull stashed overseas.

As far as the draft as a crapshoot, that’s the weakest argument that constantly comes up. The draft is not some random shot in the dark on guys and if the scouting department here in Houston is borderline competent, which this board praises consistently, then labeling the draft a crapshoot is to label the scouting and drafting of the Rockets incompetent. Not to mention the draft is a crapshoot but for every bust there was a stud.

I agree that the team in its current incarnation is too good to draft high but that’s why they need to jettison Scola and Martin and work on developing the youngsters. Again, this is not tanking, this is player development. I don’t care if it costs a few wins to see what we have on the roster. I don’t care that some fans might get a little upset that we didn’t play a competitive brand of basketball that leaves us in a position to not actually improve our team. I would rather this team focus on seeing what Thabeet, Hill, and all the other youngsters on the roster have in the tank. If that pushes up the draft order in a draft that is teeming with possible franchise players, I say you go for it. I’d rather draft and retain than I would barely compete and keep missing out on ripe opportunities.

My beingadick-butnotbeinganannoyingdick skills, they're impressive.
-TCWIR paraphrased

by BD34 on Dec 14, 2011 12:43 PM CST up reply actions 1 recs

One point about the draft

We just watched a kid that was drafted 35th overall get 43mil to play center from a cheap sob. I’m not saying he was worth it, but value is what someone is willing to pay. I think that we got comfortable with the notion that we had one of the best 5s in the game and did not take any chances on young bigs for a while.
My point is that you can get good players in the draft without owning the 1st pick. If we go into next years draft with a bunch of picks and a good grip on who we have that can and can’t play, we should be able to come out pretty well.

by makinmajik on Dec 14, 2011 1:28 PM CST up reply actions

And my point is you stand a better chance of a good pick higher up than late.

If people keep being aversive of the draft and the painfully obvious benefits of drafting higher then it’s no wonder people get mad at being terribly average. No one wants to play the odds because we’ll lie to ourselves and say “You can strike gold anywhere!” I’d rather mine for gold where someone has found it rather than hope I can search for it where people have found flakes.

My beingadick-butnotbeinganannoyingdick skills, they're impressive.
-TCWIR paraphrased

by BD34 on Dec 14, 2011 1:55 PM CST up reply actions

At least on the surface

it looks like we are heading in the direction you suggest. We need to keep in mind that we have a pretty good big stashed overseas. From the press I read about Donatas, he might be able to play some at the 5 next year. Greg Smith is interesting and might develop into a player with some time in the valley. HT & Hill will be fun to watch.
Did we get our fairy tale season, no. I look at it as validation of the notion that Stern lives to screw us. But we should be fun to watch and so long as we don’t do anything really dumb, we should be in really good shape come next July.

by makinmajik on Dec 14, 2011 2:30 PM CST up reply actions

em.. "fun to watch" is probably more likely to be frustrating

As far as center play goes, but since there’s no one in front of them, I’m more incline to see if any one of them swims.

There are so many possible center options in this draft, We’ll see how it shakes out toward march. They should definitely address it, but dont expect it in a higher pick. I like the Donatas pick, but I have more faith in him becoming a Dirk and Bargnani style player than a Gasol style player, though he did recently set a Euro record on defensive rebounds

I dont know if this is the year to draft one, but if I had my choice to pick a star player, I’d go tall SG or a SF with ability to score and rebound, in fact, in term of where star power matters relative to playoff success I’d go SG/SF, PF, PG, C.

In the past 5-6 seasons, not a single NBA champion feature their PG or C as their “franchise” player. It does not mean PG is not important, you still have to have an above average point guard, but he doesnt have to be the best player on your team, Rondo and Parker are possible exceptions, but they are more of a product of their respective team. Tim Duncan fills in the center role, but most of their success comes when they compliment Tim with a real center

by NVP on Dec 14, 2011 3:28 PM CST up reply actions

It's funny.

How people think they can try pulling off trades that wouldn’t even work on NBA2K12, unless you force it through. I’ve been guilty of doing that a few times, just to see my favorite players play together.

by lucnguye92 on Dec 14, 2011 1:25 PM CST up reply actions

I guess the 2012 FA Class is still open!

So far Howard, CP3 and D-Will are still going to be free agents in the summer. Since we know that none of them will come here, its time for Morey to rape other teams for picks while they clear salary cap room. More than 1/2 of the Rockets roster have expiring contracts. Seems like Deja vu, with a different game plan in mind.

by Texas08 on Dec 14, 2011 2:31 PM CST reply actions