Daryl Morey Wants 2009? Let's Give Him 2009!

I’ve always wanted to write a ridiculous trade post. And this seemed better than LeBron for Terrence Williams.

I enjoyed the article. Very much so. It is a comedy piece which was obvious from the beginning.

Actually it was your caption under the Jonny Flynn picture that finally got me to stop being lazy and write the damn thing.

At first I got hung up ont he new CBA and how that might affect things. Then I just decided to pretend like the new CBA would be similar to the old CBA and things went swimmingly. Obviously, I made some trades that most likely would never happen. Chuck Hayes for DeRozan? Never gonna happen.

Thabeet has more height and plenty of defensive capabilities and DMo brings an outside touch and quality floor spreading skills. Marcus Cousin was a guy who couldn’t get drafted and he’s D-League/Practice Squad fodder because at his best he doesn’t contribute what these other guys contribute as a specialty.

That’s the short version.

I do know that Monte Cristo is always going to be more of a soft SF/PF than a center.

I also know that neither D-Mo or Thabeet have NBA-ready skill sets, but not many centers do. The truth of the matter is, the NBA is becoming a smaller man’s game. 7-footers with ability are hard to come by. It’s also one of the numerous reasons why Chuck Hayes is still (for better or worse) the best option to start at center at the beginning of the season. And lest we forget the 7-6 Asian guy, we will probably have Yao back next year to start the season at least.

The dissatisfaction, disgust, and criticism of Thabeet on this board is the simple fact that your run of the mill Rockets fan simultaneously hates ESPN and worships their opinion. Everyone is quick to label Thabeet a bust but no one is willing to sit and actually look at the situation around him and what a change of scenery is already doing for him. Roughly 4 people on this board bothered to watch Hasheem’s D-League games and watch him develop as a player. It’s those four people too who aren’t crucifying him for the fact that he’s still working on his game because he’s finally got some attention being paid to him.

All the talk of acquiring a free agent center is because you want at least one fallback should the guys you seek to trot out fail to perform. We’re going to be developing young talent, that comes with growing pains. From time to time, you want a guy on the roster who has done the job and is a known commodity rather than one that you have to mold.

Just because a guy was on our roster from the D-League does not mean he’s in our long term goals at all. I understand the idea of not throwing away opportunities or leaving a stone unturned but let’s face it, the kid wasn’t drafted, he’s here for NBA players to get better against, and he’s not going to stick on an NBA roster. There’s a romanticism of the underdog achieving but it’s not going to happen. He might have a body but if you get out there and can’t compete against all the guys who have that same body and much better basic skillsets then you’re useless. Hasheem has an elite level defensive capability, you run with that even if the body isn’t fully there. DMo has elite level offensive capability, you run with that. Cousins is a big body with some basics, which is barely above what Chuck Hayes offers.