Sorry for the lack of recent updates. But don't blame me. Blame Daryl Morey or whichever GM refuses to answer phone calls when his receptionist says "it's a Mr. Morey on the line... he wants to talk about a trade." (Not that I don't understand why a GM would hesitate to take phone calls from our resident Boy Genius. No one wants to get fleeced, and that's all Mr. Morey seems to do to his colleagues.)
This time a year ago we were basking in the awesomeness that was the Ron Artest trade. Never before has a summer league game changed the immediate fortunes of a team so quickly. Thank you Donte Greene and the Sacramento Kings management. It made 2009 that much more fun for all of us.
Of course, that trade happened on July 31, 2008. Giving the Rockets plenty of time to get the roster tweaked before training camps started in October.
In contrast... this year the Rockets only seem to be losing players. Artest ended the experiment in July and signed with the Lakers. Tracy McGrady is still going to be out until January-ish recovering from surgery to his knee and shoulder. Yao Ming announced that his foot is sore he is going to take a one year sabbatical (and I'm just blocking out the thought that he is actually injured). Von Wafer then sulked his way to Greece. At least he got paid.
Yeah, sure we signed Trevor Ariza. And David Andersen (*yawn*). I just....... I just don't see either being a franchise player. It's not like the "impact" trade Les Alexander promised in 1993 when he bought the Rockets and then promptly traded for.... Mario Elie. Though with Hakeem, Otis and Horry already on the roster, this was a perfect trade. Obviously.
Nevertheless, when Yao was pronounced "out" for 2010, the belief was that the Rockets would do some major tweaking of the roster. (Hell, the NBA even gave us another MLE to encourage Morey to get another player or three!) Trades were expected. It seemed inevitable. Even Shane Battier was making public statements on facebook about how he had a feeling he would be traded during the summer. Yet none of that has happened. Which, for personal reasons, sucks - because it's given us no material to work with. I can only write fake conversations with Joey Dorsey so many times before it stops being funny!
So, I ask... where is the big trade?
I'd suggest particular players and options, but I'm not the GM of the Rockets. This is a good thing. As I would have already signed Robert Horry to a multi-year deal this summer. I'll leave the decisions up to Morey. I just didn't expect him to do nothing after the Andersen signing.
With my luck, I'll post this and an announcement will be made 15 minutes later. But, hey, I'll take the temporary embarrassment in exchange for the future of my favorite team!