Who should the Rockets let go?

[fisterkev]

It's fairly obvious to me that our priority should be to move TMac for someone who can contribute, whether now or wait until 2010 I'm not sure, it would just depend upon what opportunities presented themselves. Fluke that we finally advanced out of the first round - and gave the Lakers a serious run for their money - all without TMac? Please, that is lost on NO ONE.

Beyond that, I could see moving Cook or Barry, but that's just filler / spare change to make something else work. Wafer is too valuable off the benck I think for what he's getting paid - definitely cost effective and often makes up the scoring you lose by having TMac out.

I like the idea of retaining Artest. Yes, he's as streaky as TMac ever was, but the defense and attitude - energy - he brings makes up for that on most nights; the trick I think is just figuring out when to play him and when to give him some rest. Also, I think numbers wise he didn't perform as high as we thought he would, so maybe he will be more affordable when negotiations commence.

Trade Yao? Are you out of your mind? Replace TMac with someone useful and you have significantly better options that will open things up again for Yao. Yes, he's injury prone, and that is certainly a worry in the playoffs. But think about how different this series might have been with Yao out but a healthy and prime TMac - or his equivalent? Aside from being a great marketing gimmick, Yao gives us options that we'd really really like to have. Replace TMac and his injury issue isn't quite so glaring, either.

Move TMac, whether here or 2010 just try to get real value for him. I have faith in Morey on that count. Sorry, but even if he makes a full recovery, I don't see him having a future here. Our success without him is his demise in our plans.

[stockmarketgod]

Heres the bottom line, you cant have a team with two injury prone stars.

I would explore the market for both T-Mac and Yao. Lets be honest here, when yao ming goes down which can happen basically from natural wear and tear as van gundy said hes always going to have leg problems. Unfortunately when Yao goes down finding a quality big man to replace him is basically impossible.

If we want to win a championship NOW is the time we have all the role players to do it. We cant keep approaching the playoffs praying that Yaos legs wont give up one day and hell be out for the playoffs again.

Bottom line is we cant rely on injury prone players, one of them has to go atleast and Tmacs expiring is worth less so you might want to hold onto him.

I also wouldnt care if we lost Barry or Cook as most Rockets fans would agree

I think the first person that has to go is Tmac... aside from all the Tmac off court stuff, at least Ron and Yao have proven they can play within the system. Tmac would just go back to dominating the ball and killing the offensive flow, not to mention the half ass job he would do on defense...

Second to go should be Yao, the big fella dosent fit in with the RA game plan, the organization wasted 5 years of Yaos time surrounding him with Barry type players who were slow, short, old and unathletic... and even up to this year not providing Yao with a good pass first point guard, or a backup C the coach was willing to play... like people have mentioned Yao for Pau might be the best option for both teams...

Third to go should be Ron Artest, he has the leadership ability and the experience one of the better defenders in the league, but he is a few french fries short of a happy meal, and he does tend to gamble on defense, and take stupid shots on offense, plus lets not forget he is a unrestricted free agent

basically it looks like the Rox want to make AB their future... so keeping him Lowery, Scola, Landry and Battier...should be the #1 priority, and then go from there...

[PocketRockets]

Okay, this has turned into a Yao or Tmac bashing. Which is fine, but realistically, Yao will never be traded (money he brings in, etc). Tmac might but considering his all time low in trade value, Morey will most likely wait for him to come back if he can.

What do you guys think about Artest coming back? I don't think he will come back b/c he will want a long contract or a lot more money than we will want to give him.

What about wafer? I think he will also want a big contract and I definitely don't want him back. He's proven to be a black hole. If his offense isn't there, he's a huge liability on the defensive end and offensive end (ball hogging, TO).

Natural next Q: Who do we bring in? RA has always done well in the past with a faster, running type of team. I say leave battier, scola, tmac, Yao as starters. Pick up bench players that can run. Have 2 lineups: a slower, more traditional one (starters) and a RA one that runs and is a blitzing type offense. Now we already have lowry, Landry. We need another Jason richardson/JR smith type player that can slash and run the floor. I think that's why they brought in white and if he can get comfortable with the NBA game, he will prove to be very valuable to the team next year.

[Aaron Brooks]

the only realistic replacement for tmac is vince carter, he does everything tmac does but hes shown that he can stay on the court, only drawback is his contract length. but hes developed into a good jumpshooter, age will not effect his game as much by the time his contract expires.

i see us retaining artest for a reasonable contract.

wafer will be gone. with a healthy sg/sf artest will be taking over wafers role. wafer is gonna want playtime and he won't get that here if we are healthy. i hope we don't overpay a end of the bench player, chuck hayes' contract would be reasonable to offer wafer, but i highly doubt he will accept it and ride the bench. sure he is insurance in case someone gets injured, but james white is wafer insurance as well. and if white doesn't pan out we can have brooks and lowry running the 1-2 for short stretches.

we need to think about the long run, with talks about the nba restructuring the salary cap and keeping our young core together (landry, lowry, brooks, scola) they are on cheap rookie contracts (except landry) if we overspend now, we may regret it later.

[Munchlaxatives]

Von Wafer. He isn't worth the contract he's about to get from Milwaukee or Indiana. I gotta wonder if he's a Morey-ball player with the bad shot selection.

[Mike12345]

I mean it really comes down to the stars on this rockets team. A small decision needs to be made about signing Wafer.

But its really about Artest Yao and Mcgrady. 3 wild cards.

Im sorry but im sick of taking chances every year and praying players wont be injured and its not like minor injuries occur. Like Yao just breaks his foot randomly and hes done for the playoffs. That same scenario has basically happened twice with this time being 2-3 months but I mean still were competing for a championship not to make it out of the first round thats over with.

Bottom line is I would rather two stars that are reliable then those 3, or even one superstar thats a leader and another great addition then those 3. Yao brings in a lot of money, but if he goes down again its another year we lose with our great supporting cast. Im not saying theres an option out there for sure, but trading Yao Mcgrady and Artest s n t should all be options that are explored.

Guys like Bosh, Amare, josh howard, RJ, Boozer, Turkolough or Rashard (I think one has to go) and a bunch of talent on Golden State are all prospects we can get our hands on. Not saying I would trade Yao for Rashard Lewis or something just saying if RA and Morey think certain healthier stars will fit the system very nicely they may go after them with what we got which is what i hope they will make a strong effort to do.

Just saying if we have this roster next year were not winning a championship unless Yaos legs become robotic, tmac resurects his career and the big 3 somehow develop chemistry together thosse are way to many ifs for a team with high expectations

[stockmarketgod]

Okay, this has turned into a Yao or Tmac bashing. Which is fine, but realistically, Yao will never be traded (money he brings in, etc). Tmac might but considering his all time low in trade value, Morey will most likely wait for him to come back if he can.

What do you guys think about Artest coming back? I don't think he will come back b/c he will want a long contract or a lot more money than we will want to give him.

What about wafer? I think he will also want a big contract and I definitely don't want him back. He's proven to be a black hole. If his offense isn't there, he's a huge liability on the defensive end and offensive end (ball hogging, TO).

Natural next Q: Who do we bring in? RA has always done well in the past with a faster, running type of team. I say leave battier, scola, tmac, Yao as starters. Pick up bench players that can run. Have 2 lineups: a slower, more traditional one (starters) and a RA one that runs and is a blitzing type offense. Now we already have lowry, Landry. We need another Jason richardson/JR smith type player that can slash and run the floor. I think that's why they brought in white and if he can get comfortable with the NBA game, he will prove to be very valuable to the team next year.

Agreed bottom line is this is a business and CASH is king... Yao brings the endorsements advertising dollars and the tv viewing, of millions of people... and thats where the money is... sorry to say Owners could care less about the ticket holders who go to the games... its the people who watch the games on tv and the advertisers who pay to bombard them with commericials

[Dagameplaya PnG]

Rockets should go after Yi.

[moofs]

Rockets should go after Yi.

Endorsements + losing.
No thanks.

[BaYBaller]

Well first off, let's try to deal in reality shall we? I'm all for trading Yao for Lebron but that doesn't mean it'll happen. Yao is staying whether you believe he should or not.

T-Mac is up in the air. You can't really make a decision (and you shouldn't) until you see how he recovers from his surgery. Regardless T-Mac isn't going to be moved in the off-season, it'll be at the trading deadline if at all, and there are just too many factors involved to think up any trade scenarios at this point in time.

There are only 3 real questions going into the offseason and that's 1) resigning Artest, 2) resigning Wafer, and 3) the back-up C position.

1) I very much doubt Artest will take anything less than his current salary, and if he wants a lot of years attached to that as well I truely believe Morey will let him walk. However I think whether we resign Artest or not isn't really going to be up to Morey, it's going to be how the FA market shakes out. If Artest doesn't get any good offers that may allow Morey the leverage to get Artest for a 1 deal, with perhaps a player option for a 2nd year or something, at his current salary. IMO this is the absolute best case scenario.

2) Resigning Wafer is going to be completely based on how much he wants. He's provided a lift for us this season but in the grand scheme of things I really don't think it matters if he stays or not.

3) Given HOU's cap restraints I doubt they are going to trade for anybody with a sizable contract for the back-up C spot. It's going to be Dorsey, the person they draft this year, or maybe even Cook. What we need is a defensive big and best case scenario would probably be grooming Dorsey as that's what he is touted to be.

[stockmarketgod]

Rockets should go after Yi.

Endorsements + losing.
No thanks.

sadly it may not be up to us... but atleast we will have a nation of 1 billion people continue to watch us, just incase Yao is traded or retires.

[wadero]

sign either Mihm Pachulia for the Back up C and let Ron go and sign Carney at SF