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Rockets GM Morey has been very candid about his opinion of the team. He believes Tracy and Yao can get the team into the Playoffs,but to advance they need alot more help. He intends to go "all in" in Feb to get the "missing piece",the third scorer that will put the Rockets over the top.
First let's look at what needs fixin' and then what Morey has done to fix the problems.

The past two series against Utah revealed the same three flaws.
1)Lack of a good back-up PG. Two yrs ago Price ran Head off the court. Last yr Jackson proved he's a nice enough energy/scoring reserve PG,but he can't run an offense. Brooks is nowhere close to being able to either defend other points or run the team.
2)Lack of bench scoring. Luther Head's amazing ability to not make baskets in the Playoffs devastated an already weak bench both yrs. Throw in Jackson being forced to start w/Alston hurt and it's no wonder Adelman was afraid to sit McGrady for more than a couple of minutes.
3)Lack of rebounding,shot-blocking. None of the Rocket PFs are shot-blockers,relying instead on positioning,using their body and drawing charges to defend. In the Playoffs the refs let alot more go inside so the charges that would have been called in reg season aren't called rendering the chief tactic of Rocket PFs ineffective. None of the Rocket bigs are agile leapers who can get rebounds that don't fall into the area they've positioned themselves. All too often rebounds just off Rocket fingertips were pulled away by stronger,more athletic Jazz bigs.

Let's look at what Morey has done so far to remedy the team's shortcomings.
First,let's see what he did last summer.
Last summer he identified the team weaknesses at the point and PF as priorities and drafted a PG and a PF,signed a PG FA,traded for a PG and a PF. Both the vet PGs he brought in were known more for their scoring,so he thought w/one of them on the bench,bench scoring was improved as well. Not happy w/the point situation his big mid-season trade was to bring in another PG and he tried to sign Barry for bench scoring and steadiness. The PF's he brought in were very successful,the vet points were a disaster.
So what has he done this yr? He drafted a volume gunner SF,2 more PFs and signed a steady versatile vet gd/SF.
Barry may be a SG/SF,but he was brought in to be Alston's defacto back-up. W/Barry running the offense Jackson and Brooks can assume their more natural role of energetic quick scorers. Barry is a Playoff proven vet who can score under the pressure of the Playoffs. It's possible Luther will be able to relax w/out the pressure of being the only reserve who can score and make some shots in the Playoffs.
Greene was drafted for what he will become,not for what he is. But w/a full yr under his belt,the Rockets hope he can play a few meaningful minutes in the Playoffs and maybe turn around a game or two if he gets hot.
Dorsey gives the Rockets weakside shot-blocking and the ability to rebound out of his space.He was brought in to contest the physical PFs of the West. If his game nears that of his mouth,he will be good.
Maarty Leunen was drafted to eventually provide a big sharpshooter off the bench as a possible Novak replacement. But if he competes in camp the way he did in Summer League and puts on a few pounds of upper body muscle,he's got an outside shot at making the team this yr and I wouldn't be suprised if Morey's big trade opens up a roster spot Maarty isn't called to fill it.
Overall the potential for improvement is there,but outside of Barry,nobody the Rockets can count on. I like most of the moves tho I believe the Rockets need a slasher type and I regret they didn't try to get CDR after getting Dorsey. I can understand not wanting to add 3 rookies to a team that added 3 rookies the yr before,but he would have been a cheap option.

How do you think Morey has done so far?

Let me first off say that I totally agree on cdr. I wanted him or arthur on our team. CDR isn't great at anything but he can do everything, they had the same knock on brandon roy(no he's not going to be roy) and look @ what he's become. I think he could of at least provided some solid scoring off of the bench and showcased his ability to get to the line. As far as everything else I like morey's strategy. You don't gamble and panic during the off-season and get locked in to contracts with players that might not help you. Also, I think he knows that during the middle of the season a lot of teams give up and look to get some cap relief. With the free-agent crops coming in 09' and 10' I have no doubt someone will be on the trading block. Thats when we go after our third scorer. Our team still has a lot of needs, but if you ask me morey has damn near made a whole lot of something out of nothing. Last year we had nothing and he got us a potentially solid pg off the bench and a starting pf for nothing. This year he got us a guy who was supposed to be in the lottery, another tough rebounder and a potential sharpshooter(although I think this guy is clearly gonna suck and be novak pt. 2) off the bench. We haven't done everything we need to do and I do think we need a 3rd scorer. I'm sorry guys but good character, hustle, defense, and no offensive talent is not going to win us a ship. We need a couple of vets who aren't afraid to play in the playoffs along with a 3rd scorer who can take the load off of mac & yao.

You continue to impress me, stillmatic. We seldom see ballboys who can put together a coherent sentence, much less make a reasoned argument. I truly mean that.

The only thing I disagree with you on is your comparison of CDR to Roy. I understand that you're just using Roy as an example of a guy who was not really great at anything but good at many coming out of college (like CDR), but I believe you're mistaken.

In the '06 draft, practically every NBA team was trying to trade up to grab Roy. He was touted as the most NBA ready player in the draft, and an early favorite for rookie of the year. Scouts drooled over his maturity, poise, and all-around fundamentally sound game.

CDR, on the other hand, didn't garner even a fraction of that attention on draft night. He was passed over by every single team picking in the first round, and no one is going to pick him as an early favorite for rookie of the year. Also, maturity and "fundamentally sound" are not necessarily the first things that come to mind when one thinks of CDR.

I'm not upset at all that we didn't get CDR. I'm still a little bitter, though, that Portland screwed us by taking Foye and destroying the deal we had to get Roy in that draft.

Yea Jove9

I'm still bitter about about the Portland and Roy thing with us.
If only Roy was on our team!
Sigh.

jove9 wrote:You continue to impress me, stillmatic. We seldom see ballboys who can put together a coherent sentence, much less make a reasoned argument. I truly mean that.

The only thing I disagree with you on is your comparison of CDR to Roy. I understand that you're just using Roy as an example of a guy who was not really great at anything but good at many coming out of college (like CDR), but I believe you're mistaken.

In the '06 draft, practically every NBA team was trying to trade up to grab Roy. He was touted as the most NBA ready player in the draft, and an early favorite for rookie of the year. Scouts drooled over his maturity, poise, and all-around fundamentally sound game.

CDR, on the other hand, didn't garner even a fraction of that attention on draft night. He was passed over by every single team picking in the first round, and no one is going to pick him as an early favorite for rookie of the year. Also, maturity and "fundamentally sound" are not necessarily the first things that come to mind when one thinks of CDR.

I'm not upset at all that we didn't get CDR. I'm still a little bitter, though, that Portland screwed us by taking Foye and destroying the deal we had to get Roy in that draft.

Preciate the props my dude. Anyway yea I was just basically comparing their all-around skills. Trust me I know cdr isn't roy. But if you remember they didn't start out being all over roy like that. Seriously though could you imagine if we could've run rafer, roy, t-mac, scola, and yao. Scary

Until Morey packages Battier, a 1st round pick, and bobby jacksons expiring contract for a big time 3rd scorer, he's failed. with battier, we are a team that can reach the 2nd round and then get slaughtered by either the spurs, lakers, suns, or hornets. with the 3rd scorer, we are a championship team

Unless that 3rd scorer can defend, we're not going anywhere.

BTW, did you read that "Scola = 3rd scorer" post that was on here a while back? No, that's not the actual title.

The one where we eventually settled on "3rd shot creator"?

jove9 wrote:Unless that 3rd scorer can defend, we're not going anywhere.

BTW, did you read that "Scola = 3rd scorer" post that was on here a while back? No, that's not the actual title.

Ehhh not necessarily. You can be a good defensive TEAM without having good individual defenders. The celtics didn't have a team full of good defenders but they were smart enough to play well defensively as a team. I'd rather our 3rd scorer be a good defender also, but if he's good enough defensively to guard the other teams best player then I wouldn't mind shipping battier for someone who can take the load off of mac & yao. As far as scola being our 3rd scorer, nah. Scola is not a guy who we can give the ball to in the post and move out the way. Look @ a guy like antonio mcdyess, he's not even detroit's 1st 2nd or 3rd option but you can give him the ball and he can score with no help. Part of that is because he has an effective mid-range jumper which scola doesn't have. Scola can score but he's a player that scores off of the system, not a player who you can count on putting in a couple of buckets with no assistance while your best players are on the bench. I still think he can have a good ppg average in the league but I don't think he really fits the "3rd scorer mold" but last year was his first season in the league so who knows how he will progress. He did show some flashes of having effective post moves so who knows?

About the Boston thing, remember that Posey was effectively their main wing defender - the same role Battier plays for us.

Arguably, Boston would not have gone anywhere if they didn't have James Posey to guard Lebron and players in that mold.

I think my point is still valid.

The third scorer/playmaker/creator has to come off the bench. And I don't particularly want to trade a starter for a reserve. The Rockets starters are going to ave @75-80 points a game. That's more than enough. It's the bench that needs to get about 20-25 ppg,and that's where the third point producer comes in. Otherwise,when the starters sit,the team stalls and the other team goes on a run,forcing the starters to play way too many minutes.
There is also the little matter of Battier averaging almost 10ppg. Replace him w/a 20ppg scorer and it is not neccessarily true the starters scoring will go up. More likely that starting third scorer will either get less shots or take shots away from the other starters. Pierce,KG and Allen all saw their averages go down last season. And if we're talking about replacing Battier w/a 15-16ppg player who gives up 3-4 more baskets than Battier would,the overall picture is worse.
The Yao/T-Mac Rockets haven't faced a team w/a dominant scoring wing in the Playoffs yet. Play LA,SA,Denver or even Portland and then we'll see Battier's true value.

jove9 wrote:About the Boston thing, remember that Posey was effectively their main wing defender - the same role Battier plays for us.

Arguably, Boston would not have gone anywhere if they didn't have James Posey to guard Lebron and players in that mold.

I think my point is still valid.

your point is not valid. you are saying that posey was more important to that team than having 3 stars. Which 3rd scorer is posey more important than? Posey > Garnett? I dont think so. Posey > Pierce? nope. Posey > Allen? haha yeah right. guys like posey are a dime a dozen, and you can get them anywhere. 3rd stars are the way you win. You saw how important boston thought posey was to there team, they let him walk.

we are in a similar position to boston. We have 2 stars, and a bunch of good contracts, draft picks, and young players to get that 3rd scorer. Picking T-Mac, Yao, and Battier over T-Mac, Yao, and a 3rd Scorer is just like picking Garnett, Allen, and Posey over Garnett, Allen, and Pierce.

Vince Carter is out there, Ron Artest is out there, Michael Redd is out there, Josh Howard is out there. If we have a shot to grab one of them, Battier needs to be gone. hes not a winner, and he will not help us have success. He can do one thing great, but he does so many other things bad

tisbee wrote:The Yao/T-Mac Rockets haven't faced a team w/a dominant scoring wing in the Playoffs yet. Play LA,SA,Denver or even Portland and then we'll see Battier's true value.

You dont really believe Battier is going to stop Kobe or Ginobili do you? haha thats funny. Battier is a liability on offense. Get a guy who is decent on defense, but who can score. thats what we need. We are a good TEAM defense. Losing one defender wont hurt. We will never get out of round 2 with battier

jove9 wrote:.

Arguably, Boston would not have gone anywhere if they didn't have James Posey to guard Lebron and players in that mold.

Arguably, Boston would not have gone anywhere if they didnt have 3 stars.

McGrady2Head wrote:

jove9 wrote:About the Boston thing, remember that Posey was effectively their main wing defender - the same role Battier plays for us.

Arguably, Boston would not have gone anywhere if they didn't have James Posey to guard Lebron and players in that mold.

I think my point is still valid.

your point is not valid. you are saying that posey was more important to that team than having 3 stars. Which 3rd scorer is posey more important than? Posey > Garnett? I dont think so. Posey > Pierce? nope. Posey > Allen? haha yeah right. guys like posey are a dime a dozen, and you can get them anywhere. 3rd stars are the way you win. You saw how important boston thought posey was to there team, they let him walk.

we are in a similar position to boston. We have 2 stars, and a bunch of good contracts, draft picks, and young players to get that 3rd scorer. Picking T-Mac, Yao, and Battier over T-Mac, Yao, and a 3rd Scorer is just like picking Garnett, Allen, and Posey over Garnett, Allen, and Pierce.

Vince Carter is out there, Ron Artest is out there, Michael Redd is out there, Josh Howard is out there. If we have a shot to grab one of them, Battier needs to be gone. hes not a winner, and he will not help us have success. He can do one thing great, but he does so many other things bad

If Boston thought letting Posey walk was a great idea because of his importance to the team, Posey equates to Battier, and we should replace Battier with one of these guys, why is Boston not looking at these guys as well? Don't tell me salary because in terms of your argument it makes just about as much salary sense for us. We're both over the cap, and we're both sitting at or over the luxury tax. Boston got lucky and has a lot of role players that only make 1 or 2 million a year. We don't have that luxury. They have their big 3, a 4m, 3m, and 2m. The rest are 1 and under. We have 6, 6, 5, 3, 2, 2, 2, 2. It adds up fast, and the quantity of higher numbers makes it that much harder to clear room properly to get what you're asking for.

McGrady2Head wrote:You dont really believe Battier is going to stop Kobe or Ginobili do you? haha thats funny. Battier is a liability on offense. Get a guy who is decent on defense, but who can score. thats what we need. We are a good TEAM defense. Losing one defender wont hurt. We will never get out of round 2 with battier

He doesn't stop those guys, no. No one does. What he DOES do, since you NEVER PAY ATTENTION TO ME OR ANYONE ELSE WHEN WE POINT THIS OUT, is FREQUENTLY harass them into shooting in the high/30s/low 40's. Now which would you rather have, some guy on the other team moving more and more into "Dominate the Ball" mode while shooting bad percentages while trying to get around a defense while his teammates accommodate him on it to "get him going" while the guy on your team as a bonus supplies great outside shooting to help spread the floor, or have a guy who can score 3-5 extra buckets per game (which may well come out of someone else's shot attempts, at best skewing the defense and raising your team's effective field goal percentage slightly). One guy changes the entire pace of the game, the other guy gives you an extra look on offense. Pacing is an INCREDIBLY important factor in winning games. When teams managed to slow down the Suns, they won. When they didn't, they lost. The problem the Suns had in the playoffs was that teams always figured out how to slow them down by game 7. The Celtics were NOT winning the title without Posey, as much as you want to undervalue the guy.

You can't look at a team as 12 guys like you're doing and expect to make proper sense of it. Swapping a role player for an borderline all-star just does not instantly improve a team in the real world. If the Celtics had not lucked into a lot of role players at the last minute after getting their 3 Allstars, they would never have won. Not with the cast they'd had the year before.

Guys like Posey also aren't a dime a dozen or teams wouldn't hold onto them like newborn babies once they got them. Posey just wanted more money than Boston could handle. I'll almost guarantee you it wasn't a matter of want. Here's another thing to bear in mind, it's more difficult to be off your offensive or defensive positioning / movement / execution than it is to be off your shot, regardless of who you are.

McGrady2Head wrote:

jove9 wrote:Arguably, Boston would not have gone anywhere if they didn't have James Posey to guard Lebron and players in that mold.

Arguably, Boston would not have gone anywhere if they didnt have 3 stars.

Arguably, you missed the point and didn't correctly read what he said.

Thanks, moofs. You saved me a lot of typing.

Cheers!