The Roster

tisbee · Post #1 » by **tisbee** » Sat Oct 4, 2008 10:45 pm

There's been a ton of speculation on who the Rockets will waive/trade to make room for Deke. The leading candidates among the fans would be Strawberry,Harris,Head,Hayes and or Francis. But will they?
The GM has repeatedly stated he wants Mutumbo back,yet the team hasn't actually signed him,and at various times has stated they're comfortable w/Scola,Hayes and Dorsey serving as Yao's backups. As has been suggested before,is the team willing to go a couple of months into the season before signing Deke?

Strawberry is the obvious candidate to be unloaded-either by trade or waived. However Battier's slow recovery leaves Artest as the Rockets only reliable wing defender. Until the team is sure Battier is fully back,it makes sense to keep Strawberry as a defensive stopper for when Artest is in foul trouble,resting or hurt. In Summer leagues for Phoenix he was great running fast break,had trouble in 1/2 court sets so he could be paired w/Barry for a running/D second unit. More likely,he's the optimal candidate to send to D-League for experience.

Harris is the dreaded tweener-too small for the 4,not quite agile enough for the 3. He has an easily discarded contract. On other hand Adelman clearly likes his heart and he gives the Rockets some size on the wings w/Battier and Tracy being fairly uncertain. And he does give the team an option at the 4if they decide to move one of the PFs. If Battier has to miss start of season Harris makes alot of sense. He also could go to D-League where he'd be readily available for call-up.

Hayes is seemingly the odd man out at the PF spot,but he is the best defender in the group,serves as an adequate back-up for Yao and plays the most physical of the bunch. Dorsey MAY make him expendable,but not now.

Head would be the most desired by other teams for his modest contract,3pt shooting and ability to play 2 positions. However,Adelman really,really likes Luther. Luther was the only Rocket who would continue to make the cuts Adelman's offense requires and he continues to do so. Adelman will strongly oppose unloading Luther for salary/roster reasons.(Early prediction,Barry and Head will start 2,4Qs as a unit w/Artest,Landry and Dorsey/Hayes/Yao. And we may see a Brooks,Head,Barry,Artest,Dorsey unit get significant minutes later on.)

Francis would be the ideal player to trade to another team w/a Trade Exception. He is the odd man out in the rotation and his game does not seem to fit Adelman's offense. But a team usually has to throw in a First to make a salary dump like this and the Rockets don't have one to spare.

Landry is the suprise option to be traded to make room,but he can't be traded until late Dec and Dorsey would have to show he can provide the energy that Carl does.

Complicating the roster situation is Rockets unease over their back-up PG personnel. Little noticed was the article a few weeks ago in a Spanish paper about talks the Rockets had w/Spanish PG Pablo Prigioni- a friend of Scola's and perhaps the first hint of what the new International Scout can offer. Just something to keep in the back of one's mind.

While the simplest solution is trading away Strawberry for a future Second,the Rockets may opt to do nothing and keep the 15 they have now-until late Dec,early Jan where they will make a flurry of small moves.
First,they wait and see whether Francis can come back,and what he has to offer. If he's still hobbling around in Dec,they buy him out. If he's relatively healthy and is able to play they might just showcase him for a trade to a team that could use a scoring PG off the bench.
If Dorsey shows enough that he makes Landry or Hayes available,either of those players would command interest around the League.
The team is going to be paying Lux Tax,pretty much no matter what,so absorbing Harris or Strawberry's buyout to sign Deke later on is no biggie.(Unless the team collapses,and a fire sale ensues.)
To me,the smart strategy would be keep what's on the team til late Dec,then adjust the roster according to what the season has revealed. I see the team eventually adding a back-up PG and resigning Deke.

ShaY · Post #2 » by **ShaY** » Sun Oct 5, 2008 1:08 am

No one will give a trade exception for Francis but I can see many teams intersted in a trade exception for Luther or Chuck.

IMO at least 1 of Harris or Strawberry will be cut , maybe both.
They have unguranteed contract and if both make it that will be more than 1 million more to our pay roll.

We will keep Head and Hayes until the deadline and try to deal one of them probably for a TE , then sign Deke.

tha_rock220 · Post #3 » by **tha_rock220** » Sun Oct 5, 2008 6:24 am

welli f harris is gone then i dont have ot listen to worrel sayin "boy i tell you what mike harris is country strong". that statement is like calling someone a hoss. im not sure what that means exactly aside frmo their big n strong from eating flinstone kids. oh well who cares our main rotation will be yao, tmac, battier, artest, scola, rafer, and landry. Head, Brooks, and chuck will get the leftovers so i dout daryl's son or harris will playif theyr not cut.

MaxRider · Post #4 » by **MaxRider** » Sun Oct 5, 2008 6:45 am

Harris, Strawberry, Head, Francis?
no respect for Wafer or Campbell?
we signed them you know

jove9 · Post #5 » by **jove9** » Sun Oct 5, 2008 2:03 pm

tha_rock220 wrote:welli f harris is gone then i dont have ot listen to worrel sayin "boy i tell you what mike harris is country strong". that statement is like calling someone a hoss. im not sure what that means exactly aside frmo their big n strong from eating flinstone kids. oh well who cares our main rotation will be yao, tmac, battier, artest, scola, rafer, and landry. Head, Brooks, and chuck will get the leftovers so i dout daryl's son or harris will playif theyr not cut.

Don't forget about Barry. He should be right in front of Head in the rotation.

McGrady2Head · Post #6 » by **McGrady2Head** » Sun Oct 5, 2008 3:30 pm

lets all pray luther head will be gone

moofs · Post #7 » by **moofs** » Sun Oct 5, 2008 4:27 pm

jove9 · Post #8 » by **jove9** » Sun Oct 5, 2008 9:17 pm

McGrady2Head wrote:lets all pray luther head will be gone

What ever will happen to your name, though?

McGrady2Brooks is my suggestion. Brooks has all the qualities (Upside? Shooting? Size?) to make him the successor to Luther Head, and consequently, your next poorly chosen login name.

McGrady2Head · Post #9 » by **McGrady2Head** » Sun Oct 5, 2008 10:40 pm

haha trust me i know the name was a mistake. if i could have seen him play in the playoffs b4 i chose a screenname i would have never picked this one

moofs · Post #10 » by **moofs** » Mon Oct 6, 2008 2:28 am

Why, you make it sound like you don't quite think things through all the time!

Act first and let God sort 'em out. Vietnam style, baby!

tisbee · Post #11 » by **tisbee** » Mon Oct 6, 2008 3:00 am

Jove9,
Wed. I ate my words,chopped up and mashed into a banana. Didn't help. Had a coworker take a couple of pics only the genius deleted them while trying to get a pic of model who walked into store.
No I'm not repeating,it was enough roughage for the month for me

A.J. · Post #12 » by **A.J.** » Mon Oct 6, 2008 3:05 am

MaxRider wrote:Harris, Strawberry, Head, Francis?
no respect for Wafer or Campbell?
we signed them you know

I didnt even much know we had Von till a couple of days ago. And who is Campbell? If it is out of Harris and Strawberry, I say we should cut Harris. Strawberry is a defensive specialist. I think he is a great fit for our team. Harris needs to develop a jumper before I have faith in him.

jove9 · Post #13 » by **jove9** » Mon Oct 6, 2008 3:12 am

tisbee wrote:Jove9,
Wed. I ate my words,chopped up and mashed into a banana. Didn't help. Had a coworker take a couple of pics only the genius deleted them while trying to get a pic of model who walked into store.
No I'm not repeating,it was enough roughage for the month for me

Deleted them?!?

If it were anyone else, I'd call B.S. but you've done well to live up to your word thus far. Hell, half the board would have argued that they never even said that they'd eat the paper to begin with, even if confronted with proof to the contrary.

You should at least post the picture of the model to make up for it. This better be worth it.

A.J. · Post #14 » by **A.J.** » Mon Oct 6, 2008 3:29 am

Well it looks like Campbell is waived.

http://my.nba.com/forum.jspa?forumID=5700013641&start=0

jove9 · Post #15 » by **jove9** » Mon Oct 6, 2008 3:42 am

A.J. wrote:Well it looks like Campbell is waived.

http://my.nba.com/forum.jspa?forumID=5700013641&start=0

NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

Well guys, there goes the season.

MaxRider · Post #16 » by **MaxRider** » Mon Oct 6, 2008 5:03 am

1. Yao
2. T-Mac
3. Artest
4. Battier
5. Scola
6. Alston
7. Barry
8. Landry
9. Hayes
10. Brooks
11. Francis
12. Head
13. Dorsey
14. Harris
15. Strawberry
16. Wafer

only 16 players going into preseason?

moofs · Post #17 » by **moofs** » Mon Oct 6, 2008 2:00 pm

Looks like it's (finally) a warm-up preseason for us instead of a "who makes the final cut" one.

tisbee · Post #18 » by **tisbee** » Tue Oct 7, 2008 2:11 am

Jove9,
Actually,looking back kind of funny. Co-worker had/has new do-it-all-cell phone that he hadn't read manual. He was showing us the photos he took when model came into store and somehow he managed to delete everything he took while trying-and failing-to get a picture w/out looking like he was taking a picture. (I'd never heard of her,but googling her discovered she's "dated" a few famous guys.)

For a mental image I look astonishgly like the picture Fran Blinebury has on his blog(my hair's currently shorter),so imagine that face eating a banana looking like he swallowed some gawd-awful medicine. I started slow,that didn't work so I ended up cramming almost 1/2 the banana into my mouth and just power chewed the mess.
F***ing Hornets.

jove9 · Post #19 » by **jove9** » Tue Oct 7, 2008 3:00 am

tisbee wrote:Jove9,
Actually,looking back kind of funny. Co-worker had/has new do-it-all-cell phone that he hadn't read manual. He was showing us the photos he took when model came into store and somehow he managed to delete everything he took while trying-and failing-to get a picture w/out looking like he was taking a picture. (I'd never heard of her,but googling her discovered she's "dated" a few famous guys.)

For a mental image I look astonishgly like the picture Fran Blinebury has on his blog(my hair's currently shorter),so imagine that face eating a banana looking like he swallowed some gawd-awful medicine. I started slow,that didn't work so I ended up cramming almost 1/2 the banana into my mouth and just power chewed the mess.
F***ing Hornets.

Bobcats.

moofs · Post #20 » by **moofs** » Tue Oct 7, 2008 10:14 pm

tisbee wrote:Jove9,
Actually,looking back kind of funny. Co-worker had/has new do-it-all-cell phone that he hadn't read manual. He was showing us the photos he took when model came into store and somehow he managed to delete everything he took while trying-and failing-to get a picture w/out looking like he was taking a picture. (I'd never heard of her,but googling her discovered she's "dated" a few famous guys.)

For a mental image I look astonishgly like the picture Fran Blinebury has on his blog(my hair's currently shorter),so imagine that face eating a banana looking like he swallowed some gawd-awful medicine. I started slow,that didn't work so I ended up cramming almost 1/2 the banana into my mouth and just power chewed the mess.
F***ing Hornets.