BaYBaller wrote:Christ I don't mean the landscape has changed in that it's an entirely different game, I'm saying previously the top teams in the west either had murky futures (like PHX) or were aging (like SA). Now you have young teams who are already are dominating yet are only going to improve in the future. That leaves no light at the end of the tunnel for the teams on the outside looking in. Especially the ones getting constantly knocked out in the first round and getting late draft picks. The opposite effect on the landscape occurred for example when the Shaq-Kobe duo broke up, and suddenly a lot of teams believed they had a legitimate shot to win a title and started making a lot of moves.
What it all boils down to is (if your perspective is to win a championship or bust, which is what mine is, though not necessarily managements) then you have to make a major move. It's the same with the Shaq and Kidd trade. They knew they couldn't keep up, so they had to take a big gamble. HOU is IMO in the same situation. They are no so bad that they get lotto picks. They are not so young that they can continually build. They do not have the cap flexibility. Nor do they have excess trade assets. So what do you do then? You look up and down your roster, see who you can get good value on and work from there. And on HOU's roster that is pretty much Battier. Battier isn't exactly a great fit for Adelman either, which is why I believe Battier will be shipped *IF* an appropriate trade becomes available. The only other option is to trade one or both of the 2 stars and/or rebuild.
B.Jax's expiring, Brooks if you wanted to trade him, Head (if you can find a team to take him), and late first round and/or second round picks... those are all what you call filler. These are almost never the main components of a major trade.
I can also guarantee you that barring a major overhaul of the team the team will still be top 5 in defense with Battier gone. The best defensive clubs play good *team* defense, and the Rockets do just that. An individual player cannot carry a club defensively. And there is a lot more improvement to be done offensively than defensively for this club.
Fair enough, but I still disagree. I think we were good enough last year to compete/contend had we been healthy, which we were far from, and trading Battier won't fix that. Completely agree with your assessment of the team's state (bolded), but not your conclusions from it. The difference being that you don't think we're good enough to win right now and not just a relatively small piece away at most. Since I think we're still good enough to contend, the fact that the top teams changed doesn't seem all that relevant to me. If we aren't good enough to contend (which I think we are, but..), the problem is probably more as I've been saying for over a year - with Yao and/or McGrady, neither of whom are tradeable right now.
The Shaq and Kidd gambles never looked like very good ideas, though they did begin to look much less horrific after spotting the cap ramifications both trades will have for those teams in a year or two.
As far as your defense point, one good leak can sink a ship, and since SG/SF is probably the most scoring-centric position in the league, that seems like an iffy assumption. Also for recent examples of one player carrying a defense, see Duncan. (Pretty sure Francis is also a trade asset, too.)
BaYBaller wrote:edit: and ask yourself if you could've redone the Battier for Gay swap would you do it. If you would have still kept Battier then yes, you are overrating Battier... by a lot.
At the time, the Battier/Gay swap was a very good one, and even with hindsight it is still somewhere between only slightly bad and good.
Meh.
Morey 2020.
Q:How are they experts when they're always wrong?
A:Ask a stock market analyst or your financial advisor
