Best and worst trade in Rockets history

[czarleon09]

What do you consider the best and worst trades in Rockets history that don't include Charles Barkley or Scottie Pippen?

Best: Otis Thorpe for Clyde Drexler

Worst: Moses Malone to the Sixers for Caldwell Jones

[jove9]

Best: Rudy Gay and Stro Swift for Shane Battier

Worst: Steve Novak for a 2nd round pick

Who's ready to open this one up again?

[ubernathan]

Trading Hakeem was the worst, a classless move to be sure.

[KiDdFrESh]

Trading Hakeem was the worst, a classless move to be sure.

We have a winner!

[Jet17]

Best: Rudy Gay and Stro Swift for Shane Battier

Worst: Steve Novak for a 2nd round pick

Are these serious choices?

[Meatcookie]

They didn't want to pay Hakeem what he wanted because he was declining... but that meant he didn't retire as a Rocket which always pissed me off. He did so much for the team and its fans, give him a reward.

Same goes with Nolan Ryan. Astros didn't want to pay... so he goes off and gets his 5 thousandth strike out with the Rangers. I don't understand saving a little bit of money and insuring that your team never has its share of FULL LEGENDS.

[Moreyball]

Best: Drexler for Otis Thorpe = Championship

Worst: Sam Cassell and Robert Horry for Charles Barkley

[RaoulDuke79]

We had the Round Mound in our town. He was our back-it-in-with-yo-ass-fo-eva-until-they-gotta-make-a-rule-because-of-you guy. Bad trade? Maybe. Would we have beat the Jazz in '97 if we don't do that trade? Maybe.

Never forget however, that we had Sir Milk Dud Head himself wearing our atrocious uniform, and it was glorious to see him in it.

Feel free to hate on Sir Charles, a lot of kids do. Nothing changes the fact that as loud and silly as he is, he is the best PF ever not named Tim Duncan, and he is and was incredibly amusing, and he does something that all young people pretend to do: he keeps it real(for real).




also trading Hakeem is blasphemy.

[moofs]

Well, it wasn't a TRADE trade, it was a sign-and-trade. Come on people, we got Boki Nachbar for Hakeem, what more could you want?! He ripped Karl Malone's jersey and punched him in the face or something. Totally worth it, imo.

They didn't want to pay Hakeem what he wanted because he was declining... but that meant he didn't retire as a Rocket which always pissed me off. He did so much for the team and its fans, give him a reward.

Same goes with Nolan Ryan. Astros didn't want to pay... so he goes off and gets his 5 thousandth strike out with the Rangers. I don't understand saving a little bit of money and insuring that your team never has its share of FULL LEGENDS.

In the long haul, and from a business sense, it's usually FAR better to dump your stars before they fizzle out and you get nothing. The time that you reconsider that is if you're trying to build a lore / brand around your franchise. Basically, Carrol Dawson was a great guy, and great coach, but sucked as a GM. Looking back, I can't see a single move of his that I like, whether at the time or in hindsight.

Heh, he was basically a GM because he was a likable blind guy, then he retired because he got too old to properly do it wrong.

Edit: Ok, I liked a few of his deals:
The Francis trade was good
Signing Kevin WIllis was good

Basically every team around the league liked CD so much because he was always taking the trash off their hands. He was like stealth Chris Wallace, except instead of trading quality for garbage, he kept trading garbage for garbage.

[jove9]

Someone should make a thread called Carrol Dawson's Greatest GM Failures where we can list some of the worst trades, signings, and draft picks.

Eric Piatkowski to play the 3, anyone?

How about Roderick Rhodes? Or Mirsad Turksan, Bryce Drew, and Michael Dickerson over Rashard Lewis?

[moofs]

I always liked Rodrick Rhodes cause he was just so freaking fast.

Obviously, my statistical understanding was a bit short at the time...
http://www.basketball-reference.com/pla ... ero01.html
Season Age Tm Lg G GS MP FG FGA FG% 3P 3PA 3P% FT FTA FT% ORB DRB TRB AST STL BLK TOV PF PTS
1997-98 24 HOU NBA 58 13 18.4 1.9 5.3 .367 0.0 0.1 .250 1.9 3.1 .617 0.5 0.7 1.2 1.9 1.1 0.2 1.7 2.2 5.8
1998-99 25 TOT NBA 13 1 12.0 1.0 4.0 .250 0.1 0.5 .143 1.2 1.9 .640 0.7 0.6 1.3 0.8 0.4 0.2 1.5 1.6 3.3
1998-99 25 HOU NBA 3 0 11.0 0.7 2.7 .250 0.0 0.0 1.7 2.0 .833 0.7 0.7 1.3 0.3 0.3 0.0 1.7 1.7 3.0

[texasholdem]

we got Boki Nachbar (the15th pick) for Hakeem.
We could have had one of these players instead:
-Carlos Boozer
-Tayshaun Prince
-John Salmons
-Luis Scola
-Roger Mason
-David Andersen
-Juan Carlos Navarro
-Flip Murray
-Matt Barnes
-Rasual Butler
-Nenad Krstic
-Juan Dixon
-Darius Songaila

[Optimism Prime]

we got Boki Nachbar (the15th pick) for Hakeem.
We could have had one of these players instead:
-Carlos Boozer
-Tayshaun Prince
-John Salmons
-Luis Scola
-Roger Mason
-David Andersen
-Juan Carlos Navarro
-Flip Murray
-Matt Barnes
-Rasual Butler
-Nenad Krstic
-Juan Dixon
-Darius Songaila

Yes, look at all those great players.

[Young_Star11]

We didn't give up much to eventually get Scola.

[Teckon]

Best trade: Vmac for Scola (because Vmac is going home anyway)

Worst trade: the trade for Griffins (3 1st round picks for him and one of them is Richard jefferson)

[Ribalding]

Best trade: Francis, his Life Partner, and Cato ....for T-Mac. Then, 3 years later, Francis came back for basically no money. (Which was good, because he contributed even less.) But at least it shut up The Idiot Francis Fanboys. "Yo, Franchise dunked on foos!"

And now...he plays golf.

Les Alexander's wasted 3 mill was well worth shutting those idiots up.

Worst trade: Same one. The eventual turnaround - bringing Francis back - woke the sleeping Francis Fanboy Hordes.

"He's gonna dunk on foos! I toldze yew he waz fo realz!"

It was like re-living that show-up-at-school-naked nightmare, all over again and in real time.

Worst other trade: Craig Ehlo. Yeah, I know he's only famous for that MJ shot in the EC Finals. But he was a solid NBA player, for a long time. And the Rox let him walk for nothing. I'm still pissed.

[jove9]

Yeah, Eddie Griffin turned out to be a bad trade, but at the time he was an exciting prospect. A lot of people thought that he could go in the top 3.

And to be honest, he had tremendous skill. Remember that 25 he dropped on the Lakers? Or was it the Sonics? Either way, he had a hell of a coming out party on that western trip.

Too bad he had so many off the court issues....

[texasholdem]

Bad: trading the current league MVP Moses Malone for Caldwell Jones and the pick that became Rodney McCray

Good: trading McCray for Otis Thorpe

Bad: trading Elvin Hayes for Jack Marin after Hayes averaged 25.2 points and 14.6 rebounds per game the previous season

[moofs]

Worst other trade: Craig Ehlo. Yeah, I know he's only famous for that MJ shot in the EC Finals. But he was a solid NBA player, for a long time. And the Rox let him walk for nothing. I'm still pissed.

My dad always hated that trade (it was before my time though, didn't start watching basketball till '94)

Best trade: Vmac for Scola (because Vmac is going home anyway)

For a second that looked like you meant "McGrady for Scola" until I realized you weren't referencing genitalia. In that regard, I actually like Vmac as a nickname

Worst trade: the trade for Griffins (3 1st round picks for him and one of them is Richard jefferson)

While bad, Jefferson really has never been as good as his reputation.

[texasholdem]

Rockets came to Houston in 1971 so let's break this down by decades

Best trade of the '70s: John Lucas for Rick Barry (even though he only played 2 years here) 1978
Worst trade of the '70s: Elvin Hayes for Jack Marin 1972

Best trade of the '80s: Rodney McCray for Otis Thorpe 1988
Worst trade of the '90s: Moses Malone for Caldwell Jones and Rodney McCray 1982

Best trade of the '90s: Otis Thorpe for Clyde Drexler 1995
Worst trade of the '90s: Cassell, Horry, Brown and Bryant for Charles Barkley 1996

Best trade of the '00s: Francis, Mobley, Cato for McGrady, Howard, Lue 2004
Worst trade of the '00s: Hakeem Olajuwon for Boki Nachbar 2001