[Tongue-Out-Like-23Participant]

So I was trying to make a thread as to how to fix the Houston Rockets and I realized just how screwed we are.  We are in a position with nothing but good role players, good coaching, and horrible contracts.  We’re a fringe playoff team with young talent.  Meaning we can’t really rebuild with the draft because the odds of getting nice building blocks for the future with the 13-16 picks in the draft are highly unlikely.

We’re stuck with:

• Brad Miller (34):  3yr / 14mil*
• Luis Scola (30):  5yr / 45mil*
• Kevin Martin:  3yr / 36mil*
• Kyle Lowry:  4yr / 23mil*

The tricky part with these contracts is by the time they expire and it seems as if we’re able to rebuild, the rookie contracts of Dragic, Thabeet, Hill, Patterson, Budinger, Lee, Williams, and Carroll expire.  Which means, if we give bad contracts to those players, we’ll be stuck in medicracy for years.

How do we fix this?  It’ll take us 3 through 5 years.  Release Miller, Scola, and Carroll after their contracts expire.  Try to give Martin and Lowry small contracts.  Resign Thabeet, Patterson, Budinger, Lee, and Williams.  I’m not ready to give up on Thabeet, you can’t teach size.  He could end up being a decent bench player.  Take a chance on either Donatas Montiejunas or Jonas Valaciunas.  The point here is to go for an all or nothing pick. 

If Donatas pans out well, we’ll have a future frontcourt of:

• Chase Budinger, Terrence Williams
• Donatas Montiejunas, Patrick Patterson
• Hasheem Thabeet, Jordan Hill

Which in all reality, isn’t as horrible as it seems.  We have a good combination of athleticism, size, shooting, and defense.

I’m not going to say that we’re going to tank a couple of seasons and get a future superstar in the draft, because that’s highly unlikely.  One thing is for sure though, we have a lot of young talent and good coaching.  If Rick Adelman stays a couple more years and helps these guys grow, they’ll make great role players for an All-Star caliber player to step in and push us into the top 4 in the West.  The tools are there, young talent, good coaching, and decent monetary flexability.  We just need the knowhow to pull it off.

[Da1potParticipant]

 I think Scola, Martin and Lowry are all very good contracts actually considering the breakout seasons that they have all had this year.  I wouldn’t be surpised if Miller either retires or is bought out in the near future so he can play for a contender.They do need to go big in the draft, though. Even if they do resign Yao, he is just a shadow of his former self……. They have a very high- potential frontcourt and it will be very interesting to see how they all pan out.

[Cardinal_FanParticipant]

 Im disgusted my boy T-Will isn’t really playing, yeah he’s immature but you could say that about alot of guys, the guy has game!

[Anton123Participant]

 The Rockets aren’t really stuck with Martin and Lowry, both players are playing really well and have relatively reasonable contracts.

[Ghost01Participant]

The Rockets should bank on Miami choking both of the next two years…then maybe they oculd put together a package for Bosh…

[Tongue-Out-Like-23Participant]

Don’t get me wrong, I love having Martin and Lowry on my team.  I just don’t see Martin being a building block for the future.  And I dislike seeing players get resigned long term on rebuilding teams when they aren’t building blocks for their future.

[Tongue-Out-Like-23Participant]

I’m not a huge fan of Chris Bosh.  I wouldn’t want him on our team because I don’t see him as a first option on a top tier playoff team.  He’s more of a Pau Gasol type of guy.  The perfect 2nd option on a top tier team and the 1st option on a fringe playoff team.

[JimmeredYaWabafetParticipant]

 Could trade Kevin Martin and Scola for the expirings of David West,Marcus Banks,Willie Green and Hornets first round pick and a Mardi Gra necklace 

 

[Tongue-Out-Like-23Participant]

Kevin Martin and Luis Scola for David West and comp. would be a complete ripoff for us.  It’s basically Luis Scola and Kevin Martin for a 1st round pick that is around the same area as our first round pick.  (13-17 range)

David West has a player option so he’s not a surefire expiring deal.  Plus, with injuries, he could become a liability rather than an asset.

[NashyMingParticipant]

The Rockets are doing ok considered what they had went through for the past 2 years since Yao was down.

The Rockets just need a super star to put them on championship talk.

Kyle Lowry is a very good PG.  He can score, pass, rebound, defend and now can even shoot 3s.  I am surprised as how great he is playing after getting a pretty good contract.  He looks more like a bargain @ 6~7 mil a year now than when he signed it.

Luis Scola is a very good PF.  I would rather have Scola @ 9~11 mil a year than the RuPaul of Big man @ near max.  He’s skilled and has a winner mentality.  His playing style keeps him healthy (not a high flyer and play below the rim probably helped him on knee/ankle issues).

Kevin Martin is a very good 2nd/3rd option on a champion team.  He can shoot extremely well from 3s and at the line.  He’s like the Ray Allen.  You can’t have him as your no 1 if you want to contend, but he’s good for a 2nd/3rd.

The teams also got a lot of role players who know their roles.  Now, they would need a super star to push them into contention.

Brad Miller is indeed a bad contract.  However, if Yao wasn’t done for the season early, Brad Miller would have been a great backup C to play 10~15 minutes.

By the way, Motiejunas is Bargnani v2.0, I don’t see him being a super star that can lead a team to championship.

[butidonthavemoney]

SF: Chase Budinger/Terrence Williams/DeMarre Carroll
PF: Luis Scola/Jordan Hill/Patrick Patterson
C: Hasheem Thabeet/Brad Miller/Chuck Hayes

That’s a lot of young talent. Too much. They’re all stunting each other’s growth. They should package some of those players with some bad contracts like Martin or Miller and move them for expirings and cap space. Maybe get a few future draft picks.

You’re right, they aren’t a bad team. They just have a messy roster. I also agree that they should look to draft one of the Euros (meaning Vesely, Motie or Valanciunas; whichever is available). They have big potential, and Houston might be able to stash them until they clear some of the clutter.

[butidonthavemoney]

"The Rockets just need a super star to put them on championship talk."

You could say this about a lot of teams.

[NashyMingParticipant]

Thabeet probably need another year or two before he can even be decent.

Chuck Hayes is a good role playing "big".  Unfortunately, at 6-6, you can’t rely on him to be your starting C on a contender.

Patrick Patterson looks very solid and can turn into a pretty good player really soon.  He can make Scola expendable.  Chase Budinger can be a good scorer off the bench.  He’s not good enough to start on a contender.  Jordan Hill looks more like a backup PF at this point.  Terrence Williams need to get his head right, work on his shot, and hopefully get to show his talent than to rotten on the bench.  Carroll probably won’t get his player options picked up.

The Rockets have a lot of young assets and solid contracts to trade for a star player.  At this point, this star player is unknown, but I trust Morey in making good trades (he hasn’t had a bad trade so far).  Morey is also solid in terms of draft and Alexander (owner) is willing to spend, so the Rockets should be fine.  They got a solid owner, a big country behind them (as long as they keep Yao), and can be a very attractive market (global exposure) to star players.  I think the Rockets would be fine.

[JimmeredYaWabafetParticipant]

the trade doesnt look quite good when u first think about it but what it mainly does is make the Rockets crappy next year unless they resign Yao which would spoil the tanking

[Tongue-Out-Like-23Participant]

Yeah, like I said.. The roster is all there.  The role players, youth, versatility, and coaching is all there.  Now it’s the hard part, get an All-Star to help us take that next step.

[NashyMingParticipant]

"The Rockets just need a super star to put them on championship talk."

You could say this about a lot of teams.

Not really.  Do you see the Hornets being a championship team?

How about the Magic?  They are barely a contender with D12.  The pieces they put around D12 hasn’t been good enough.

What happened to Deron Williams after he went to the Nets?

In reality, how many pieces you need to give up in order to land a super star?  Houston Rockets got the depth, the money, and the young players, picks to trade for a super star without killing the supporting cast.  That’s why the situation is still pretty good.

You need a good supporting cast around a super star in order to win. 

The rockets do not have a superstar since Yao went down and TMac was done two years ago, they got a good team with players knowing their roles a great supporting cast.

[JimmeredYaWabafetParticipant]

• Kyle Lowry
• Marshon Brooks
• Kawhi Leonard
• Jared Sullinger
• Hasheem Thabeet

[JimmeredYaWabafetParticipant]

 Sullinger would obviously be picked next year

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