Is This The Team?

Barring a trade, the team looks like this:

Point guard: Kyle Lowry, Aaron Brooks
Shooting guard: Kevin Martin, Jermaine Taylor
Guard/Forward: Trevor Ariza, Shane Battier
Small Forward: Chase Budinger, Mike Harris
Power Forward: Jordan Hill, Alexander Johnson, Patrick Patterson, Jared Jeffries
Forward/Center: Luis Scola, Chuck Hayes, Brad Miller
Center: Yao Ming, David Andersen

That's two players too many. Alexander Johnson is a long shot to make the team at a crowded position, so that leaves one more that has to go. Jermaine Taylor has talent, but doesn't seem to want to play within a system. He scores points, but the team is not better with him in the game. Jared Jeffries is a journeyman with a star's contract. That makes him hard to move and even harder to eat his contract and waive him. Rookie Patrick Patterson has a promising future and there is no way Morey would give up on him before at least two seasons have passed. David Andersen served his purpose last season as a stopgap for Yao, but he will never be an elite center in the NBA. With five players that can play center, David may be the odd man out.

Is the Rockets' core roster set now? Most all the free agents have signed with other teams. Are there any deals out there that could be made? Sure. Everyone is always looking to make a move. With this team, assuming Yao plays significant minutes, the Rockets will make the playoffs. They will even get to at least the second round. But this is not a championship team. Yet.

Welcome Brad!

The Rockets signed Brad Miller to a three year deal to back up Yao Ming at center. Was this a good signing? Absolutely! Miller was one of two centers that I would have been glad to see coming. The other was Zdrunas Ilgauskas. Both are in the last few years of a serviceable career and can still be productive either as starters or back-ups. Shaq would have been fun to watch, but he would cost way too much and does not have the work ethic to fit into this group of over-achievers.

Brad had his best years in Sacramento under Rockets head coach Rick Adelman. In Adelman's high post offense, Miller averaged about 20% higher than his career numbers in every category. Coach and player got along beautifully and remain friends. This was a good choice and bodes well for the next few years. Good job, Rick and Daryl.

Cheat Codes

LeBron, Dwyane and Chris decided that leading a good team to greatness was too tough. So they chose to go online, search for the hacker cheat codes and enable "God mode." Rather than accepting the challenge of winning fair and square, they instead just lowered the bar and made winning easier.

This is exactly what the salary cap was designed to prevent, but there are so many loopholes, exceptions and back-door deals, that if you have enough good lawyers and accountants, a way can be found to stack the deck. Let's hope Mark Cuban can convince the rest of the owners to amend the collective bargaining agreement to make it impossible to buy a championship.

I certainly don't blame Pat Riley or the Heat ownership for trying to get the best team they can, but my opinion of the players involved has gone down a bit this week.

Bosh to Miami

Chris Bosh announced today that he will team up with Dwyane Wade in Miami. Nice try, Daryl. You can't win 'em all.

Now what? Who's left of the free agents that could help the Rockets? LeBron? Ain't happening. The reasons are irrelevant at this point. He would be perfect for Houston, but then again he would be perfect for almost everybody. Nowitzki is staying in Dallas. Johnson is staying in Atlanta. Stoudemire is going to New York. Boozer agreed to terms with Chicago today. Gay is staying in Memphis.

The rest are second tier players, some of which could help the Rockets, but none of which will set the world on fire. Udonis Haslem may want out of Miami now that Bosh is coming, but the Rockets already have Battier at that position. David Lee is a fine, underappreciated player that could make a great backup for Yao, but it's unlikely he will want to go to a team that won't promise to make him a starter. Wouldn't it be fun if Shaq would come here to back up Yao? He's available, and if the Cavs re-sign LeBron, they may not be able to afford Shaq, assuming they still want him.

Hang in there, Daryl. You're going to have to do it with role players again. Pick a couple that will bust their ass for the team and I'll stick by you.

It's On!

Free agency began at 11:00 PM last night and the jockeying for most of the greatest players in the game begins today. Daryl Morey has already visited with Chris Bosh in Dallas to let him know that the Rockets are more than interested in his services (like Bosh did not already know that). I love Bosh as a player, I just hate to see Luis Scola coming off the bench. In a sign and trade deal, the Rockets will have to give up 20-something million dollars in salaries to get Bosh and I fear that much money may come from areas that will leave them very strong at power forward, but weak at other positions. Unless, of course, Scola is a part of that trade. I would hate to see that because $ for $, Scola is a bargain and his salary will not scratch the surface in a trade for Bosh. If it was just a straight swap of Scola for Bosh, well, there would be no discussion. But it would be some combination of Scola, Ariza, Martin, Battier, Jeffries, Lowry, etc. totalling over $20 mil.

Have fun Daryl, but be careful. Don't give away the ranch to sell some season tickets.