NLL Insider - Team by Team: Houston Rocketsby greenmig, updated on Monday, September 16 2013, 10:03 am EST 2012-2013 Finish: 30-52 “and….the winner of the first pick for the 2013 NLL Draft is the Houston Rockets” After another lackluster season in which the Houston Rockets missed the playoffs again, finally lady luck smiled upon gm dare and his team as he beat the Lotto odds and was handed the right to make the number one selection in the 2013 NLL draft. As
will be discussed in more detail later, gm dare was quick to make full use of
this unexpected boon and with it perhaps usher in a new era of relevance in
Houston as he dealt the 1st pick to Boston in exchange for arguably
the greatest player in NLL history – Kobe Bryant. Whilst many may consider it a highlight I would propose that perhaps the biggest season lowlight was the fact that the Houston Rockets where led in scoring by Charlie Villanueva. Anytime your stud is Charlie V things must be pretty bad! Next season with ball hog Kobe in town I am sure Charlie’s days of being the stud in Houston are over.
With what many have described as the weakest draft since the inception of the NLL, gm dare looks to have made the right move in sending away 2013’s pick 1 in exchange for Kobe Bryant. Sure, Kobe is 35yrs old and is currently working his way back from an achilles injury, but we are not talking about a regular guy here in Kobe Bryant. Kobe claims he still has a few years left in him, that his recovery is ahead of schedule and that he will be ready for game 1 of the new season. Only time will tell how his surgically repaired achilles tendon holds out. Not since the days of Yao Ming have Houston been a real force but this writer believes that with the addition of Kobe Bean Bryant, the Houston Rockets will once again become relevant in the NLL. At the least for gm dare it adds a new excitement and energy to him and his team being a self-confessed Kobe fan.
Gm dare didn’t really make any other bad trades this season so I thought I would go again with the Kobe deal. As always there are two sides to the story. Here is the negative side. Whilst this deal makes Houston relevant again, is gm dare being too short sighted and essentially sentencing his team to being a middle of the road team for another 2-3 years – or however long Kobe is around? There is a theory in the NLL that you either want to be very good and contend or be very bad and gain rights to draft the best talent in the country. Considering this, the Rockets now are saddled with Kobe’s $30M deal meaning they don’t have sufficient cap flexibility to add any free agents of note this season, and assuming Kobe is ‘Kobe’ they will likely now not be bad enough to end up in the 2014 lottery and a chance at arguably the best draft class in a decade. I guess only time will tell whether this deal should be considered the ‘Best’ or ‘Worst’ Trade. Other
Notable Trades
– The Brooklyn Nets send Charlie Villanueva to the Houston Rockets. If it wasn’t for the big Kobe deal this little deal would have to be considered the best deal Houston made purely based upon the performances of Villanueva who took advantage of the opportunity to shine in a weak Houston squad. The Houston Rockets send
Channing Frye and Meyers Leonard to the Milwaukee Bucks. The Milwaukee Bucks
send Jose Calderon and Hasheem Thabeet to the Houston Rockets. ..and The Houston Rockets send
Carlos Delfino, Rodrigue Beaubois and Jan Vesely to the Washington Wizards. The
Washington Wizards send JJ Redick, Lance Stephenson and Etwaun Moore to the
Houston Rockets. ..and The Houston Rockets send JJ Redick to the Orlando Magic. The Orlando Magic send Trevor Ariza to the Houston Rockets. The Houston Rockets receive 3 GM points. The Orlando Magic trade -3 GM points. If you consider these three deals together, gm dare looks to have done a good job in turning a bunch of washed up veterans and busts, (apart from Meyers Leonard) into some solid veterans and young players with good upside, (apart from Thabeet);
Good job gm dare!
The Rockets only had one pick. They drafted 7’2 centre Jeff Withey, a senior out of Kansas with the 2nd rnd pick 38. All reports suggest Whitey will be a solid big man in the NLL so this seems to be a good pick by gm dare. Given the lack of big man talent on the roster Whitey may even end up the starting C for the Rockets.
Upcoming Free Agents As stated already Calderon, Kirilenko and Harris will likely test free agency unless gm dare throws A LOT gm points at one of them – which could be unwise. Kris Humphries may well also leave of his own accord; otherwise it is quite likely that he will be pushed. Tim Ohlbrecht and Royal Ivey are likely to disappear into the basketball wilderness. |
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