The Houston Rockets' trade for Ron Artest was fully justified | Red94 | essays and musings on the nba and houston rockets
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A Note on Donte Greene – Part 2

24 May 2010 09:51 PM
by rahat huq

With all of the speculation surrounding the potential trading of future picks, I thought it might be time to revisit a post written earlier in the year.

In Part 1, I wrote:

Calculated risks are a big element of team management. This Houston Rockets team had a nucleus last year which, if healthy, could have realistically contended for the championship. If Daryl Morey felt that the probability of Artest’s presence pushing the team into the elite outweighed the odds that Donte Greene himself ever became elite, then the trade was justified. And I do think this was the case.

As we know, Omri Casspi is what that other pick included in the deal became and he is a legitimate NBA player, certainly making the merits of the initial deal a bit more open for debate.  But I still stand by my earlier stance.  That Houston Rockets team, as composed, if healthy, had all the ingredients for a title run.  For a stronger chance at a championship, in ammunition in the person of Ron Artest, dealing two late first-rounders in an era when they can be bought for pocket change was a no-brainer.

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  • thirdcoastborn
    A healthy Artest may have got us in the playoffs, but at the end with the injuries, we did not have enough. With Yao back healthy,and if still a dominant presence we are around a 3 or 4 seed. With Bosh we are title contenders, if everyone stays healthy. With our ability to develop young players like Landry's i feel Hill can contribute as Scola's backup. Atlanta how about Jemale Crawford,Josh Smith for Kevin Martin,Scola, and maybe Ariza, or Shane. Just wishn
  • bob schmidt
    Drafting players, even #1s and #2s, is a crap shoot at best. When a team has a known need to fill, and a good player with a track record is available, this is a no-brainer. That being said, success or failure are still in the mix.

    This year's draft may be mitigated somewhat by Houston's NBADL team, the RGV Vipers. Assigning a high draft choice to the Vipers permits a fast-track approach to learning the offense, defense, and acquiring NBA conditioning under team-controlled conditions. Instead of sitting at the end of the bench fighting for a few mop-up minutes here and there, rookies can quickly play themselves into NBA ready players.

    Houston's and the Viper's success is unchallenged with their unique hybrid ownership arrangement. Now, we don't have to bury "projects" in Europe and then have to figure out how to buy out their contracts (almost always too expensive). Maybe, just maybe, having the Vipers will actually affect our approach to the draft this year.
  • RFWC
    When Rockets acquired Artest the plan was likely to keep him a bit longer than the 1 year he spent with the team. Yao's broken ankle made it difficult to bring him back. To keep Artest would have cost money. Artest sitting on a .500 team getting older without the prospect of a ring would have torpedoed team dynamics. Letting him go was the best option even though the cost to acquire him was high. The potential to acquire a defender of his caliber and scoring ability (though diminishing) on a road where you'll definitely see Kobe is a no-brainer. However this is different from paying the price to acquire a number 2 pick without finding a high caliber player.
    No. 2 picks: 2009-Thabeet, 2008-Beasley, 2007-Durant, 2006-LaMarcus Aldridge, 2005-Marvin Williams, 2004-Emeka Okafor, 2003-Darko Milicic, 2002- Jay Williams.
    1st round picks are mostly busts. #2 picks are mostly busts. I would trade any one of them (with exception of Durant) for a proven talent like Artest (certainly worth 2 no.20+).That's 1 very good player justified to be picked at number 2 in almost 10 years.

    Getting involved in trade talks sells newspapers, tickets, piques fan interest, looks like you're trying to rob somebody. I think looking at how Celtics are built should give you an idea how Morey will be building the Rockets -- leveraging unknown picks for proven talent. That's how values are realized. I seriously doubt Morey would buy a #2 pick to get his player.
  • Stephen
    I didn't like the trade at the time and esp don't like it now.
    I understand why the Rockets did it,just didn't like it.

    If Morey had the draft wired as he stated after the draft,and was not going after Artest,the 09 First would have been traded to Denver for their #20 and the Rockets would have drafted Courtney Lee.
    While the #25 would have prob still been involved in the multi-trade that brought in Greene and Dorsey,the hindsight pick would have been Nic Batum.(And I believe the Rockets shook up their Euro scouting and vastly strengthened it because they missed on Batum.)
  • rahat_huq
    "(And I believe the Rockets shook up their Euro scouting and vastly strengthened it because they missed on Batum.)"

    Do you have a link for this? Pretty interesting, if true.
  • Stephen
    Later that Summer they hired Arturas Karnisovas as International scout and expanded his role as well as promoted Rosas. Both had extensive International experience. While it is most likely the moves were made on their own merits,I believe it was also a reaction to something.

    Morey has acted very aggressively in finding a weakness and attempting to address it. PF rotation weak,brings in Scola and Landry. PG shaky,brings in Brooks and Francis. Scoring a problem,brings in Taylor,Budinger and finally Martin. Four starters undergoing recovery from surgery,bring in a new Strength and Conditioning guy.

    Just my half-a theory,but I believe Morey in the Summer of 08 decided his International Ops were pretty mediocre and acted to strengthen them. And he has to the point it's the Rockets Euro players and their agents use in their attempts to negotiate better deals in Europe.(It's getting kind of amusing to read this summers' "Rockets are negotiating" w/Euro FA so-and-so articles.) I just think there had to be a catalyst and in my opinion it was Portland going so hard for Batum.
  • RFWC
    You think with the dollar to Euro exchange at 1.2 to 1 now would mean more of these euro guys coming over to play this year? Euro players just got a 50% raise! Rubio's buyout just got a lot cheaper... Maybe Morey ought to load up on Euros so he can negotiate with these guys...in Euros. How would Euros impact the salary cap? There's one for you stat guys!
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