Von Wafer is a good one to say goodbye too. He made a bunch of bone headed plays in the playoffs anyways. Enough to convince me that he's another athletic baller with a shot that doesn't know how to pass. I say trade Von Wafer.
Here's another article from the Chronicle on Rockets Offseason plans.
Rockets have much to consider
Questions for the team this offseason involve Ron Artest’s free agency, what to expect from Tracy McGrady, and whether the present core suffices
By JONATHAN FEIGEN Copyright 2009 Houston Chronicle
May 18, 2009, 10:03PM
There is an easy way to proceed should the Rockets choose it.
Still feeling the rush of getting within one game of the Western Conference finals and the dissatisfaction of failing to make their run last beyond the first minutes of Sunday’s Game 7, the Rockets could understandably consider the roster decisions to come with an urge to stand pat.
They could base their plans around the hope they will get and stay healthy and that their young talent, so vital to this year’s postseason run, will continue to blossom.
They won’t. The Rockets feel better about the nucleus of their team than they would have if the season ended with another first-round flameout. But after the Lakers sent them to the offseason with a Game 7 rout, Rockets general manager Daryl Morey said he would not be blinded by the encouraging, sometimes even thrilling, signs along the way.
“You have to take a really hard assessment of where you’re at and make your decisions based on that,” Morey said. “I have to sit down with Rick (Adelman), get his thoughts on all the players, because he is obviously closer to them during the season. His feedback will weigh heavily.
“We have a lot of great pieces to build on. We got a lot of great experience. We showed a lot of toughness and fight that’s going to carry over. There are a lot of great things about this core, and we feel great about it. But I do think you can’t have emotion in this job. You have to assess how close we are.”
The Rockets are considerably closer than they were when last season ended with a six-game first-round loss to the Jazz. It would seem a stretch to say they are at the doorstep.
Artest self-critical
That leaves the Rockets with some difficult decisions, starting with how to approach Ron Artest’s free agency. Artest’s agent, David Bauman, indicated the four-year, $37 million contract extension the Rockets could have offered would have been below market value. But with only three teams — Detroit, Memphis and Oklahoma City — holding salary-cap room, it might be difficult to find a team willing and able to go beyond a mid-level exception contract, particularly with Artest coming off a series he called “a failure.”
“Individually, it’s a failure for me,” Artest said. “I just really cannot say that about this team. There really is no reason I shouldn’t have done better.”
The Rockets will also have to weigh whether to consider Tracy McGrady the offensive star they lacked when teams surrounded Yao Ming and whether to make any roster changes based on what McGrady brings into the final season of his contract, worth roughly $24.5 million.
Morey said doctors are hopeful McGrady could be practicing by November, though the GM won’t expect it. He does expect to have a better guess by early July.
“Based on what the doctors are telling us, he has a good shot to help us next year,” Morey said. “He’s in the equation.”
The Rockets do not have a draft pick (after the Artest and Steve Francis deals) and are over the cap, giving them only the mid-level exception to spend on free agents. They do hope to buy a draft pick for the fourth consecutive year and also seem more willing to spend in free agency, even if keeping Artest and using all the mid-level exception pushes them past the luxury-tax threshold.
Economic advantage?
More likely, the Rockets will look for the sort of unexpected deals they made to acquire Artest and Luis Scola in the previous offseasons. More teams are expected to seek cost-cutting, rather than roster-improving, trades.
“I am hopeful we can take advantage of the economy like that,” Morey said. “We are well-positioned with a franchise well supported by the Houston community and an owner (Les Alexander) willing to spend to take advantage of the economic downturn.”
Morey said the Rockets would like to add a veteran guard, depending on what is available and what he would cost to acquire. He also said the team would like a 7-footer to back up Yao but questioned whether it would be wise to devote too many resources to a player likely to get limited playing time, as opposed to finding the sort of “chess piece” Dikembe Mutombo was.
Adelman has one more season remaining on his contract, and the contracts of his assistants are up. Morey said there would be “internal discussions” this week to keep Elston Turner, Jack Sikma, T.R. Dunn and R.J. Adelman.
The toughest decisions, however, lie in whether to believe Yao and McGrady will be the stars the Rockets need, whether the current core will improve enough, and whether the nucleus should be broken up.
Under Morey, the Rockets have been built through value-based acquisitions with contracts considered tradable if necessary to fill a need. They could continue on that course with a younger, more successful core to build around, hoping for a contract year comeback from McGrady and better injury luck. Or they could seek a new, unpredictable direction around a different high-dollar player.
The first step is clear.
“I think the way you succeed in this business is you take a real hard look at where you’re at and what you need to do,” Morey said. “Sometimes that means tough choices. Sometimes this means this is the core we can build on.”
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