Houston Rockets: The Rockets need all kinds of things, but when your bait is Mo
Taylor and Juwan Howard, prepare to be disappointed.
The team has shopped both players, along with Clarence Weatherspoon, to anyone
who will listen. The Rockets want either an athletic shot blocker and rebounder
to help out Yao Ming or a traditional point guard. Neither is easily obtainable.

The closest they got was with the Knicks. Isiah Thomas apparently loves Taylor,
but not enough to give away what the Rockets really wanted – Kurt Thomas – in
return.
New York Knicks: Isiah Thomas talks a lot about all of the expiring contracts he
has, but those contracts don't expire until 2006. His attempts to trade Penny
Hardaway and Tim Thomas this year have been fruitless.
While Isiah would love to get his hands on players like Antoine Walker and Wally
Szczerbiak, he just doesn't have the goods to make something work.
Unless Isiah is willing to take back a really bad contract in return (like that
of Jalen Rose) he's going to have to wait until summer to make his next big
move.

Isiah sure does love a lot of players

From the houston Chronicle:

Don't expect Rockets to make a major roster move

Question: Can the Rockets make a move for Troy Murphy or Kurt Thomas to help rebound and defend in the post?
Reggie in the Bronx, N.Y.

Answer: How does that conversation go? 'This is CD. I have a power forward that's not working out for us with a really bad contract. How 'bout trading your power forward, playing well, with a good contract, for mine.'

Barring that working, I'm not sure what assets the Rockets can offer to make those deals work.

That said, Thomas is having a very good year on the boards, but overall, I don't think he is enough of an upgrade to spend too much to get him. Long-term, if the Rockets are to change at power forward, they need a phenomenal athlete or range shooter (or both) next to Yao.

Murphy is a range shooter that does rebound. But I don't know why the Warriors would deal him. And if they were looking to move Murphy, I imagine they could find a better offer somewhere in the league than the Rockets could make.

Posted: Feb 12 2005 12:32PM

http://www.chron.com/content/chronicle/sports/feigen/qa/