Just my take on the Houston Rockets over the last few years and a big reason why the Magic have done the right things, while the Rockets have not. Orlando Magic have made all the right moves imo and surrounded their big Center with unselfish shooters who can hit their shots. None of them is an All-Star, in their minds, like Artest & Tracy are. They all share the ball, work the inside-out game like the Championship Rockets used to do and are very succesfull. With the Rockets it's another story...let's analyse it quickly: - 02-04: we had Francis and Mobley dribbling around for 20 secs and had not good enough shooters + Yao was not good enough to be the centre of the offense - 04-05 - 07-08: T-mac was brought in and of course because he was an all star took most shots but Yao got a bigger role. In the beginning they had good shooters but for some reason another first round exit. The following years injuries took a toll on both players, but still the Rockets failed to surround the 'two stars' with good shooters. - 08-09: Another all-star was brought in and the team is even worse than before. Yao is too good to not get the most shots almost every game. In conlusion: The shooters around Yao are too inconsitent, do not hit it at a high clip and the other two start demand too many shots for this team to excel. I'm not saying T-mac and Artest are unselfish, but you cannot deny that in the back of their minds they feel they're better than the rest of the guys. Artest has mentioned many times he wants to take over the game, T-mac has b****ed about not getting enough shots etc. The Orlando Magic do not have this problem, just like the Rockets in 93-94 and 94-95. Even when Drexler came in, the offense ran through Olajuwon 99% of the times and everybody sacrificed to do better as a team. This team clearly doesn't have that, even with the 'non-stars' like Rafer and Wafer. Rafer likes to showboat and go 1-on-1 and sometimes is just no the PG we need, Wafer likes to go 1-on-1 anytime he feels like it and stands around on offense most of the time waiting for some1 to pass him the ball. I do believe Wafer will come around since he's young and just a bench player, but with 2 all-stars around Yao and Rafer + Battier being too inconsistent as shooters we will never excel and become a championship team. Hopefully a trade is in the works and a big piece will be traded for a smaller piece, although I do not see that happening since Tracy is untouchable with his latest act of being hurt and not many teams want Artest I think. I also think we need Artest this year come playoff time, because this team lacks the killer instinct that Artest has. If we can trade for a big piece who is willing to be 'just another shooter' surround the big man in the middle, that's fine too. I think however none of this will happen until Artest is willing to sacrafice more, until T-mac will be gone (probably after 2010) and maybe then we can finally work on the concept that gave us the 2 championships and that has made the Orlando Magic a very succesfull team. P.S. I know there's a different between Howard & Olajuwon vs. Yao but still I believe it can work because Yao's too good to be denied. A big PF and SF like Horry and Thorpe, who can be physical with anybody and can block anybody would be perfect to start with. Maybe, since Horry wants to play, we can bring him back and give us some spirit to start with. Please give me your take, be civilized and please don't avert from the topic too much. Thank you
Magic has arguably the best shooting lineup in NBA, everyone except their centers can shoot from outside
Rashard is a volume shooter was/is considered over paid. They lucked out on Turkoglu breaking out with All Star level numbers.
when turkoglu was still a benchwarmer in sacramento, divac said that he could be a franchise player.. definitely one of the better MLE players in the league.
Can't dispute that the Rockets won the championship twice but at least one year (first?) weren't they the sixth seed? And I don't think they were greatly improved the other year they won... someone here will know. I'm thinking those championships were more about Hakeem's pre-eminence than anything else. But, anytime, give me a roster of guys you want to root for not tolerate.
I really don't understand this analysis if you factor in the fact that Tracy Mcgrady has been our best player in most of the seasons and the post season since the trade. Yao Ming was well on the way becoming the man last season and then he busted his leg. The Magic has noone like that and ultimately they aren't doing anything right without Jameer Nelson and I believe they will continue to suck this season without their PG. At the end of the day if the Rockets were in the Eastern Conference we would have made past the 2nd round each year. What is the key difference between the Rockets of the past season (lets ignore this seasons Rockets) and this years Magic? PG play.
We do have good (and unselfish shooters). Barry was brought in for that. Battier is one of our best 3pt shooters, and he is definitely not selfish. I don't know what happened to his shot this season. The surprising Wafer can shoot too. Brooks is supposed to be a good shooter. He is just very inconsistent. Even Landry has developed a pretty good midrange shot. How are we worse? Our record is about the same as last year at this point. All the TMac drama and some really bad games give people the impression that we are bad. But objectively, we have better scorers than before. I agree with your general premise. We need shooters. JVG's preference of defensive players over shooters was what did him in, IMO. Our problem is not lack of shooters. It's chemistry. T-Mac's antics is a big distraction. Artest isn't helping with his poor shot selection. There seems to be a rift between McGrady and Artest, which Adelman alluded to.
Reallu stupid thread. Were you saying the same thing the last few years when we have been better then the magic. Even a depleted rockets team right now would beat the living crap out of the magic. Lol...magic.
orlando has streaky players. Hedo is nothing like last year, this team lives and dies by the threes. Dwight cant be depended on when the game counts. Magic are going to fall off fast
I don't agree the Magic are showing teams with dominant centers the road map to success. Their offense is so boring and predictable -- typical traits of a Van Gundy offense. Sooner or later teams are going to start realizing you DON'T need to double Dwight Howard. Granted, it's very true they have better shooters than we have ever had. All the same, a shooter is a shooter. They're prone to hot & cold streaks. If you take away the constant and [usually] unnecessary doubling of Dwight that gives these snipers consistent wide open looks, it's a different ballgame. Only a few guys on the Magic can create their own shot -- we have like 5-6. I still like our team better *at full potential* than the Magic. The talent influx may not have paid off so far but I still like the line of thinking.
I am calm, just find it funny....I think Stan is a fine coach, but the JVG is God crowd just won't go away. Funny how they don't post near as much anymore....JVG only fans..... LOL DD
There is a reason why the Rockets didn't do what the Magic has done in the past few years, i.e., surrounding their center with shooters. It's because they knew the limit of that lineup and knew that lineup could not bring them a championship. Why? Look at the Magic last year, they passed the first round in the playoff handily, but couldn't pass the second round because Howard became less effective in that series. Same thing could happen to a single-core, Yao-led Rockets, but for different reasons. Howard could be limited because he doesn't have a well groomed offense; Yao, on the other hand, can be negated by physical play + fronting + double/triple play, also the referees won't treat him as a superstar as we've seen in numerous times. So, in some sense, that Rockets lineup won't even be as good as the Magic. Unless, of course, the Rockets have another star who can stand out and score when the inside-out game freezes, or Yao Ming develops his game and can "score at will" like Olajuwon did in the Champion years. T-Mac has always been the Rockets' hope to be that scorer in the fist case, although for the past few years he hasn't really meshed his game well with the inside out offense, and the Rockets have to play a lot of iso when he's in the game. For the later case, the coach has constantly put Yao Ming in those crucial situations to force him to score despite the physical defense/unfavorable officiating, or "score at will", as one might say. But so far this approach hasn't been really successful.
Orlando plays in the East and most of their players were healthy until recently. When 28 million of salary cap is tied up in players that are shells of their former self with another 8 million playing with a gimpy ankle because the other players are shells of their former self, you can't expect too much success. I'm amazed that were are solidy in the playoff hunt. That just shows you how far Morey has brought this team in terms of depth.
