Imagine if last year instead of going 42-40, the rockets go 30-52, get the 8th pick, select patrick patterson(who Morey ranked 6th), and are now sitting at 20-24, I think everyone would be much happier. I think last year the team got extremely lucky and overachieved. 1) Brooks had a career year, look at the history of MIP winners and you will find not many go to the same heights of their MIP year ever again. 2) Landry had an all-NBA MVP type year in the clutch, he was shooting 70% and grabbing 15 boards during the clutch per 48. 3) Chase budinger might've had his career best year in the NBA in his rookie season 4) Ariza started off red hot and won several games early in the season for us. 5) Lowry had a career year. If we took the same team last year and replayed the season, I think we could easily go 30-52, really last year's 42-40 was probably the maximum that team could do. Many fans probably took last year's record as a baseline from which to measure the team. it is possible that this year's team is much better but we could still have a worse record.
Last year we lacked an interior presence and a superstar thus 42-40. This season we lack an interior presence, a superstar and Brooks has been injuried/off his game most of the year thus 20-24...not much difference. This team has a good chance at 42-40 again...whether that's good or bad is another question.
As a whole, the West is actually worse this year. I don't think last year spoiled the fan base. Lots of the Rockets' struggles have to do with the major step back they've taken on the defensive end, and everyone probably knows that. Ariza was not a good offensive player, but he did make a major difference on the wing defensively. You've essentially subbed him out for Martin this season, who dazzles on offense, but is a saloon door defensively. Courtney Lee is a nice defender, but he doesn't see the floor enough to really make a huge difference overall.
That's morey's big mistake, he built the team again around Yao, didn't get us a backup center and is now seeing all our assets lose value because the team is struggling, I hope we can turn it around but as of right now we are destined to mediocrity...
Last year: Consistency. We weren't waiting on Yao. We went into the season with a gameplan that didn't include Yao at all. The team played well because they developed good chemistry, they knew how to build a team that complemented everyone's strengths. This year, Morey made the mistake of relying on Yao too much. Bringing in assets that he calculated would be beneficial had Yao been playing at the same time. Now that we lost our alpha dogs, players that have been told to defer to Yao are now being forced to change that mentality to attack mode. Nope. It's amazing how people were expecting Yao to remain healthy when prior evidence proves that theory wrong. I myself didn't think Yao would go down so quickly, but hey apparently neither did the team.
Put Brooks back as the lead dog and the team would go back to a 42-40 type of team. As it is now, they are a 35 win team.....we have no lead dog. As flawed as AB was/is....he is the best lead dog this team has.... Right now, with Lowry starting, they have none. DD
At this point, I don't care who gets traded. AB, Lowry. Don't care. At least the bickering would end.
They need a trade, and to pick a ****ing direction, they are stuck between developing the young guys and trying to win at all costs. The fans have had enough...at least this one has....... It is time for the organiztion to step up to the plate and make changes. DD
We have a lame GM. When you have a chance at guys like Carlos Boozer and Amare Stoudemire you trade everything at all costs to get them not resend deals just because of some stupid physical screening.. Ugh. To honest, I was foolish enough to think that the summer of 2010 was the year "Flash" Wade was to be a Rocket back in summer of 2008. His privileges in the league or questionable though (see 2006 Finals and Brooks phantom unintentional flagrant last game). Last year did not spoil us, because I still saw the glaring deficiencies that would come full circle along. Leagues new rules make the game a b**** but we need some elite defenders 6'10" or taller that can adjust their game.
No big differences between this year and last year. We still do not have Yao and hence no good offense and defense inside. And we still rely on shooting percentage and transition goals. We really need a robust C blocking the inside.
Do you really think Stoudemire would have gotten us very far? Beyond that, do you think he would've stayed here? C'mon man, use some sense. He was quick to sign with NY, look at the money they threw at him. No one thought Wade would join us, dunno where you got that notion from. Wishful thinking perhaps. I do agree with your last point though. It's just sad to see how this team has become so poor defensively. You can't teach height; we're learning that the hard way.
You are really silly, if you ever thought Wade was coming to Houston. He never mentioned coming to Houston. The 2 choices were Miami and Chicago, hometown. Chicago wasn't even a real choice, because they didn't have enough capspace for Wade, LeBron and Bosh. Morey didn't even try to fool himself into thinking that he could steal Wade from Miami.
The think the year before last year spoiled us. We got to the second round, got the lakers to 7 games and everyone was on a mental high. But everything went down hill
"You're either rebuilding for something special, or you're on the verge of something special. To be in between is foolish."-Billy Beane
Yeah, I would say 42-40 is not spoiling our fan base. Problem is "This Year" we had higher expectations and the team hasn't meet them. This year was a big disappointment, underachived. Yao underachived.
