Hoping for Heartache (sorta) and keeping Steve

As I ponder on the upcoming playoffs, I am starting to think that -- in the long term -- the best thing that could happen to the Rockets is a 4-1 first round exit, in which the Rockets play a single perfect game and lose 4 well fought but error filled games. Is this crazy? You decide.

The undeniable truth is that the Rockets have not matured much this year. Individually and as a team, they have gone on nice streaks of magnificent play, and then reverted back to their old ways. Each time we think they have finally learned the "right" way to play, they let down and revert back to their old ways and errors. Perhaps the pain of playoff games lost, or thrown away, will impact them more.

If the Rockets lose 4 games due to turnovers and bad decisions, and it is clear that they COULD have won, perhaps they will finally learn. The ultimate negative reinforcement. If the Rockets put it all together for 1 game and spank the Kings, perhaps they will learn by the ultimate positive reiniforcement.

I think we need to keep Steve for next year, no matter what happens in the playoffs (unless someone offers us something ridiculous, like Elton Brand). Two points on this.

First, my annoyances with him aside, he has been a productive player every year except this. He has had to adjust the most of any Rockets player because of the zone defenses and because of our coaching change. I'm willing to give him a chance next year to show that he can make the adjustment.

Second, let's think back to the Hakeem days. As I recall, the Rockets struggled to move beyond the first round for a while. Then, the Rockets could not defeat the Sonics. It took several years of frustration and patience before the team took off (helped with the Sonics early elimination). The Rockets stayed with the same core players and the same system, all built around Hakeem. Finally, it clicked. Hakeem started trusting his teammates. His teammates sometimes disappointed, sometimes rose to the occasion. The more opportunities he gave them, the better the team got. Eventually, that concept yielded 2 champoinships. I have not abandoned hope that the same can occur here . . . with patience. Perhaps Steve will learn to trust Yao more and to focus on getting him the ball at the right time. I think Steve still believes that his dribble penetration is the most effective way to play. He has not bought in.

Between now and next year's trading deadline, I am looking for 2 things. First, I want to see how Steve plays in the playoffs. Will he attempt to play the right way . . . win or lose? Or will he revert to what he knows best, even if it is the wrong way to play? Second, will Francis work on his game this summer? Will he come back with a better jumper? Will he work on his ball handling and decision making? Will he improve his defense? It is safe to say that this season has probably been most frustrating for Francis. He cannot possibly want to re-live it. The question is whether he will do something about it.

In the Hakeem era, it was unbearable to watch Seattle kick our asses. Now, it is equally difficult to see us throw away games with stupid play, and even more so in the playoffs.

But maybe that's exactly what we need.

[conversely to all of this, if we advance to the 2nd round but play reckless, bad basketball, I fear that that will just slow our team's maturation and development.]

 

True that Hakeem > Steve. Honestly though, Hakeem > 99.9% of those that ever touched a basketball.

For this team to truly contend, Yao is going to have to become an elite player. Yet he does not have to be the one man force that Hakeem was. Steve should be able to supply help along the lines of Clyde, and the team is going to have to come together. From there, we may need to make trades to tweak and improve the team.

Our Double Clutch team was comprised of Dream/Horry/Elie/Drexler/Smith. Let's compare that to our current starting 5 of Yao/Cato-Taylor/JJax/Mobley/Francis. Except the obvious difference between Yao and Dream, the disparity of talent is not THAT great.
JJax and Elie are very similar players. I could argue that JJax is better.
Drexler is much better than Mobley, but Mobley continues to improve.
Horry was a great defender and could hit clutch shots. The Cato-Taylor combo is not as good, but is there a huge difference?
Francis is much better than K. Smith. Neither plays any defense.

The real difference is how the Double Clutch crew played together. That team had some serious chemistry. They instinctively knew where to find each other. They knew how to make critical stops. They had a 1 man fast break in Drexler.

I'm just saying that if Francis adjusts his game and the team comes together, there is a chance that they could contend. After that, the chance is measured by how dominant Yao becomes.