Lots of similarities: 1. Yao vs Dream, Advantage: Dream. I am a huge Yao Ming fan, but come on, we are talking a top 5 all-time Center at the absolute peak of his career. 2. Clyde vs T-Mac, Advantage: T-Mac. Clyde was huge for us, but I'll give T-Mac a slight edge because of those freakish stretches/games, where he takes it to an HNL ('hole 'nother level) 3. Horry vs Battier. Advantage: Horry. Both huge contributors with unsuspecting stats. Slight edge Horry becuase of the big shots. 4. Alston vs Kenny Smith. Even. For all of the frustrations with Rafer, let's not forget that the Jet used to drive us crazy as well. Smith was a better shooter, but Alston is better at setting up the offense, plus Kenny was a bit of a shrinking violet in the 4th, while Skip has made clutch plays for us. 5. Chucky Hayes vs. Chucky Brown. Advantage Hayes. Very similar role on the team. The original Chucky played the give-and-go with Clyde to perfection, however this one is more athletic, more youthful and more energetic. 6. Sam Cassell vs Luther Head. Advantage Sam. Obviously Head is not at Sam's overal level yet, however, his ability to make clutch shots in the crunch is as good as Sam-I-Am. 7. Pete Chilcutt vs Juwon Howard. Huge advantage Juwon. This one is the biggest mismatch, Juwon's career may not have been what we all expected, but he's been legit. Chilli Pete was a joke. On a side note, if you shave Pau Gasol he's a dead ringer for Chilli, somebody needs to check it out. 8. Charles Jones vs Dikembe. Advantage Deke. Big similarities in what they bring to the table at the same age, however, as much as I loved the "Legend", Deke is one of the All-Time greats and is having a huge year. 9. Mario vs Snyder. Advantage Mario. Snyder is obviously more athletic, but in terms of heart, leadership, and winning attitude Mario is one of the all time best. 10. Tabak vs T-Sak. Even. Two honorable members of of the "Rasho Nesterovich's Big White Stiffs from Eastern Europe" club. 11. Mad Max vs Bonzi. Advantage Bonzi. Both could have contributed if they had their heads in order. Bonzi is just not as crazy as Max. On a side note, one of the biggest ironies was that the Rockets tried to ship Max to the Nets for Jayson Williams, who was then a reserve with limited minutes for the Nets. This was one of these "nutcase talent and prolific scorer for a good character banger with some potential" trades that should work by improving team chemistry. It didn't work, but boy, did Jay-Will prove a bigger nutcase than Maxwell ever was, or what?! Overall Advantage: 94-95. Just because they had this thingie that we should never underestimate. Apart from that, (and the most improbable title run that will never be repeated,) the teams are pretty similar.
Wow, we apparently had a real old team in 04-05. I never knew everyone came out of retirement to play for us!
I changed your thread from "04/05" to "94/95". I think 04/05 is a better comparison ... we have a stronger frontcourt now but a weaker backcourt. Both about worthy of low 50 wins... I'd also like to think this team should win a playoff series before drawing comparisons to a team that had won the title the season before.
Muchas gracias, Clutch. My point was that there were a lot of similarities in the personalities involved. Obviously, the 04-05 team is a closer comparison, not the least because many of the players are actually the same. Not as interesting a parallel in my opinion, thoigh.
I think Carl Herrera to Juwan Howard would be a slightly better parallel and then you could compare Pete Chilcutt with Steve Novak perhaps.
You should have just asked what are the similarities and stopped it at that...a ring against not even out of the first round isn't a good argument of who's better....unless you are just talking about on paper and statwise.
That rockets team would kill the current team. Hakeem would score 40 on yao and have 3 steals and blocks on yao as well. Lets not forget we had great three point shooter such as Mario, Kenny, Sam, and big shot bob. The only advantage this team has is tmac, but clyde was no slouch himself.
how about we break it down even more? back to back championship team v. team that has never made it out of the first round... not trying to be too rude but there is simply no comparison until this team shows some sort of ability to compete with and dominate great teams like the mavs and suns. clutch is correct when he said the comparison should be between the 04/05 team. I think it is a coin toss with that team too. that was a potentially a very good and clutch team if we had a healthy sura. also I am of the opinion that sura as a "glue" guy was better than battier as a "glue" guy. finally, I really hope we start to show something against the big 3 in the west. I was at that last spurs game in houston and I think I would have had more fun just lighting 2 hundred dollar bills on fire. it was sickening to watch. I know we didn't have yao but that was disgusting to watch.
How many minutes did Charles Jones play per game? I think the only comparison to Deke can be in age. I really do not think Jones would have even started if Dream was injured. That being said, the 94-95 team would probably beat today's Rockets by about 50 points.
Until this team wins a championship, Im going with the 94/95 team. And Maxwell is a lot better than Bonzi. and kenny smith is a little bit better than alston.
This should not even be a debate. As much as I love this team (06-07) they should not even be mentioned with the great all-time Rockets teams let alone the 93-94 or the 94-95 teams. This team is good, but they will need to prove themselves in late April and May (hopefully June too). For me, I think the attachment I have to this team has a lot to do with the potential. I have been waiting for the day to have a dominating Yao and a healthy McGrady. It seems like we are finally getting it. Also, it doesnt hurt that last year was so terrible. I remember playing out the string of games last season and just sufferring loss after loss. I remember going to the Toyota Center at the end of the season and it was just depressing. I remember the Rockets starting out 3-11 or 3-12. Anytime some sort of postive momemtum happenend it was immediately two steps backwards. Enough about last year. The Rockets just won by 50.
