http://slamonline.com/online/nba/2008/10/houston-rockets-season-preview-2/ Houston Rockets Season Preview Welcome to the Heartbreak Hotel. We continue previewing the Southwest Division with the Houston Rockets. You can read past previews here. by Marcel Mutoni Last chance. It is easily one of the most overused expressions in the English language. We hear it so often–from parents, employers, friends, lovers, and just about anyone with whom we regularly interact in our lives–and yet it has such little meaning. When do those people really ever follow through with their threat? A writer once famously claimed that there are no second acts in American lives. F. Scott Fitzgerald, brilliant scribe that he was, didn’t know what the hell he was talking about. Life is all about second, third, and fourth chances. Especially in the NBA. Each new season season offers players and teams ample opportunity to reinvent and redeem themselves. As for the Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming partnership, this could truly end up being their final chance to prove that they can make it work. Should they fail to advance their squad in the postseason, there might not be any second and third acts. Daryl Morey will be left with little choice but to seriously consider breaking them up and return to the drawing board. On paper, the Houston Rockets have a mouth-wateringly good team. There is of course the aforementioned McGrady and his partner in crime Ming; a very good coach; Shane Battier and his indefatigable dedication to solid defense; a wildly charismatic and bruising rookie; and a supporting cast that plays their role to a T. Oh yeah, there’s also that one wild card they picked up over the summer. Certainly can’t forget about him. Given their respective ages, Yao, Artest, Battier, and McGrady should be entering that stage of their professional lives where they put it all together–they’re each , theoretically, in their primes. This means we’ll likely never see them perform at such a high level again. They’d be wise to take advantage of this and make something special happen. Of course, it will not be easy. In fact, it will be insanely difficult; impossible perhaps. I have higher hopes of winning the Powerball jackpot than for McGrady and Yao to play an entire season’s worth of games. Can we really count on Ron Artest, who’s angling for a huge contract next summer, to behave when he has to share shots and the spotlight with two other All-Stars? That’s almost like asking Palin to break down the theory of relativity. The optimist in me sees Adelman getting everyone to buy into his system, the win total being a shade north of 55, a couple of guys repping the team at the midseason classic in Phoenix, and Houston finally breaking through that First Round wall only to succumb to the Lakers in the Conference Finals. The realist, however, sees the Houston Rockets for who they really are: that stunningly beautiful, emotionally fragile, and downright crazy girl you can’t help but fall in love with, knowing full well that she’ll break your heart in the end. Being the helplessly foolish romantic that you are, though, you will nonetheless sign up and go along for the turbulent ride.
This isn't mean at a shot at the writer, because I wouldn't expect someone not following the team from close to take this into consideration, but is rather just a point in general - no matter how poorly this season goes, there is close to no chance that Morey will trade Yao or T-Mac. This isn't due to some loyalty to either of the two, but rather due to sheer practicality. McGrady's expiring contract in 2010 is far more valuable to us than whatever Michael Redd-esque garbage he would return in a trade. Even setting aside the expiring contract, McGrady himself is far better than what his trade value would return at this point. So this assumption that Morey may break it up after this year is completely unwarranted. The referendum on McGrady will be in 2 years, not next summer, no matter how bad things turn out. Artest is the guy with the question marks this summer. Simply put: 2 years of an aging McGrady + cap room in 2010 >>>>> Redd or whatever.
Especially because his worth shows up most in the playoffs where he flips a switch and just goes crazy. I would suffer through the regular season just to see him play in the playoffs. Playoff McGrady >>> regular season McGrady, but how can you blame him for it? If he played at a high intensity with his back problems it would probably wear on him within a couple of months. It would be better if we just blow teams out in the first half and let McGrady coast the rest of the game (except for big division games where he should put his highest effort in). It's something that we were really missing last year. Games where we could really rest out starters. There were too many close games between bad teams. We will need someone like that when we face off against the Lakers in the playoffs. Someone who can go off every once and a while to give us what we need to pull out a couple extra games.
"The realist, however, sees the Houston Rockets for who they really are: that stunningly beautiful, emotionally fragile, and downright crazy girl you can’t help but fall in love with, knowing full well that she’ll break your heart in the end. Being the helplessly foolish romantic that you are...the win total being a shade north of 55, a couple of guys repping the team at the midseason classic in Phoenix, and Houston finally breaking through that First Round wall only to succumb to the Lakers in the Conference Finals." The author must be on his period when he was writing the piece. Dude just making bold prediction out of his arse when reg. season hasn't start yet.
i don't think losing to the lakers in the conf finals is that absurd given that they are getting Bynum back. He didn't write they'd be swept or anything like that so a hard fought 7 game series is within his prediction and not unlikely.
And we're getting Yao, Barry, and Artest. We will not lose to the Lakers because there getting the Almighty Bynum back.
Thank you. A lot of these writers make these "THIS IS THE ROCKETS' LAST CHANCE!!!" statements in their previews, presumably because it sounds bold and dramatic, but a closer look indicates that Morey is setting the team up to be long-term contenders, not going all-in for One Last Shot. If the team fails to win a championship with the current line-up, I expect they'll still be able to retool without having to blow things up and go back in the lottery.
Yup, a weak article made by a weaker writer. I don't see the word "last chance" very often in my life, because if you treat every chance well, you won't go to the last one. Last chance, romatic, girl, heart breaking... I wondering what did this writer say about Boston last year...
I' am glad you were the first person to respond to this otherwise we would of had a long thread of nonsense.
why did everyone think bynum will push fakers over the hurdle? did he already prove he is MJ, LJ, kobe or shaq. he had a few games he did good. he has the potential. until he prove himself, i won't buy any opinion that think fakers is automatically in nba final.
Try to be objective for a second and forget you're a Rockets fan. Last year's Rockets, even with a healthy team, would have still have a tough time with the Lakers. Could they have beat them? Yes, but i don't think either team was that much better than the other, so it could go either way. This year, Houston gets artest back and they get Bynum. Is Bynum God? Of course not, but he is a center with size and length that can pair up with another guy with length called Gasol. The Rockets don't have much size up front other than Yao, so this matchup could be a problem. On paper, i'd say the Rockets have an edge because they're a deeper team and have a 4th "star" in Scola. however this game isn't played on paper and team chemistry and experience plays a role. The Lakers went to the finals last year and aren't changing their style much, if any. The Rockets don't have deep playoff experience and they'll be using most of the season to work on their chemistry and lineups. I do believe they'll eventually gel as a team, but when that will be is not certain. With their history of injuries, its very possible a key guy will be out sometime during the season and this may push thwir progress back. Taking that into consideration its possible they won't hit their full stride this year. They may gel enough to go deep in the playoffs, but maybe not the finals. So again, its not to crazy to predict they may lose in the conf finals to the Lakers. Also, the Lakers getting back to the finals is not pushing over the hurdle, so Bynum'a return makes them better, but i'm definitely not saying that makes them the champs automatically.
What still bothers me is that writers don't know what to refer to Yao as his first or last name. If they refer to another player by last name & then innaccurately refer to "Ming" as his last name, it annoys me. If that's his last name, then WTF is "YAO" doing on the back of his jersey you r****ded f#@ks!
bynum has size and strenght. it is not news. he didn't grow to the current height overnight. the last year, fakers went to the final w/o him. what weight does his coming back have on fakers? at the current stage, his impact on fakers can't be compared to the impact ron artest on rox. until he proves himself he is not at the same tie of players as ron artest. No comparison at all between rox getting ron artest and fakers welcoming bynum back. remember i am not saying bynum doesn't have potential. he may very likely become #1 center in the league. potential is potential. just like many journalists mentioned many times concerning rox that yao has potential and yao and tmac pair is next big thing but ranked rox not high as all rox fans wished. the reason is yao and tmac hasn't proved anything. but why hell they talked about fakers and started to count the potential. that bothers me alot. only thing i can think about is they had bias in their mind.
The fact that you keep saying "fakers" leads me to believe you just hate the Lakers, so there's no really point in me answering since you're always going to argue against them, right? But i will mention that you forget to take experience and chemistry into consideration, which I mentioned in my previous post.
I find it strange that Luis Scola got no mention considering how well he played for us last season and how well he played in the Olympics. I find it even stranger that they don't mention Rafer Alston though, as SLAM is IN LOVE with Skip To My Lou.
don't worry about who i am. i am very realistic. talking about chemistry. i actually worry about fakers after bynum back. this year is his contract year. it means he has to show his case. how bynum and gasol share the ball is a big ?. i don't think gasol consider himself is a sidekicker of bynum. if bynum offense # doesn't look good, i doubt he has the leverage to negiotate a rich contract. well, look at ron artest case. no one has any doubt about his ability on both ends. his next good contract will not base on what his stats. instead, people look at his behavior. his contract will completely depend on his behavior on and off court. if he is really looking for a last good contract, he really needs to control himself. of coz, his tempo control may very well be lost. in this case, he could do some stupid things. at least, right now he know what he is doing, just based on what he said in public and what he did on the court.
Here's another season preview. It's titled "An opposing team's scout sizes up the Rockets". The full article is too long to cut and paste. October 22, 2008 http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/basketball/nba/10/22/rockets/
Don't underrate Bynum, he looked really good against the Thunder. 10-15 shooting and 8 RBs.You hear excuses that Yao hasn't hit his stride because of his injury but Bynum was injured also and looks way ahead of Yao at this point.
