i feel the exact same way...but then i think back and realized i felt this way at the beginning of numerous seasons...most notably, the season before scottie pippen came to us. my hopes were REALLY high that year, and other seasons where my hopes were high but not as high, (swift and francis) ended up in false hope and disappointment...i DON'T think this season will leave me in disappointment, but until we prove something...i will hold back from my excitement and optimism...i still have FAITH but i don't want to expect too much
how long have you been on clutchfans, there's a WHOLE BUNCH of idiots not clutchfans who believe in this stuff! do a search on the number of Tmac vs Kobe , you can make a sweater of all these threads. go look at the game threads when Yao has a bad game and the Yaoonlyistanians blame the Tmacinorlandos . Then you have the people who hate Clutchcity 1 and 2 and swear the allegiance to #23 in Chicago, even though YOU KNOW FOR SURE they weren't in DIAPERS in 1984 when Dream and Jordan started in the league. Are you Egyptian? cause you must be in da Nile if you can't see this trend! Hell, what % of this board knows that the Dream made it to the finals before Jordan? Not alot. Why? they don't care about Rockets History and they are brainwashed by Nike, Bob Costas, and NBC Sports. For example, look at Ralph Sampson. What % of these people know that Sampson was INJURED in the 1985 Finals and DID NOT get the proper medical attention? He should have NEVER played the entire next season, but he played and it cause even worse injuries to him and ended his career. Thank God we have better medical technology now than back then. You realized that Yao would have played with his broken foot back then right? That would have ended his career. So before people here start calling Ralph NOT TOUGH, he played with a SEVERE HIP INJURY when he should have never played. We are talking about a Dynasty if Ralph had better medical attention.
I still can't belive we have Ron Artest, yeah Ron Artest. And I won't belive that untill I see him playing in Rockets' uniform.
I haven't got around to thinking about Artest yet, I still can't believe we have Luis Scola!!! I can still remember watching the 2004 Athens Olympics and watching Scola tear it up. I remember thinking, this guy could play in the NBA, and wondered why he hadn't been drafted or something. I later found out, the Spurs owned his rights and being pissed thinking, the rich get richer. I would watch his highlights on the internet and remember NBATV airing a few Euroleague games when he was with Tau Ceramica, and saying, Wow! this guy is a great player! I can't remember being happier then when we traded for him and got him signed. I remember telling anyone who would listen, how great Scola was and what they could expect, giving that not alot of people knew of him before. I know it's silly cause Scola has already played one season with us, but I'm still excited about seeing Yao and Scola playing upfront for a full season, all season long! As far as Artest, yeah that's crazy, I still can't believe it!!
I will always remember during the whole offseason people where making trade threads, hoping that we could sign a big 3rd scorer. On the top of the trades, on peoples favorite player, was Ron Artest. I heard some crazy ESPN Trade Machine ideas such as Brooks+Battier+Hayes for Artest, or other crap like that! People where saying: "If we want him, we will have to give up battier and possibly brooks as well". Then one morning I woke up and turned on my computer, logged on to this board and discovered that freakin' Ron Artest was coming to H-Town for nothing in exchange. That day was amazing. I immediately checked out the Palace Fight and was like:"We scary now." That was my experience. Anyways, we have probably the most talented team the Rockets have ever had. Two top 15 players, surrounded by some world class role players and young rookies and sophomores who are great hopes. Just amazing.
Yes there are a lot of idiots in the world. People make stupid arguments when we lost. This happens in any fan site or sports forum. What's the big deal? You don't take these comments seriously do you? Even if you do, you can criticize an INDIVIDUAL whatever you want. Just not try to generalize and say "oh it's 'government-controlled'". Oh yes. You think all non-1999ers can't think with reason. Remember you made the "Who is the Dream?" thread? http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?t=151691&page=1&pp=20 630 out of 886 knows Hakeem. Not bad if you ask me, considering the fact that 20% people don't know the Sun orbits the Earth. I am not going to google the source but my point is, you never get a 100% poll. Talking about ignorance, take a look at this: http://hk.youtube.com/watch?v=fJuNgBkloFE Btw, arguing that "government-controlled" referring to some imaginary country of "Yaoonlyistan" is downright ridiculous.
I wish you are not talking about me. I just wanted to point out a wrong concept which can be offensive and I apologize for the distraction. And yeah, the Artest trade is the greatest thing happened to TMac and Yao. I can't wait they all play together on the court!
On the basketball court, playing basketball Ralph Sampson was not a great "PHYSICAL TYPE" player. He has game but he is not a guy that was abusive and brutal with power or finesse in a Shaq or Olajuwon way... if he was they wouldn't have put 6'11 or 7 foot Hakeem at center and 7'4 Ralph Sampson at power forward. Not saying the guy was garbage, I'm saying he looked similiar to David Robinson playing with Tim Duncan except his Tim Duncan was Hakeem.
Exactly I know Ralph was good but Yao is the first super tall guy to be so offensively sound and move the way he moves at his size. Back in that day if you would have played Yao right now with Hakeem I think that team would have been better imo. yao and Scola starting are undefeated inm the NBA today. Yao just got Scola last year Yao will have his real chance in the playoffs coming this year.
Had ralph not had his knees give out on him, we would be talking about him as a top 6 center of alltime. he would tear yao into shreds. he was 7' shot moved like a SG and shot the ball like a SG to. not to mention he had alkot of great post moves. you gotta be a hardcore yao-only-fan to believe a healthy ralph was inferior to yao. heck ralph had the potential to be better then olajuwon.
As awesome as it is...I said the same things and felt the same things the seasons we got Swift/Bonzi/Francis/etc. Albeit Artest is a bigger name...I'm just staying semi-reserved and just not putting all my hope in him but rather in the general health of the squad.
Don't forget a healthy Rafer, healthier Tracy, and soon to be healthy Battier and Stevie Franchise...
