Axeman is right. We're a lottery team and simple math shows it. We're in the West, and the West has Portland, LA Lakers, Utah, San Antonio, Phoenix, Minnesota, Seattle and Sacramento. That is 8 teams and only 8 go to the playoffs. All along I lumped the Rockets in there to form 9 and simple math shows one of those teams was going to be a disappointment. Right now it appears that team is going to be the Rockets. If you say they're going to make the playoffs, I hope you're right... but which of those 8 teams are they going to beat out? ------------------ Clutch Out to prove Scottie Pippen will apologize at gunpoint. www.clutchcity.net
I had us at 6th before the season started, but damn, Utah and Seattle have surprised me. Doesn't really make a difference. If those two slipped, the Grizz and Clips would be right there to pick up the chase.
Clutch, honestly, at this point...do you think a midseason, blockbuster deal (ala Drexler - '95, Rice-Jones Charlotte - '99) could turn this team around?
Didn't Phoenix suck really bad after the Barkley trade? They made it to the playoffs that year right?
I agree Clutch. The sad thing is that they have the talents to beat Kings and Sonics, may be even Jazz(with Cato guarding Malone). But they will never be able to do that. Because this is a one-on-one basketball team. The only team game they know how to play is D-I-T. They don't even know how to help each othe on defending Pick'n'Roll,not even dreaming that their big men would ever learn to set real picks for the guards on the offense. I blame all these on Rudy. ------------------ Rockets' biggest problem is not player talent levels, it is the coach's ineptitude. [This message has been edited by Caveman (edited November 22, 1999).]
Yea, wasn't that the year they started out 0-13? I can't remember...was that the same year they made the Kidd trade?
Tenchi: Suns turned around by making trades and fired an old coach. Can Rockets do that, firing Rudy? NO! ------------------ Rockets' biggest problem is not player talent levels, it is the coach's ineptitude.
In my very humble opinion, I think Phoenix and Sacramento could fall below us. We would still have to improve on defense but we have played competitively with many of the teams we lost to. We definitely play pretty good in stretches. Phoenix doesn't really have good big men, still, I think, and Sacramento doesn't seem to have defense - like us. I guess my question is "Do we have the capability to play better defense?" If so, I, although a little less loudly than before, still feel we can turn this thing around.
What worries me is that we're 8 games below .500. This means we'll have to win 8 more games than we lose just to get to .500. In the West this year it's gonna take more than a 41 - 41 record to make the playoffs. (Is 39 - 31 even a possibility now?) I predicted 4th - 6th, but I sure didn't expect us to struggle so much with chemistry. I thought for sure it'd be better than last year. ------------------ I have a dream.........his name's Hakeem.
There is a very fine line between being optimistic and delusional. ------------------ Rockets' biggest problem is not player talent levels, it is the coach's ineptitude.
I will be content of the Rockets cling at the 8th seed and go all the way to the finals like the Knicks, I am not asking too much am I?
Caveman, we get your point. You don't like Rudy. We aren't going to agree with you over time just cus you post it at the end of every message. It is rather irritating.
FF: You are only asking for Sprewell, Houston, and Camby. ------------------ Rockets' biggest problem is not player talent levels, it is the coach's ineptitude.
Caveman, Since you know so much about the player's abilities, preferences, and styles, as well as the right offense and defense and all the plays to go along with it, why don't you replace Rudy? Seriously, you seem to full of more crap and angst than insight or productive/constructive criticism. Why don't you take a day off from the web, think about your criticisms, and come up with something useful to say.
Come on Rudy, win some games. Your Rudy Lovers are working 24 hour a day and 7 days a week to defend you. Don't them down. Keep use your Dump to the post 1st, and Pass out 2nd. ------------------ Rockets' biggest problem is not player talent levels, it is the coach's ineptitude.
here's something usefull... rudy counts highest percentages right? well, when we post up, we take less shots per game, so we lose more often... if we get off 80 shots (fair in a typical non-weak kings defensive night) using our ol' stand by and somehow by chance w/ the 30-45 touches that dream and chuck share and bore the rest of the team w/ we get a .500 game, then we score 80 points off the shots alone (not including free throws and the like) obviously, w/ a fast paced game, we get more shots off so with a 100 shot game, that's right, we can shoot a miserable 40% and get the same amount of production... so why not take the risk? it's a fairly calculated risk--- and dream and chuck aren't 32 anymore... and won't be shooting .500 on average (it's much more likely that francis, mobley and anderson will shoot more than 40%) conclusion: rudy's stale (sorry, i missed alot of premises, but you get the point)
