Popeye, In my view it is wishful thinking to think we can come up on Minnesota (Port, SA, Utah, Lak, Sac are also out of the question). They have the best player in the league and good roll players around him now (I think by years end they will be better than Sac and maybe Utah too because of their defense). Pheonix also has such a potent offense to win 55-60% of their games, so if you do the math we would have to go on quite a run to catch them. If we do sneak in the 8th spot, the team we will catch is the Sonics. They are operating on Payton and mirrors, and that is all. By seasons' end they won't be much above .500, that is our best chance. We absolutely cannot spot them more of lead with another stretch of 2-10 play though (4-8 at the worst, closer to 6-6 is needed), or it will be over early.
I second that opinion. ------------------ Rockets' biggest problem is not player talent levels, it is the coach's ineptitude.
We did actually. https://bbs.clutchfans.net/threads/rockets-history-how-hakeem-olajuwon-led-to-james-harden.306000/
Where did all the 99ers go? @tinman @JuanValdez and @Pass 1st shoot 2nd are still around. What about that other quitter James Harden? Will he apologize at gunpoint?
This is a great post by @popeye, who's greatly missed. I was reading the BBS back then, lurking, and had been since the Spring of the previous year. Popeye was an "insider," one of two members who broke the Francis trade before the mainstream media did. The other being "the Mall Guy" (can't remember his moniker), who overheard a couple of members of the Rockets organization walking in a mall talking about the deal and, naturally, posted about it when he got the chance. The BBS was much different back then. There were around 3600 members, that being an enormous difference, obviously. @Clutch definitely posted more often than he does now, not having as many demands on his time (I'm guessing). Some of the "regulars" who posted in November of 1999 are still posting today and some, like @popeye, have gone missing. I think there was more basketball discussion and less "noise" then, but that's an opinion. Interesting bump, OP.
