He hasn't even been on an NBA court yet, so no one has any idea if he will translate to a good NBA player at this time. You lose all credibility here.
I think that's a bit extreme way of thinking of it, my near sighted friend. I simply mean that as fans, we can't be content and blind to how the team is handling business. The spurs have won four, dallas has one won and been close before, and we haven't been relevant all decade. not great for a market like houston.
and your dumb to think that a seasoned veteran cant produce. Have you not seen the nba playoffs the last 15 years? Lakers first three peat consisted of glen rice, AC green etc... Mavs had Peja, Kidd. Celtics had everyone over the age of 35. just because talent like AI, MARB arent playing in the league is no testament to their talent and ability to play now. People might not like them, but if you watch them, i would still take them over a good bunch of bench players who have jobs now. and yes by watching them today, watching international games and practices and summer league games in which they run with younger stars today.
DD, Bud improved from god-awful to mediocre, with moments of adequate. He did improve, as you pointed out, but I think you exaggerate the degree. Bud improved his rotations on defense. Sadly, he didn't improve what he then proceeded to do on his man once rotated. Not enough to remove him as a liability on defense.
there are tons of scorers/play makers out there in this free agent class, so i dont see why we can't be a competitive team coming into this next season if there is one. Jamal Crawford Atlanta Unrestricted F.A. Carlos Arroyo Boston Unrestricted F.A. Glen Davis Boston Unrestricted F.A. Jeff Green Boston Restricted F.A. Von Wafer Boston Unrestricted F.A. Caron Butler Dallas Unrestricted F.A. Arron Afflalo Denver Restricted F.A. Wilson Chandler Denver Restricted J.R. Smith Denver Unrestricted F.A. Tracy McGrady Detroit Unrestricted F.A. Tayshaun Prince Detroit Unrestricted F.A. Ming Yao Houston Unrestricted F.A. T.J. Ford Indiana Unrestricted F.A. Josh McRoberts Indiana Unrestricted F.A. DeAndre Jordan L.A. Clippers Restricted F.A. Marc Gasol Memphis Restricted F.A. Hamed Haddadi Memphis Restricted F.A. Mario Chalmers Miami Restricted F.A. Michael Redd Milwaukee Unrestricted F.A. Sebastian Telfair Minnesota Unrestricted F.A. Carl Landry New Orleans Unrestricted F.A. DJ Mbenga New Orleans Unrestricted F.A. Jason Richardson Orlando Unrestricted F.A. Thaddeus Young Philadelphia Restricted F.A. Aaron Brooks Phoenix Restricted F.A. Andrei Kirilenko Utah Unrestricted F.A. Josh Howard Washington Unrestricted F.A. Nick Young Washington Restricted F.A Vince Carter option i see some talent right there that can easily get us to the second third round in one year.[/QUOTE] From the list, I would sign Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady to build our team around. I think this fills our Center and SF spot for the next 5 years or so:grin:
and the people who can't get off their knees when Morey is mentioned are just hoping for another 42 win season or just enough wins to be dominated in the first series.
One can say this or that, BUT Les' goal is to put asses in the seats and make as much money as possible ( T.V. deals / League ). That said, is this team entertaining or even watchable (not by us here on clutchfans but) by the average fan? If not, then changes MUST be made for Les' sake . I can see not being that good for a while to be better in the long run... BUT how long are we talking? I am a long time fan and this is a CHANGE ( sucking / over-achieving with no real end in sight and making things look even worse)... Over the years I believed in most of the "spin" or "slants" that has been put on most things. Now I second guess most moves and want more. I know I sound bitter BUT I just feel a little burned since season's end. Go Rockets Give time, time
The Rockets as presently constructed are not a very good team, good yes, but not very good. As Rez put it, we're right in the horrible position of being an 8 or 9 seed, either getting dominated in the first round or just missing out, just to get a middle of the road draft position. Of course if the Grizzlies can take it to a 7th game in the second round, there's always hope for our guys.
These ESPN dudes are supposed to be experts?!? 3/5 of them are stupider than the guy who said Yao has a 30% chance of comming back.
That was a severely depressing day. I went out to a local wings place by myself to watch the game. Not a true down home wings place, some polished franchise restaurant in California where no one cared about sports. A crappy game and trying to stretch a $7 order of wings over that length was the longest loneliest 3 hours ever.
Budinger as a starter, Rockets went 14-8 in those games, .636% For all this shortcomings on defense, we're making him to be like he's a Terrence Williams type influence. Can you credit other players like Gragic for the better record? Certainly. Is his position upgradeable? Certainly, especially if you want to contend. But if Gragic is a plus contributor over the guy he replaced, why isnt Budinger a plus contributor over the guy he replaced?
Morris As a matter of fact...I know Morris is gonna start...He got a lil more grittyness than Chase...
Star power this, star power that. The mavs had exactly one star, yet they demolished everyone on their way to a championship. Its not really about who has stars, but who has the better team and coach. The team right now is still reloading, but I can see them being very competitive this year, and then contending over the next 3. Even with no changes made, we'll better our record simply because we're keeping the read-and-react system but Adelman is no longer around to play his favorites 30 mins a night. I think MM and Parsons will certainly plug our hole at sf, one of our glaring weaknesses last season. If we manage to land a decent center, we'll definitely be the surprise team this season.
Budinger as a starter also happened to correlate with the exact same time we got rid of Black Hole Brooks. The dude was good two years ago but last year he made it his personal mission to tank the team each and every possession he was out there on the court. We mostly got better because Lowry picked up heavier minutes, Dragic was awesome in his minutes, and Shane Battier's defense had become so overrated that it was not able to pick up the slack for his nice bump in offense last year. The fact that Chase was/is better than Battier now does not change the fact that NEITHER is a replacement level starter at this point. Budinger scores more than Battier and gives up just about the same amount on the other end, but both share in their inability to hold their own against quality NBA small forwards.
I hope him and Motiejuanas play together, a reverse inside-outside would drive opposing coaches batty. Leaving penetration room.
Ladies and Gentlemen, coachbadlee with the "you don't know basketball" comeback. Impressing nobody since 1891.
Whoa there. Couldn't find any recent threads to keep up the Battier hate so you had to make something up in this thread?
mostly because we never had anyone decent he replaced. he simply was part of a new look rockets that performed better. when the rockets won 22 straight, we were led by alston and a bench players. does that make us like for some reason the best team ever? no, it means that as a unit, we sparked energy that won us games, but it doenst matter if we match up against a contender and cant compete. budinger has a tough job of being in a 3 spot where he has to guard some ridic talents in the playoffs nad he can't do it. neither could battier.
