Any way you look at it, this season has been a complete waste of time

Watch...now this guy named Miguel is going to say you are not a real fan. lol Miguel. Sorry. Just kidding.

ANYWAYS. Yes. It's been a waste definitely.

Also...Suns have been without their starting center...Big Jake I think...and Tom Gugliotta. But Tom Gugliotta getting injured was actually a good thing. (Amare)

First.

Francis. Yep. But we can't trade him.
Mobley and Griffin should be packaged for a good star.
Posey should be resigned...but for less than $3 million.
Mo Taylor has been doin all right. Mobley and Griffin for Elton Brand and Quentin Richardson would be perfect.
Yao Ming is of course in the middle.

MOOCHIE JUST SUCKED.

Eddie Griffin and Cuttino Mobley for Elton Brand and a couple draft picks. Add whatever useless players to make the money even

Then sign a solid veteran backup. Or if Posey won't be back...a starter. We can't afford much. All we can get is someone for the MLE. There are many many many free agents that are as talented or more talented than Posey who may ask for less. Most of these are point guards, shooting guards, and small forwards. My favorite signings would be Eric Piatkowski, Jon Barry, or Voshon Lenard. They aren't stars...but are good shooters and good role players.

CATO..can be traded for a quality shooting role player from the East.

So...what do you think about coaching?

 

I agree with most of what you said, but I'd like to see us hold onto Posey. Trading Griffin and Mobley for a PG is a good idea. I have absolutely no faith in Griffin, and Mobley is expendable so it makes sense. It would be nice to get Sam Cassell or Gary Payton. Sure, they're both relatively old, but either one of them would help out immediately. Andre Miller is another good choice, but LA would have to include another player as part of the deal.

 

I agree with just about everything you say Cab. I blame the players more than the coaches, and find that a change needs to be made. I'm torn on Eddie and whether he should be traded ASAP while he still has some value, or whether we should be more patient with him since he's still so young. We need to make a major change though, and I like the idea of getting a good PG and moving over Steve. What PG could we get though? I don't know...

I have no problem with trading Cat for a PG, but I imagine the only way we can get a decent PG is to package Eddie with him, and I'd be willing to make that move. Again, I don't know who we could get for that deal though...

KeepJuaquin
There's no way the Clippers would trade Brand and Richardson (or picks) for EG and Cat.

 

I can't argue with any of that. Mainly because I keep saying the same thing in all of my posts.

For me, this season is far worse than the previous three lottery years. In 2000, we could point to the season-ending injury to Barkley, the team making a transition from veteran to young players, and Steve's co-Rookie of the Year campaign gave hope for the future. In 2001, the Rockets finished with 45 wins, the best ever for a non-playoff team and a very solid 11 game improvement on 2000. Mo Taylor was a solid addition at the 4 spot(for what he was making anyway). And the team had 3 first round draft picks to play with. The future looked bright. 2002? Ok, I'll give them a mulligan for that season. Mo missed the entire year, Steve missed 1/3 of it and wasn't exactly himself the rest of the time, Eddie was a 19 year-old rookie, Glen only played in 20 games...you get the idea. Plus, the Rockets were "rewarded" for their down year with the first pick in the draft and Yao Ming.

Now, fast forward to this season. No major injuries to key guys other than Rice. Yao Ming exceeded everyone's expectations, even the Rockets organization's. Two all-stars on the squad. Yet, here we are finishing out of the playoffs for the 4th consecutive year. Only this time, there's no bright spot. No silver lining. No lottery pick to fall back on. No hot free agent we can go after. Other than Yao Ming's impact on the Rockets and the league, this year has been a complete and utter waste of everyone's time. The team made absolutely no progress implimenting an offensive system that utilizes the skills of its players. There was no effort made on becoming a more consistent defensive squad. The coaching staff never bothered adjusting to the zone defense for the second year in a row. None of the players developed their game throughout the course of the season. And to add insult to injury, several of the teams the Rockets hold a slim lead over in the standings right now HAVE progressed this year which will only make the 2003-2004 playoff race even more competitive. And yet after all of this, there are numerous fans on this board who want to give the team and its coaching staff one more year to turn it around. Pathetic.

 

F**k yall, na jk but I had a good time!!!!And I still luv this team

 

I agree...the Rockets need shooters to spread the floor.

I wrote something similar a few days ago in another post. Here is the post.

PAST POST -
"True, Yao should not be taking 18 ft jumpers on a consistent bases. Instead, he should be fed the ball 10 ft or closer to the basket. So why do the Rockets not feed Yao the ball in the paint?

2 Reasons:
Reason1 –Yao is usually tripled teamed when he is in the paint
Reason2 - Our guard’s vision, passing, and creative abilities are less then spectacular on offense

So one has to ask, if there are 3 people on Yao doesn't that leave someone open for a wide open 3?

Answer: YES

Solution: Make the opponents pay for double/triple teaming Yao

So how do we do that?

Get some guys who can shoot the outside shot (3 point specialist). When Yao is on the floor we should have at least 2 or more players who can hit the three-point shot, ON A CONSISTENT BASES. This would force our opponents defense to guard all the way out to the 3 point arc. This would open up the painted area and simplify the process of feeding Yao the ball.

Simply put, Yao is not dominating 18 feet out. However, when Yao is in the paint he is worth every penny of the #1 draft pick. We need to figure out a way to feed him closer to the basket.

 

You're not a fan...

 

I just gotta more a stupider. Dummmaaaa reading your thing

 

If I understood what you were trying to say correctly.....I can tell...

 

x_trepidation_x: Don't worry Ociffer, there's no blood in my alcohol.

 

hahaha it's okay if there is..it's friday night

 

See..if you watched Posey today. He is still a good player and is very fast.

But the best thing would be to get Eric Piatkowski. He is a 3 point specialist...but not so great defender. We still have Mobley though.

Fine...Eddie, Morris, Moochie, AND Mobley for Payton? Heh..I wish.

Well first....get Van Chancellor as an assistant coach! That would be nice. Seems like a good coach.

Or we could trade Mobley and some crap like Maddox for Brent Barry. Brent Barry is almost a point guard and can shoot 3's. But I don't know why Seattle would ever give up.

FOR NOW. We just have to wait and see. I think our team will realize they need to play hard and move the ball around. Next season...we win the games we're supposed to..and we will be in the playoffs.

 

Well, here's my take on it.

I don't know if I'd necessarily trade Mobley - he'd be the perfect player off the bench to back up Steve at 2 guard. It would be dependent on his willingness to go to the bench. I have a feeling he ultimately would, but I just can't be 100% sure...

If we can grab a decent point with the veteran exception, dumping Mooch, I'd feel great coming in next year. Not championship-level, but taking another step. Steve has shown improvement in his point skills in the second half, but it's come at the cost of his offensive game. He's shown marginal improvement in his defense, but he still gets killed fighting through picks. If he bulks up and improves his abilities to defend the pick and x, I think his defense should pick up to a mediocre level. Until the latest run of bad games, Steve had added a mid- and long-range dimension to his offense. I wanted to see how he'd work out at PG one last time, but this season has told me that it'll be detrimental to the team. With less pressure on him coming up the court and a decent backup to give him some rest, hopefully that would come back.

A bigger concern to me is Yao. I hesitate to post this because I know it's going to draw all kinds of flak, but I'll just come out and say it: Yao will not play at a superstar level, but at a very good level, from what I've seen this year. He's been getting taken advantage of defensively as teams have adjusted to his presence and his rebounding fundamentals are somewhat suspect. Not to mention his shot selection... This doesn't mean he can't or shouldn't play an integral part on the team, but I think people have to temper their expectations of him. It's not known at this point how his obligation to the Chinese National Team will affect his development, either.

He will bulk up in the offseason, but that's not going to keep him from getting his shot blocked or make that extra pass into the lane when he's single covered and eight feet from the basket. He'll have to adjust parts of his game and we just don't truly know if he's capable of that yet. I'm going to take a wait-and-see approach with him and remain cautiously optomistic before I support throwing the team on his shoulders.

I'm also concerned somewhat about our forwards. If we resign Posey (which I support, as long as he shows improvement on his three-point shooting), Nachbar may once again get the short end of the bench with Rice with one more year on that contract. Not sure what the best solution is here. He's just caught in a bad situation. I haven't seen Posey at the 2 at all this season, so that's apparently not an option. Things look fairly good to pick up a piece once we get Rice's contract off of the books (not completely sure about this; I haven't paid too much attention to the contract situations of the team.)

Power Forward: Griffin's shown slight improvement in his low post game and midrange game, I doubt he'll get much development out of being the 5th option when he's on the floor. He's not strong enough to guard the other 4s in the west right now, and he may be about two years away from that level. The main question to me is will the team be patient enough to develop him, or are they going to basically let him rot as a 5th option hanging out at the three point line. Well, I still have hope for him (though perhaps a bit less than Yao at this point in time), so I say, give him a chance. If he works out, he'll be a better long-term solution than Taylor. Taylor's a saavy offensive player, but he just doesn't have the hops+height to guard (despite being a good positional defender) or rebound effectively in the West. It would be a good move for his career to move out East. I still like Taylor as a player due to his versatile offensive game and good post passing, but he's just been caught in a league with superior athletes.

As far as overall team play, I want to see less dribbling unless they are attacking the basket, better defense of picks and screens, and as far as fast breaking goes, until they improve their passing on the run ability, just keep the ball and take it all the way to the hole. At least they'd get free throws then. Transition defense is also a big concern.

I think we're a couple of years away from being a real contender. Here's what I'd like to see: Francis and Brand (I'll just go ahead and assume Griffin doesn't work out) are your max players. Yao in the middle. Nachbar (if he lives up to his potential) SF and a veteran PG who can play solid defense and hit the open shot. Cato and Mobley off the bench, with one other piece, preferably a veteran defender/spotup swingman. Steve can still backup at the point if needed.

 

MadMinor it is to late tonight for my rebuttal to your comment cause it would literally make me feel spent.

 

isnt cabbage make you fart??? i think its kinda like beans, right???

is getting yao a year under his belt a waste??? i have more but i know it wont get through to you.

 

i mean doesnt... what can i say i had to far.......