I really think the Rockets will be in decent shape when Yao will be back.. Here are a few reasons why?? 1. The schedule- One word... EAST. The eastern conference will be the Rockets best friend. The hardest part of the Rockets schedule is over. Now they will be playing some games that they should win. 2. Jeff Van Gundy- I have said it time and time again... he is the leauge's most underrated and hated coach. People who play for him will tell you, as a player there will never be any surprises on the floor because of his preperation. Sometimes the excecution is not there, but the preperation is always there. Jeff will not let this team give reasons why they won't win... he's to busy telling them to play like mad men every night so they can PUT themselves in the position to win games... he's great. 3. Bonzi Wells- he will continue to emerge as a leader on this team. We will start to see why he is a dangerous player and he and Jeff will have a good coach plpayer relationship. SIX MAN OF THE YEAR AFTER THE ALL STAR BREAK (you heard it here first). 4. T-Mac- He is not healthy and will not be at his best untill a few weeks have passed.. but just having him out there will be enough. 5. Juwan Howard- I was a big proponent of trading him away, but he will become a focal point of the low post offense just as he did last year. If he continues to shoot well, spacing will be better. Don't give up. I still think Yao will be the MVP of the NBA. We will miss him, but when he comes back we will be one of the most dangerous teams in the NBA. Count on it!!
Some things are true but what do you mean the hardest part of the schedule is over? Next month we play the Spurs, Suns, Lakers, Jazz, Mavericks and the Nuggets. Only 2 games next month are against the eastern conference.
I'm pretty much agree with Derrick's assumption of our up coming oponents. Head and Battier will continue to trigger those shots behind the arc while Bonzi and Juwan will continue to be the man sinking those shots on the low post. And Tmac will always be Tmac all over. But he will always be the person that everyone will be worried about. Tracy's back problems will always hunt him whenever he comes down with kind of awkward position. Plenty of time to position for the playoff. Man I surely Hope we get things done! Go Rockets!
To add to the previous post, one of the teams we play is the Chicago Bulls. That will not be an easy game.
But our March and April schedule is much better than in the past couple of seasons so as long as we stay around 7-8 seed or close to it, with Yao back and TMac healthy, we should run through the last two months. Only tough challenges will be Phoenix, SA, LAL, and maybe Nuggets. If we get him back in February, that month is also an easy month with the exception of two games against Dallas.
I agree with some of it as well but I haven't seen Bonzi do much but have a few good games. When he posts he always gets the ball stolen or he gets blocked. he couldn't even slam that easy basket tonight. I hope he gets better but just by looking at him he justs seems like he doesn't really care if the Roxs win or lose and you think he would be playing his butt off for a big contract next year. I think for now the Malufs are laughing their arses off saying " and we were going to pay him 54 mill ?" I hope Bonzi proves everyone wrong...
Here is a certain stretch of games taking up most of January: Jazz, Timberwolves, Bulls, Lakers, Nuggets, Kings, Mavericks, Suns, Nuggets, Spurs. NONE of those games are easy. Even the Kings game won't be an easy one. By then Mike Bibby (with defensive specialist Rafer Alston on him) will probably pick up a little because his wrist will heal, maybe Artest will get it together, Brad Miller is going to have a field day from the perimiter with Mutumbo on him. Also Bonzi Wells will get booed every time he touches the ball, Sac fans are going to be vicious. We get one Nuggets game without Melo and one on the first day of his return from suspension. Not easy games because they will have an Iverson who might have gelled with the team by then, they will have JR back for both, and Melo for the second game. Bulls have been playing relatively well lately and we always have problems with the Timberwolves for some reason. Lakers = Kobe + Lucky scrubs. They're also going to be tough. T-Mac hopefully will play that game so it WILL be a T-Mac/Kobe matchup. Let's see who wins. Spurs, Suns, Mavs, Jazz...I don't even have to say anything. NONETHELESS ROCKETS > ALL THE AFOREMENTIONED TEAMS so it's all good. Come on Rox, pull together some wins and keep the team in contention so when we get Yao Ming back, we can jet into the playoffs. T-Mac stay healthy, Bonzi step up, Yao come back strong. We got this!
Sorry for the double post but I just went over the schedule for the season...once we get through January the schedule becomes a little easier! Feb, March, April aren't too bad. If we can get Yao Ming back end of Feb-ish we have a good chance at playoffs, and not just playoffs, but maybe better than 8th seed.
Best points to me are about Bonzi and Juwan. Juwan came into the season ready to pick up where he left off scoring when he was our primary scorer. He is going to bring his scoring up. Bonzi is going to come on STRONG as the season goes on. This is a contract year for him and he has the ability. Battier is going to continue his increased point production. Also, we will get the same benefit we did last season of having our complementary guys getting seasoned with a lot of PT.
We get both without Melo because of the snow out of the Phoenix / Denver game... No makeup date has been set yet
Yes I believe too. This year's team is has a better bench. I think our Rockets can hold the fort down until our big fella gets back.
I guess in parallel to those early 90s, this will be somewhat equilalent to when Hakeem got injured by Cartwright. That should give the Rockets some time to look within themselves and pick up their game and keep it when Yao comes back.
There is hope indeed. <object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/mbZkYeF70CM"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/mbZkYeF70CM" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object>
