Gone are the days that some fan would yell "F U Maxwell" and Maxwell would yell back "F U MFer!!" back at them! That' when the NBA was Fantastic!
I think you would have to throw in every guy that's not Tmac and not just bench guys if you're going to mention Elie, Kenny, Thorpe, etc. EDIT: didn't see OP mention that Tmac AND Yao as the stars. Without those 2 then, no, this year's team ain't special at all. I stand corrected.
Thorpe threw better passes than Warren Moon.... So let's wrap this thread up with this.... <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/mJMeUCXRLIE&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/mJMeUCXRLIE&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>
The difference between Artest and Maxwell is that Artest started a record label and is also a rapper. Maxwell was an NBA player period. And remember when Yao got followed by those r****ds to his house? I think some people did the same thing to Maxwell, except Maxwell waived his gun at them when he was driving his Porsche. Maxwell got a bad rap for that, but he didn't want some dumb punks following him!
Tinman Rox my Sox off!!! Anyway, I would say that Matt Maloney and Brent Price were better than Alston and Brooks. Hehehe ok, I'm just kidding. Brooks makes our current tandem better. I just miss the white boys lol!
Someone said Yao would be better back then than now. I guess they forgot the mortal kombat that used to go on down low. Top that off, what would yao do when Dream or Robinson would iso yao 17 ft from the basket without help?
it still amazes me how only the so called "Rockets" fans would compare a team that has won nothing to Championship teams. I think its only fair if you compare Championship teams to Championship teams. Like you can compare the Garnett Boston champs to the Bird era champs cause they both won. Or the Shaq era titles vs the Kareem/Magic era. Part of this internal envy makes no sense. it just makes people think that Rocket fans have no respect for their championships. The only analogy, which was brought up earlier this month, is the Dallas Cowboy comparison. The "Cowboy" fans are talking about Romo/TO/Barber to Aikman/Irvin/Emmit like hell no there's no comparison. Romo hasn't won a freaking playoff game yet.
Tinman slow down with the attention whoring antics, and go ahead and accuse me of being a "newb" and suggest some "Rockets education sources", I don't care.. this current supporting cast is flatout better than the old supporting cast.. first of all, let's establish the "central player" that doesn't count as supporting cast.. for the old team, that was dream, also known as "The Houston Rockets" because the guy did it single handedly.. get 4 people from this board who can knock down 3's and you have yourself a nice supporting cast for the dream to carry to the finals.. this current central player is either Yao or Tmac.. for the sake of the argument, we're gonna say it's Yao.. this makes the current supporting cast look like this: Tracy McGrady: 2 time scoring champ Ron Artest: toughest player in the game, one of the best defenders in NBA history, amazing offensive skills Shane Battier: extremely high IQ shooter and best defender in the game Luis Scola & Landry: the ultimate complimentary set of PFs in the league, one is a finesse player with an amazing post up game, the other is a monster of the dunk & offensive rebounding. Both have sweet Js Aaron Brooks: probably the most underrated PG in the league right now.. he lacks the experience, he's basically the equivalent of Cassell Jon Barry: The smartest player in the league after Steve Nash (and his older brother when he was playing), among the best 3pt shooters in NBA history Rafer Alston: $h!t I have nothing but love for madmax, OT, Cassell, and especially drexler .. (notice I didn't mention Kenny because without the dream he aint worth $h!t, one of the most overrated players ever and please hold the 8 3pts game video, that's probably the only game where he didn't have an adverse effect on the team).. also, the fact that I mentioned Drexler implies that the current supporting cast is better than the 94 AND the 95 supporting casts combined.. sorry, but ON PAPER: McGrady, Artest, Battier, Barry, Brooks, Scolandry, and even a washed up Deke > anything we had back in the championship years, extending all the way to the Barkley days.. you put the current players with Dream and he'll win a championship for 15 straight years.. people underestimate the magnitude of the load that Hakeem carried on his shoulders in the championship years and give too much credit to the supporting cast, which comprised of nothing more than a bunch of below-average players who played with insane heart.. now only if the current team we have can play with comparable heart and knock off all the "I'm gonna shut it down for 2 weeks" bull crap.. goes on to show you that being superior on paper translates to nothing in real life..
http://www.clutchfans.net/players/otis_thorpe/ Otis Thorpe 's Rocket career FG % is 56%, 10 boards, and 16 points a game. Plus he made the All star team. What freaking role player do we have that does that?
Oh don't give me this jealous newb attitude. I actually put stuff here people want to read or listen to. I posted an interview with 2 of the greatest NBA players of all time and asked them about the current Rockets. What have you done here except diss on the championship rockets and make excuses for Tmac? that's all you Tmac fans care about. you value that over defense, heart, and chemistry. I wouldn't want Tmac to play with Dream. We'd win zero championships with that duo, he doesn't know his role. and if he played with Dream, his role would be SUPPORTING CAST. Oh you want to hate on Kenny Smith? Have some. Oh, I'm not even mentioning the Orlando game cause that's the only Youtube thing you can find about him. I saw Kenny play. Paper: HOUSTON CHRONICLE Date: SUN 03/22/1992 Section: Sports Page: 6 Edition: 2 STAR Rockets 106, Jazz 97 Kenny Smith, staring at point guard extraordinaire John Stockton all night, turned in one of his best performances of the season to lead the Rockets to a victory over the Utah Jazz at The Summit. The Rockets soared to a 25-point lead in the second quarter, then held their composure in the second half for their seventh consecutive home win. They are 10-4 under Rudy Tomjanovich and won for the first time against Utah after three losses by an average of 20 points this season. And it was largely Smith's doing. He carved through the Jazz for 28 points and had nine assists. He hit 10 of 11 free throws, the most trips he has taken to the line since Nov. 16. "It's getting to where Kenny has got to be mentioned with some of the top point guards in the league," Tomjanovich said. "He's been playing extremely well for us and he's finishing plays now." Smith mutilated the Jazz on the pick-and-roll play, slicing through the defense for several uncontested drives to the basket. And when a defender was there, Smith wasn't afraid to initiate the contact and draw the foul. Paper: HOUSTON CHRONICLE Date: TUE 05/24/1994 Section: Sports Page: 1 Edition: 3 STAR SMITH-EREENS/3-point barrage puts Rockets in overdrive By EDDIE SEFKO Staff One false start was enough for the Rockets. They motored up Monday night to the same pothole that had rattled their cruiser a while back on the road to NBA playoff glory. This time they swerved and took a different avenue to open the Western Conference finals against Utah. Forget the freeway. The Rockets took the Three-way. Kenny Smith popped in six of the Rockets' 10 3-pointers Monday night, including the clincher with 3:58 to play, as Houston chugged into the winner's circle with a 100-88 decision over the Jazz at The Summit. In the space of 48 minutes, this series came off the line in decidedly different style than the conference semifinal match against Phoenix, in which the Rockets lost the first two games at The Summit and were left looking for their confidence as well as their outside shooting. That the Rockets avoided a similar breakdown before they left the garage was commendable. "We got a nice cushion and we stayed aggressive, and that's a lesson that I think we learned in the Phoenix series," coach Rudy Tomjanovich said. If you're looking for historical significance to this victory, there is plenty. The Rockets never have lost a playoff series when they have won the first game. They are 10-0 in those situations vs. a less-than-gaudy 3-15 when losing the opener. If they continue playing like they did Monday, history should repeat. "It's a lot nicer going up 1-0 than it was going down a game to Phoenix," Vernon Maxwell said. "We didn't want to get in that situation again." Smith, who tied the Rockets' playoff record for 3-pointers in a game, finished with 27 points. And it was his shooting that freed up Hakeem Olajuwon for an incredibly routine 31 points. You want more? I'll drop infinite pages of all the great games Kenny has played for the Rockets. Kenny has also mentioned the championship Rockets all the time on TNT, plus he's the only fool picking us to win it all this year. So keep hating and don't pretend you like those championship teams cause you weren't even born then.
Sam Cassell was #2 in the league assists and averaged 18 points a game 1999-2000: (9.0 apg, 2nd in NBA), (18.6 ppg) free throw percentage (.876, 9th in NBA) you think Aaron Brooks will ever be #2 in assists in the NBA? Cassell is an all star, you think Brooks is an all star? You can compare Brooks to Barbosa, but he's not Sam Cassell.
How can anyone even compare a championship caliber team to an unproven bunch of guys that hasn't even gotten out of the first round is way beyond my understanding.
I love this thread. Old school Rockets fans enlightening us with the legend and lore of the great Rockets of old. The present company of Rox pale compared to the 90's teams, I don't believe we'll be reminiscing about Yao and Tracy and championships twenty years from now.
The old Rockets had pride. I remember when we first got Steve Francis. I was excited, then I realized that his first game was against Cassell who is eternally pissed that he was never the starter for the Rockets and was traded. I was like, man Sam is going to make a statement to the Rockets, even though Steve Francis is clearly a more athletic and quicker guard. Remember this guys? those 94/95 guys.. don't underestimate.. you know Paper: Houston Chronicle Date: WED 11/03/1999 Section: Sports Page: 1 Edition: 3 STAR Cassell hammers former club / Rockets, Francis can't handle guard; Bucks win opener By JONATHAN FEIGEN Staff Riches of talent, Charles Barkley had warned, could go only so far. Steve Francis, Barkley said, must learn how to play in the NBA. He would have to slow from 100 mph to a toll-road 75. He would have to accept that some guys are as gifted as he is. When all that fails - and it did - Barkley said Francis might just want to knock someone down. If nothing else, it might have slowed the Milwaukee Bucks. But then again, Tuesday night Sam Cassell probably could have scored from the seat of his pants, too. Cassell was so dominant Tuesday, he called former Rockets teammate Mario Elie from the locker room before the game to announce he would score 35, then hit it. Having offered Francis, the next San Jacinto College point guard in the NBA, all the lessons he could over the phone, Cassell moved Francis on to more advanced studies, carrying the Bucks to a 98-93 win in the season opener. After Cassell punished his former team with 35 points, the results of the arena referendum were coming in and the measure was routed even more handily, rendering the Rockets' future in Houston uncertain. And for the first time since 1995, tickets to Compaq Center went unclaimed, with just 14,491 on hand for the opener. With that sort of start to the season, perhaps Barkley's violence suggestion would have been worth trying. "If a guy's got 30 on me, I've got a flagrant (foul)," Barkley said. "Fifteen-for-20, we've got to do better than that." Besides making 15 of 20 shots, Cassell collected 11 assists. Francis was in many ways more in control than in most of the preseason, committing just two turnovers, but he made just four of 13 shots and was the closest defender to most of Cassell's blitz. "Everybody gets a lesson in the NBA," Cassell said. "I got mine from Kevin Johnson. But Steve will be all right. He can play, once he understands the game better." The Rockets were left hoping for similar growth. Francis might have been the Houston point guard, but Cassell often torched the Rockets as a whole, ducking around picks or finding cracks in the lane. "We have to do a better job with our defense," guard Shandon Anderson said. "When you have breakdowns offensively, your defense has to make stops." Though Cassell can be an offensive magician, there were times he didn't have to be. With the smallest of openings, he could quick-release jumpers while Francis worked his way around screens. "We had a hard time getting Sam under control," coach Rudy Tomjanovich said. "You can't just put the blame on the guy on him. He would turn the corner, and a lot of times our help wasn't there. And the guy made some really tough shots in traffic."
Uh-oh, some near sighted fans have drawn tinman's ire. I believe the 94/95 Rockets were a much better team than this team. I would take them above this team simply based on the fact that I don't remember any injury concerns with them.
Don't forget that those Rockets absolutely CRUSHED the Bulls in nearly every game. Those teams were unholy; even with Jordan, they simply had no answer for the Rockets. Luc Longley (I believe) was the one who said that; he said that even with Jordan, he didn't know if those Bulls could beat the Rockets. He said they would've been the toughest challenge they'd have ever faced.
This team would get killed by the '86 team too......Lew Lloyd, Mitch Wiggins, Ralph, Akeem, Rodney, Bobby Joe, Rudy T... Yep...they were better than this team. And Kenny Smith shot nearly 50%...that is amazing and would be VERY helpful on this year's team from the PG position. DD
O.T. was one of my favorite players ever, so I'm going old school. Outside of him, the rest of the new guys might have more total talent, but they don't play nearly as hard, or as well as a team.
