I think if you take into account that Orlando is a relatively new team, and have had less time to achieve accomplishments, not saying I think we should be lower, but that may be his reasoning. I'd say being top 10 isn't that bad.
I thought #10 was pretty good until I saw the teams ranked ahead of the Rockets. The Suns, Sixers, Jazz, Blazers and Magic do not belong ahead of the Rockets and the Pistons are ranked way too low, as well.
Funny how everyone is suprised that Phoenix, Orlando and Utah are "better" than us (they aren't) but no one has mentioned the Pacers?!
Prior to this year they hadn't owned a top 10 pick since 1996...translation:while their best years may not be as good as the Rockets in recent years(2 NBA titles), they do have 3 ABA titles and their bad years have not been bottom of the league bad.
The Pacers had some great teams in the 90's with Reggie Miller, Rik Smits, Antonio and Dale Davis, etc.... Unfortunately the Bulls had Jordan and even the Knicks were a great team at that time. It was a short window to win and the timing was bad for them... ...while the Jazz had, what, 18 years or so with the supposedly great Malone-Stockton-Sloan combo and never accomplished a single thing. I think the 'relocation' penalty of 100 points is a bit excessive, as it hurt the Rockets ranking and the Sonics/Thunder, as well...
Houston: 50.4 points per season Orlando: 48.55 points per season Is this a typo or should Houston have been ranked above Orlando even based on his system?
man these rankings are a joke, how the hell is philly/utah/phx/portland ahead of us? based off championships we're ahead of them we should be behind chi honestly.. these seem more like this past decade rankings as far as PO success and wins and sellouts etc cuz based off banners and Finals appearances its a no brainer
This formula is really wacky. You can't just make up numbers with no meaning. Why would being the champions be 30 points, why not 40, 50, 10000 or a CAZILION MILION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
LA and Boston are obvious 1 and 2 but after that I disagree with his order. 1. LA 2. Boston 3. Philly - They had arguably the greatest player of all time on that team. (Wilt Chamberlain). They had arguably the best team of all time with Dr. J, Moses Malone and Andrew Toney (prior to the foot problems). They may only have 3 titles but it seemed like they were there every year against the Lakers or Trail Blazers prior to Larry Bird. Certainly over the last two decades both SA and Chicago have been better but I think Philly has done more during the life of their franchise. 5. Chicago - The only other franchis that can boast that they had a true dynasty besides LA and Boston. They have a player that like Chamberlain who is arguably the best ever in Jordan. They really have not done much since or prior to the Jordan years but 6 championsips is still greatness. 6. Houston - No other team has as many Legendary Big Men as the Rockets. Elvin Hayes, Moses Malone, Ralph Sampson, Hakeem Olajuwan, Otis Thorpe, Yao Ming, Charles Barkley were all all-star to HOF caliber players. Through out the 80's Houston was the only team that could keep the Lakers out of the NBA Finals during their prime years (Porland did it once in 89). Houston had back to back championships in the 90's with the only player ever to win League MVP, Defensive MVP and Finals MVP in the same year. Houston has IMO the greatest Center of all time. Hakeem out played Patrick Ewing and Shaq O'Neil in the NBA Finals and had the greatest post season performance ever (still to this day) when he dominated David Robinson (Current League MVP) in the Western Conference Finals. And yes I am biased. 7. San Antonio 8. Portalnd 9. Detroit 10. Seatle Super Sonics (OKC Thunder)
Throw in the fact that Orlando was suppose to mop the floor with is in the NBA Finals but instead got swept by us. Throw in the fact that the best player in the history of the Magic (Shaq) was out played by the best player in the history of the Rockets (Dream) plus we have two Championships to Orlando's 0 and this is a no brainer. The Rockets have the better franchise. Also add that we got by far the better end of the TMac for Steve Francis trade. Orlando should not be a top 10 franchise.
BTW, has anyone noticed that Hollinger replaced Orlando at the 9 spot with Indiana? How can anyone justify Indiana ahead of the Rockets? Rockets have more regular season wins, more post season wins, more series wins, more NBA Finals appearances and more NBA titles. Add that to the fact that the Pacers best ever player is Reggie Miller who is not as good as Elvin Hayes, Moses Malone, Hakeem Olajuwan or Clyde Drexler (and there are more we could argue about) there is absolutely no way Indiana has a better franchise. That is just laughable.
I guess you didn't read the writeup, Rockets were a lottery team for most of their existence. A Championship is only worth 30 pts, if PHX Orlando and Utah consistently win and the Rockets consistently lose they will eclipse the 60 pt difference.
It takes quite a homer to put Houston above San Antonio. Four championships > two championships. Sixteen division titles > four division titles. Making the playoffs all but one year from 1989-2010 > missing the playoffs six of the last 11 years. Advancing past the first round of the playoffs 11 times since 1997 > advancing once since 1997.
Don't care, don't care, don't care! I will not....I can not put SA above Houston! But does that make me a homer?
That is an untrue statement get your facts straight. The Rockets have been to the post season 26 times and failed to make the post season 16 times. The Rockets have also been to 4 finals with essentially 3 completely different teams winning two. BTW the lottery did not exist prior to 1985 so technically the Rockets have only been to the lottery 7 times during the teams existance. Since the inception of the lottery the Rockets have been to the post season 19 times and been to the lottery 7 times. By comparison Orlando is 12 year in the play-off vs. 9 years in the lottery. Two NBA Finals appearance where they were swept by which team? The Rockets. And lost to the Lakers 4 - 1. Rockets better than Orlando. Even Hollinger relented on this point since he changed his order to drop Orlando out of the top 10.
I absolutely agree. Of course, you're on your own when you say we're a better franchise than San Antonio.
