Maybe, maybe not. Barkley had a lot on mileage on him by then and I think that the loss of Cassell & Horry (to trade) and Dickerson (to injury) set them back more. BTW, I am secretly hoping that Cassell is their next head coach. Knowing Les, it probably won't happen but hope springs eternal.
They lucked into Duncan with a classic tank job, and Duncan proved to be more valuable for factors beyond his great value as a basketballer. The SAS front office may well be the tops with Bu and Pop. Don't diminish Jazz', either. Presti has been opportunistic with a plentitude of high picks and a steal of a deal for Perk. But, Chicago? Ask Riley how much he tried to get Chicago's pick over the number 2, whom he dumped to Minnie in the Big 3 decision/creation. Rose is a rose is a heckuva rose, and Noah was all but gifted to them as he fell below some pretty poor choices. But Boozer? Basketball fortunes are odd occurrences. I'm in the DM the GM camp. He's done a lot with little. Gasol + Nene + Chuck for guys mostly wished gone by much of this GARM? He struck out with the '09ers but they were worth the shot IMHO. How would Buford or Presti et al have benefitted the Rox more in the DM the GM era?
Another really well thought out post. The only thing I would add is that from my observations over the past 15 years, the Rockets appear to be a reactive organization and not a proactive one. They are continually in react mode which is why they are stuck on the mediocrity merry-go-round. This organization hasn't been proactive in nearly two decades now. Furthermore, I think that far too many people here are confusing goals with actual plans. It is their stated GOAL to acquire a star player. Their PLAN on how to do so is murky at best: trade for one? sign a "star" free agent? Luck out in the draft? Get Dr. Frankenstein to build one in the TC lab? Or my personal favorite: Morey "The Genius" fleeces another team out of their star player because his brain is so much bigger than theirs.
But but but....I thought Mr. Maurey said they were going to be predatory....turns out they were actually the prey. DD
I disagree, we could not get by the Sonics, and getting Barkley got us by them right away. The Rockets were contenders with Clyde, Dream and Charles, they were like the older statesman team, sort of like the Spurs this year..... They just blew it when Stockton's 3 went down in the WC finals..... And the year before when Barkley's elbow went out with the Rox up 10 in the 4th. DD
Lakers owned the Rockets. They win the West EASILY. And hell, who's to say we beat SA in round 2? Doubt we get by LAL in the WCF though, even with Barkley being healthy.
The Rockets would have cruised through to the finals in that year. And the year that Stockton hit a dagger 3, was in the WCF...game 6. DD
It ain't the fans. It's the franchise. It's been well documented in this thread that the Rockets have a single playoff series victory to their credit over the last 15 years. And only 5 playoff appearances in the last 13 years. If that last statistic doesn't seem embarrassing enough upon first glance, keep in mind that there are 15 NBA teams in each conference and 8 qualify for the playoffs every season. So the Rockets despite having a 53.3% chance of getting into the postseason each year, have only managed that feat 38.4% of the time since 1999-2000. But if you really want to gauge how absolutely pathetic this organization has been in these last 15 years, just compare their performance to the other 29 NBA franchises. Again, we all know the Rockets have won only 1 playoff series since 1997. Guess which other teams have similar records. They are as follows: Memphis Grizzlies(1 series win in 2011) Golden State Warriors(1 series win in 2007) New Orleans Hornets(1 series win in 2008) Toronto Raptors(1 series win in 2001) Washington Wizards(1 series win in 2005) And frankly I'm being generous to the Rockets to include the Hornets. If you include their time in Charlotte(since we're dating back to 1997-98), they've won far more than 1 playoff series. Even Memphis almost doesn't count since they didn't start playing in that city until 2001 and have since become far more competently run compared to their Vancouver days. As for teams with worse playoff records than the Rockets over the last 15 years, only the Charlotte Bobcats have zero playoff victories. And again, they shouldn't count since they've only been in existence for 8 years. And let's be honest. They at least have a very high lotto pick to look forward to next month which is more than I can say for the Rockets barring a lucky ping pong ball. So there you have it. The Rockets have been equal to or better than only 4 other NBA franchises over the last 15 years(if we exclude the Hornets and Bobcats for the aforementioned reasons). That means they've been in the bottom 20% of the NBA for a decade and a half. Think about how sad that is.
