http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/page/5-on-5-110805/houston-rockets-offseason-questions Agree with this guy: Royce Webb, ESPN.com: Fact. The Rockets' expected W-L was 48-34 last season, putting them ahead of the Blazers and Hornets statistically. That says to me they have a great shot at edging out one of those teams, likely New Orleans. Don't know which Rockets team these guys were watching: Jonathan Santiago, Cowbell Kingdom: I don't see any of Houston's youngsters developing into NBA All-Stars. But if I had to bet on one guy becoming a solid starter, my money would be on Goran Dragic. His per 36 minutes stats (16.2 ppg, 5.2 apg) indicate that with consistent playing time, he deserves a starting nod somewhere in this league. Michael Schwartz, Valley Of The Suns: With his combination of hops and long-range shooting, Chase Budinger provides exactly what teams want at the small forward spot. There's a reason the Rockets were better with Budinger on the floor last season. If only he were a bit better laterally on defense the UA product would be a prototypical NBA small forward.
question:What will you remember most about Yao Ming's NBA career? answer: Noam Schiller, Hardwood Paroxysm: Putting up 33, 10 and 5 in Game 7 of the 2005 Dallas series as his team collapsed. Houston was up 2-0 and 3-2 in that series, and just couldn't pull it off, losing Game 7 by a ridiculous 40 points as Yao was the only one who fought until the end, and was probably the best player on the court in that game, for good measure. He considers Yao's performance in a 40pt blowout of a 7th game his most enduring memory of Yao. wtf? I'm sure that ranks up as one of Yao's fondest moments.
Soft shooter that plays no D was a perfect fit for RA. Let's see if Budinger proves last season's abomination was not a fluke for McHale.
You know, I think that performance does encapsulate who Yao was though. It didn't matter that we were being murdered - Yao never gave up. He just kept pushing himself to be great. In the end, it just didn't work out.
yeah, i know what you're saying, but would you have thought it if asked? Or would you have thought of Yao coming out of the tunnel against the Laker's as "encapsulating" who Yao was. We should go back and check the Yao appreciation thread and see if ANYONE as clutchfans.net mentioned that game as what they "remember most" Heck, that dude might be the only person on the internets to answer that question with that game.
You dare call his D adequate as a starter? Opposing SF regularly blew past him and scored in double digits.
Gawd, as if we need to be reminded of that game. But that series was such an uphill battle. We very well could have won, but I think the refs' pendulum swung too far when Cuban complained to the league. The refs knew the league was watching them, hence the tone of the rest of the series. Not to use refs as an excuse. I just think it became such a slog, that series, that the air went out of the tires by the time Game 7 came around. As far as Yao's defining moment? No.
I think the Rockets have for the most part been consistently underperforming by their point-differential "expected win" standard. While the Hornets have consistently been overperforming in this regards. This is because the Hornets have CP3 in close games. And the Rockets have, well... we're all Rockets fans here so we've all seen how they've performed in the clutch. Hopefully McHale can inject enough defense so we don't give up gazillion points and lose our leads in the 4th quarter over and over.
I doubt Budinger will even still be on the team by season's end, much less starting. Even at his very best, he is a net zero on the court. And when he is below his very best, he hurts the team. Like Aaron Brooks, I don't think Morey will be looking to keep him around for the long term. Especially after putting up a few points as the starter, look for him to be moved.
i wouldn't call it bad luck when C Lee has a history of choking at the end of games and C Bud has proven to be a mental p***y throughout his bball career thus far. i guess that's why Lee got traded twice in 2 yrs and Bud fell to #44. those 2 players aren't gonna change their spots no matter how much coaching and playing time they get and imo, they're both useless in the playoffs (if we ever get there again). testicularly speaking, they're like the polar opposite of our role players druing the title run years...ie. elie/ET/max/horry/and even chucky brown!
Also Courtney Lee grabbing the ball and running out of bounds thinking the game was over, mavs get it back w/ .04 sec left and marion gets a buzzer beating alley.
