The day before this season started... did you think the Rockets would be the scoring leader?

No way.

 

FIFY.

We're trending up. Hoping young superstars will give us a second look. Not only are we doing well, we're also a fun group.

 

Before the season starts? People were crying out loud to call Harden a bust when we were in those struggling games.

Dudes were arguing with me that "our team/backcourt is not more talented than last year", I hope now they can shut up for good.

But you never know when those basters will surface up once team start losing.

 

i thought it was very possible. i pegged the team at around 48 wins

Remember the scrubs that Lin was winning with a starting line up of Lin, Fields, Walker, Jeffries and Chandler and scoring over 100 points a game

I think everyone on our team is very talented if put in the right position

 

Yes, I made numerous posts at the beginning of the season that Rockets will be among the top 5 in offense. Here was a thread I made.

http://bbs.clutchfans.net/newreply.php?do=newreply&p=7299406

 

That is SOO true!!! When Harden or Lin was back in their old team, their fans were all over them and rooting for them big time. But when they both came to Houston, fans started to find different ways to criticized them to make themselves feel better.

When Harden was traded to Houston, many in OKC was saying that he was only a sixth man, and he will get exposed because he wouldn't have Kevin Durant or Westbrook to help him. That he was able to average 16 points per game because no one was guarding him. A lot even pointed out that Harden disappeared in the Finals and said he was exposed by the Heat.

When Lin signed with Houston, it was much worst. I think Stupid Stephen Ass Smith had something to do with most of the dumb rumors. They were saying that Lin was a selfish greedy person because he went back to Houston to ask for more money when all he did was sign one offer sheet from the Rockets like the Knicks told him to do. Also, Stephen A Smith kept going on about Lin was turnover prone, can't go left and Miami shut him down. Its funny how all the things Lin was criticized about is the things that he can easily improved on and most of it has to do with him being such an inexperienced PG.

 

Its funny how a lot of people thinks Monta Ellis is better than James Harden...

 

You know which current NBA player SAS is closest to, buddy buddy close, and exclusive interviews close?

Let me give you a little hint. They were close from Denver days.

Mind you, I am not insinuating anything here.

 

It's OK no one is taking SAS seriously anyway

 

I don't really believe Melo, personally, had a problem with Lin. He seems like a real easy-going guy, like too easy going.

But I can easily believe that his handlers (and his ambitious wife) were bothered by Linsanity. Especially since the press was comparing him unfavorably to Jeremy.

 

I've been so conditioned to view the Rockets as a defensive team (through the 90's and 00's) that it's still hard for me to wrap my head around. You just think, "why the hell couldn't the Rockets have had some of these guys to complement Yao and T-Mac?" I always think back on that game 7 against Dallas when Yao and Mac scored all but 8 of the team's points (right? they scored 30+ each and the total came out to 76).

 

I think Melo wanted to be the Knicks savior and when the Knicks were falling apart last year, he was still injured and all of a sudden, Lin came out of nowhere and got them back into the playoffs. But I'm not sure how Anthony really feel about Lin but I know JR Smith really hates him and jealous of Lin because Lin is making more money...

 

I don't really care about SAS.....

 

I think its the media. We've seen what melo can do this year, and to think about that he was constantly being asked if he can coexist with lin, and later being blamed for the losing streak, I wouldnt be too happy either. I think if its a small market team the fans and media would have the patience to wait for them to figure it out.

 

Its sucks that the Rockets had a great player like Yao and Tmac back then and failed miserably to surround them with talent. I know Tmac gets a lot of blame for the first round exit, which should really be on him because he was the best player but I think it really had to do with the fact that those Rockets team were easily exposed.

I think against any good experienced team like the Mavericks and Jazz in a 7 game playoff series, will easily find the weakness from the Rockets. Even though the Rockets had two star players, the rest of the team were really terrible. The Rockets really failed to put any good talent around the two of them and they paid for it in the playoffs. Until when Artest arrived in Houston and the Rockets finally had a few decent talent, Tmac was in and out of the lineup, lost his athleticism, confidence and motivation, and was no longer a star caliber player and ended the season with a knee surgery, and Yao also went down with a season/career ending injury at the start of the Lakers series..

But this year, I' haven't been this excited since the trade for Tmac. But the difference is, this team is very youthful, high upside, lots of talents and potential and is playing at a fun pace. Even though that first year when Tmac first came to Houston to team up with Yao, that team didn't really have any bright spots outside of Yao and Tmac.

 

I really think some of Melo's drive and motivation this year had to do with the Linsanity era. I know a part of him wanted to show everyone that the Knicks didn't need Lin and that they are better off without Lin. Also, Melo have always played well every single season after Olympics. Its like he got a ton of motivation from Lebron, Kobe, Chris Paul and Durant.

Yea the media had a lot to do with it also. They were all over Melo saying he was a selfish player and that Lin was the total opposite and that the Knicks were moving the ball well with Lin and not Carmelo. I understand how Carmelo would feel about that. But J.R Smith going public and saying what he said was really uncalled for. I've never seen a player talking down on his ex teammate over the contract he signs.

 

That's what makes me think Morey actually knows what he's doing.

The whole point of him being here is to work his magic out of over utilizing with the lesser of parts.

The players he gets melds well with THIS team rather "THE" ideal team that every other pinhead GM chases.

So once that player thrives in THIS team enough to get attention and winds up elsewhere, the productivity doesn't amount up due to a different system. It's like someone taking a successful robots thigh and trying to use it as his robots forearm. The parts just don't work.

Basically just look at every player averaging double digit scoring over the last 3-4 years and see how much they've underperformed since taking off their Rockets jersey.

 

That may be true, but I don't see what SAS did as something nefarious. I think the stuff he spews out just represents what some athletes may be thinking or saying in private with their camps but won't say in public. He was standing up for his friends.

Before leaving for China, Tmac said "Steven A. Smith, you gave us players a voice and for that I thank you." It didn't sound like it was for anything specific. I took it to mean SAS would sometimes put stuff out there and take the heat for the players when it was inconvenient for the players to say things publicly.

For me, it made little sense that SAS would be on a personal crusade against Lin. It made more sense that he was just putting on the air the players' or their camp's sentiment about how Lin isn't all that.

The hype at the height of Linsanity was such that (because of the record setting start) Lin was better than LeBron, Shaq, MJ, Magic, Stockton, Thomas, (plug in HoF of your choice). There were also ridiculous articles about how going to Harvard made him a better leader or have a higher BBIQ or his Asian heritage conferred upon him better court vision because in Asian art, attention to the background is as important as the foreground subject. There was also that whole smartest backcourt in the NBA with Landry Fields because he went to Stanford and probably had a high combined SAT score.

There was probably a lot of resentment. You see it when SAS says Lin was "exposed" after the Miami game. I mean, who says that about someone who's practically a rookie and had a championship level defense gameplan to shut him down? After the game winning Toronto game there was the whole discussion about how the last shot should go to Lin instead of Melo (who was having a tough year at the time due to injuries). In their minds, even LeBron (who still had a reputation for being unclutch, it was after all before he won the championship) might defer to Melo in clutch situations, so even questioning if Lin should get the last shot instead of Melo was an insult.

It seemed like it was a response to all the hype. It was the view of some of his athlete friends and their camps.

Now that Lin is no longer being built to be the savior of NY. He can backpedal and say stuff like "I knew he was no scrub" or "he'll be a good player in a few years." I don't know or watched SAS enough to say what kind of person he is, but I think it's easy to see why he'd say some of the stuff he said on air if you assume he's being that "voice for the players."

 

The rebound and the outlet is perhaps the most important part of the transition, it's not about 5 guys running down the court.

 

Lin has always said that Melo was really nice to him, so whatever resentment he might have felt, at least he hid it. I don't really think Melo is a bad guy, though I've never really been a fan since Denver days.

JR Smith's hatred of Jeremy is inexplicable to me. He seems to be the only Knick that really disliked him.