ESPN ranked the Rockets at #17 below the Wizards, Jazz, and Magic...are you kidding me? Someone needs to slap the writer Marc Stein http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/powerranking?season=2003&week=1
Injuries, migraines, drugs, not knowig if Yao is coming, not not knowing if he will fit in, not knowing how many minutes he can give you or how many games he can play (due to fatigue). I think that is about right, maybe slightly high, there is A LOT to prove, and hey, just hope they are higher than that come June!! Above Philly???
Just the fact that Mo is back and Griffin is looking great..and Rice is healthy and the Migraines are being worked on..make them better than #17!! Even without Nachbar and Ming!
i would think drugs would boost us on the ratings. just look at odom, his numbers dropped pretty low last year after he was forced to stopped blowing the killa.
The Rockets have been underestimated all preseason. I hope they make all these "experts" eat their words
7 of the 16 teams listed ahead of us had worse records than the Rockets season before last. The Sonics record was identical (45-37). Think of how many players we're getting back healthy (from what we've heard), what we've added to the team in the offseason (Yao, Boki for starters- 2 rookies who've played in pro leagues overseas for years), and that young players like Griff have a year under their belts. With any luck at all, Stein will spend most of the season wondering why he had us this low.
They are top 10 for sure: Sacramento Lakers Dallas San Antonio Portland New Jersey Houston Minnesota Toronto Orlando Indianapolis New Orleans Philadelphia LA Clippers Washington Seattle Utah
Sounds ridiculous, I know, but sabermatician Bill James did a study once on athlete's performance before and after kicking a habit, and the surprising tendancy was largely that players suffered on the field AFTER breaking their usage. Now this wasn't a morality lesson, and James was in no way suggesting that they didn't benefit as PEOPLE from getting off coke or whatever, but his study was based soley on numbers, and they told their own tale. His explanation had to do with the degree to which professional athletes are a product of habit, that their performance ability was based on a specific way of doing things, and that ANY significant break in this routine would result in a detrimental effect on thier play.
Rediculous? Is the ranking too high? Or too low? Every team has injuries during the season, and players (most anyway) tend to come back healthier after the off season. This is basically the same team as last season, plus Ming, who's never actually played in the NBA. Chemistry and whether the players stay healthy is going to be a question. A ranking of 17th before camp gets going is probably pretty fair. But really, the power rankings are meaningless -- period. They give an indication of the strength of the team, and bragging rights. At this point of the seson, they don't really even do that. I would point out that ESPN also ranked the Rams as number 1 in the NFL before the season started. They are now 25, and have yet to win a game (0-4 record.)
Notice that at #13 he said that "the next 10 can be in any order." So he is in essence putting the Rox in the third-tier pack, which I think is fair until we can prove ourselves otherwise. Also, his short comment says that the Rox's problem isn't talent but getting Ming here and up to speed and getting Wink and Cat to pass him the ball. Fair enough to me.
The Jazz have a slimmer chance at making the play offs than we do, I don't see how they could be ahead of us. Even Washington, yes they added a lot of talent, but they still are in the East; which giving them an auto "reduction" in rankings.
It isn't a big deal, but I dislike pre-season rankings that place Leastern Conference teams too high. Yes, yes, here I am whining about the favoritism, but it wouldn't be necessary if ESPN would hire some more knowledgeable staffers. Actually, it's less of a "favoritism" thing, probably, than just mixing and matching. Trying to keep it even. The truth is, Portland was the #6 (or #7?) team in the East last year and would have ranked higher than New Joisey in terms of victories (strength of schedule, etc). If you want a laugh, check out the one website we can't mention by name or the thread gets locked, it predicts four teams in the East with more than 50 victories, the Magic with 52...says Yao Ming won't be a factor for us, etc.
Not to throw water on our enthusiasm, but don't you think that we, as fans, ALWAYS think that the Rockets are underrated? Don't you think that just about every team in the middle range has fans feeling the same way as we do? Didn't we all think we were underrated before last year?
the clippers do. they barely missed the playoffs last year. This year they are another year older and have added the best passer in the league. Behind the rockets, they are my favorite team. They are my dark horse to win the ring, the rox being my sure thing.
AMEN... hell look at the Aggies, they actually BELIEVE that every year is going to be the year! Another footnote, do not read too much into training camp b/c your starters SHOULD kill the second team!
you guys just need to stop crying over these stupid power rankings and let our performance speak for itself. The rockets don't deserve to be ranked in the top ten after winning only 28 games last season even though there were injuries, they still have to show they can still play.
