Take Yao off this team, and what do you have? You've got Steve who is the same as Gilbert Arenas. Jerry Stackhouse is Mobley. Kwame Brown is Maurice. Someone is JJ. Brendan Haywood is Cato. It's also very similar to the situations with the Sixers/Hornets/Knicks. Those teams are trash teams led by combo guards who would get smashed so bad in the Western Conference that every game would be a blowout against the top West teams like the Mavs, Kings, and Grizzlies. The roster needs to be reworked drastically, so that the Rockets can actually win in the Western Conference. Get GOOD perimeter shooters. NBA Fastbreak showed clips of the Kings in which Vlade passed out of the post to Mike Bibby with Bibby canning a 3. That's how this offense should work. Guards need to can the jumper. It's pretty simple. Shoot the jumper well in the half-court, and the Rockets win. Rockets management need to take off the blinders, and see what every astute observer is seeing.
what are the spurs without duncan, lakers without shaq, twolves without garnet. A lot of teams would be crappy without superstar players.
pretty good way to look at it. what if we don't have Steve? Still a lot of hope! not sure what's the +/- in W
I take into account salary considerations. Those teams you mentioned haven't given out max contracts to combo guards. Wizards/Sixers/Hornets/Knicks/Rockets are the only teams that have given max contracts to combo guards. If you take Yao off the team salary-wise, the Rockets are stilll over the salary cap. Did you know that?
last time i remeber when we had steve, and a bunch of other crap(except mobley), we were fighting for playof contention with a .500 record. In steve's second year, whenever he played, they were above .500. Obviously this is your first year following the rockets.
If you're trying to criticize our cap management, I agree. Had we not lucked into the #1 pick two years ago(and had taken Amare/Butler with the hypothetical #7 pick), we'd be talking another year of sure lottery. And this board would be filled with polls asking who we should pick next year.
Do you think it would still be the case this year, though? The west has never looked more loaded this year.
BTW - I am sure we will continue to contend for playoff spot with him. We may get another lucky bounce. we will be talking about the same thing
I've followed the Rockets since the Sleepy Floyd days. I remember when Derrick Chievous opened his mouth really wide when he shot free throws. I want this team to win. EVERYTHING CHANGED WHEN ZONE DEFENSE GOT ALLOWED. I'm sorry if Steve Francis' fans don't recognize that his game started going down the tubes when teams starting using zone defenses. Heck...it wasn't even a zone defense tonight, but Steve can't penetrate against the the wall of Rasho and Duncan. Steve's offensive game is way too close to the basket for a primarily half-court offensive team from using his skills. I hope Carroll Dawson and Van Gundy make the right decision this offseason and send Steve to a better place for his and the team's sake.
I don't agree, the wizards are in washington, the rockets are in houston the wizards have blue uniforms, the rockets have red michael jordan used to play on the wizards, he did not play on the rockets. also, the rockets are in the western conference, the wizards are in the east. In conclusion, the rockets without yao do not = the wizards
The likeness is uncanny. Eddie Griffin would have been a better comparision to Kwame Brown though, but still a good comparision. Brandon Haywood = Cato was right on target.
Guess none of you guys factored in that the zone defense was not allowed in steves 2nd year. Without yao getting mobley and steve some open shots, they would be doing pretty bad(well it doesnt really help steve since he cant catch and shoot). You guys witnessed firsthand what happens when steve and mobley try to take over. Its been estabished by some people on this board already that none of the western elite teams have a street baller type point guard. They have payton, bibby, cassell, Nash and id prolly add jason williams in there also. I dont think any western conference team has a combo guard as their pg. Imagine the rockets with one of those pgs.
Well, I would have to put JWilliams in the "street baller type" but he has changed his ways for the most part under Hubie.
Anyway, no champion without Yao. Steve is a great guard but also an overrate and overpaid one. He did worse than Baron, Stephen, Damon this year.
