Late 1980's, early 1990's: The Boston Celtics having just come out of the 80's with three rings are set not only to consistently compete for the title, but rebuild at the same time. With aging greats Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, and Robert Parish, their immediate prospects looked great. With touted youngsters Len Bias, Reggie Lewis, Pervis Ellison, and rick Fox, their future looked even better. But alas, Bias and Lewis died, Ellison was a bust, and Larry Legend was hampered by chronic injuries in the twilight of his great career. The once prestigious franchise fell into the gutter and has yet to return. Late 1990's: The Houston Rockets, with their own incredible trio of Charles Barkley, Hakeem Olajuwon, and Scottie Pippen attempt to succeed where the Celtics failed. Already possessing young scoring machine Cuttino Mobley, the Rockets were able to land not only Shandon Anderson, but another actual franchise player in Steve Francis. For the already two-time champion Rockets, it seemed a dynasty was a sure bet. But alas, Pippen $ouled out and the immediate title hopes dwindled a bit. No big problem though, the Rockets did acquire more young bucks to build around in Kelvin Cato and Carlos Rogers, and they already had Olajuwon and Chuck to carry the team in the playoffs, right? Wrong. Less than a month into the season, Hakeem goes down with a hernia. Then a few weeks after that tragedy, the $haq Killer, Charles Barkley's, career comes to an end with a knee injury. My point: The Basketball Gods will not allow you to be championship material forever. It's impossible. Sure, Portland's made the playoffs for nearly 20 straight years, but they've only been legitimate contenders for less than five of them. There are no examples that I know of to prove the contrary. The NBA's natural system of balancing power cannot be avoided. Let's just suck it up and hope that our stint in the gutter lasts only as long as the Faker$' did. ------------------ "I just whooped $haq's ass." -Barkley 3:16
Given the choice between having the young building blocks of my team knocked out before they had a chance to start (Celtics' experience) and having the old superstars knocked out before they could leave on their own terms (Rockets' experience), I prefer the latter. I hope you didn't jinx Francis with this post. Watch him turn up floating in the pool tomorrow.
Hey Juan why don't you just back up the truck full of salt ? be careful with what we say , it can bring negative energies into reality ! think positive please !
Yeah Juwan, watch it with the negamativy, that is some bad carma!!! Look at the DUKE for an exsample, I posted last year that the ROCKETS would start LOOSING some serious games if Rudy stayed as coach, and DUKE is always right! Huh? Right!! I feel like it is my fault. DUKE is sad now.
Hutz, I have to say I'm honored. I don't think you've ever deigned to address me directly before. I'm happy my post earned your notice. I promise to watch the negamativy in the future. -Juwan
Let's just hope the Rockets don't think like Jason Kidd: "We're going to turn this team around 360 degrees." -Jason Kidd Yikes! ------------------ The truth is out there.
No, it was Jason Kidd. If you mentioned 360 degrees to Karl Malone, he'd be thinking about baking a cake. ------------------ <this space for rent>
Good points Anti. I can't for the life of me remember a team that proved that recipe successful. There probably have been teams, just none that I can remember. As for right now, another Bird-led team is giving it a try. The Pacers are a nice blend of youth and experience. While they rely on their aging veterans, they have a nice set of promising youngsters - though none of them are franchise material - and a couple of players in between. Miller, Smits, Jackson, Davis, Perkins, and Mullin are all at least in their mid-30s, yet can still perform. Both Jalen Rose and Travis Best are 27, which means they have at least 5-7 years of good basketball left in them, but still have the experience. Then you have Croshere, Bender, and Al Harrington. We'll get to see how successful that operation is within a few months, as I'm sure this could be their last chance for awhile. Azim da Dream ------------------ No guts, no glory, no brain, same story.
3pointer, At least if Juan put that truck full of salt into the pool that Francis was swimming in, it'd be harder for him to drown. (ala the Dead Sea) ------------------ I have a dream.........his name's Hakeem.
