Who is the best team in Texax? There are projected lineups Rockets Ward McGrady J. Jackson J. Howard Ming Mavs Terry Daniels Josh Howard Nowitzki Dampier Spurs Parker Ginobili Bowen Duncan Nesterovic Now these are some talented linueps with plenty of depth so who wins? My guess is Mavs followed by Rockets
Spurs, Rockets, Mavs. Rockets could overtake the Spurs. I feel more sure about the Mavs being the worst though.
IMO, the Spurs and the Twolves are the class of the Western Conference. I think Houston is close behind San Antonio and we have the potential to improve throughout the season, something I'm not sure you can say about the Spurs.
Until I see how the rockets are going to mesh I'm gonna go with that team down I-10W. Having the same core together they will have better chemistry to start the season...
Got to go with the Spurs right now, until Houston proves otherwise. But I'd stick Dallas at 3rd. I just feel they're going to implode Portland-style on us very soon. (by Portland-style I don't mean with maryjane running rampant, but the Mavs becoming a mediocre first round exit team)
Full disclosure - Franz the "rational" Mavs fan here, emerging from lurk mode to ask a legitimate question... The conventional wisdom at CC.net is that the Houston Rockets are gonna be 2004/2005 NBA greatness. Why? Yao - Okay, but he ain't gonna be significantly better this season than last. Word is his elbow needs some surgery, and he hooped for team China all off-season. Won't the roster turnover mean Yao's cultural deferential-ness will stall his aggressiveness? Sounds like tired old Yao will be doing well to repeat last season's success. Anybody here vibrating over the addition of Mutumbo? Cato was much better. T-Mac - JVG will ride a fine line this season between motivating T-Mac to buy into his system and browbeating his plow horse into catatonic disillusionment. A pouting injured mess is his standard. Can he rise above that to produce more than Mobley and Francis combined? I have my doubts. Endorsements don't put W's on the table. PF's - Juwan and Mo-T. Mo-T's a bit mopey and pouty himself. NOW the Rockets have acquired an arguably better player to eat into his minutes. Neither are world beaters, and neither will probably find their top rhythm in the competition for minutes. PF is actually a team strength, but it's production could be tempered by stagnating redundancy. Clarence Weatherspoon will start an herb garden in his left sneaker to keep him occupied at the end of the bench. PG's - Lue has been about the 20th best PG the last 2 seasons for awful teams. Charlie Ward is twice as bad - and when he goes all missionary-style on that pagan Yao in the locker room who thinks that'll be good? Talk has been that Sura will play lotsa PG, but he just had freakin' back surgery [shocking, I know] and will miss training camp and probably much of the season. Reece Gaines? Please. Nasty PG potential here. And are any of them the long defensive demons JVG covets on the perimeter? Guards in general - After T-Mac, who? *crickets* When T-Mac is in pout/aching-back mode, where's the gunner to step up? Sura? Please, he'll be over on the bench trading ice-bag wrap-arounds with T-Mac. SF - JJ. Last season he had 3119 minutes, 80 games and only 127 FT attempts. Not even 2 a game. JJ ain't above the occasional pout or injury problem either - he's also 400 years old. Boki gets shut down in his nat'l team games and Scott Padgett is a 1-trick pony who I'm surrrre JVG just adores. Straighten me out. Why are the Rockets gonna be so stellar this season? [P.S. - To the originator of the thread - Fin starts over Josh]
Franz, Looking at our team from last year and what it accomplished record wise, we are a much better team. We have Yao Ming one year older and he has been on a conditioning and lifting regimine to increase his stamina near the end of the season. We also now have Tracy McGrady who happens to be one of the two if not the best guard in the league. He is a much better passer, he was a defensive stopper in Toronto, and can score on anyone in the league. He put up 28 points a game and 32 the year before that while being double and triple teamed. Imagine what he can do when he has the spacing that Yao will give him? The Rockets are now an intelligent team with two superstars ala the Lakers of yesteryear. Yao is one of the best post up big men in the league and if given single coverage will destroy teams, as will McGrady. Surrounding them they have MoTaylor/Howard who both are great mid range jump shooters and smart heady players who can hit it from the outside like Jim Jackson and Ward. I am worried about their lack of guard backups, but both of they're superstars are not even 25 yet!!!!! I still think the Spurs are more cohesive, but the team that I think has fallen off the most the last year is the Dallas Mavs. There seems to be no Chemistry and its a strange mix of players. The whole offense was run by Nash, and not its to be taken over by Marquis Daniels and Jason Terry?!?!? Finley seems to be a shadow of his former self, and I don't think him or Nowitzski will get the kind of looks that Nash got them. And you guys have NO flexibility now by signing Eric Dampier (Contract season and puts up 10 and 10 on the worst shooting team in the league so bumps up his reb's #'s) for 73 million?!?! Dampier/Nowitski/Najera/Finley/ Terry??? Honestly, the change in dallas reminds me of when Milwaukee had Cassell, GlenRobinson and Ray Allen and then brought in Mason. They will lose their flow w Dampier and w/o Nash. Terry is no playmaker in the mold of a Steve Francis light. He will look for his own shot and the offense will stagnate as he bricks shots. I honestly think they will have difficulty making the playoffs. Especially while they cough on the smoke of the Rocket Liftoff!
I know it sucks to be the team that lost out on both McGrady AND Shaq in the same season, Franz. Oh, and you lost Nash and got Stackhouse in return for Jamison. I'm also pretty positive that Dampier is going to bust out this year like he did every season other than his contract season...oh, that's right...my mistake. Just funnin' witcha. Truth is that the Rockets do have question marks, but none quite as significant as Dallas at this point. We will have the best big man in the west and, arguably, the best guard in the west as well. Yes, we have holes. Yes, it will take time to gel. But, we have the opportunity to be significantly better by the winter, something most teams can't boast. I personally think that Yao is going to bust out this season. He was MUCH more agressive in the Olympics and essentially carried his team. He also had a FULL offseason of strength and endurance training, something he has NEVER had. I also think McGrady KNOWS he has a lot to prove. He wanted to be here and this is his chance to go at Kobe night-in-night-out. That makes us exceedingly dangerous and a lot less erratic overall.
I think they actually lost Najera as well. I don't understand what they're trying to do up there at all.
LOL. Why? Why don't you give us a report on the Mavs while you're at it? I'm sure you could find a lot more problems with them than the Rockets this year. BTW, there is no way Yao is going to be anything but better this year. I don't know where you're getting this 'tired old Yao' BS. The dudes 24, had over one month off, and is stronger and going to be more conditioned this year than last.
i have no idea how to judge the rockets at this point. spurs are still the best team in texas until someone proves otherwise. i don't relish that truth, but it's truth nonetheless.
Spurs, Rockets and Mavs. The Mav's lost an All-Star caliber player in Nash for nothing. Not to mention the Chemistry lost between Nash and Nowitski. They really didn't land anyone better than Jamison either. Jamison and Nash were two of their top three players and they got squat for them. You'd have to live in a crack house to trade Jamison for Stackhouse. Walker for Terry was a good move though.
The Mavs only lost Nash, every other move they made didn't make them much better or much worse. Jamison was not a big loss, the guy was a sixth man not their third best player, Stackhouse can be a pretty good sixth man too if he plays most of his minutes against bench players, and don't forget they also got Devin Harris in that trade. Spurs are still the best in Texas, it's better to see the Rockets and Mavericks play some games with their new rosters before we can figure out who's better out of those two. Right now I'll say the Rockets if they kick ass on defense again because the offense doesn't look like it's going to outscore many teams this season.
Who was a better player than Jamison on that team? Only Nash and Nowitski. Just because he came off the bench doesn't mean that some of the starters were better players.
Michael Finley and Antoine Walker. Finley has been their third best player for years, Walker gets an undeserved bad rap but his versatility is matched only by a handful of players in the entire NBA, he showed that off last season and will with the Hawks. Then you can make a case for the two rookies, but I'll just say Jamison as the fifth best player on the Mavs last season.
PG - Dallas Houston HOPES for a glimmer of mediocrity between Lue and Ward. Dallas has Jason Terry and a bun in the oven in Devin Harris. Oh, and Daniels almost had a triple-double at PG vs Seattle last season when Nash was out ill. Even Dallas' assistant freakin' coach, Avery Johnson, could probably excel at PG over the mundanity Houston trots out there. SG - SF - Dallas Houston has T-Mac, JJ and Sura, who may not see the court this season. T-Mac - Super talented, super flawed. Zero leadership. Back problems. Attitude at critical mass. Whew, glad I'm not y'all - who knows what the guy is gonna do this season. Dallas didn't fear T-Mac in Orlando, they won't fear him in Houston either while he's wearing JVG's offensive horse collar. I guess it's possible JJ could duplicate last season' numbers - or maybe he's due for one of his 'down' years. I guess when T-Mac's resting, JJ will be your 2 and one of the dynamic duo of Boki or Padgett will get some run at 3. Ooooo, scary. Dallas has Fin, Stack, Daniels and Josh. Fin: Pro's pro in every sense. Execution, class, motivation, poise - Fin is sooooo low maintenance. Oh, and he'll get you around 18/5/3 this season with excellent shooting %'s. Stack: Jamison did 15/6/1 last season. You don't think Stack can offset that with a 15/3/3 season as 6th man in Nellie's system? Really? He's healthy again you know. Daniels and Josh fill out the 2/3 spots - anybody got a problem with running those two young talents out there from the bullpen? Both lean on the mentoring Fin provides. It's working. PF - Dallas Houston has Juwan and Mo-T. The only way I can see these two getting the minutes they want is if Mutumbo is so awful at backup C Howard has to spell Yao. Between these two, not bad, but this is the WC and to compete you need somebody like... Dallas - Dirk. Dirk is FAR more dominant in our PF matchup than T-Mac is over the Dallas swingmen in even Clutch the Bear's wettest dream. Who cares who his backup is, 'cause the game will be over by the time he's needed. C - Much closer than any of y'all would admit. Houston - Yao. Get a grip, he ain't Shaq. Efficient, fluid, getting there ... buutttt ... not there yet. Hope he can solidify last season's gains and maybe get some more ref respect this season. Mutumbo will reek as his backup. Dallas - Dampier. All but 3 or 4 teams in the NBA WISH they were as solid at starting C. He'll do fine. And he's got 5 backup's - surely one out of Booth, Bradley or DJ Ebola will rise to a night's occasion if needed. And Dirk ain't a bad backup C as well when Nellie goes small ball. "The Rockets do have question marks, but none quite as significant as Dallas at this point." Yeah, I see your point ... or maybe I don't.
