I just got off work and was very suprised that no one posted a thread about this. Who went? Any pictures? How did the new guys look? How did the old guys look? As you can tell Im dying for Rockest News so can anyone who went help me out?
It was slightly uneventful. Yao had his usual jumphook and turnaround. He looked healthy and "not thin". IMO Yao's going to have a very good season. Tmac was quiet for the most part, did have one "alley hoop" that was nice. Seems to me it might take a little time for Tmac to get comfortable knowing when to share the ball and when to hog. (obviously it was just a low key practice) Dikembe had quite a few blocks early which was somewhat of a surprise. (isn't he 48 or 58? =) ) Boki was making most of his shots. Gaines was making shots too. Is it just me or did Mo lose a lot of weight? Other than that....uneventful....still stoked for the season though...
How was the turnout? I can imagine it was that great with the Astos playing right down the road. How were the fans, coach, player question and answer sessions? Thanks.
it was boring, they tricked us had all these bad games for an hour and a half to stall then they played for 20 min. and ran the clock during FT too I was fairly pissed, cuz it was a waste of time.
I'm wondering... Anyone believe that *this* particular "open practice" was toned down a bit because the coaching staff knew it was going to be "open" to the public (JVG: "No showboating guys; no injuries....go easy...")? I mean, don't you guys think that JVG has been working his players HARD under the CLOSED PRACTICES? Just a thought. P.S. I'm not saying I know this. Just wondering if it may be possible. Since, I'm not in Houston, so I don't know how they've (local media, hence Jeff's "Disappointing Coverage" post) been covering the Rocket training camps. But JVG might be keeping the hard-nosed practices under-wraps. Shhhhh....it's a secret!
It was pretty fun. I didn't expect an hour of crappy fan games, but it passed the time. The 20 minute scrimmage was interesting, and it was great to see T-Mac and Yao on the court together for the first time. It's going to be a fun year.
I remember showing up to the open practice for Yao's rookie year. The practice level was on par with that practice. I think they definitely tone down for these open practices. Is there any doubt that Van Gundy, Mr. no bs / no distractions, would call off the open practice if he could? Attendance was actually good, even considering you had people watching UT choke again and the Astros setting up a crazy day for tomorrow.
True...except that after this long summer of guessing and wondering about 101 things w/ this team, at least the scrimmage revealed to us that Gaines is not the complete bust we feared he might be. On the contrary, his talent, skills, and confident demeanor looked very promising out there...
yea i went to the yao rookie year practice too. and it was WAY better than this. everyone was playing hard and rudy t let them play a lil longer for the fans too.
You don't expect much, do you? Last year they only played for 10 minutes - I was happy that they played for 20 - even if they kept the clock running. It was FREE and you were sitting in $100 seats. What's wrong with that?
they should tell us how long it was gonna be and not waste our time playing games for an hour and a half. maybe i was pissed cuz i could have watched the astros game instead of watching those ridiculous shooting games.
