It seems a lot of people are taking notice on our surge of late, and even our veterans are on the front page NBA.com with a brief notes for each one of them. http://www.nba.com/features/movingpictures_050127.html Jan. 27, 2004 -- When Houston opened play in the newly created Southwest division, two young superstars, Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming, were expected to single-handedly carry the Rockets to a playoff berth. Then a funny thing happened: The Rockets struggled to a 6-10 record by the end of November and looked nothing like the playoff-bound team some had predicted. Not all is lost in Houston, however, as the team has seemingly righted the ship behind its veteran players, winning five straight and eight of their last 10 to climb five games above .500. The team takes on Sacramento at home on Friday before traveling to Miami to face the Heat Sunday (1 p.m. ET on ABC). The recent success can be partly attributed to the additions of 30-somethings Jon Barry and David Wesley in late December, as well as the strong play of Bob Sura, who's averaging 13.4 points, 6.1 rebounds and 5.2 assists in January. On Jan. 19, Houston added more age to the league's oldest and most experienced roster when Rod Strickland, now in his 17th year, was signed to help fight through a rash of injuries. Below is a throwback of sorts, a look back at the younger playing days of the Rockets veteran crew assembled to help turn Houston's season around: Jon Barry: In 12 seasons in the NBA, Barry (seen here with the Bucks in '92) has made a living providing a spark off the bench from Milwaukee to Golden State, Atlanta to the Lakers, Sacramento, Detroit, Atlanta and Houston. (Tim de Frisco/Getty Images) Juwan Howard: Howard was reunited with University of Michigan teammate Chris Webber for four seaons in Washington. The 10-year vet would make stops in Dallas, Denver and Orlando before being included in the Tracy McGrady-for-Steve Francis swap in June 2004. (Jonathan Daniel/NBAE/Getty Images) Dikembe Mutombo: The club's resident elder has taken his rebounding show from the mountains of Colorado to the Meadowlands and the Lone Star state. Mutombo has found his name listed on six NBA rosters, making two trips to the NBA Finals, in 14 NBA seasons. (Jon SooHoo/NBAE/Getty Images) Rod Strickland: The Bronx native began his career at home with the Knicks, the first of nine teams he's played for in his career. When the Rockets brought in the out-of-work point guard on Jan. 19, Strickland told the Houston Chronicle, "I've been to plenty of places. Every road trip seems like a reunion." (Mike Powell/Getty Images) Bob Sura: The Rockets have started Sura (seen here in the '97 Dunk Contest) alongside Yao, Howard, McGrady and Wesley 11 times in the past 12 games, compiling a 7-4 record during the stretch. The 10th year guard teamed with current teammate Charlie Ward for three of his four seasons at Florida State before playing in the NBA with Cleveland, Golden State, Detroit and Atlanta. (Brian Bahr/NBAE/Getty Images) Charlie Ward: The 1993 Heisman Trophy winner began his NBA career in New York in 1994. After playing more than nine seasons in the Garden, Ward made a visit to San Antonio's roster last year before being reunited with coach Jeff Van Gundy this season. Ward was placed on the injured list due to right knee surgery on Dec. 26. (Eliot J. Schechter/Getty Images) Clarence Weatherspoon: As a member of the Philadelphia 76ers, Weatherspoon was named to the got milk? All-Rookie second team in 1993. Five years later, Weatherspoon, now in his 13th NBA season, began his journey through Golden State, Miami, Cleveland and New York. (Jonathan Daniel/NBAE/Getty Images) David Wesley: Perhaps rookie Andre Barrett can pick up a thing or two from Wesley, who joined the Rockets after spending time in New Jersey, Boston, Charlotte and New Orleans. Wesley, like Barrett, was undrafted out of college and has gone on to average 13.2 points and 4.7 assists over 11 NBA seasons. (Getty Images)
you got beat by a couple of minutes...but imo..this thread should be the one to stay open since you were kind enough to post the related words......an advantage to those of us stuck on dialup right now....(nba.com was not designed to be dialup friendly) Ill have to chek the link when I get back home to my fast connection.
thats the wrong way to look at it... Rockets The Most Experienced Lineup veteran experience counts tons when things get tough...and in the playoffs...
IF the old farts still have legs left. Anyways, I like where this team is going. They have been good since the new year began. We are only going to get better.
How about Chicago Bulls? Scott Skiles's team has 4 rookies. But he has gotten 22:19 now with 0:9 start. JVG's team has no young guy. I am not sure if AB has any significant playing time with Strickland as backup PG. How about next year? Bulls may make big progress next year, but ROX may still struggle for the playoff berth.
LOL, the articles generated so many threads. Whoever has the most replies will survive. Other threads will either be merged or locked. I am replying to this one, so it might be the one who survives. Noize, I am doing you a favor.
It's kind of funny how old our team is... we are the "old guys". Have you ever played bball at a park with a group of friends then some older guys ask to play a game.. then you look at your friends with a smirk. I wonder if that's how other teams think when they play us? Psshh yea right. they think of T-mac and Yao. We have the oldest role players with the youngest one-two punch star comdo (i havent checked to see if this is true but it just sounds good lol). I feel our team is like an underdog team, most of our players come from losing teams and some have been "losers" all their career, add to that we are mostly on the other side of 30. If we go deep into the playoffs we'll be a team to remember. If we win the championship the name of the video shall be called Rocketball: A True Underdog Story
this "oldest lineup in the league" title reminds me when we were the oldest team in the league when we had olajuwon/drexler/pippen or olajuwon/pippen/barkley. eventhough we reached the western conference championship (which malone and stockton stole from us).
If all the players in the nba were in their prime, ours would definetly top out the rest. Only problem now is that only one of our players are in their prime, although im not complaining about what we've been able to do.
wow, he is wearing a throwback LOL. kenny smith said one night on inside the nba: "you know your old when you wore a throwback." he was talking about the kings wearing the powder blue on tnt that night...they showed a clip of kenny wearing the same ones when he used to play for them. did anyone else on our team wear a throwback? (space pj's don't count)
