Howard has 3 years left on his deal. We're gonna be wheeling him out there in his wheelchair by the time he reaches the last year of that deal.
Best way to help our Lottery Chances is to... Best way to help our Lottery Chances is to fire Van Gundy and hire Dom Capers
I dont know how Capers can help our lottery chance but I think he can install a new blocking scheme to prevent penetration of the opposing teams guards into the paint.
dom capers is the greatest basketball coach of all time and this is only not recognized because he was forced to coach football.
If we have to pin our hopes for next season on Sura ("heart and soul" stuff), we may as well forfeit next season right now.
Tanking is going to cost more than you can get ! Check Chicago Bull's history, nice tanking job! 1999 No.1 Elton Brand 2000 No.4 Marcus Fizer 2000 No.7 Chris Mihm 2001 No.4 Eddy Curry 2002 No.2 Jay Williams 2003 No.7 Kirk Hinrich 2004 No.3 Ben Gordon 2004 No.7 Luol Deng
if either kings or fakers lose their last remaining six games and rocks win all six then it's playoffs. that isn't going to happen. it's time to collect some lottery balls.
its ok. i can deal with it. the being knocked out of playoff contention thing has been a formality for months now so we've sure had time to get used to it our focus now has 2 be on 06-07. its been said already i know but damn this is gonna be an interesting offseason for the Rocks. 2 players we must ditch one way or another Swift Skip (as much as I love his personality...however kissing refs on the head im not so rapt about- thats a little creepy )
Currently the Rockets are at #11 I believe. I think the Wolves and the Warriors aren't going to be caught the way they are playing right now. To me, the best the Rockets can do is move down 3 spots to #8. Seattle, Boston and Orlando are the teams that have a chance to overtake the Rockets. Those are the 3 teams to key in on as the season winds down.
I am surprised to see what I recognize as some usually smart posters going along with the "tank the remaining games" bandwagon. I think it's a deal with the devil for players or management to try for it, or perhaps even for fans to hope for it. If you play to lose so that you can "game the system," then aren't you just playing without pride and without heart? Don't ever underestimate the heart of a champion. And don't sacrifice heart to try to get there. We're better than that. I was proud of the fact that we won our 2nd title as a 6 seed, and with a bunch of CBA players who played every game like there was no tomorrow. I'd be ashamed if I thought we really lost games just to try to improve our lottery odds from 1.1% to something slightly higher. Besides, it's not as if being a high pick will guarantee anything in this draft. Check out all the lottery busts from the last decade. Why not focus instead on trying to find a Sam Cassell or a Manu Ginobili late in the second round? That's the kind of winner's mindset that pays off big time in good karma.
Overall I'm stunned there are still people like this. We are officially eliminated from the playoffs and there are 6 games left... six, and there are still people who think winning should be our #1 focus? Huh? This team needs two arms, another leg and a brain before we can see if the heart is pumping any blood. Check out all the second round busts from the last decade. Before the draft, how many lottery picks have you seen swapped straight out for second rounders? If you love second rounders, you'll be thrilled to know that the higher our draft pick is, the more second rounders we will be able to attain with it. Let's take the 1998 draft for example (hindsight is a wonderful thing). You could say, "Look -- the #6 pick was Robert Traylor, a massive bust, while the #33 was Rashard Lewis and the #41 was Cuttino Mobley!" Before the draft, do you think any team that held the #33 and #41 could deal those two combined for the #6? Hell, the Rockets had #14, #16 and #18 and they couldn't move up. Point is, whatever you DO with your pick is up to team management and scouting. Once you use it, that's what you got -- and a few years after the draft, the #1 pick will not likely be the best player and the 60th pick the worst -- there will be busts, steals, mid-round gems, etc. But before the draft, the higher the pick, the more valuable it is -- for the very fact that you can choose from more players than the team behind you. More than anything, what the Rockets need right now is a chip in their corner, whether it's to be used as a trading asset or the ability to get the player that they have scouted and want on the squad. If the Rockets drop 3 spots in the draft because of some meaningless wins post-elimination while playing their veterans big minutes, they will have done themselves a major, major disservice.
Well I agree. I want to win as much as anyone, but I want to win with honor. Tanking games is cancerous. Can you imagine if a team's management or coach obviously plays to lose in the final games, and then you have to come back the next season and tell players that they have to always give 100% even if they're tired, hurt and/or the game is out of reach? Can you imagine trying to change the heart of a player that was so lacking in self-confidence that he thought the only way he could ever get a title was to play meekly so that they might have a shot at getting some help next year? I just contrast this topic with the article about David Wesley, who is playing hurt and playing hard even though there is "nothing to play for" right now. That's the kind of guy I want to cheer for, not someone who will quit because he is so lacking in moxie that he hope for help before playing to win. As for the Rockets tanking to get Olajuwon, that's a debatable thing, and, besides ... there was another team that either didn't tank or didn't tank hard enough that got stuck with Michael Jordan as a third pick. I doubt they wished they had tried harder to get the first pick. (The Lord works in mysterious ways, no?) Tanking games is cancerous, and bad karma. I'm not surprised to hear that people are discussing it, because it goes on in every city to varying degrees. I am just surprised that so many posters here whose views I have generally respected are joining the tanking bandwagon. We are Clutch City because our team played with unbelievable heart and pride to deliver 2 championships to a city that had been heartbroken many times and had been tagged loserville by many outsiders as well as insiders because of historic meltdowns that all of us can remember all to well Olajuwon and company excorcised those demons and gave new inspiration to the city, along with a new moniker of Clutch City to replace what otherwise would've been forever known as Choke City. Let's not dishonor what they did by reverting to a mindset that we once left behind us. And yeah, this is still a business. But it's a business where heart still rises above money and gamesmanship. Who had a bigger payroll, the Yankees or the White Sox? Who had more talent, the Yankees or the White Sox? The Yankees or the Astros? The Cardinals or the Astros? Who played in the World Series? What made you more proud to be an American, the 1980 hockey gold medal won by a bunch of collegians or the gold medal won by a dream team of NBA professionals? Being a champion is a great thing, but asking a team to tank games in pursuit of a championship seems like a betrayal of our heart of a champion and Clutch City legacy. I'm still hopeful that this is just frustration being let loose. I mean, it's fine to be relieved that we get a good draft pick because we crapped out in the end, but it's a whole different thing to be wishing your guys would show a loser's attitude and then suddenly reclaim a winner's mindset later.
