Many speculate about the presesnt and the future of the Rockets. Unlike other teams i think the rockets have a bright now and future. Eventhough mcgrady back isnt holding up like we wish, its still about the big picture. I dont know if anyone has pointed to this, but Tracy's contract has this year plus 3. Many will say man we're screwed if he doesnt get better or the experiment is a failure. I actually see it another way. The Rockets have the best pivot in the game in Yao and T0Mac when healthy is still a top 10 wingman. Dont just look at his scoring, look at his asst and rebounding and the controlling of the flow.What better advertisement can you have for Lebron,Carmello or Wade. When McGrady contract is up, Yao wont turn 30 till the season starts and all thos guys will be free agents. The Rockets shouldn't take on any contracts that run past 09-10. If McGrady talents keep descending, they could make a max contract offer to anyone of the 3 and team them up with yao. Hell even then mcgrady might be functional enough to be a mle player on a championship quality team. Show me anothe team that may have that in their arsenal.
good point but.... Isnt Duncan, Parker, and Ginobili all signed through at least 2010 also? and all three of them are still entering their prime...
Yes, but what has always been the Spurs' strength was their excellent cast of role players, which was composed of guys that just knew how to flat out win and were clutch performers (Kerr, Horry, SJax, Elie, Elliot, Johnson, others). I think the Spurs won't be as lucky in the future to seamlessly replace their aging role players and still continue to win championships. Also, those couple of years where the Spurs had the luxury of having the twin towers is no more; you saw how they struggled to contain a dominant big man like Yao and had to risk getting Duncan in foul trouble just to have a prayer of stopping him. The Spurs' weakness is a team that has a truly dominant presence inside, as in at least one guy who is a dominant post-up player. I think another key to beating the Spurs is playing physical basketball...in both instances, a team with a Yao Ming and a Bonzi Wells can do some damage against them, but we need more balance/consistency from other players as well. I think the Spurs will always be solid, and the Suns have a 2 year window where they must win it all before Nash comes back to earth and realizes his body is taking too much pounding and he has to slow down (he has a persistent back problem). I think moving forward, the one team that should concern Rox fans the most is the Mavericks and especially Mark Cuban. The best chance we have is to get Cuban to sell that team so they can go back to becoming an irrelevant franchise.
I agree that in 3 seasons, any superstar free agent weighing offers would have to consider playing with Yao Ming to be a huge selling point. With Shaq nearing the end, the path is clear for Yao to dominate the paint for the next 6 or 7 seasons.
Maybe even Andrew Bynum in a year or so. No doubt but I think Yao is the best of the bunch as a pure center. Oden could become his biggest rival if the hype is true.
