I'm embarassed by some of you. That the Rockets didn't get blown out by 30 points tonite is a miracle in itself. Wake up people! Our best frontcourt player is a 39 year old fossil. Our rotation consists of CBA signees to average players. I dare anyone to pull up the season record prediction thread. The causes of your disappointment are expectations that exceed the shallow talent level of this team. Even with Steve Francis, few teams in the NBA are less talented than the Rockets. The guys play hard every night, give them a break. They just are not that good. If everyone hadn't predicted 55 win seasons, they wouldn't be so disappointed right now. You guys are acting as if the "original Big 3" has just lost by 40 at home to the Grizzlies.
Right on cabbage. If you weren't a Rockets fan would you know who Tierre Brown, Oscar Torres or Moochie Norris were? Probably not. But one thing is certain, CBA signees or not, these guys are playing like a bunch of individuals, but then again they've never played together in a real NBA game before, so expectations shouldn't be too high.
This thread is the joke. You can downplay our talent all you want, but we have talent. Hell Chicago even beat NY. New York is not all that. Your a respected poster but this is pathetic saying it was a miracle we didnt lose by 30 points. We should have, without a miracle, won the game.
I never mind watching losing teams who try hard. This team has intensity. Cuttino with 3 enyo face steals of Sprewell got me jumping. We had Mobley finding Rice wide open weakside for a 6 point lead with :50 left. Things are different if he nails that. Moochie had two open shots (12'er and 18'er) from well run plays in the last 2 minutes....I'll take that. All I want is steady progress towards movement. Players with little experience in movement and a bad front line are going to look ugly in stretches.
I don't care about W's and L's as much as the next guy. What I want to see is a well-played game and improvement. I didn't see either tonight. That qualifies as a JOKE.
Like I've said several times, our only problem is experience. I think we're very talented. When it all comes together in a season or two (giving EG and TMo time to adjust and for MoT to get back), I truly believe we'll be a force to reckon with. Coming into the season, of course my hopes were high, but not ridiculously so.
Cabbage, please keep posting. It is a joke. Whats good about the season. Kenny is better than anyone expected. Another part of a playoff contender is revealed.. Oscar Torres is a steal. Really is Shandon with a jumper. Another part of a playoff contender. Griffin looks like he does have the potential to be another part of a playoff contender. (Rudy should play him more). Three new parts to a playoff contender that we can see in one year. Prior parts to a playoff contenderl Steve, Cuttino and Taylor. That's six guys. All young. Potential parts of a playoff contender. Moochie and Cato, both young. Note: the Wiz, Rice and Willis will be over the hill by the time we're playoff contenders. Rockets fan take heart in the two or three years before the chamionships we were viewed as disorganize athletic underachievers, too.
Disagree about the the rockets talent being that bad. Not the best, but should have won 5-8 more than last year without the Francis injury. The problem with the rockets is that there is a saturation of big man talent in the West. Until the Rockets get Mo back and Griffin can play body up consistently on defense, they're going to have problems.
hey hey, I have a silver lining....or is it a sliver lining. <b>No one in the NBA as played the West more games than the Rockets.</b> And we were one Rice open shot away from being 3-0 against the East.
Griffin has been playing amazing defense. That still doesn't get him in the second half. Griffin play defense consistently? He can't from the bench.
This is a talented team. This team has arguably the best backcourt in the league or one of the top 2 or 3, a lottery pick who can play all the frontcourt positions, a quality back-up PG, a 7-footer who gives us double-doubles off the bench, a solid PF a good 2-guard off the bench in Torres and a big time scorer in Rice who is working himself into shape and an athletic center who is playing well. This team is more talented then the playoff teams from last year Phoenix and Utah. I mean look at Phoenix and tell me that team is more talented then Houston. What about Utah. To say this team is barely more talented then lottery teams is a joke. All I want is consistency. This team doesn't have to win 50 games, especially with Francis out, but this team shouldn't blow big leads because they forget how to pass the ball at the end of games. I mean it's easy to say "If you weren't a Rockets fan would you know" but look at Phoenix bench. What about Utah's bench. Do you even know most of the people on New Jersey or Boston's bench. Minnesota is literally a 3 man show. This team should be better then this, they're a talented squad. I don't expect them to roll over people, but I don't expect them to get blown out by the Grizzlies or blow big leads because of brain cramps.
thacabbage: Weren't you predicting that the Rockets would only win 30 games this season? It seems that I remembered you posting that. I agree with RocksMillenium in his assessment that this team is talented. Feeling that way and seeing how the Rockets just absolutely choked has me torqued off, and I imagine it does a lot of other people. So, yea, us complaining about the season so far is a joke to you, but I don't see it that way because I (maybe foolishly) expected more than 30 wins.
Agreed thacabbage. Completely! The rockets have one POTENTIAL superstar and one slightly above-average player who score - that's it! Everyone else and every other acpect of the game sucks bad on this team. No front muscle. No defense. No offensive flow. Just francis and mobley using their INDIVIUAL talent INDIVIDUALLY to score baskets in herky-jerky fashion.