How good can this rockects team be? I followed Chicago Bulls last 3 championship very closely. We can compare that 72/69 win teams to this Rockets. Roughly said, the Bulls had more star powers and the Rockets are much deeper. I am trying comparing them not only based on playground position but more on their team positions. The three superstars in Bulls were MJ, pippen, Rodman. I think that Tmac may be only 70% of MJ, RonRon may be 90% of pippen, Yao may be equal or little bit better than Rodman. So Ron/Yao will cancel Pippen/rodman each other. For role players, Scola is already a little ahead than Kucoc and has potential to improve more. Battier is at least equal or a little better than Harper. carl landary and chuck hayes are better than Luc longley+bill winghniton. Steve kerr on his peak is the only better role player of bulls vs the old Brent boy. Now Rockets had left Rafer Alston to match 30% MJ and Rockets still has AB, head, SF3 to match Bulls bench warmers. So actually that Bulls was not vey deep but with great chemistry and hunger. This Rockets team are close to them in talent wise and even better chemistry wise. So if both Yao/T-mac can play 70+ games, I don't care how tough western conference is, Rockects should win 65+ games. They should crash anybody on their way. I believe I was one of the first on this board to say that Rockects should go for Ron at expired contracts and a couple of draft picks long time ago. The Rockets then will dominate the league. I still don't understand why so many Rocket fans and experters don't have the faith on it. I am so happy for the Rockets players. I rarely like a professional team because they are so spoiled. But this bunch of players are all down to the earth, hard working, high BB IQ, team oriented players. They are maybe not most athelitic talented, but they are assemblyed best BB IQ team. They deserve to win and fans deserve to have good time. They all look like nice people. I am a big fan of Ron and Rafer even though they are emotional challenged. They did good stuff for the community and always working hard on playground. Go rockets. I really can't wait the season begin. How many games do you expect Rockects to win this season now?
I dont care about wins in the regular season though I watch all 82 games. Rockets should be able to win a ring. They'll win over 55 this year.
I think it might be one of the best teams of 2000s to be honest. I think this year's Rockets team is so good that they could beat Shaq and Kobe Lakers from the early 2000s in 7 game series. I actually think Houston will reach challenge last years 22 straight consecutive wins. You added Ron Artest to a team that only finished 2 games out of 1st place with their best player missing 30 games and key players being injured down the stretch. Also, this is Adelman's 2nd season. Even with injuries, this team will win at least 58 games.
until we win a playoff series no one in their right mind (save rockets fans) will respect us come playoff team.
We have the depth, we have the talent/star power, chemistry, coaching.......now we need to see what happens when you add HEALTH to that.............hopefully it means championship.
hard to say honestly. it make take us awhile in the regular season to get into a groove and figure out what rotations work best. we may struggle a bit at the beginning of the season. but i still think we can win 60 games mainly because i dont see the west being as strong as it was last year. denver, GS, dallas, and PHX probably will all be worse than last year. even if we are healthy and have good chemistry, i am still not sure we would be able to win a title with a team like boston still out there (the most likely finals opponent) boston came together and won it in their first season together. i think they will be even better as a team this year, especially come playoff time. also, they now will have the confidence and poise only champions can have.
I don't understand comparing Scola to Kukoc. The only thing that Scola has in common with Kukoc is they are both foreigners. There is little similar in their games. Two different positions. Two different skill sets. In general, it's difficult to compare teams of different eras. The Bulls were also a dynasty while we've yet to win a first-round series. I like the optimism though.
I cant wait for the season to get started too. But as much as I love the Rockets, we cant really compare a Bulls team who won championships and displayed an unimaginable win-loss record vs a Rockets team who has never won a single playoff series . Lets play the games first and see how our chemistry works. If we win the whole thing, then perhaps we can compare the two teams.
Ok, Yao gets the same stats but in a different way. People feared Rodman because he was crazy. That guy would end his career on a fight if he could. Yao is a big old softy that everyone knows and loves. People love giving Yao the rebound because they know how nice a guy he is. Well, apparently the Jazz didn't get that memo, but still. If anything wouldn't Ron-Ron be Rodman?
I was thinking that as well. I heard about the memo incident as well! Something to do with Texas license plate and then straight to jail....memo never got delivered....
You mean when Healthy, only Stern can choose whether to end a series early and late in "the best interest of nba". Lets hope Yao gets the calls he deserves or else he'll be beat up till hes injured again.
