I am not sure why people are talking about championships. That seems to me to be a bit delusional. One, the Rockets haven't been out of the first round in over a decade. Two, this season has featured disaster after disaster, the biggest one being T-Mac flaking out. Walk before you can run people. Get to the playoffs, get past the first round and from there everything is gravy.
I'm assuming championship is the goal. If the Rockets goal is merely to win a first round in the playoffs, I'm not real interested. That's not very compelling.
Agreed Max, but the journey is important, this team was a possible contender at the beginning of the year, but a lot had to happen, and as I correctly pointed out, Artest did not fit with Tracy.... So, fast forward to now.....Tracy is out, but if you really look hard.....that is not a bad thing.....Artest fills his role in a different way.... So last year, the team finished 2 games out of first in the entire WC in seeding...without Yao....now....they have Yao.....even without Tmac this team is still stronger than that one because of Artest, Landry, Brooks, Wafer, Barry etc... So, to me, they have gotten better, even without Tracy....and if they get deeper into the playoffs, anything can happen. Enjoy the ride....because up to this point it has been too darned dramatic.... I think they are contenders STILL this year.....everything has to break right and they are not going to be favorites, but they will give other teams hades..... And that is progress. DD
What, this year? Immediately? Pretty much every team out there is gunning for a title, except for the Clips and Hornets, but there has to be some consideration given to the process of assembling the right pieces, giving them time to gel and fine tuning. Also, **** happens. The Rockets just took a hit with the whole McGrady fiasco. The question is what are you going to do now? Roll over and die? Or get back to work, even though you just took a step back, and try and make up for lost ground? As far as I'm concerned building a championship team is a multi-year process. And in any complicated operation there are bound to be setbacks and disappointments. Also I think you're nuts for not wanting to watch the team now, even if they don't make the finals. They're down $21 million dollars, they're spotting the other team $21 million dollars every night. Can they make up for that? How do guys respond? Can they make the playoffs, get past the first round? There's some real drama here.
Even if Les gave his blessing, I don't know that Moneyball Morey would ever do something as drastic as trading Yao. I don't know if it fits the approach. Let's say the next Lebron James is available in the draft (I realize HS players can't enter anymore, this is just a hypothetical) and you can get him by trading Yao. Would Morey do something like that? I know CD/Rudy would consider it; not sure about Morey. I've always wondered about this sort of stuff. He seems very risk-averse. Would he have drafted Yao to begin with? Made any of the blockbuster moves the Rockets made in the 90s/early 00s? I don't see him trading for Eddie Griffin, which I still believe was a gamble worth taking. I have doubts on whether or not he'd make the trade for Steve Francis.
I am so tired of hearing this. What about the first Utah series? That was Tracy's chance; Game 7; close in the 4th. I was waiting for it, and I'm sure everyone else was. I didn't see him take over anything. He couldn't even grab a board. What about last year? Did you watch it? Tracy couldn't score in the 4th of any game to save his life. It was awful. I understand his playoff average his high. It doesn't matter. I really wish people would drop this. How about Tracy's playoff stats from last year? 42.5% FG 20.8% 3PT 62.3% FT Who cares how many points he's scoring if he's shooting like that? I'm not saying last year was his fault, but please, don't act like he gave us this amazing performance. More on topic - I am going to have to agree with most of you guys. I haven't seen anything out of Yao recently that suggests he'll be able to bring us a Championship without some help. I don't want him to leave, but I think the organization is going to have to really consider whether or not they feel he is worth the max.
We're discussing personnel moves. You don't make personnel moves for any reason but to ultimately build a roster for a championship...particularly when you're talking about personnel moves related to a guy commanding a max contract. I'm watching the team now. I love the Rox. I assume they are trying to build a champion...I'm saying if they're not, then I'm not interested.
The Astros are on a whole different level with me. I'd also point out the Astros have won 3 playoff series in the past 5 years...how many have the Rox won again?
I can just say that you can replace Yao with Duncan, KG or whoever another big man on this team, you can not win a championship with the current players, if you say will, just tell us how?
so you are giving us a 19% of beating Mavs, Suns, Hornets, Nuggets, Blazers, or Jazz? but you think we are a better team without McPastry? of those 6 teams, I'd say 50-50 overall. And probably around a 35-40% chance at the Spurs and 15-20% chance at the Lakers. I understand though, you are a pessimist by nature.
If you're talking about Yao then the run from now until the end of the season is going to be critical. He's going to be the undisputed, go-to guy on the offensive end and how he responds is going to be very, very important.
Nice to see a good thread with differing but thoughtful viewpoints. I don't post much, but I'd love to chime in. I agree with the original premise of the thread that you need great/elite players to win a championship, and Yao seems to measure up a little short of that level. However, the million dollar question is where to go from here? When you look at the names of the elite players that have been mentioned like Lebron, Kobe, Wade, Duncan, Paul, Howard the common theme seems to be that they were all basically Top 10 picks and they have all stayed with the teams they started with (Kobe's draft situation doesn't count). Garnett, AI, T-Mac (at the time), Shaq are the rare superstars that are able to be had via trade or FA due to unusual circumstances with their original teams. Even though we were lucky once in getting T-Mac, a guy who we considered to be a superstar, it's highly unlikely that we're gonna be able to get an elite player like this again. You basically need to hit the lottery jackpot (we're not eligible) or have phenomenal trade assets (like Boston for Garnett) to get a guy like this. So, that leaves us with the options of blowing up the team or trying to build around Yao. I think recent history (Minny with KG, Philly with AI, Orlando with Shaq/T-Mac) teaches us that when you lose your lone away your only superstar to FA or trade, there is no realistic chance of contending in the near future and no guarantee of of long-term success either. Of the teams I listed, the current oralnso team is the only one close to contention, and that's because they got lucky landing Dwight Howard at #1. Of course building around a flawed star is no guarantee for success either, but like DD said, I'd rather be in the mix and then take my chances with a really good player like Yao and the right supporting cast developing great chemistry. I think Yao is good enough to be a key player on a championship team, but he can't carry a team like Jordan or Hakeem. He's gonna need 1 elite player or maybe 2 really good players around him to make this team a title contender. The T-Mac/Yao experiment may have failed, but that doesn't mean we should overreact and blow up the team. Keeping Yao is our best shot at contending for a championship in the next few years, and I'll cross my fingers that Morey and Adelman will be able to find the right combination around our almost supertar to make it happen.
Me neither and that's what I've been saying. I thought if healthy, they were a 2nd rd team. I didn't ever see alston being a pg on a ring team. I think they are going to have to put some really good players on the court and the 1st step was getting Rafer off and the next is getting shane off.
QFT. imo, it's really this simple. When you've seen a guy's best and he hasn't been out of the first round it seems obvious that he needs ALOT more help. Help that we won't be able to give him if he takes a max contract.
Please read my post. I'd say about a 25% chance of advancing given that we make the playoffs. I'd say we only have a 75% chance of getting to the post-season given our schedule. For the arithmetically challenged, .25 x .75 = 18.75%
I threw the Hornets out there because of the Chandler trade fiasco, which remarkably pissed off not only the team but the coach and was widely viewed as a measure designed to cut costs regardless of what impact it had on the team. The Bobcats suck too though.
