1, We pick Von instead of Strawberry 2, Yao has a healthly season and lead the team to second round 3, AB shows what he is able to be in playoff 4, Own the Lakers in Game 4 and Game 6 with role players! 5, Luis Scola is very solid. 6, Landry is still in the basketabll court 7, Shane's Defense and 3 pointers is back in playoff 8, We didn't do a bad trade on rafer...Lowry has potential and playing well 9, Artest didn't break the team...and...he became the leader 10, Chuck Hayes is professional and always get ready even two big men were down suddenly .......
er...uh....make that: * Karl Malone retired without a ring * While his 85 points, 28 assists, and 29 turnovers over 272 breathtaking minutes may be gone, Vassilis Spanoulis' memory will live on forever (embodied by Luis Scola) classic.....
I'm thankful that our point guard is not named Charlie Ward, Rod Strickland, Tyronne Lue, Andre Barret or David Wesley I'm thankful that Juwan Howard, Clarence Weatherspoon and Ryan Bowen as our PF I'm thankful for Luis Scola, Aaon Brooks, Kyle Lowry and Von Wafer stepping up
first round? that would have been difficult to stop in the WCF! things I am grateful for: -Dikembe Mutombo its a shame he went out due to an injury but I couldnt be more prouder to call someone a Houston Rocket -Luis Scola -Shane Battier -Chuck Hayes those three guys may not be the most athletic or naturally gifted but they work and keep working till their dead -Ron Artest interviews seriously I haven't been this entertained since Chuck was around -Yao Ming cant say enough about the guy -Daryl Morey and Rick Adelman they always do a great job despite (in Adelman's case) the criticisms -Clutch and his wonderful crack-like website clutchfans.net
These things have helped me get non-hoops fans into the Rockets..which is not an easy thing to do -good call on Artest interviews -Artest being a matured individual. People do grow up. -Mutombo's selflessness in every aspect of his life, including cheering on the bench -Chuck getting more out of his skillset than anyone I've ever seen -Shane working his ass off. He had a tough start to the seasoan with his injury, and a lot of people were jumping on the "Trade Battier" wagon.. he pushed through the injury b/c TMac and Ron were hurting, and he showed us everything he was about...and then got back to his usual self by the late part of the season -AB and Lowry helping the Rockets become a fun team to watch again. They need weapons around them, but if your PG doesn't have the ability and desire to push it, you don't get the results that we saw
That we didn't melt down after a very rocky start to the season. That this team is so easy to root for.
Scola changed the whole mentality, he is a winner and he came up with that mentality, you already could see this the last year playoffs, Artest helped him a lot, and as you could see on the last games these two get along quite well, i dare to say that Artest ended respecting Scola a lot for his guts and integrity. These two combined turned a franchise with no winners into a franchise with 2 winners.
Great thread! We need this more than value this, trade that type of thread. Here is mine: We would have had Bobby Jackson manning the 1 and Donte Green at the 2/3.
He's who we were going to draft (not Gay) if we hadn't traded that #8 for Battier. Yes, we could have had Brandon Roy, if only. But, in the spirit of gratitude: Once that got squelched, without Jerry West's benificence, we'd have no Gay AND no Battier.
Re: Battier vs. Thabo, not to nitpick, but I thought Thabo was regarded as a pretty good perimeter defender with more athleticism, so I'm not completely onboard with that one. Anyway, in the spirit of this excellent thread: 1) Shane Battier's comradery and leadership, which led to him inventing the unique Rocket Red blazer. 2) Having the team be so endearing to the country in their overcoming adversity that Kenny Smith wears the Rocket Red blazer, and unbelievably, Chuck has to admit even he really likes this team. 3) Winning more playoff games than losing. 4) Having a physical, hardworking team while at the same time not resorting to chippiness (e.g. Fisher, Kobe). 5) We now know life after T-Mac is going to be just fine.
I would say farther than both. We actually won more playoff games than the Spurs and Mavs... combined! Another thing to be grateful for... we can finally win games without Tracy. Remember how every injury to Tracy would send the team into a tailspin? Not this year.
1. Yao is taking his game up a notch and refused to come out of the game, fighting the trainer to get back in. I will not forget that look. 2. Luis Scola is one of the best guy we got. He hustles, knows how to play, and take charges 3. Shane Battier, great leader, reason that we beat the lakers without Yao 4. Morey for getting Lowry, Brooks, Laundry, Von Vafer. 5. Adelman for putting everything together.
