At least we have a good chance in the John Wall sweepstakes....... John Wall the new face of the franchise....... <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/VABhbyST6kY&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en&feature=player_detailpage&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/VABhbyST6kY&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en&feature=player_detailpage&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>
I stand by what I said. I'm not ready to give up on this season in august though I'm obviously not predicting any parades. It'll be interesting to see ho picks up the anchor on defense with Yao and deke gone but overall we should defensively be far superior to any fringe playoff team and as Van Gundy era ball proved, defensive will keep you in every fight. All I really know is we have a bunch of scrappers who have a postseason of dogging it out on their resume and a history of success. Can't say the same about okc or La.
The order looks about right. As a Rockets fan though I believe we should be in group 3 with the Thunder. As of this moment, T-Mac seems to be doing fine and T-Mac has lead much worse teams to the playoffs.
we could always make the playoffs in the 8th/ 7th spot and get eliminated in the first round.... and get a mid first round pick
I have a question, who will have the better season, D. Andersen or Frye? I say that because I'm trying to figure why he was a target for the same money we signed anderson? He's young 24 and 6'11. He's a bit on the soft side but so is andersen.
I think the Rockets like Andersen's history of winning championships, and hope whatever savvy he demonstrated in other leagues will translate here. He's more of an unknown, and so there's less certainty over what his ceiling might be. He could turn out to be roughly a Channing Frye. Or maybe something worse. Or maybe something better. The Rockets have decided to gamble with a partial unknown in hopes that he ends up being something better.
I'm not going to derail this thread, it just got me to thinking. I thought about it because this weekend I had a chance to use my special hookup and watch about 20 games of anderson. Maybe I'm missing something, but I don't see it. I guess we will see, but I'm just wondering why frye as a young cheap big wasn't a better option.
Is it just a coincidence that it's mainly Rockets fans, as opposed to fans of other teams, who are claiming Artest is such a bad defender? Or is it possible there's a little homerism involved? I don't know, I tend to think it's the latter. IMO Artest was actually overrated as a defender in his DPOY days with Indiana, but he's become underrated now (at least around here) with all this "we never wanted him anyway" talk.
You gotta love how poorly ESPN do their job. When Yao went down during the streak ESPN said we would not make the playoffs...we pushed that streak to 22 and at one stage were on top of the West. When T-Mac pulled the plug last year, same deal with ESPN declaring we were the team to miss out..we were a chance to be 2nd on the last night and ended up 5th and advancing. Yao gets hurt against the Lakers and ESPN writes how the Lakers will quickly wrap up the series 4-1..... It's probably a good sign being written of by the duds over there yet again!
It's partly homerism for sure, but part of it is a lot of NBA fans are simply clueless to the state of defense in the league. If you look up all the wings that get minutes in the league, the vast majority of them are known for their offense. You have people claiming that Artest is overrated becuase he struggled guarding Brandon Roy & Kobe when there's very few guys that have success guarding them. This link shows the production of player's opponents, obviously it's not perfect and there's a few things you have to consider (pace, teammate's defense, who they guard), but it gives you a basic idea of who plays good D and who's a matador. http://www.82games.com/0809/ROLRTG3.HTM
I'm not really bought into these analysts analyzing the season without even considering who is the headcoach of each teams. OKC? c'mon!!! sure they have a future all-star, but who will guide that player to make his team bound for the playoffs. Phoenix? sure they still have, Nash, Hill, Barbosa, and Amare, but who is the coach? Steve Kerr? their line-up may even be in-and-out of the roster due to injuries. Now to give you a better scenario: LA Lakers = Phil Jackson San Antonio Spurs = Greg Popovich Utah Jazz = Jerry Sloan Dallas Mavericks = Rick Carlisle Denver Nuggets = George Karl N.O. Hornets = Byron Scott Portland Blazers = Nate McMillan Houston Rockets = Rick Adelman GS Warriors = Don Nelson LA Clippers = Mike Dunleavy Minnesota Timberwolves = Kurt Rambis Phoenix Suns = Alvin Gentry OKC Thunder = Scott Brooks Memphis Grizzlies = Lionel Hollins Sacramento Kings = Paul Westphal Rank the Coaches + Team Roster, I will still have Houston have the 8th and final spot for the playoffs. Sorry Suns fans, unless Steve Nash becomes a player-coach, they may have a chance.
When will they learn to NEVER right the Rockets off period? Media just got a history of writing us off, we just prove them wrong.
