This is hilarious. Tim Duncan is arguably the greatest PF of all-time. Tony Parker is no slouch either, he was like today's Rondo during those championship years. OHHH Pistons won a championship for one year. Big whoop. Give me dynasty. Give me Jordan Pippen and Rodman and 6 rings. Give me Kobe Shaq and 3 rings. Give me Kobe and Gasol and 2 rings. Give me Tim Duncan Tony Parker and Ginobili and 4 rings. Prince, Hamilton, Big Ben for 1 ring... again I say, big whoop.
That just makes them that much harder as a match up. Which 3 of our guys have the ability to guard them? Maybe Battier, Ariza, and..... not to worry the 3rd guy will only be Chris Bosh, right? O and we can probably double team James by pulling our man from wayde... They are a ridiculous team. I just don't see any team being able to match up.
Yep. Plus, in the beginning they will be really damned good, but so much of that is going to be adrenalin and individual talent from the Miami-3. Make no mistake, they will be scouted, their individual and team weaknesses will be exposed soon enough and the teams that do the best job of exploiting that will have success and I put my boys at the top of the list. Anyone with me?
I almost forgot how tough that team was with Ron Artest on it. Everyone kinda of fed off Artest's intimidator image. No doubt the team is smart and 1000% hustle even today, but Artest brought something else entirely, not quite eye of the tiger, more like eye of insanity.
Manu in his prime was arguably top 10. He was a coldblooded assassin that had no problem dropping 35pts on a team or dunking on their frontcourt. Nevermind his superior passing, ballhandling, and penchant for rising up in the biggest of games. Take it for what it's worth, but if he weren't Argentinian with a Gonzo nose, there would be little to no debate about his standing. As is, he's going to be a Hall of Famer when it's all said and done.
The problem with the modern NBA fan is that just because of a name and some stats they think everything is set in stone. We won't know how this team plays until we see them. They won't know us until they see us, the future hasn't been written and neither Wade, James, Bosh or Riley are what you can call prophets.
Wow, you're really annointing Miami early. They'll be good, and they have a good shot at a championship, but to say they're the team to get past for the next five to six years seems pretty silly. They haven't even filled out their roster yet, and there are some very good teams in the NBA, including one that just won consecutive titles.
This "two of the top 10" rule of thumb seems pretty silly. (How about three of the top 20? How about four of the top 25?) We don't know what teams are going to look like four years from now. Players will change teams. Young players who haven't established themselves yet will become stars. One thing we do know is that the Rockets have a deep roster with young who could continue to improve and good management.
It's called a salary cap, and none of the teams you're mentioning were spending as much money as the Heat are on so few players: *Pippen didn't get paid a ton until he joined the Rockets. Not sure if you remember, but do names like Paxson, Grant, and Armstrong ring any bells? How about Kerr, Harper, and Kukoc? And Rodman only got paid a huge amount in the '97 season. *Kobe got paid 1/2 what Shaq got paid in the first 3 titles, and they had players like Horry, Grant, Fisher, Fox, and Rice; hell they even had Harpers and Hunters. *Parker didn't get paid until his 3rd championship. Ginobili got paid in his 2nd and 3rd championships, but it was still only half what Duncan was getting. Reasonable salaries and guys like Horry, Bowen, and Barry. Additionally, in the first championship (without Parker and Ginobili), Duncan's salary was nothing compared to Robinson's, and they had players like Elliot, Elie, Kerr, A. Johnson. You've apparently totally missed the point on the "team" being important. Superstars are definitely important, but so too are role players, and the Lakers, the Bulls, and the Spurs all had them. The Heat may not be able to get enough of them. We'll find out over the next couple months, but they have a lot less cap room to lure these role players in with.
Oh great, another thread about how we're doomed because the Heat exist. That's just what this forum needed. Do you know what these threads have in common? http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?t=189640 http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?t=189627 http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?t=189595 http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?t=189515 1) They're all about how the new Heat trio diminishes the Rockets chances for a championship (despite the fact that we haven't been close to even going to the finals in recent years). and 2) They're all locked.
Everybody talk about how are they going to stop the big three. But how are they going to stop Yao. How are they going to stop Brooks. How are they going to stop Martin. Not to mention sooner or later they have to rest and when they do are bench will destroy them. Our summer league team could probably beat their scrubs without them. If they stick together in a few years they will have a real team. They can sign10 day contracts all season long until they find a couple of keepers but they still will james wade bosh and scrubs for a long time. The bottom line is this is not a team yet. And they have a window of 3 years. I don't see them winning anything the first year. ANd when they don't hell will rain on the heats parade. If they don't when by the end of 3 years you can bet Lebron will op out and adios a Miami.
Great post, don't forget about rebounding. I think the best way to beat a team like this is gonna be to go big and hit the boards. Just pound the glass on both ends. The Lakers, Celtics size and ours to an extent(Yao, Scola, Hill) can neutralize their transition game. You control the glass you control the tempo.
I've been watching the Rockets since 1971, and the Rockets have won many games, playoff series, and championships when they were considered the underdog. In the 1980-1981 season the Rockets finished the regular season at 40-42 and then went on to play great in the playoffs, taking the Celtics to six games in the finals. In the 1985-1986 season the Rockets had a good regular season with 51 wins. But, not many people thought they could beat the defending champion Lakers who compiled a 62-20 record in the regular season and had hall of fame players in Jabbar, James Worthy, and Magic Johnson. However, the Rockets did win against the Lakers in the Western Conference Finals 4-1. The Rockets also were not favored to to win Championships in '93-'94 or '94-'95. To win the '94-'95 title the rockets had to go up against and beat four teams that had better records during the regular season. So, the Rockets have proven time and time again that you don't have to be the pre-season favorite to win a championship. It seems like rocket fans should know this better than anyone.
I agree with some of what u say, but having moses in his prime and dream and ralph in 86,dream in his absolute prime in the 90's helped too. The rockets defied odds because they had great players. This team has 0 great players.
True, but they are all 3 primarily offensive players, especially scoring players who usually need the ball in their hands...so they're going to diminish their individual greatness somewhat by playing together. They're best bet is for Lebron to focus on creating, playing point forward. He needs to greatly cutback on his jumpers and focus mainly on drives. Ideally you'd want someone like Kidd, Wade, and Dwight. That kind of combo of passing, scoring, and defense to maximize their talents.
Let us see how the LeDwosh experiment works out first before we crown them with anything. Injuries to any of the big three, inconsistency from the bench, etc. I would like to at least give them a season or two before making judgment.
? Kobe's 3 year extension is likely it, that makes him a 17 year veteran, has any star except kareem ever done that and stayed even remotely close to their top level?
