Would you want to compete with about 2% chance of winning a championship?

the season hasn't started and everyone's talking about wait till next year like its the end of the season already. you have to compete no matter your chances!

 

i don't think anyone is suggesting the players shouldn't be trying their hardest to win every game.

 

Actually, it's almost the same. Our last 3 seasons were good considering how injuries played such a huge part in each one. A 22 game win streak, a 2nd round 7 game series with the eventual champs and to top it off, a 42-40 season without a superstar present in a tough western conference. All the signs of a team that is ready to win it all are there.

 

ummm..it's nowhere near the same. how blind have we become?

prior to 1994 championship, we won 55 games. we took the Sonics to OT on their floor in Semifinals, Game 7. we won our division. our superstar was AT LEAST the 2nd or 3rd best player in the game, no questions asked.

prior to the 1995 championship...well..let's see...oh, yeah...WE WON THE CHAMPIONSHIP. we won 58 games in 1994. by then, no one questioned we had the game's best player.

this year...we have no superstar and our only hope of anything in that vicinity is a guy who can't stay healthy and is coming off surgery. it's all on "ifs" from a lottery team...that is NOT EVEN CLOSE to what we had going into the seasons where we won championships.

look...i can be optimistic and be a fan. and i'll be rooting for this team like crazy, just as i have every season. but pretending that going into this season is remotely close to the equivalent of where we were going into those seasons is just ridiculous. i can't believe this is even a discussion.

 

"Some might tell you theres no hope in hand just because they are hopeless..." sound familiar?

I read yours...
now read mine.

 

I listened Matt and Adam along with Granato on 1560 and was surprised at their reasoning for rebuilding. I could understand their points but it seemed like a very negative way of viewing the current situation. EXPECTING Yao to be healthy all season long would be foolish but at the same time wasn't this surgery EXPECTED to relieve all of Yao's foot issues? The kids will continue to grow and mature along with KMartin being in our system a FULL year are all signs to be optimistic about.

I would watch the Rox even if we had 0% chance of winning the title because they are my team and play an entertaining brand of ball along with a sense of direction. The Iso-Ball era Rockets with Francis were nearly unwatchable at times and it was my dark period of watching these guys but the current team should be exciting and IMO are one piece away from being a contender.

 

****ING A !!!!!

I believe !!!!!!

Not really, if Yao is healthy, they are in the discussion.....that is my point.


DD

 

yes, you compete. technically speaking the red sox had a 0% chance of beating the yankees when they were down 0-3 in the ALCS the year they won their first world series. nobody had ever been down 0-3 and won a 7 game series before. but they competed, and the rest is history.

funny things happen when you don't listen to the people telling you what "should" happen.

 

the Rockets dont need to rebuild we got young guys who have lots of potential.
We need a superstar thats it

 

ha

i'm not saying i'm hopeless...and i would argue Dave may have meant something of greater importance than the NBA :grin:

but comparing this team coming into this season to either championship squad going in those respective seasons is way off base.

 

I wonder if people oftentimes forget how great coaches or great players attain their greatness. I think it's relatively easy to pair a proven coach with a few proven all-star caliber players. If they lose that leaves people wondering what went wrong with them instead of what went right for the other team. 3 players will not make a team successful. Three players could, however, make a team fail... It's for the rockets to act with integrity and put together the best team they can and, who knows, maybe they'll kick some a s s along the way!

 

yes, really. this is very different.

 

We are going to surprise a lot of teams next season, just wait and see. I think we can get 2nd in the west and maybe even compete with the Lakers for 1st. This is gonna be a season to remember.

 

Different in the players, but the expectations are similar.

If we have a healthy Yao we will be in the top 4-6 teams in the mix for a championship.

To me, since we do not have a superstar, that is about the best we can hope for...

And rebuilding is NOT a guarantee of getting that Superstar......

DD

 

Just because a team isn't rebuilding doesn't mean it isn't building. Why scrap everything and start from scratch if you already have some of the kinds of players you'd target in rebuilding anyway? I'd rather be one or two pieces away from being a championship contender, and looking to get those pieces and in a position to do so with assets, than continually starting from scratch. It seems like doing that would be a recipe for never really getting anywhere. With players like Yao, Martin and Brooks already on board, it's premature to rebuild. Better to build on their foundation.

 

How are the expectations similar??

In both championship seasons, the team in the year immediately preceding looked like a championship team. AND WE HAD THE BEST PLAYER IN THE GAME!!!!

IN the NBA...if you have the best player in the game, your expectation is you should be playing for a ring.

We have NOTHING like that right now. Instead of coming of a 55 or 58 win season with deep playoff runs or a championship, we're coming off a year where our best player (who isn't a superstar) has been injured for the umpteenth time and just had surgery.

Were we talking about how we could limit the minutes of our best player in 1994 or 95 so that maybe we could keep him healthy?

Honestly, this is ridiculous....you say "this is the best we can hope for" while at the same time comparing them to championship squads. Come on. Pretending that the expectations are the same is a joke.

 

Max,

How will rebuilding net us the "best player in the game"?

I agree Yao is a massive risk, you know that, but let's assume that Yao gets back to 100% health.

This team with a healthy Yao is right in the mix for homecourt in the entire western conference.

That is a contender to me, isn't it to you?

I don't get how you can have so little faith....

DD

 

if you can compete against the eventual NBA CHAMPS for a 2nd year in row..you keep the team intact and make SMALL changes to upgrade the roster.

Rockets against the Lakers were 1-3. In the 3 loses, the Rockets lost by an avg of 6ppg.

Add Yao, he would make up for the lack of SIZE and Lack of scoring from our Center position...

 

Rebuilding basically leaves you with nothing and you hope to get lucky in the draft or somehow a superstar lands in your lap.

I like where we are now. Constantly improving and accumulating draft picks. Good talent and picks gives us a competitive team to watch but also the assets to be opportunistic. A team that's been scrapped won't be able to take advantage of many situations that arise.

 

i think we should rebuild/improve our team in a smooth transition, this year we add patterson, after this year we drop jeffries, we have the knick picks to work with, but if what your saying is that we should tank? i say hell no! even if we dont win the championship next year who cares. i say we go all out and compete until the very end, this at least its makes good television at LEAST.