Would the Playoffs Be Enough Or Do The Rox Need to Contend For A Title in 2010/11?

Lol, trip to the finals as in beating the Lakers in the WCF, as in getting to the WCF, as in getting past the 1st round of the playoff, as in making the playoff. Well, the latter one wouldn't be that hard to accomplish but the rest of the list is another story.

 

Honestly, before the whole "Yao = 24 minutes a game" news story broke out, I would have voted nothing short of a title run.

But now, with this lame news, a trip to the playoffs is what we, as fans, should realistically be content with.

Before anyone condemns this post (or me), imagine Kobe / Durant / James / Wade playing just 24 minutes a game, and not on the second game of a b-2-b. They would probably have to fight hard as well, to make / do well in the playoffs.

 

With Yao pulling spot duty, a championship is too much to ask for. Not gonna happen.

 

what kind of dumb*ass question is this? Title of course. ALWAYS.

 

If you're asking for expectations, I expect this team to make the playoffs. I expect this team to be in the mix for home court advantage. I'll be disappointed if we can't at least make it out of the first round, but at this stage I don't have that expectation.

 

I will be frustated if the rockets doesnt get at least to the 2nd round.

 

At this point and with the recent Yao news, I would just be happy getting out of the 1st round.

But that could all change if we get a Superstar like Carmelo with all these assets that Morey has been attaining these last couple of years.

 

Too late, I'm condemning your post because logically speaking, conserving Yao to 24 minutes during the season so he can play full-time during the playoffs is better than:

1) having Yao break down during the season and miss the playoffs
2) overusing Yao and being forced to reduce his time in the playoffs

I'm still at a loss to understand how anyone thinks that having a plan for Yao to restrict his minutes is bad news. The worst news would be that the Rockets have no plan and Yao is going to overwork his feet and get reinjured.

You guys realize that Morey limiting Yao's minutes doesn't mean that Yao cannot play 48 minutes or that he's not as good as you though he was before yesterday? They're limiting his minutes as a precautionary measure over 9 months of play. It doesn't mean he couldn't go out and play 100% if he had to over a stretch. They just dont want to risk him doing that over months and months continuously over a many meaningless games.

On the flip side Morey stating this publicly means that he is confident that other guys on the team + Yao are going to be fine during the regular season in terms of making the playoffs. He's basically letting Yao coast like how Shaq coasted during the regular season in his later years in LA because the team was good enough to tread water until the playoffs when Shaq went 100%.

I'm sure Morey has done the metrics but you can infer that if Yao at 35 mpg is +10 wins... Yao at 24 min might be like +7 wins. 3 or so less wins during the regular season probably is worth having Yao at 100% thorough the playoffs. You honestly think Morey would announce this publicly if he hadn't had his guys crunch the numbers backwards and sideways?

 

Hear this. As currently constructed, the Rockets are ready to contend. Even with Yao playing 24 mins.. Even without Yao you still have 4 other players capable of playing the 5( Miller, Hill, Patman and Hayes ). They now have the depth and height at the 5 to contend with LA. Our bench can beat the Nets!! :grin: :grin:

 

I HEAR YOU!

 

Last year Rick developed our young players in:

Brooks
Budinger
Ariza (who we traded for a developing Courtney Lee)

And he somewhat developed:

Hill
Taylor
Lowry (if not for injury he may have developed a better 3 pt shot, who knows if he did some work this off season)

Not only that, but the only new players this season are Miller, Lee, and rookies Ishmael, and Patrick. Insert Yao into a developed core with some chemistry I think the Rockets are ready to contend.

1st option - Yao (17 points, he will be first when he is in the game)
2nd option- Martin (19 points)
3rd options - Brooks/Scola (14 points)
4th options - Budinger/Miller/Lowry (8 points)
5th options - Battier/Lee/Hill (5 points)
Defense/energy - Hayes/Jeffries/Taylor/Patterson (2 points)

 

Total world domination or fail.

 

Well, considering that this Rockets team is good enough to make the playoffs, that expectation is already in place. Contending for a title though, might be a bit of stretch, mainly because we don't know who's going to be healthy or not. But I will say that I expect the Rockets to AT LEAST get into the second round, but wouldn't think it is impossible for them to get to the WCF.

 

People overrate "franchise" players. When we win the championship, people are going to start considering KMartin and AB superstars. So it creates a self-fulfilling prophecy.

 

Damon Jones doesn't think the Rockets can win.

 

Remember Rox fans if Yao was playing more minutes it wouldn't be to the rox advantage anyway.This team can play up-tempo and needs to. Yao' minutes would have to be reduced anyway.This team provided they have a strong defensive back-up(Dampier) could definitely compete this year for the title

 

Consider it heard.